His Willow

chapter 8 - elsie

everyone gets changed back into their own clothes and the photographers pack everything away from the shoot.

Michelle and Lisa are sorting at paperwork at the desk and I'm just generally tidying up before I leave to go to the libary.

I say my goodbyes to Lisa and Michelle and say thank you for everything before leaving and heading to see Elsie.

I walked today because I only really use my car if necessary because I like walking.

I just like being outside and to see the world in my perspective if that makes sense.

It was only a 5 minute walk so it wasn't long.

✩ ✩ ✩

I walk in and the bell goes off, I look at elsies desk and she isn't there?

it doesn't look like nobody is in here either.

I furrow my eyebrows as I walk to the back room to see if Elsie is there.

the door is closed so I open it slowly and she is sat on a chair, her hands massaging her head as I see tears fall out of her eyes.

she's holding a frame at her lap and she keeps staring down at it which makes her cry more.

"elsie, hey what's wrong" I ask as I walk further into the room.

she looks up at me and her eyes are all puffy from her crying.

"oh willow, it's okay don't worry about me I'll be okay in a second" she says as she laughs dryly and tries to quickly wipe her eyes.

"Elsie tell me what's wrong, speak to me. please." I say as I get a chair and sit opposite her.

"today, is a hard day for me. every year on this date I just find myself breaking down" she says but doesn't look up, her head is still on her hands.

what happened. why on this date? I ask myself.

"it's the date my husband died." she says as this time she looks up. this time her saying that made her cry more.

that makes my heart break for her.

I gulp before speaking.

"I'm so sorry."

she smiles slightly.

"he had a few concerns regarding his health and one day out of nowhere he had a heart attack and died because of it. I found him on the floor of our hallway when I came back home from here. he obviously was trying to get to bed because he always did that in the day because he got tired out easily. but he didn't make it to the bedroom, he had a heart attack on the floor" she says looking down from me.

I gulp down tears that I feel coming.

"I always think would he have died if I came home earlier but I know he wouldn't want me blaming himself for his death. god I loved him so much.

we met at school. high school. I was always in the school libary and one day he spotted me all alone sitting reading a book and joined me. he sat with me every day since then. we grew closer and about 6 months later he asked me out to ice cream. he was so nervous when he asked me I found it very funny. I loved him so much, probably even at that point as well. after that he asked me to be his and we were strong ever since. we went to the same college and grew together. at 23 I found out I couldn't have children. George wasn't bothered. he said 'as long as I have you I'm complete' and so because I couldn't have children we fostered. we loved those children like our own and it was time to let them go it was so hard for both of us. we stopped fostering at 48 because it was harder as we got older so we got dogs instead. we loved them just as much. we got older, grew together our love for each other got stronger as we got older. he died at such an unexpected time I didn't have much time to process what was happening. today 4 years ago, was the day I found him on the hallway. this is a picture of him and I on our wedding day" she says showing me a future of her and her husband. they looked so in love.

at this point I'm full on crying and so is she.

I reach out and give her a hug.

"I'm so sorry that happened. she sounds like an amazing person, you can talk to me whenever okay" I say to her as we pull away from our hug.

"when you loose somebody don't shut anyone out like I did. It will make it harder okay."

I cleared my throat before speaking.

"I lost my mum. that was really hard for me. still is." I say quietly as I look at my hands.

"oh dear come here." she says pulling me into another hug.

"you might not be ready to talk but when you are, you come to me okay." she says and I nod.

"right I'm going to sort myself out before I scare off customers" she says laughing.

she walks out giving me one last smile and I do the same.

I wipe my eyes as I walk out.

as I walk closer i see Reece.

he see's me and he furrows his eyebrows as he walks closer to me.

"are you okay?" he asks me.

I don't say anything but reach forward and bringing him into a tight hug. It's a bit hard considering he's really tall.

he goes completly stiff for a second but then he loosens up and hugs me back.

my arms wrap around his neck and his arms rest loosely on my waist.

I pull away from the hug and he looks taken back.

"I'm sorry. I just really needed that right now" I say looking down at my hands.

"don't apologise" he says and I smile slightly.

"why were you.." he starts his sentence.

"it was Elsie, she was really upset about her husband and told me about him. It brought back memories and it was really sad listening to it" I simply say.

"he was a great man." he mutters quietly.

"he sounds like it" I respond.

"I just know how hard it is loosing somebody, it hurts like nothing else in this world" I say which catches his attention.

he looks up and stares at me for a few seconds.

"me too."