Page 1 of Willa

ChapterOne

Willa

“Of course David’s going to be there. It’s his house,” Andrea says as we lug their carry ons through the airport.

I stop dead in the middle of the hallway between the gates and the baggage claim, my mouth open. “You said we were staying with family. I thought David moved to New York.” My heartbeat thumps in my ears at the thought of seeing Andrea’s older brother.

“He did. He goes back and forth between San Francisco and New York.”

“Andrea,” I growl through gritted teeth as fury surges through my veins. There’s no way this was an accident. She kept this from me on purpose.

Andrea ducks her head as her shoulders inch toward her ears. “Though he’s been spending more time in San Francisco lately.”

“You said we were staying with family,” I remind her.

“David is family.”

“Andie.”

“Fine. I fibbed a little. You wouldn’t have come if you knew David was going to be here.”

“No. I wouldn’t have.”

Andrea stops and turns toward me. “He doesn’t remember.”

“I remember. My face is going to look like a tomato the entire time we’re here. I can’t believe you waited until we landed to drop this bomb.” I pull my phone from my pocket. “I wonder if I can change my return flight.”

“That’ll cost at least a thousand dollars. Come on, Willa. It’s been four years. I’m sure he’s forgotten by now.”

Humiliation roils in my gut. I can’t even stand to hear the name David anymore, and it’s a stupidly common name. I’ve had a crush on David for as long as I can remember.

As a teenager, I had some stupid fantasy that he was my ideal and I was going to save myself for him. So I had. The problem was, he hadn’t wanted what I offered. I can’t even think about the last time I saw him. I have to block it from my mind or my stomach revolts.

“I might need to find a restroom.”

“We just came from the bathroom.”

“Yes, but then you told me I’d be facing the man I threw myself at on the day I turned eighteen. So that toilet was for pee. This toilet, I’m going to throw up in.”

“It’s not that bad, is it?” Andrea tilts her head and reaches out to touch my arm.

I take a few deep breaths and wait for the nausea to subside. I shake my head. “I can’t believe you did this to me.”

“Willa,” she says with a little too much concern in her voice.

I wish she’d been more concerned about my reaction before blindsiding me with a situation I would have happily avoided for the rest of my life. As a wave of people surrounds us, Andrea pulls me off to the side.

I stare out the windows at the tarmac to avoid the flash of pity I saw in her gaze.

“Willa, don’t you think you might be catastrophizing a tiny bit? I mean, does he really know you were throwing yourself at him? He probably just thinks you tried to kiss him.”

I glare at her description of what happened. She wasn’t there — thank God — so she has no idea the complete humiliation that ensued. For a while, I didn’t even tell her what happened. But she knew something had happened and eventually weaseled it out of me, like she always does. Though I might have left out the part where I stripped down to the lacy lingerie I bought for the occasion.

“It was a pretty epic turn down,” I remind her.

“To you. To him, he probably was flattered. You remember it—“

“In excruciating detail.”

“Right, you remember it in excruciating detail because you didn’t get what you wanted. He probably doesn’t remember it at all because it wasn’t traumatic for him.”

“Do you really think he doesn’t remember?”

“Women throw themselves at David all the time. You probably got lost in the shuffle.”

Great.