If Only (The Willowbrook Series Book 1) by Ashlyn Mathews Page A

his Grandma Jo’s pickup truck.
    With a sigh, Asa loosened her grasp on the handle of the umbrella and prepared herself for the long walk home on a dirt path flanked by tall grass. Along the way, she tried her best to not think about Rhys. There’d be plenty of time for that since he was staying next door at his Grandma Jo’s place, making it very likely they’d run into each other again.
    Jo . A heart attack took her in her sleep, that’s what the doctor had said. Good for her she hadn’t suffered, providing Asa some comfort. And she’d meant it when she told Rhys she loved his grandmother.
    Maybe if she was raised to believe that showing emotions was a good thing, she’d have cried for Jo at the service. Instead, she had stared at the ground to hide her grief, hoping to God no one thought of her as a cold and unfeeling person.
    As a child, her mother encouraged her to suppress her temper. Angry little girls weren’t well liked, that’s what she’d said. When her parents’ marriage started to get rocky, her father convinced Asa to keep her anxiety and sadness over their fights hidden behind closed doors.
    “Smile, Asa,” he’d said. “Then the world wouldn’t know of our family’s problems. Believe in it enough, and you could fool yourself, too, that everything is fine,” he kept saying. Just like he had done.
    And being the agreeable daughter she was, she had listened to her parents. During their fights, she’d hole herself in her bedroom. Often times, she cried herself to sleep. But the majority was spent imagining the pillow in her bedroom was her mother’s head as she hurled the nearest heavy object at the innocent target, her anger consuming her at what her father tolerated from his wife.
    Eventually, her bedroom became less about hiding her emotions and more about immersing herself in the angst of a great book and an even better song. But when Rhys had left town after graduating from high school, those two things weren’t enough. Soon, she took up a different activity that had her feeling closer to him while giving her an outlet to release her anger and sadness over her parents’ failing marriage.
    Unfortunately, the activity she had chosen was dangerous. Oh well . No one would ever know.
    Hell, even Jo hadn’t suspected, and they were neighbors.
    Half an hour later, two houses came into view, the sight of Jo’s place causing her chest to constrict. Tonight, while Asa lay curled up in her bed, she would cry for Jo and the grandson who loved her. For now, she needed to get out of the cold, wind, and rain. Her fingers were numb while her teeth chattered.
    Catching sight of the pickup truck parked in the driveway separating her place and Jo’s, her gaze swiveled to the picture window of Jo’s living room. The curtains were drawn, giving her a full view of Rhys. He appeared relaxed, dressed in a pair of low hung blue jeans, and a black t- shirt that hugged all the right muscles. God, why did he have to look so sexy and dry to boot?
    When he noticed her examination, he lifted a brow. Butterflies danced in her belly, and she nearly tripped over her feet. Darn him for affecting her with such a small gesture.
    Well, she’d show him he wasn’t all that. Straightening to her full height of five-foot-three, she tipped her chin, squeezed the umbrella handle until her knuckles turned white, and stared forward.
    Almost there . A few more steps and she’d be out of Rhys’s line of sight. Just her luck, the wind chose that moment to blow a gust big enough to tilt her umbrella back, leaving it inside out while torrential rain drenched her clothes, making them sopping wet in seconds.
    Strands of her long hair plastered across her face and whipped into her eyes. She and the umbrella fought, and the umbrella won. Disgusted, Asa salvaged the mess of metal and cloth and scrunched the umbrella in her hand. Jo’s door flung open.
    “Issues?” Rhys called after her.
    “Nothing I can’t handle.” She stormed