“No!” Willow cried.
“Stay if you want,” Autumn said. She made a mocking sound. “It might be helpful to me if you stayed. Willow needs to learn that she’s still a girl, not a woman. She’s not old enough to judge what women do.”
Darcy almost said, Not all women do what you do, but she bit her tongue. She sank back into the chair and waited.
Autumn took a moment to gather her thoughts. When she spoke, it was gentle, directed right to Willow.
“You know that photo I snapped of you eating a chocolate ice cream bar and reading a book? You were completely absorbed by that book. You didn’t see me come into the room. You didn’t even know you had dripped chocolate on your favorite shirt. You were really going after that chocolate ice cream like a starving child. You hadn’t combed your hair for hours and you had chocolate smeared on the end of your nose.”
“Oh, please,” Willow said in her most sarcastic voice, “don’t tell me you’re going to compare reading with sex.”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Reading while eating chocolate ice cream, to be exact. You were caught up in a world of your own. You were indulging your mind and your senses. You sprawled in that chair with your legs hanging over the side and your head practically on the bottom cushion. I snapped a photo of you with my phone and you didn’t say a thing. You were in a zone.”
“But that’s different!” Willow protested.
“Maybe. I could pull up that photo I took of you, the one that you wanted me to delete when you saw it the next day. You couldn’t believe what a slob you were. Ice cream on your face, on your clothes? Sex is like that, only more intense. It’s body and mind. It takes you into a world of your own.”
Darcy turned her face away from Willow, unable to hide her smile. Autumn was amazing, really, coming up with this comparison.
“Okay, then,” Willow persisted, “but don’t you have that with Boyz? He is your husband! You’re supposed to be faithful to him!”
“Boyz is my husband,” Autumn agreed quietly. “And you have no idea about the kind of pacts and compromises we have created to make our marriage work.”
“Ugh!” Willow moaned. “You mean like an ‘open marriage’? That’s so gross!”
“I’m not going into any details, Willow. Let me just say that Boyz and I are both attractive people who enjoy being attractive. The most important thing is that whatever we do as individuals, as a couple we are absolutely devoted to you. We will never stop loving you, we will never stop putting you first in our thoughts and in our hearts.”
“Yeah, right,” Willow muttered, but she flushed and her eyes filled with tears.
“Come over here, Willow,” Autumn said, patting the cushion next to her.
Willow stuck her bottom lip out stubbornly.
“Come on, honey. Come on.” Autumn’s voice was so low and sweet, Darcy thought she’d sit next to Autumn if invited.
Willow gave Darcy a quick sideways glance.
Darcy read the message. It had been a long night for Willow, with lots of drama and the scare of Henry’s cut and Willow’s sense of failing to keep the boys safe, not to mention seeing her mother with another man. Willow needed her mother now. Whatever Autumn had looked like a few hours ago, right now, Autumn was Willow’s mother, completely focused on her. And Willow needed Autumn.
“I’ve got to get home,” Darcy said. “I’ll let myself out.”
Before anyone could say anything, Darcy rose and left the room, heading for the kitchen and the back steps. She caught a flicker of movement in her eye—Willow moving over to be embraced by her mother.
By the time she reached her own back door, tears were pouring down her face. She collapsed at the kitchen table, burying her face in her hands. She had no single memory of her own mother hugging her when Darcy was a teenager. Darcy had been living with Penny then, and Penny had been a fascinating and loving person, but not much of a toucher. Boyz seemed like an overtoucher, if that was such a thing, and maybe Autumn was, too, but her connection with Willow was clear and powerful.
Darcy wished she had someone to put his arms around her now.
18
Going with Mom to Boston for shopping. Sorry can’t do story time. xo W
Darcy sat at her kitchen table Friday morning, reading Willow’s brief text.
It surprised her, how her mood plummeted, like an elevator with its cables cut.
“Muffler,” she said to the cat who sat in the middle of the table staring at her, “we’ve been dumped.”
Muffler lifted one paw and industriously licked it, paying no attention to Darcy.