Still Love You, the story of Willow and Silas, releases Feb. 14th!
Willow
“How’s college?” Silas asks.
We’ve been driving in silence for the past half hour. Silas isn’t much of a talker. I guess that’s not really true. It’s just that compared to me, who talks a lot, it seems like Silas doesn’t talk much. But I’ve been unusually quiet since he showed up because I’ve been too shocked to speak. I still can’t believe he’s here.
“It’s great,” I say. “I like the campus. I like my classes. The professors are good.”
I’d normally talk for hours about each one of those things, but right now my mind isn’t on school. It’s on Silas and how I’m going to survive the summer with him being around me every day.
“That’s it?” He glances over at me. “I thought that one question would keep you talking until we got home.”
“I guess I’m just tired.” I shiver from the cold air blowing on me.
Silas notices and turns it off. “So what else is new? I haven’t talked to you forever.”
“It’s only been two years,” I say softly, now regretting it’s been so long. It’s my fault we haven’t talked. Silas called me every day after he left, but I wouldn’t answer. I couldn’t. It was too hard to hear his voice. Eventually, his calls dwindled to once a week, and I still wouldn’t answer. Then it got down to just one call a month, and again, I didn’t answer.
“Two years is a long time.” His gaze is on the road ahead of us, his hand wrapped around the steering wheel, his thumb lightly tapping it. “Friends shouldn’t go two years without talking.”
Silas and I were more than friends. So much more. Which is why I couldn’t answer his calls.
I pull my seatbelt out enough for me to turn toward him. “Silas, I’m sorry for not returning your calls.”
He shrugs his shoulder. “Forget it. It’s the past.”
“It’s not the past. You called just a few weeks ago and…I should’ve answered.”
“So why didn’t you?” His thumb continues to tap the steering wheel as his eyes briefly check the side mirror.
“I um…” This is hard to explain. And I don’t want to. Telling him why I didn’t answer his calls would mean telling him the truth, and I can’t do that. It would only lead to us both getting hurt. Again. “I just didn’t think it was a good idea…since we’re not together anymore.”
It’s partially true. I knew talking to him would be way too hard, at least for me. I was trying to move on. Trying to get over him. But even without answering his calls, I’m still not over him.
The truth—the real reason I didn’t talk to him—is that I still love him. It’s been two years since we broke up, but I still love Silas.
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