I finished sorting and we started machines for both sets of clothing.
Willow returned the detergent to the man and I saw her try to hand him some money, but he refused.
“Please, sir,” she said softly, “I feel awful
to use your stuff and not reimburse you for it.”
He shook his head again and said something in a hushed tone that I couldn’t hear.
Willow’s face scrunched with emotion and she nodded. “We can do that.” She opened her arms and hugged the man.
He was surprised by the gesture and slow to hug her back, but once he did it was like he didn’t want to let go.
After a moment Willow returned to our corner rubbing at her face. Her eyes were rimmed with red.
I sat down on the floor and she sunk down beside me and laid her head on my shoulder.
“That guy, his name is Frank and his wife died a few months ago. He’s all alone.” She sniffled and I reached over, smoothing my fingers over her cheek and wiping away a few tears. “He wouldn’t take my money, but he said there was one thing he did want.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, pressing my lips to her forehead, unable to help myself.
“He wanted us to have dinner with him. That’s it, Dean. He didn’t want money, just company. In a world that’s ruled by monetary things…it really touched me.”
“I’m glad we can do that for him then.”
I felt her nod against my chest, the scent of her shampoo tickling my nose.
Sometimes the media portrayed Willow as a stuck up brat, and it made me mad, because if they saw her here like this they’d know she was the furthest thing from it. She had the kindest heart of anyone I knew.
Idly, a thought occurred to me. “Willow?”
“Yeah?” She lifted her head so she could look at me.
“How come the media hasn’t followed us on our trip?”
Don’t get me wrong, I was glad, especially now because I didn’t want anything getting back to her dad before we could tell him we were together, but it was weird. I’d seen photos of her on the covers of gossip magazines and online while she’d been living in New York City.
She shrugged against me. “I guess they haven’t figured it out yet. Besides, I think they were getting pretty bored of me since I never do anything interesting.”
I snorted at that. Willow was always getting into trouble.
“Never do anything interesting, huh?” I played with the soft ends of her hair.
Her twinkling laughter echoed around us. “Well, by their standards I guess. Skydiving doesn’t compare to going to a club and getting photographed with a random one night stand.”
I cringed at her words even though I knew that wasn’t Willow.
“The media is ridiculous.”
Despite my family’s wealth, for the most part we were left alone. I felt bad for Willow and her siblings, not to mention the other kids of her dad’s band members. They were famous only because of who their parent’s were and that had to be hard. They were trying to figure out who they were, all while being poked and prodded beneath a microscope.
“They are.” Willow agreed with a soft sigh.
We grew quiet and I was seconds away from dozing off when she spoke.
“I’m not going back to college.”
“What?” I startled fully awake and turned to look at her.