How to Tame a Silver Fox novel · Chapter 13 of 32

Chapter 13: Window

He did not say it the way a man says a hard thing.

He said it like a fact, and then he stood there and let it be one.

I had asked for no cleverness, and I got none.

That was the worst part, because I had nothing left to hit.

"Thank you for not lying," I said.

"Willa."

"Don't drive me anywhere."

"I wasn't going to offer."

"Don't bring my things to the cottage either. I'll send Junie."

"Tell me where to put them and I'll leave them at her door."

I looked at him for one more second.

Then I walked across the parking lot with my coat open and my mother's locket in my fist, and I did not turn around.

I know he stayed where he was, because nothing followed me but the wind.

Junie lived in a third-floor apartment over a laundromat, with a radiator that knocked.

She opened the door in pajama pants printed with small avocados and took one look at my face.

"Oh, honey," she said, and pulled me inside by the sleeve.

She had four trays of cookies cooling on every flat surface.

"You heard," I said.

"The whole art building heard. The front desk has a group chat."

"It's true."

"I know." She pushed a hot cookie into my hand. "Eat that and then tell me which part you want to scream about first."

"Is it true that you left your shoes in a closet and walked out of a dinner party?"

"That one is the least of it."

"Then I'll save the rest for after the cookie." She tucked her feet under her. "Somebody called the front desk twice today asking for you."

"Who?"

"She wouldn't say. She left a number and said, and I'm quoting, 'Tell Willa I know who held the wheel.'"

Keep reading free with an account. Start How to Tame a Silver Fox from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.