At the racket of his rusty engine outside the shop, my heart sank. He was the last person I wanted to see, but I didn’t want it to seem like I was avoiding him either, so I continued on with my work of wiping down the dusty vases.
“Did you order something from him?” Sandra asked.
I shook my head. “No, did you?”
She shook her head.
I sent a dark gaze towards the door. It was that look that he encountered when he walked through and it immediately stopped him in his tracks. One side of his face was still bruised from the punches that Caleb had landed on him, but I felt absolutely no sympathy for him. He diverted his gaze towards Sandra who was much happier to see him.
“Hey, how are you?” she said, while I pretended to be very busy with my vases.
“I’m alright,” he said to Sandra, then he came over to me. “Willow, can we talk?”
Suddenly, I felt angry with him. He had ruined my dream. “About what?”
He sighed. “I know you’re mad at me, but how I acted that day was not without reason.”
I stopped then and turned to him. “Bradley, I get that we have known each other for years, but I just can’t understand where you get off just butting into my life without permission.”
He was so taken aback by my tone that his eyebrows shot up. Even Sandra was shocked.
“Willow.”
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I said, slapping the rag I’d been using down. “And you owe Caleb an apology.”
I began to walk away, but his words stopped me. “Did you already know the truth, but pretended to yourself? Is this why you’re so angry? That I brought it to light?”
“What?”
“You already knew that he was the one that killed your uncle and set his house on fire, didn’t you?”
I felt the breath knocked out of me. “What?”
“Bradley!” Sandra yelled and instantly went over to him. She stood in front of him and muttered something to him.
I didn’t need to hear what she was saying to know that she was scolding him for opening his mouth. What on earth was going on? I ran to him and pushed Sandra out of the way. “What the hell did you just say?”
There was a tinge of fear on his face, but also defiance. He was glad he had said it. He was glad he had ruined my dream.
The world around me spun. I felt as if I was going to faint. I looked at Sandra. I felt wild, desperate. I needed help. I was spiraling out of control.
“He killed my uncle? And set his church on fire? What the fuck are you both talking about?” My voice was trembling and my eyes filling with tears.
Oh the frustration of being unable to remember anything. I constantly felt like I was a breath away from being hit with a brick about something detrimental to my identity as a human being, and this was one of those times. Unless they were joking with me or wrong in which case I would never forgive either of them.
“Sandra,” I turned to her and she came over to lightly hold my hand.
I snatched my hand out of her grasp and stepped away from her. “What the hell is he talking about?”
Bradley looked shocked as his gaze moved from Sandra to me and back to her. “She really doesn’t know?”
“Know what?” I yelled.
Sandra’s voice became sheepish. “Willow,” she said. “Your uncle’s death wasn’t caused by a simple fire. He was killed in the church and the murderer set the place on fire to cover his tracks.”
Tears burned my eyes. “The murderer?’ I turned to Bradley. “And you’re saying that murderer is Caleb? Are you both out of your minds?”
Bradley was undaunted. “I couldn’t bring it up with you the last time because I wasn’t sure yet. All I knew was that there was the possibility that he was the same Caleb Wolfe who Henry had been talking about, so I showed Henry his picture that night and he swore that he was the same person. I confronted Caleb about it, and well, you know what happened. I told him that he had a week to tell you the truth and he attacked me like a wild animal. I couldn’t even face you then because I didn’t know enough, but after finding out even more this week I’ve realized just how dangerous he is.”
All the strength had drained out of my body.
I was exhausted, mentally and emotionally. Were they playing with me, or was life playing with me? Why was this happening to me?
“Who told you all of this?” I whispered.
“I searched up his record, and there was some news written about it at the time. Although his picture wasn’t shown to protect him since he was a minor at the time, it was absolutely clear that he must have been the person.”