In Harmony

My chest felt warm and tears blurred my vision. “Say it again,” I whispered.

“I love you,” he said. “So much.” His hand slipped behind my neck and he brought my lips to his. Kissed me softly, then deeper. “I’m glad you woke me up. There’s something I wanted to tell you, too.”

“Better than ‘I love you’?”

“I hope so. I wanted to tell you… I started to tell you at the theater the other day but I ran out of time.” He smiled a little. “I got too busy with other things.”

“Other things were worth it.”

“But I wanted you to know that whatever life you want, that’s the life I want to give you. If you want to live in Harmony, I’ll live in Harmony. It won’t be the torture I always thought it would be. With you, I see it differently. I’m going to go and do something with my acting, to make you proud. To be worthy of you.”

I put my fingertips to his cheek, to the scar where his father had hit him. “You’d really stay here for me?”

“For us,” he said. “I want to do whatever it takes to make you happy. And besides, I hated the idea of leaving Martin and Brenda anyway. And not seeing Benny graduate.”

“It might not be forever,” I said. “I just want a little bit of quiet for a little while. I want to heal first. Here.”

He brushed the hair back from my face. “I want that for you too. More than anything. I love you, Willow.”

“I love you, Isaac,” I said.

We kissed until a small laugh burst from me, and I smiled against his lips.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. Just happy.”

“Me too.”

I kissed him again and just as I settled my head against his chest to sleep, I heard it. A car coming down the quiet street. Isaac froze beneath me, his heart thumping in my ear. We listened as the car drew nearer, slowed, and the crunch of tires rolling into our driveway.

“Oh, God,” I breathed, tossing the covers off. “My parents.”

Willow

I flew to my window. Below, my parents were in the driveway, climbing out of my dad’s dark gray BMW.

“Oh fuck, they’re home. Why are they home?”

I spun around. Isaac was already putting his jeans on. “Fastest way out?”

“God, I don’t know,” I said. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, making it hard to think.

From outside, I heard loud voices. My clock radio read 3:30 in the morning but my parents were arguing, my mother’s shrill voice echoing across the quiet streets.

Isaac had his boots on now. “Willow?”

“Wait,” I said. “Hold on. They never come in here. We wait until they go to bed, and then I’ll take you out the back door.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded and opened my door a crack to listen. The security system beeped at the front door and my parents carried their argument into the house. My dad spoke in hushed tones, my mom at the top of her lungs, and both their voices carried easily through our cavernous house.

“When is it going to be enough?” Mom said. “When? When they relocate you to the North Pole?”

Isaac gave me a look. I shrugged, shook my head.

“I’m a senior vice president,” Dad said, sounding tired and strained. “It’s an emergency situation, so I need to be here.”