Chapter 129

“I’m going to um… find the police officers so I can give them my statement,” Spencer said as an excuse to leave the room. Will and Emma called out to him, but he didn’t listen. He walked out into the waiting area and sank into a chair. There was a heaviness in his body, different from the one before. It was the weight of heartbreak. He was no stranger to it. It seemed he had bad luck in matters of love. Always the wrong one, he thought. Sabrina spotted him as he wallowed and sat beside him.
“Having a pity party?” she nudged his shoulder.
“Part of me hoped that maybe I still had a shot, you know?” he sighed. “It was a small part, but it was there.”
“I was rooting for you,” she smiled. He looked up at her and couldn’t help but laugh. It was a sad sound.
“Thanks. I appreciate that, but I think we all knew it was a lost cause from the start. It was always going to be him.”
“You know, the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else,” she teased. “I said that to Emma once about you.”
Spencer blushed. Emma’s friends were so different from her. They were bold and brash. But in all the best ways. When things calmed down and they were able to restart their lives, he hoped he’d still be a part of the group.
“That’s… nice of you.”
“Jess likes you. She said, and I quote, ‘that man is so fine. When I’m all healed up, I’d like for him to break me again’,” she wiggled her eyebrows.
“Oh my God,” Spencer’s face was bright red. “You girls are too much.”
“You have no idea. Listen, I know it hurts now. But it will pass, and she’ll always be your friend. And me too now. And Alex. You were there for her when I couldn’t be.”
“Thanks,” he smiled. “It’s funny. I got so immersed in work and my last relationship. I woke up one day and realized I didn’t have many friends. Really any.”
“Well, we’ve survived a pretty crazy ordeal together. So, I think that means you’re stuck with us. And, for what it’s worth, I think Will thinks of you as a friend now.”
“Now that I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve got to admit he’s not as bad as I wanted him to be. He’s actually a cool guy. Dammit,” he chuckled. “I wanted to hate him, but I can’t.”
“You’re a good man, Spencer. It’s going to suck for a while. But you’ll be okay. Just don’t ask Jess out as a rebound and then break her heart. Because then I’ll have to kill you. Then we’ll have to revive you so Emma can kill you too,” she smiled and pat his shoulder. “Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Good,” Sabrina stood. Before walking away, she looked at him. “I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you’re not alone anymore.”
“I know. It’s a nice feeling.”
Back in Emma’s hospital room, Will and Emma were alone. The silence was thick between them as neither knew what to say to the other one.
“I heard about what you did,” Emma said. “To save us. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”
“But it was. It was so easy. I would have done anything to get you out of that situation. It’s my fault you got hurt. He used you to get to me. I’m sorry.”
“Will…”
He knelt beside her bed and took her hands in his.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep anything from ever happening to you again. This never would have happened if I wasn’t such a fucking idiot before. If I’d never left you…”
“I asked you to leave me,” Emma whispered.
“You did. But when had I ever listened to you before?” he smiled. Emma laughed at his joke.
“You’re different,” she mused. “What happened?”
“I lost my way for a while. Let myself get caught up in what I thought I wanted. But that’s in the past now. I’m done chasing ghosts. The only thing that matters is what’s in front of me. Nothing and no one is going to stop me from getting what I want.”
His molten honey eyes stared at her, and she could feel her skin heating up. His eyes never left her. His gaze went into her soul, and she felt more exposed to him than she ever felt.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice was small.
“You.” His answer was short and simple. She had expected more. That one word carried more weight than she thought a word could have. Her mind and heart fluttered, but it opposite directions.
“I’m still really confused…”
“That’s fine. Take the time you need to figure it out. I’m not going anywhere. I made that mistake once. I’m never going to do that again.”
“It’s not that I don’t care about you…”
“You care about you more,” he echoed her words back to her. It stung Emma because she realized that Will had carried that with him all this time. “It’s okay. You’re supposed to.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, a tear escaped.
“Why?”
“I knew how you felt about Grace and that seeing her again could confuse you. But I let my own feelings could my judgement.”
“Hey, I meant it when I said I didn’t want to talk about her.”
“You’ll have to talk about it eventually.”
“I know,” Will sighed. “But we both know how good I am at not talking about things,” he smirked.
“Um…” her face was red. She looked up at him through her lashes. “That night, before you left, I heard you say something. You said, ‘I wanted to try’.”
“You heard that?” Will’s eyes went wide.
“Yeah. I did. I wanted to tell you. I um… I wanted to try too.”
“Then let’s try,” Will said, hope burning in his eyes. “We can do things the right way. I can do things the right way. I’ll ask you out. You’ll say no, but I’ll keep insisting. I’ll make grand gestures to show my interest. When you accept, I’ll have Jason curate an outfit tailored for you for the specific date. It’ll be over the top of course. You’ll think you look ridiculous, but of course you’ll look like a goddess in it. I’ll send Minnie to your apartment so she can watch Lizzie because I intend to keep you out all night. I’ll take you to a romantic dinner, and I’ll listen to you gush about your work and a new project you’re involved in. Then when the night is done, I’ll take you back to the treehouse behind Pop’s house. They’ll be a blanket laid out. And right there, I’ll have my way with you,” he held her chin up with his fingers. “But I can’t promise I’ll be able to wait that long. I may just have you right there in the restaurant.”
“Will,” she whispered, trying not to show the effect he was having on her. “I… I can’t lie to you and say I haven’t thought about it. I meant it when I said I wish you hadn’t listened to me. But I’m afraid that we’ll fall back into our old patterns. We didn’t work before. Why would we work now?”
“That’s right, Emma. You keep fighting. Keep fighting against who we were. And I’ll fight for who we’re going to be.”
Those words sunk deep into Emma’s heart, breaking the walls she had built to guard her against William Stewart. When she thought of him, it was only thoughts of the past that plagued her. She never allowed herself to think of a future with him. Even when he found his way back into her life, she wouldn’t entertain the idea. A future with Will? What would that even look like?
“It won’t be easy,” she said.
“I don’t care. If I wanted something easy, I’d give up and walk away. I’m ready to fight for you. I’ll fight the whole world if I have to.”
“Why me?”
“Because you drive me crazy,” he answered. Emma raised an eyebrow.
“What?” she scoffed.
“You make me feel things in a way that I never thought was possible. You make me furious sometimes. The worst part is that sometimes I was certain you did it on purpose. You challenge me and make me want to be better. And I want to show you how much better I can be,” he smirked.
If he keeps talking like that, it’s going to be hard to resist him.
“I… Let me recover, and then maybe we can talk about this some more.”
“Of course.”
“In the meantime, we really need to talk about these baby ball gowns.”