“Wigging me out,” she repeated, biting back a smile. “Is that, like, an official diagnosis?”
“It’s my professional opinion,” he said with a nod, loading up another fork.
She didn’t say anything for a moment, focusing instead on cutting up her food and eating it. Finally she put her fork down, cleared her throat, and said, “I got this crazy offer today, like… off the charts wild offer. An internship at a gallery in New York. It sounds like it could turn into something if I took it. But it’s in New York.”
“So, what’s wrong with New York?” Brian asked, eyebrows rising.
“Ethan doesn’t live there,” she stated.
His tone dropped to a more serious decibel. “I see.”
Willow braced herself for him to tell her how stupid she was to even consider passing up an offer that could launch her career for a man who had a whole life she wasn’t a part of, but he didn’t, because he was Brian.
“I get it,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Pulled in two different directions. Love or career. You’re not even the legal drinking age yet and he has a wife and three kids. Big, big stuff.”
“This is going to sound stupid, so don’t make fun of me, it’s just… I’ve never felt this way before. And I know, I know… that’s not saying much. But it’s just… I can’t even explain it. It feels so much deeper than I can logically explain. It feels like the kind of thing I’ll never feel again, no matter how many relationships I have spanning however many years. It feels like something I only get once.”
“You’re in love,” he said, simply.
Crossing her arms, frustrated, she shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”
“Nothing simple about love,” he told her, smirking.
Willow’s arms remained crossed and she avoided Brian’s gaze. “I know how it sounds. But we haven’t even had a chance to be together yet, and I’d have to leave for this internship in two weeks.”
“What are the chances of you getting another internship like this one?”
“Probably not good. But what are the chances of me finding another Ethan?”
Brian grimaced, and Willow blushed.
“Shut up, don’t even,” she said, turning an even deeper shade of red.
Holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender, he said, “Okay, okay. I won’t make fun of you. I want to, but I won’t.”
“My life is a joke,” she stated.
“It… kind of is,” he allowed. “Just don’t make any rash decisions. Think it through. Consider all you’d be giving up in both scenarios. Once you’ve got a clear picture of that, make the decision you think you’ll regret the least in 20 years—you know, when you’re Ethan’s age.”
Willow rolled her eyes. “He is not twenty years older than me.”
Brian grinned. “I know, I’m sorry. I wasn’t allowed to make fun of you and I needed an outlet, so it fell to him.”
Willow sighed. “I feel so… awful.”
“Well, you’re in love, so sure.”
“No, I mean about tonight. It’s not like I could actually be mad at him for standing me up to take care of his sick kid, but it definitely made me feel… second best. Which, I am, and I have to be okay with that. It’s not like I’d want it any other way—he’d be a pretty epically shitty dad if he put dinner with his new girlfriend ahead of helping take care of his sick child, right? And I wouldn’t like that—I like that he’s a great dad. I mean, I don’t have much experience in that department myself, so it’s nice to see, but… it’s definitely not the romantic picture I always envisioned. It’s definitely messier.”
“Well, expectations and reality don’t usually match up, especially the romantic sort. I don’t have those kinds of responsibilities, so luckily I can’t really speak to that, but…”
“I feel like I have to be cool about it or I come off like some young idiot or a Disneyesque wicked stepmother type.”
He shrugged. “I can’t really help you there, except to say that’s what you’re signing up for. When you are looking at what you’re giving up in both scenarios, make sure you acknowledge that. Right or wrong, petty or fair, that’s how it makes you feel.”
Willow nodded and retrieved her fork, stabbing a piece of chicken and shooting Brian a playful look. “I think I like you better when you’re making fun of me.”
Offering a grin and a wink, he said, “That is my main appeal.”