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Liza slams the door of the hardware store so hard, the back two legs of the chair I’m balancing on almost slide out from under me. She stomps up to me and Jake, throws her hand on a hip, and huffs. Mel’s right on her heels. Uh-oh.
“Uh-oh,” Jake says under his breath.
Liza blows her bangs out of her eyes. “Tell me you aren’t getting back with that... that... ugh! I can’t even say her horrible name.”
I hold my hands out in defense. “Whoa. Slow down.”
“Is it true what the Jacksons are saying? You’ve seen Willow since she’s been back, haven’t you?”
I fumble with my holster, mostly for fear she may jerk my gun away and shoot me with it when she hears what I have to say. “Yes, I’ve seen Wills.”
Liza groans. “That pet name disgusts me. She’s pretty willing and able, all right.”
I clench my jaw. I know Willow hurt me, and when I saw her again, all those feelings, both good and bad, bubbled back up to the surface, but I did care for her at one point, so she can’t be all bad. “Be nice.”
Mel rolls her eyes.
Liza gets in my face, and Jake has to pull her away. “Be nice? Are you kidding me? She needs to be nice. Her coming around the coffee shop, sizing up Andie. God, it was pathetic. She practically pissed on Andie’s leg to mark her territory.”
Jake chuckles, and I pop him on the arm.
“Is Andie okay?” If Willow pulls any shit with Andie, I might blow my stack. And she better not have said anything about Northwestern. I can’t believe I’m even entertaining the idea of taking Willow’s offer to have my record cleared. The thought of being near her on a regular basis again nauseates me. But to be able to finish what I started is enticing.
“No. Andie can hold her own. She wasn’t intimidated by your ex in the least.”
Of course she can, but Willow is a snake and knows how to cozy up to someone right before she bites the person’s head off.
The door slams closed again. Shit. Faith stomps my way. I can hardly deal with Liza and Mel. When Faith’s in the mix, I might as well crawl into a fetal position and cry uncle.
“What the hell is your problem, Gunnar James?”
I throw my hands up in disgust. “Calm down, Faith Marie.” If she can start pulling out the middle names, so can I. “She came by last night.”
Faith huffs. “I’m not calming down. That girl is—”
“Enough.” I close my eyes and do my best to calm my breathing.
Faith takes me by the hand and guides me back into the chair. She sits on Jake’s desk in front of me and holds my hands in hers. Before she speaks again, she takes a deep, calming breath. “I know how you’re wired. She was your first true love.”
I close my eyes. It is completely embarrassing talking about my love life with my sister, sister-in-law, cousin, and best friend. It’s obvious they have nothing better to do.
“You believe in forever love, and she’s... not wired like that.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I hate it that my voice cracks. Shit.
“I don’t know why she’s back. All I know is she needs to get out of Dodge fast before you spiral down that rabbit hole again. Do you really want another year of depression followed by three more years of self-harm with every ho-bag in the South?”
She makes me sound like I was a man-whore, which if I’m being completely honest with myself, I kind of was. I would rather not think of those years. But Willow cut me so deep, I wanted to die, and when that wasn’t going to happen, I wanted to forget. If I had the smell of every girl in a hundred-mile radius of me, maybe I couldn’t smell her.
“No.”
Jake clears his throat. “Why is she back?”
“She said she could get me a job as a Northwestern policeman. She thought that would make me happy, and we could try again. She says she misses me.” There’s no need to tell them all the details.
Liza sits on the edge of my chair and wraps her arm around me. “Oh, boo hoo hoo. Cry me a river. She doesn’t get it, does she?”
I shake my head. I love my job, but that’s not what keeps me here. I love this town. My family is here. My soul is here. But Willow knows everything.
“What did you tell her?” Faith’s eyes plead with me to say I told her no.
“I told her no.”
They let out a collective sigh.
“Y’all need a hobby. I’m not that stupid. Give me some credit, okay?” Although the thought of never having that dark cloud over me anymore is a little tempting.
Jake takes another puff of his cigarette. “Bruce, with Willow, there is always an ulterior motive. You know that.”
“Yep.” Her motives are worse than they think, but I can’t tell them that. I can’t let them know Willow has some leverage over me. She may think she does, but she doesn’t really want me. She doesn’t want anyone else to want me. I’m still pissed at myself for letting Willow in my house this week. She wormed her way back into my town, my life, and into my bed. Thank God she left me alone on the couch and didn’t try anything. Before I woke up this morning, she was gone. She thinks I’ve been waiting for her to want me again. But the truth is, I’ve been waiting for the right person to want me, and I think I’ve found her. If only I can accomplish with Andie what I never could with Willow—give her a reason to stay. That starts by not avoiding her.
I lean over and kiss my sister on the cheek. I whisper to her, “Thanks, sis, but I’ve got this. We’ll talk later.”
She kisses me back. I kiss Liza, and she squeezes my shoulders. Mel hugs me, then I lean in to fake-kiss Jake, and he pushes me away.
“If this powwow is over, I need to go to work. We’ve got to have some sort of law in this town.”
They salute me, Jake’s being the middle-finger salute. I love my family. I won’t put anyone ahead of them ever again. All I have to do is avoid Willow, make sure Andie knows how I feel about her, and convince her to stay. I’m not sure which one is the hardest. The middle one will be the most fun, so I’ll start there.