“So where to?” Micheal asked, as he put on sunglasses and started up the truck.
Willow sighed, thinking about all the steps she would have to take that would bring her up to her apartment, and she inwardly cringed at the thought, as she turned to answer him. Which surprised him, from the look of the raised eyebrow that Willow could see that went above where his sunglasses rested on his face.
Chapter Three
“My house?” Micheal questioned. Willow saw his eyebrows go up over the blacked-out sunglasses he wore.
“I live in an apartment building that doesn’t have an elevator. Unless you want to carry me up 3 flights of stairs. I know that I’m putting you in an awkward position.” Willow said as she went to grab for her purse that was on the ground by her feet.
Even though you were the one that insisted on helping me and giving me a ride back.
Willow grabbed for her phone and seeing message after message on her lock screen. Making her not want to look at her phone anymore. She set it back down and in her purse with a thump.
“I could just call a friend to come to get me. I have already imposed on you guys enough.” Willow offered, as Micheal shook his head, Willow watched as his shoulder-length black hair follow the movement.
“That still doesn’t help you out with the stairs. How can there even be an apartment building that doesn’t have an elevator system?” he questioned, as Willow shrugged her shoulders.
“Probably why it was such a steal for the monthly rate and sharing the apartment with a roommate helps.”
Micheal didn’t respond, and continued driving, making a U-turn, as he pressed into the accelerator more when he looked, as his eyes flicked to the rearview mirror looking at Evan sitting in the back of the suburban.
“Evan is getting picked up around 3:30 pm.” he said simply as an explanation, her hand gripping onto the “oh shit” handle that was on the roof of the suburban to give her something to hold on to.
“Remember, I sprained my ankle, I want nothing else hurt,” she warned, as Micheal laughed. Willow could hear Evan’s laughter behind her, as Micheal sped in the house's direction.
“Almost there,” Micheal explains, as he turns a corner into a gated community. He comes to a crawling stop so the security guard can open up the gate. Once the gate opens Micheal speeds the truck down the road, clicking a button that was clipped to the visor on the drivers side that opens up the entrance gate to the property and turns into the driveway. Willow’s blue-green eyes widened at the size of the house. White two-story modern style house, with black trim, floor to ceiling windows, huge double mahogany doors, well-maintained yard, gorgeous Japanese maple tree in the middle with deep reddish leaves, sculpted box hedges planted along the front side of the house.
“Alright, Evan, go open the front door, I’m going to carry Willow in,” Micheal explains as he hands over the car keys to Evan. Willow watched as Evan ran to open the front door, carrying his backpack on his back and also Willow’s purse in his other hand. Willow smiled at that.
Micheal came and helped her out of the car and walked with her up the steps and into the house, she looked at the expansive living room.
“This is your house?” Willow asked, as he walked her over to the couch and sat her down.
“I'm going to get you some ice for that ankle,” he said as he went to the kitchen. Willow heard the front door creak open.
“Micheal! Micheal, I’m here to pick up Evan.” she heard heels against the hardwood floor, coming closer to where Willow was, laying on the couch that she knew costs more than her monthly paycheck.
“Who are you?” Willow heard as she turned her head to face the person who was asking her the question. Knowing right away that this was Micheal’s ex-wife that came to pick up Evan. Pam. She was tall, blonde and beautiful. And was currently looking down at Willow with narrowed eyes.
“I’m–” Willow says as Evan comes running into the room.
“Hey Mom!” he said. Willow tried to look at him since that was the first time he really said anything since she met him. He smiled up at the woman, and then at Willow.
“This is Miss Willow, the teacher I’ve been telling you about. Remember, I texted you during lunch. She’s awesome. She sprained her ankle while walking back to her car. So, she came here instead.” he explains, as he looks over at Willow with a smile on his face. Willow watches the woman’s expression go from happy to cynical when she notices Evan isn’t looking at her.
“Where’s your dad?” she asks, moving toward the kitchen.
“Are you going to be, ok?” Evan asks as Willow nodded.
“Of course, I’ll be back at school on Monday. There are already spots I can fill in for, anyway. I promise.” Willow says as the sounds of voices in the kitchen get louder, making Evan flinch, as his face falls, he moves to go back upstairs, away from hearing his parents arguing.
“You want to sit on the couch with me? Maybe watch some tv while you wait for your mom?” Willow offered as Evan nodded in reply. He slowly sat next to her on the couch. Turning on cartoons until his mom came back into the living room.
“Come on Evan, let’s go,” she says in a clipped tone, as he hops off the couch, walking out the front door.
“Bye,” he says as he goes to walk out the front door.
“Bye, see you Monday,” Willow says as she looks back at him, then her eyes landed on Pam, who was standing by the front door.
“You do realize what you are doing is inappropriate around my son. I’ve already discussed it with Micheal. Coming around Evan with random women that he picks up at the school. I didn’t think he would reach so low, but, well. I’ll leave it at that. I hope your ankle feels better,” Pam said, exiting out of the front door quickly, which made Willow question the quick exit. Until she heard the sound of Micheal walking towards the living room.
“I’m sorry,” Micheal says just as the door closes. She didn’t realize that he was standing next to her, with an ice pack in his hand. He applies it to her ankle, causing her to wince at the cold sensation.
“No, it’s fine.” Willow says, trying to play off the awkwardness, as Micheal shakes his head.
“You didn’t hear what she was saying?” Micheal asked, as Willow looked up and saw the worried look on his face.
“She thinks we are involved, together. Something along those lines, at least. And didn’t want Evan ‘exposed to that type of behavior'” he said air-quoting, as she looked at him. And out of the blue started laughing at the absurd thought of them being together. With Micheal just looking back at Willow with a surprised look on his face.
“Sorry, it’s just, you and me. No.” Willow says with a wave of her hand, as his expression doesn’t change.
“Have you looked at yourself?” He asks as he wraps the ice pack with a towel.
“What are you talking about?” Willow shoots right back, knowing exactly what Pam looked like: tall blonde and confident which was nothing that Willow was. She was a short, red-curly haired girl, freckles on her face and in her early 20s. Definitely not Micheal’s type at all. With him being tall, dark and handsome, and twice her age. It would never work.
“I mean, have you seen yourself?” She asks him, as he rolls his eyes.
“When most people see me, they just see a lot of money,” he explains, diverting the question.
“Let’s get you in the guest room, and I’ll get you some aspirin for the pain,” he says as Willow nods. Picking her up like she was nothing, and walked her into the guest room, depositing her on the bed slowly. It was a simple off white room, with a queen-sized bed in the center of the room, a dark dresser set and a flatscreen TV on top of it. And it even had its own bathroom, to Willow’s benefit.
“I’ll go get some aspirin.” He says as he pulls the covers over her and walks out of the room to go get the aspirin and some water.
Willow looked down at her sleeve, noticing that the healing bruises from over a week ago were showing. She pulled the shirt slee
ve down further to cover it up, seeing Micheal’s eye line go to the bruises that were scattered up and down her arms underneath the long sleeve shirt like she grew accustomed to wearing. He walked back in with the aspirin and a glass of water and handed it to her.
“So how long has that been going on? I’m guessing your boyfriend,” he says as he sits down on the bed and looks at Willow with concern in his eyes.
“He’s been away at a conference for his work. I should be proud of him. He’s into marketing for a security company. Worked his way up from being an installer for the equipment. Then got a desk job with the company doing admin work. Then the position he holds now.” she says in a shaky voice.
“It’s been nice this past week not having to worry,” Willow adds, as she hears her phone ring in her purse that was on the nightstand next to her. Grabbing for it and unlocking the screen, she sighs, already knowing who was calling her boyfriend Andrew, again for the millionth time. Which made her wonder when her voicemail was going to be full.
“It’s him isn’t it,” Micheal says, as he takes her phone. Making her think he was going to answer the call, but he hit the ignore button and put it back in Willow’s purse, surprising her he didn’t answer the call.
“Take the aspirin and go to sleep. Don’t answer any calls or texts from him,” he says in a concerned tone.
“What are you–” Willow was going to ask as he shook his head.
“I’m just going to call someone, get some rest,” he says. As he leaves the guest room, Willow pops the aspirin. Feeling a wave of drowsiness from the events of the day making her so mentally and physically exhausted. It all finally hitting her in a moment of calm, as she leaned back and fell asleep before the aspirin can even kick in.
Willow wakes up to the smell of food permeating the air. She tries to move to her side and winces at the pain coming from her ankle, feeling the coldness of the ice pack on her ankle.
Micheal must’ve come in and replaced the other ice pack.
Willow moved into a sitting position. Grabbing her phone from her purse and saw that there were six missed calls and an abundance of texts from her boyfriend, Andrew. Willow goes to text back, when she hears Micheal walking down the hall, and quickly goes to put her phone back in her purse before he sees it.
“Hey, you’re up,” he said, as he walks into the room with a tray of food in his hands.
“Yeah, thanks for the ice pack,” Willow says as she wiggles her toes underneath the blanket. Micheal places the tray on her lap and he grabs his plate off the tray. As he sits on the bed and begins eating his dinner.
“So, what did you do after you left my room?” Willow asks. Curious if he did anything since he found out about the bruises.
“Nothing just made dinner, its just simple mac and cheese. Have to cater to Evan’s tastes and everything. But if you don’t like it–” Micheal said in a casual tone. Willow saw something in his eyes, like he definitely did something other than just make dinner but didn’t want to tell her. Watching as he grabs for the remote and switches the tv on.
“No, I like mac and cheese, it’s delicious,” Willow said, digging into the cheesy pasta.
“You know, you can stay here for as long as you like,” Micheal said as he looks back at her seriously.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m fine,” Willow replies as Micheal nods his head.
“Alright, but hand me your phone,” he says, as Willow grabs for her phone.
“I’m going to give you my cell and house number, call if anything happens. I’ll pick up anytime.” Micheal says. Willow unlocks her phone as he adds his numbers to it.
“Thanks, but I don’t think I’m going to need it,” Willow says, shaking her head, but didn’t move to stop him either.
“I’m very serious. Call me anytime.” he said as he moved to sit next to Willow on the opposite side of the bed. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“What? You have a sprained ankle, you really think I’m just going to let you lay in bed in my house alone,” he explains as he turns back to watch tv Willow smiling at him.
The next morning, Willow woke up, turning on her side and stretching her legs. Wincing at the pain that the stretch put on her sprained ankle. She got up from the plush bed, hissing as she put weight on her ankle. Putting her foot up in the air, she hopped from the bed to the doorframe, taking a hold of it and taking a breath.
A door across from the guest room opened up, Micheal was walking out wearing what now Willow realized must be his go-to wardrobe choice. Black t-shirt and black jeans. He was running his fingers through his black wavy shoulder length hair as he gazed landed on her. A smile immediately on his face.
“The injured has risen,” he said as Willow huffed.
“I’ve risen but it's the question of continuing past this door,” she said as she pushed off the doorframe and hopped her way on one foot towards the stairs and stopped, as Micheal just looked on amused.
“Don’t take this the wrong way at all. But allow me to carry you past the stairs,” Micheal offered as he walked up to Willow.
“What? Doubting my hopping skills? If flamingos can do it so can I,” she said as Micheal raised his brow at her.
“Well not to point out the obvious but you did sprain your ankle while walking upstairs. I can’t imagine you going downstairs. Allow me,” Micheal said as he picked her up easily as he walked down the set of stairs and set her gently down when he reached the last step.
“Now, you can continue your amusing impression of a flamingo,” Micheal said as he left her side and walked to the kitchen, Willow hopping behind him on her uninjured foot towards the kitchen.
Willow went to sit at a chair, pulling out another one to set her leg on as Micheal brought her a steaming cup of coffee. Willow didn’t miss the look he gave at her foot stretched out on the chair.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing, just thinking about other ways to help your discomfort but that’s going to have to wait until after you eat, or well that could actually help now” he said, picking her up and walking out towards the backyard. Willow struggled in his hold that she couldn’t get out of.
“What are you doing?” she asked, as her eyes saw the pool he was walking towards.
“Oh, hell no you aren’t–” she said as he stopped at the edge and let go of her, as she clung onto him, as they both ended up in the water.
Surfacing seconds later, Willow moved her wet red locks from her face as Micheal moved his dark hair from his face, sputtering water and laughing.
“Didn’t think you were going to take me with you,”
“Yes, well, when one tries to dump someone else in the pool be prepared to be taken in as well,” Willow said as she was treading water, as Micheal smiled.
“You can be pissy all you want. But answer me this, does your ankle hurt now?” he asked, swimming closer to her.
“Now that I think about it, no it doesn’t. But see you could have suggested it and not thrown me in the pool. Plus, I don’t have anything to change into,” Willow said, swimming closer to Micheal, stopping when they were inches apart and his brown eyes were boring into hers, as she leaned in closer.
And he pulled away.
“Yes, well I’m going to go get towels and clothes for you to change into,” Micheal said going towards the edge of the pool and getting up, leaving Willow in the pool.
“You're really going to leave me in here, one-legged as I am? I can’t get out,” she said as Micheal turned to face her, a smirk plastered on his face at Willow’s situation.
“More time in there will do your ankle good, plus warm towels,” he added before padding off into the house, leaving Willow by herself in the pool, thinking on how he pulled away from her.
Chapter Four
Monday morning…
Walking towards the school entrance, Willow spotted Julie, a big smile gracing her face.
“Oh, looks like someone has taken a liking to our school. Back again for more?” Julie q
uestioned as she stopped at the entrance, waiting for Willow.
“What can I say, I like the place. There are always more absences here that I can fill in for a long-term. Longer term means bigger pay. And more time at a certain school means I can get a contract and stop hopping from school to school all the time.” Willow explains, as Julie smiles at her.
“You know I won’t stop until you tell me why you seem happy to be here on a Monday. Of all the dreaded days,” Julie commented, nudging Willow with her elbow.
“The weekend looked bleak last Friday, but then it took quite an interesting turn actually,” Willow said, leaving Julie hanging.
“You get some over the weekend or what?” she questioned, as Willow shook her head and smiled.
“You won’t believe me, but twisting my ankle was the best thing that happened last week,” Willow said as she started walking down the steps. A car pulled up to the front of the school. Both she and Julie looked in that direction.
Micheal steps out of the car and waves in Willow’s direction at her. Willow noticed in her peripheral vision Julie was smiling at her.
“How’s the ankle?” he asks, as Willow smiled at his concern.
“Good, thanks to you. Thanks again for that, save Friday.” Willow replies, as Evan gets out of the car and walks onto the campus. Hood over his head as he walks past Willow and Julie, but Willow could detect a smile gracing his face underneath that hood. Micheal got back into his car, waving at her as she and Julie waved back as he drove off.
“Wait, he helped you with your sprained ankle on Friday? Why didn’t you text me on Friday or over the weekend about it?” Julie questioned, as she walked with Willow excitedly.
“My phone died, I didn’t have the charger,” Willow answered at first with a shrug of her shoulders, not knowing what else to say as an explanation. Then stopped Julie with a hand to her shoulder and answered honestly.
Learning To Love Again (Book #1 In The Learning To Love Again Series Page 2
