Page 47 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“The different arcade games. I don’t know if any of them are still happening now, which sucks, but I can at least do this for her.”

“Damn, you got it bad.”

“I’ve loved her for almost my entire life, Jeremy. I’d do anything for her, even if she doesn’t remember me.”

“Well, can you do something for me?”

I glare at him, causing him to laugh.

“It’s nothing bad. I swear.”

“Fine, what do you need me to do for you?”

“Tell me the real reason as to why you two lost contact when you were young.”

“What? I told you, she left town.”

“But she’s been missing for fifteen years, Noah. Facebook, Instagram, even fucking TikTok…You said you’ve never been able to find her. What happened back then that she literally disappeared?”

I freeze. Jeremy grew up closer to the city. He’d never met Willow when we were kids because her father kept her locked up during the weekends. When Jeremy did come up to visit for the summers, we always went to my father’s cabin. I never told him her name because I didn’t want him to get involved. He dealt with enough shit when we were kids, and burdening him with my obsession wouldn’t have been fair. No one’s known about my obsession with Willow Parker all these years, except for Monty. He’s the only person who knows everything.

“Remember that murder that happened in my hometown?” I ask as I pour another glass of bourbon, then one for him.

“The dude who killed his wife? I think so.”

“That was her parents.”

“What? The psychopath who stabbed his wife to death is her father?” Jeremy asks, shocked. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Because, it was around the same time that you…well…” I nod my head toward him.

“Oh…Well, what about after that? You’ve been searching all this time. Every time I joked that you still hadn’t found the right woman when you dated the same looking chicks, you just said you were still looking…You really haven’t stopped looking for her all this time?”

“No.”

“Jesus…So, now that she’s back, do you know what happened to her? Or where she’s been for all these years? Fifteen years is a long ass time for someone to be a ghost.”

“She said she moved to Texas to live with her grandparents. I looked them up. They weren’t her real grandparents.”

“Adopted?”

“Yeah. I did some digging earlier after she left the interview. Kim and Augustus Bennett were the supposed grandparents in Texas who took her in when her mom was murdered. Turns out they were part of an organization that helps women and children escape domestic violence situations. Apparently, it was all set up that Willow and her mom were going to move to Texas to live with them, like a foster family, but they never made it there.”

“Shit. So they still took her in and adopted her after her mom was killed?”

“Yeah.”

“So what now? When are you going to tell her who you are?”

“I don’t know yet. I don’t know what to do. It’s not like I’m going to bring it up at the office, but she doesn’t want to go out again.”

“Well, I’m glad you finally told me the real reason she disappeared. It makes sense now.”

We sit in silence, finishing off our drinks. A heavy pressure feels lifted from my chest. I’m not proud that I’ve hid this truth from Jeremy for all these years. Back then, he suffered so much because of that vile woman who gave birth to him, and I didn’t want him to be weighed down by my shit too.

“Damn, it’s late. Well, technically early. Can I just crash here tonight, and we can go get your little rabbit some plants in the morning?” he laughs as he stands and stretches.

“You know you’ll always have a room here.”