Page 3 of Willa

Willa

And there he is, more gorgeous than I remember. It’s totally unfair. He even has the same thunderous look he was wearing the last time I saw him, when he tossed me out of his bedroom with my clothes hugged to my chest.

I’m frozen, so we just stand here staring at each other. Maybe he forgot my name and is trying to figure out where he knows me from, why I look familiar.

I’d rather him forget than have him remember every single detail in Technicolor, like I do. I hope he’s not sitting there wondering if he’s going to find me in his bedroom uninvited again. My cheeks burn with that thought. I’d rather die than ever throw myself at a man. Never again.

“David,” Andrea says. “We were just unpacking to give you a few more minutes to work. Then you’re ours for the weekend. You remember Willa, don’t you?”

“Willa.” He says the name as if he’s experimenting with the sound. “Of course I remember Willa.”

Though the way he says my name, like he hasn’t said it in four years, has me wondering. Maybe Andrea’s right and not only did he forget the last time he saw me, but maybe he’s forgotten me all together.

Still, the low rasp of his voice has my nipples pebbling. Great. Looks like he still has the same effect on me. I give him a tight smile then return to putting my clothes in the empty dresser drawer Andrea assigned me.

“Why don’t you two finish getting settled? I’ll see if I can make a dinner reservation.”

He turns away without waiting for a response. “He’s not as sweet as he used to be,” I grumble to myself.

“Yeah,” Andrea agrees. “This job’s made him a little bit of an asshole.”

I look out at the San Francisco skyline. David was always nice to me. His patience and kindness — okay, and his hot body — were what attracted me to him in the first place.

David had always been so far ahead. It left me feeling like I was straggling behind. By the time I finally got to high school, he was in college. When I graduated from high school, he was done with college.

Yet through it all, he always made time to talk to me. He’d never been too cool to spend time with me. I realized a little too late that it was because he saw me the same way he saw Andrea.

“You okay?” Andrea asks.

I shrug.

“He didn’t seem to remember anything.”

I nod. It’s the outcome I hoped for and yet it’s left me hugely disappointed. Would I rather he remember turning me down so epically? Or would I rather he not remember me at all? Were those the only two options?

I wish there was some sort of hybrid option where he remembered all the time they spent together, but that last night was wiped completely from his mind.

With a sigh, I turn away from the window, zip my empty suitcase and shove it in the closet next to Andrea’s.

“Let’s go find out where he’s taking us to dinner,” she says. “Maybe we should dress up.”

I hope not. I hadn’t brought anything nice to wear since I hadn’t known about David. I trail behind Andrea down the hall. We follow the sound of David’s voice, ending up in his home office.

“Yes, thank you. I appreciate that,” before tapping his phone and setting it on his desk.

“Do we need to dress up?” Andrea asks. “Or do we look okay for dinner?”

David looks at Andrea, then his eyes cast in my direction. As his gaze wanders down my body, every inch of my skin lights up as if it’s his hands moving over me. My breaths stutters as I wait for his reply.

Finally, he clears his throat. “This is the west coast. I can only think of four restaurants that have a dress code. Bouchon isn’t one of them. Their sister restaurant, French Laundry, has a dress code, but they’re booked out a few months in advance.”

“That’s not in the city,” Andrea says.

“No, but it’s worth the drive.” He looks at his watch. “We should head out soon. We got a reservation for seven and with rush hour traffic, it can easily take two hours to get there.”

“I’m still going to change out of the clothes I traveled in,” Andrea says as she takes my arm and leads me from the room.

I’m not sure why she’s dragging me away. I have no desire to stay behind and talk to David like I used to. Even though it feels familiar to be around David again, at the same time, everything’s changed. And my best friend is acting weird.