Lee ground her teeth as she peeled peaches and fought to keep her mouth shut.  Bill Franklin, good-looking man that he was, was driving her to a different kind of distraction.  He’d been ‘making an argument’ eloquent enough for the toughest courtroom in the nation.  It was brilliant.  Fascinating even.  However, Willow was obviously torn ready to crack under the pressure.
Three times, she’d picked up her phone to call Chad and three times, she’d snapped it shut.  It wasn’t any of her business.  The minor fact that it wasn’t any of Bill’s business didn’t change anything.  She had to do the right thing.
Raised voices, however, were more than Lee could stomach.  She hated conflict.  It took twenty minutes to manage, but she burst into the living room with a pitcher of water and Willow’s only two glasses on a tray.  “A glass of cool water anyone?”
“Thanks.”  Bill’s face and voice were strained.  Maybe he wasn’t the creep he seemed.
“We were discussing a business proposition I’ve been given,” Willow said as she took the glass from her.
“Oh really?  What is it?”
“That store you suggested in Rockland?  Boho?  They want me to design children’s pieces and run a sister store.”
Lee was floored.  It was such a fun proposition but she instinctively knew that Willow would shrivel in a job like that.  “I think you were born for design.  That dress you wore to the Faire was out of this world.”
Willow’s head snapped up surprised. “Really?”
“Yes.”  Lee took a deep breath and smiled at Bill.  “Do you worry about her in the city?”
“What do you mean?”  His confusion was more than evident.
“Well, she’s so active here.  Outdoors, in the fresh air and sunshine- Do you think she’d be happy in a store all day?”
He honestly hadn’t thought of it.  Bill had seen the business proposition as an answer to all of his problems.  She’d be there- in the city.  They’d be able to get to know each other and maybe eventually… “I think she’d have a lot of opportunities that she doesn’t have here.  There are gyms and walking trails at city Park.”
“So what you suggest is that she move from here to create an artificial here in the city?  Why?”
Willow watched their verbal sparring like a tennis match.  Her head swung from speaker to speaker.  Lee spoke like she thought the job was a wonderful thing but something about her demeanor indicated that she was irritated with Bill.  “So Lee, why don’t you like the city option?”
Lee shrugged.  “I’d love it if I had that opportunity.  But then, I love the city.  I’m hoping to open another salon there someday but I wanted to get my feet under me on a smaller scale first.”
“But-” Bill and Willow spoke simultaneously.
“But Willow doesn’t love the city like I do.  Have you seen this incredible life she has here?  Why should she give it up for something that is only a fraction of what he loves?”
Bill stood his hands in his pockets.  “She needs physical therapy. She can get the best in Rockland.”
Lee’s eyes narrowed.  “So she should overhaul her entire life for this job and a temporary need?”
A first-class thorough argument ensued.  Willow watched fascinated by the exchange.  The words flew faster than her mind could process them until Willow finally stood and crawled up the stairs to her room.  So thoroughly were Lee and Bill engrossed in their verbal sparring, they didn’t notice for several minutes that she’d disappeared.
Lee’s eyes widened.  “Oh my word.  I-”
“Excuse me.”
Lee, expecting Bill to leave in a huff, was surprised to see him hurry up the stairs.  “He’s got it bad,” she muttered to herself.  “He’ll push her away if he keeps this up.”
Bill knocked on Willow’s door from the doorway.  “May I come in?”
“Are you done arranging my life?”
“Please forgive me.  I let my personal feelings-”
Willow’s eyes blazed.  “And just what are those?”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he stepped into the room.
“Well, you know, everyone but me seems to know what you’re talking about.”
Bill sat next to her on the edge of her bed and played with her fingers.  “You know, I never expected to- I mean, I’m over ten years older than you but-”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
He misunderstood the question and launched into a long and rambling attempt to explain his growing attraction and the deeper feelings he’d recently developed for her.  His heart sank as she shook her  head and waved her hands at him.  She didn’t want to hear it.
“That’s not what I meant.  I don’t understand why ten years or twelve or whatever it is should matter.”
“Well it is somewhat unusual.”
“It didn’t used to be,” she retorted absently.
“So you aren’t bothered by-” he fumbled again.  Why was it so difficult to talk to her?  He’d never had trouble communicating with other women who had interested him.
“Well, to be honest, it’s a little weird.”
He steeled himself for rejection.  “I understand.  I hoped you’d consider-”
“Well it’s just that I had that silly crush on you and now you’re saying all the things I dreamed of eight years ago.”
He grinned.  “Care to accept a delayed declaration of my undying affection?”
“Ok, that’s just nauseating,” she laughed.
“I agree.”  He waited for her to meet his gaze.  “I’ve been so excited about your opportunity but I was wrong.  I was excited for me and what it meant for my dreams.  I still am.  I selfishly don’t want you to stay here on this farm and continue the life you led with your mother.”
“I don’t see why-”
“I could never live out here.  I know some people commute to Fairbury but I’m a city guy.  I hate it out here.  I hate the sounds of the bugs and not knowing what is slithering through the grass.”  His eyes drooped for a moment.  “It’s embarrassing to admit but I hate that there are no streetlights.  It’s dark out here.  You don’t even have electricity!”
“Well we have it but-”
He nodded resignedly.  “That’s my point exactly.  You choose to turn it off.  I could never imagine life without all the conveniences I can gather.  You walk to town for fun.  I use a treadmill.”
“And you’d never consider living anywhere but in Rockland?”
A wretched look crossed his face.  “I want to say that I’d give up anything for you.  I feel it but-” He shook his head.  “But it isn’t true.  I won’t leave the city.  My life is there just as yours is here but I thought-”
She nodded understanding.  “You thought that maybe my life was still up for definition?”
“Yeah.”
With a shrug that meant little to either of them, Willow sighed.  “Maybe it is.  I don’t know.  I hadn’t thought of it before Monday and now you’re out here telling me that it’s possible this offer could be even better- someday.”
“You haven’t decided against it?” he questioned surprised.
“Mother would be ashamed of me for ever turning down something without giving it serious consideration.”  She gave him a sly smile.  “Not to mention, I happen to know Mother thought you were extremely handsome and a very nice man.  She hated the idea of male-female relationships but she knew a good man when she met one.”
“Your mother was so hurt by her circumstances that I think the only way she could cope was to shut off that part of her life.”
A quiet calm stole over the room.  Bill marveled that she hadn’t kicked him out on his ear.  He’d essentially told her that she wasn’t important enough to him for him to consider what was important to her.  Of course, it was a little early to think like that anyway but Bill was, if anything, an honest man- honest with himself more than anyone.  He couldn’t fathom loving anyone enough to live in what he considered ‘the boondocks.’
A slight sniff penetrated the silence.  Bill brushed a tear away with the back of his hand.  “What-”
“I miss her.  She was so strong- so wise.  I miss her.”
Willow choked back the emotion that she’d successfully stuffed for so long.  This was no time to lose control.  However, Bill, wiser than he gave himself credit for, wrapped his arms around her and ordered her to let it go.
“Cry Willow.  We’re meant to cry.  I’ve even cried for her.  Of all people, you have the right to hurt, to weep, and to be a little angry with your loss.”
Her tear-flooded eyes sought his.  “You’ve cried for Mother?”
“She was a friend.  We spent little time together, and most of that was professional, but Kari had a way of entwining herself in your heart if she let you into her life.”
“I want her back.  Mother was my best friend, my confidante.  She was- well, she was my mother!  I want my mommy.”
***
“I want my mommy.”  Lee crept back down the stairs as those words drifted out Willow’s doorway and into the hall.  She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop.  She’d climbed the stairs to make sure Willow didn’t need a buffer but those heart-wrenching words sent her scurrying back downstairs and out the back door.
Chad met her at the back door with sandwiches in hand.  “I stopped at the deli but I didn’t know he-” Chad jerked a thumb at Bill’s sedan, “Would be here.  I’ll leave these and go get me something else to eat.”
“We already ate Chad.  It’s after two.”
“Oh right.  Then I’ll eat one.  What’s he doing here?”
Lee glanced sharply at Chad’s face.  Either the nonchalance was expertly applied to his features or Chad was making small talk.  “Well, right now anyway, I think he’s up there consoling a grieving girl.”
Chad stood ready to go to Willow’s aid but Lee stopped him.  “Bill has it, Chad.  He’s got it covered.  This time.”
***