Learning To Love Again (Book #1 In The Learning To Love Again Series

by Jessica Danielle

  “Ok, what about?” he asked

  “Just want to know a little more about you. And well about Pam really. We don’t have to go there if you don’t want to,” Willow says cautiously.

  “Oh, the divorce. Well, we met in the 90s. I liked her. I wanted to be married, start a family. It seemed fine at first. But then things broke down. And it was like we couldn’t agree on anything. And I felt like whatever I would do wasn’t right. So, we got a divorce. It would improve our lives and not make Evan miserable. Plus, I was in my 30s when I got married, the societal pressure of it all,” Micheal explained.

  “Well now, you are in your late 40s. Plus recognizing the issue and dealing with it is big. And looking on the positive side of things that came out of it, Evan resulted from that relationship. So, there was a reason you two came together,” Willow said, trying to keep the atmosphere positive.

  “You're right, he is a pretty cool kid,” Micheal said, pouring the dry mixture into the bowl, combining it with the eggs.

  “If I may ask, you don’t have to talk about it but Andrew–” Micheal said, as Willow got up from her chair and walked around the kitchen island.

  “He came off like a dream guy at first. Then he turned me away from my friends and family. Even Amanda, and she got worried. Then, well, we know how he started trying to control me in other ways,” Willow said as she grabbed a fork to cook the bacon and sausage on separate pans.

  “Well, we both have issues,” he said, trying to make a joke, as he rubbed his hand against her arm, in a way to comfort her, noticing that she was zoning out.

  “It’s not that, that bothers me. You know that. I’m worried he’s going to come back at some point. I always feel like I have to watch my back everywhere I go,” Willow admitted, flipping the bacon around.

  “Well, if he only knew that you were packing heat now, he certainly wouldn’t be coming around,”

  “Oh, I agree. That would be something I would want to see, him running scared,” she said rolling the sausage on the pan for the other side to brown. And then taking out the bacon and sausage and draining them on paper towels. With Micheal finishing up the pancakes putting 2 on each plate.

  Willow put a couple pieces of bacon on her plate and took one into her mouth, a bite into it.

  “Plus, if he knew who my boyfriend was now, he wouldn’t come around bothering me,” she said, as Micheal choked on a bite of sausage.

  “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, no, just didn’t expect you to call me your boyfriend, that’s all. Especially after one date,” He said, as Willow shrugged her shoulders.

  “We’ve been through a lot already. Plus, you know, as if I would just let anyone lick salt off my neck,” She explained, as Micheal laughed, and then stopped. Looking across her at the island as she was biting into a sausage link.

  “You realize that makes you my girlfriend,” he stated, as Willow grinned at him.

  “Yeah, I guess so, huh?” Willow replied, a smile gracing her face at the realization.

  “You know, if you want to call Amanda–” Micheal said as Willow got up from her chair, stopping short of leaving to kiss him. Before running off to grab her cell phone upstairs to talk to her best friend. As Micheal continued eating his breakfast with a smile on his face the entire time.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Willow was floating on cloud nine the entire week after spending the weekend with Micheal. Nothing bothered her, not even when she had to sub for a junior high class a couple times during the week. Because she was so happy to let anything bother her. She was officially Micheal’s girlfriend, and it was his week to have Evan at his house. Willow was excited to spend more time with the teenager over the weekend. But also nervous, wondering if Micheal had already told his son about the relationship or not.

  Then there was if he already told Pam, his ex-wife about the relationship.

  Which made Willow shudder at the thought of Micheal having to tell Pam that alone.

  “Hey, are you packing up for your wild weekend at his house again?” Amanda asked, leaning against the doorframe of Willow’s room.

  “Wild weekend with Evan present? I don’t think so. Trust me, it’s a good thing that I’m packing for myself instead of letting you pack for me again. But let’s not talk about me. What about you going out to dinner with Tommy and Eric? You think one of them could be the one?” Willow asked, watching as her friend sputtered and turned a shade of pink that was comical.

  “What are you talking about? They are just Micheal’s friends. And he roped them in the deal to help with the food for the date. I tagged along to watch the show. The dinner and drinks afterwards were just a victory lap in your honor really,” Amanda said, as Willow enveloped her friend in a tight hug.

  “You know I’ve said it already this whole week but thank you for pushing for me to stay with him over the weekend. In your own pushy way, of course,” Willow said as Amanda wiggled her eyebrows at Willow.

  “You still holding out on me about the juicy details? I know something happened other than making out and body shots,” Amanda said, pressing her friend further on the topic.

  “No, there really was nothing else that happened. I mean, we talked about our issues, which was good,” Willow replied, tucking a stray lock of her red hair behind her ear.

  “That’s good. Also, could be a blessing in disguise waiting even one more date to do the horizontal tango,” Amanda quipped, as Willow rolled her eyes.

  “You seem to like to distract me with that. When I know you have a big decision to make? Tommy or Eric? Who will the final rose go to?” Willow asked dramatically, throwing her hand over her face as Amanda smacked her arm playfully.

  “Pft like there's even a decision,”

  “Wait, you already know which one? Please tell me, Micheal is going to want to know,” Willow said excitedly, placing her hand on her friend’s shoulders and squeezing them.

  “There's no decision, there’s no contest. Amanda loves Amanda foremost. And I shouldn’t have even told you about the stakeout with them, anyway. You’ve always been the ‘give you an inch, you go a mile’ friend with details like that,” Amanda said as Willow looked at her friend straight in the face and laughed.

  “Wait, you say that you don’t do that? Cause you do that too, you know?” Willow asked rhetorically, as her cell phone buzzed in her pocket.

  “That’s mister lover-boy now, isn’t it? I can see it now. Willow, oh Willow, come to my house so I can cover your body with kisses,” Amanda said, laughing as Willow was looking at her phone.

  “Speaking of, I should get going, he’s saying something about wanting to make pizza for dinner. So, I’ll see you Sunday evening,” Willow said, grabbing for the duffel bag and hugging her friend.

  “You know it's going to be Monday morning. We both know that. And just do nothing I wouldn’t ok?” Amanda questioned pointing at Willow.

  “That’s my motto in life, see you Monday,” Willow said as she left the apartment, her heart racing in excitement.

  Driving up the gate in her old dependable Toyota Corolla, Willow pulled the rfid card that Micheal had duplicated at the security office for her. Sliding it through the reader and hearing the beep, as the gate opened up. She drove through passing house after house, trying to remember how many turns he took to get to his house.

  She drove up to an intricate gate, leaning over the open window to punch in the code he had given her that opened up the gate to the property. Waiting for it to slowly move, she breathed a sigh of relief, only seeing his cars on the property.

  Don’t know what I would have done if I had to run into Pam.

  Willow parked her car next to the suburban, opening the door she heard the front door open.

  Willow barely made it a step out of her car. Immediately enveloped in a very energetic hug, as Evan rocked Willow back and forth.

  “Hi Miss Willow,” Evan said excitedly in his cracking voice, as Willow smiled up at the teenage boy. He was wearin
g another hoodie, this time a gray one and a t-shirt and jeans.

  Willow looked past Evan and noticed Micheal was standing at the entrance, shaking his head at the exchange between the two of them.

  “Well, I’m happy to see you too. It excited me when your dad said that you were coming this week. I wanted to hang out with you more. And I brought a few surprises that are in the trunk,” Willow added, watching the smile that crept up on his face.

  Looks exactly like his dad.

  Willow leaned down on the driver’s side, clicking the trunk open as it popped up in back. Micheal walked up to the two of them, as Evan went to the back to open up the trunk. Micheal leaned forward, hugging Willow.

  “Don’t worry, I already explained it to him at the beginning of the week. Told him and his mom about it. It’s ok,” Micheal explained the unasked question that seemed to be written all over Willow’s face, about the relationship. If Evan knew about them being together.

  “Come on Evan, let’s help her get her things in the house,” Micheal said as he walked towards the back of the car, as he picked up the duffel bag, moving back with wide eyes as he took ahold of it with both hands.

  “Did you pack everything you owned in here?” he joked as he saw Evan picking up grocery bags.

  “What's that?” Micheal asked, as Evan passed him up and into the house with an enormous smile on his face.

  “Willow said she brought surprises with her, that means you can’t peek either,” Evan said as Micheal laughed at his son’s response.

  “Oh, I can see where he gets it from now,” Willow said as she closed the door to her car and grabbed the last of the bags from the trunk, slamming it shut. Following behind Micheal into the house.

  “You know you didn’t have to bring anything except yourself, and well clothes of course,” Micheal said, setting her duffel bag by the entrance, grabbing the grocery bags from Willow’s hands.

  “Yeah, but it’s a surprise for later, ice cream, candy and maybe a little alcohol for us for later,” Willow said as she followed Micheal into the kitchen.

  “Good, because we are making pizzas tonight,” Micheal said as Willow stared out into the backyard, seeing the pizza oven outside, but her eyes remained on the pool and jacuzzi.

  “Bring a swimsuit?” Micheal asked, as Willow smirked up at him.

  “Brought a lot of things with me, Mr. Stanley,” she said as she watched him look at her open-mouthed, as she walked away laughing to herself. As she joined Evan on the couch in the living room, who was watching tv.

  Willow glanced back and saw Micheal leaning against the kitchen sink, splashing water on his face.

  “You ok there?” she asked, leaning her head back against the couch as he sat next to her on the couch.

  “Yeah, totally,” he said in a shaky voice that did little to convince Willow.

  “You know my mom talks about you a lot. Heard her talking to a friend, and she said that she doesn’t like you,” Evan said as he got up from the couch.

  “Is it ok if I play video games in my room before dinner?” he asked, as Micheal nodded, and Willow waited to respond until she heard Evan’s footsteps fade.

  “So that happened,” she said with a sigh, not truly able to grasp the information that was spouted out to her in an honest moment from a teenager.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to Pam alone tomorrow when she comes to pick him up. Don’t worry about the stuff she says. She doesn’t know you. Not yet anyway. She’s saying that stuff, which she shouldn’t around Evan. Because she’s jealous and feeling threatened,” Micheal said rubbing circles slowly on Willow’s back trying to comfort her.

  “Ok, I guess you're right,” she said as Micheal got up.

  “I’ll talk to him about saying stuff out of turn right now though, let's work on dinner,” he said as he walked in the direction that Evan ran off to moments ago.

  Micheal came out of Evan’s room, relieved that the conversation between him and his son went better than he expected. With Evan promising to apologize to Willow when they all sat down for dinner. He walked out into the living room and saw that Willow wasn’t sitting on the couch like when he left to go talk to Evan.

  He remembered she had been looking out at the pool earlier.

  Probably went to get in the jacuzzi after the week she had with that junior high class.

  Micheal looked at the sliding door that led out of the backyard and saw that Willow had left the door open a crack. He opened it further, walking out to the pool, seeing Willow’s hair from underneath the water, as she popped up facing away from him and treading water.

  “You scared me, I thought you left,” he said smiling, as she turned, and his smile fell.

  Besides the red hair, there was a little resemblance to Willow, but the woman was older, and the red in her hair was clearly a cheap dye job.

  The woman looked up at Micheal with a smile on her face as she leaned her arms against the edge of the pool.

  “Thought you wouldn’t ever see me again, huh Micheal? When you know we are meant for each other, have been, always will be,” she said, smiling wider and wider at him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Willow looked out at the pool from the studio that Micheal had built where he could work on his artwork without having to rent a studio space. She tried to bang against the door, her hands around the knobs, trying to twist to twist them to no avail.

  “Just when you thought you were safe. You know how horrible it was for me to hide out and wait for you to let your guard down?” Andrew asked Willow from behind her as he placed his hand over her mouth. She fought against his hold, scratching against his hands, his arms. Trying to get a pained reaction out of him so he could let give her enough time to get away from him. Willow could smell the alcohol on his breath from behind her.

  “Ah ah ah, not this time. Just breathe,” he said, putting a cloth over her mouth, her eyes rolling in the back of her head as she slumped in his hold.

  “Don’t worry Willow, I’m going to take you away from him soon,” he said as he pulled her to him and kissed her on the mouth.

  Willow woke up later, feeling woozy. She looked out the windows and saw complete darkness.

  Must’ve been out for a while.

  She got up off the ground slowly, feeling around the dark studio. Her hand glided up a smooth metal pole and then felt a cushion.

  A chair, good.

  She gripped her hand on it, leaning her weight into it to help her into a standing position, gritting her teeth as she struggled to get up from being in one position for so long. How long? Willow couldn’t tell.

  Willow’s eyes adjusted to the lack of light in the studio, looking around and seeing that there were chairs scattered about, used canvases and blank ones scattered about with sheets on the floor.

  Where is he? Where is Andrew?

  Willow stumbled forward towards the door and took a breath against the throbbing pain in her legs. She looked around the room, knowing she would have to be prepared if Andrew was outside waiting for her. Willow’s eyes narrowed on a can of paint thinner as she picked it up, unscrewing the cap and wincing at the potent smell that came from the container.

  “This will do in a pinch, I guess,” she said aloud, as she moved to open the door and walk out slowly into the night. The can of paint thinner knocking against her leg as she walked cautiously, her eyes scanning the property as she went. Slowly to not create too much noise. And just wanting to get inside the house so she could call the cops.

  Willow made her way across the yard and stopped. Her eyes landing on the figure that was coming towards her, illuminated by the pool lighting.

  “Willow, I've been looking all over for you,” the person said, moving closer, as Willow picked up the container of paint thinner up closer towards her chest, ready to throw it.

  Then the person moved closer, and Willow saw it was Micheal, concern all over his face.

  “Where is he? Where is Andrew? That last time t
hat I saw him it was in the studio,” she said looking around, as Micheal took the container of paint thinner and took it out of her hands. Placing it on the ground away from the two of them.

  “Andrew? The cops came and arrested him, Willow, it's all over,” Micheal said, in a calming tone, as he went to hug her.

  “What about Evan, is he ok?” She asked, still not convinced.

  “He’s good. Saw nothing. He was fast asleep in his room.” Micheal said, as Willow felt his fingers rubbing soothing circles against her back. Willow felt his arms leave her as she stumbled back because of her sore legs.

  He quickly swiped Willow up, carrying her bridal style, easily with one arm, as he moved a piece of her red hair out of her face. She winced as his fingers landed in her hair slightly. He does it again but lighter this time, as he pulled his fingers away that were covered in blood.

  “Must’ve bumped your head.” Micheal said, as he opened the back door and walked through it and through the house and up the set of stairs that led to the second floor of the house.

  He walked to the master bedroom, his room, and placed Willow gently on the bed, as he went into the bathroom. Willow heard the bathtub being filled with water, and then it being turned off. Micheal walked back into the bedroom, as he smiled softly at her.

  Micheal went to help Willow up in a sitting position, as she pushed his hands away. Wanting to do it herself, because despite her legs hurting, she could still move.

  “I can get up. You should go check on Evan.” Willow said, as Micheal looked at you.

  “I called Pam after it all happened, she ended up taking Evan for the rest of the night.” Micheal explained, as Willow stood up, as his hands went to her shoulders to steady her.

  “So, it’s just us then,” Willow said, as she looked up at Micheal with a tired smile.

  “Yeah, it is just us. But I think before anything, you need to get cleaned up.” Micheal said, as Willow walked slowly to the bathroom and saw the extent of everything when she looked at her reflection in the mirror.