Chapter Eight.

A woman cannot survive on sex alone, her grumbling stomach reminds her. She's not complaining, but honestly can't remember the last time she ate a real meal. They've been subsisting on whatever food they can scavenge from his nearly empty cupboards.

This morning she combed through his kitchen and managed to find what she needs to make pancakes while Will's out for a run. Flour, sugar, milk, butter, eggs....she pours each ingredient into the bowl, her head in the clouds.

She's never been happier in her life. Love is a magical feeling. Will's magical. She can't believe she denied herself this pleasure all this time. What was I thinking? She knows what stopped her, but fear has gotten in the way of her happiness for too long, she has to have a little faith.

The thought of going back to New York later this afternoon is making her nauseous. She doesn't want to leave him, but she doesn't have a choice. In three months she'll be on winter break, and her internship begins in late-January. Will said he'll come to New York every possible weekend and she'll come down to DC when she can.

It won't be that bad. She closes her eyes, taking slow breaths, in and out. Who am I kidding? It'll be hell. She wants this year to be over so they can be together.

UB40's reggae version of Can't Help Falling in Love with You comes on the radio and she turns up the volume, dancing around the kitchen while she mixes the batter. Using the wooden spoon as a microphone, she twirls around, then screams.

"Oh my god, you scared me!" she cries, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. She didn't hear Will come in through the front door.

He's standing in the doorway to the kitchen, his t-shirt soaked with sweat, wearing a Red Sox cap and a huge grin.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Never. You're adorable." Will gives her a sweaty hug and kiss.

"Go clean up, breakfast is almost ready."

"Why don't you come upstairs and join me?" Will asks as he runs up the stairs, stripping out of his sweaty clothes as he climbs.

Tempting, very tempting. Her stomach begins to burn with a different kind of hunger, so she turns off the stove and follows him upstairs. What's another twenty minutes?

Running back downstairs to finish making breakfast, the doorbell rings, startling her. Will's still in the shower and she's wearing one of his t-shirts, her wet hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Should I answer it?

She hesitates, making sure the shirt covers all necessary body parts, then opens the door to find a woman standing on the stoop. She has long blond hair, blue eyes and very sharp features, and is dressed conservatively in black pants, a pink cardigan set, carrying a Chanel purse.

Is she a wealthy Jehovah's Witness?

"Can I help you?" Julia asks, politely.

"I'm looking for William Kennedy?"

The woman checks the number on the house again, and Julia feels a knot growing in her stomach. Who is this woman?

"He's indisposed. Is he expecting you?" She pulls the t-shirt down, praying her underwear isn't showing. This woman's giving her the creeps, the way she's inspecting her.

"Are you Julia?"

She knows my name?

"I'm sorry, have we met?"

"No. I'm Avery Smith. An old friend of Wills."

Avery? Ex-girlfriend Avery? Julia raises her hand to her mouth.

"Babe, can you bring breakfast up here?" Will shouts from the top of the stairs, "We have a few more hours of celebrating before you go!"

She cringes, turning toward the sound of his voice and willing him to stop talking. Julia holds her breath, her cheeks hot with embarrassment, and Avery's eyes have narrowed into slits, her mouth pinched into a tight, straight line.

"Julia!" Will shouts again, descending the stairs in a towel, his hair dripping wet. "Are you okay? Who is it?" he asks, pulling his towel around him tightly.

"You have a visitor," she says, eyebrows raised.

Will shakes his head, confused, then takes a few more steps down and freezes, his mouth dropping open.

"William! So good to see you!"

"Avery?" he whispers. "What are you doing here?"

"That's how you greet an old friend?" Avery pouts.

"Sorry....no...of course not." He shakes his head and stutters, "Uh...you caught me off guard. I'll...I'll be right back, let me put on some clothes."

Facing off with this polished, elegant woman, Julia feels exposed. She may as well be standing in the doorway naked as a jaybird.

"Please, come in, Avery," she says with as much dignity as she can muster, "Have a seat in here." She waves her arm to the right, indicating the dining room. "Excuse me," she mutters and runs upstairs to the bedroom.

"Will, what the hell is she doing here!?"

He's thrown on a pair of shorts and a polo shirt, and wraps his arms around her, trembling.

"I don't know Jules. I don't know how she even found me."

"What're you going to do?" She grabs clothes from her duffle bag, and pulls on leggings and a sweater.

"I have no idea. Come with me."

Avery holds her arms out for a hug as they enter the dining room and Will walks zombie-like into her embrace.

"It's been too long Will. Five? Six years?"

"Something like that." Will nods slowly, "Avery, this is my girlfriend, Julia."

"So you're Julia. I've heard so much about you!" Avery rests her icy blue eyes on her, planting a fake smile across her face.

"Really? From whom?" Julia's stomach's in knots, but she puts on a brave face and looks Avery in the eye.

"Oh, here and there!" Avery throws her head back and laughs, "Rhode Island is such a small place."

Julia knows exactly who told Avery about her. It had to be those horrible women from the wedding.

"Avery, how did you find me?" Will grabs Julia's hand, his fingers clasping hers tightly.

"Were you hiding, Will?" she laughs, "I bumped into Joe Butler from your old neighborhood. He told me you were living down here and gave me your address."

"Joe Butler gave you my address?" Will asks, skeptically, "I haven't spoken to Joe since we went skiing after Christmas last year."

"Well, when he told me you were living here I asked him to get it from your parents."

Something is not right with this woman, Julia thinks, studying Avery, brow furrowed. She squeezes Wills hand, trying to transmit some chutzpah his way, but he's crumbling before her eyes. Come on Will, get it together! She wants Avery out of the house, her mere presence is sucking the oxygen from the room.

"Why don't you two go out back. Avery, would you like some water or tea?"

"No. Thank you," Avery answers without a glance her way, and slides her arm through Will's as they walk toward the patio.

Julia spies on them from the kitchen window. Will seems desperately uncomfortable, sitting in a wrought iron chair, his back rigid, and staring straight through Avery. What on earth is she doing here? Her body language is delivering a pretty clear message. She touches Will's arm and thigh repeatedly as she talks, leaning toward him the entire time. Her behavior is blatantly flirtatious.

If Avery leans in to kiss him, I'll have no problem throwing the first punch.

Her stomach sinking, she walks into the pantry and slides to the floor. There's nothing coincidental about this. Call it woman's intuition, but she feels it in her bones. Moving to Washington was a calculated move on Avery's part. That woman's trying to worm her way back into Will's life. Why now?

Julia rests her head in her hands and sighs, remembering what Will shared with her last Christmas. An innocent game of Truth or Dare turned into a confessional and he finally revealed to her what happened with the mysterious Avery.

After Christmas dinner with Will's family, they went sledding at Burr's Hill Park, navigating the hills for over an hour, and getting soaked in the process. They headed to her house and changed out of their wet clothes, then arranged the blankets and pillows in front of the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate, then vodka.

"Want to play Truth or Dare?" Julia asked on a whim. She had no idea she was taking the lid off of Pandora's box.

"How old are you again?" Will shook his head and laughed, "Twelve?"

"So you don't accept the challenge?" She raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Really, Jules? Fine, I'm game. I've never played it before."

"You've never played truth or dare? Okay then, me first. What'll it be?"

"Truth," Will said after a moment.

Good. Julia wanted to get to the bottom of the Avery situation.

"Let's see. I'll start with a standard question, to ease you into the spirit of the game," she paused. Oh, to hell with it! May as well get straight to the point! "Who's Avery?"

"That's a standard question?" he sputtered, then stared into the fire for a moment before answering. "Someone I dated in high school. We broke up before I left for college,"

Julia sensed there was much more to the story, but didn't push him. Yet.

"My turn, Jules," he cleared his throat, clasping his hands together. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." She didn't want him poking around in her head!

"I should've known," Will chuckled, "Are there any guidelines or restrictions I should know about?"

"Hmm..." she tapped her finger against her temple, in faux thought, "Well, the last time I played this in middle school there weren't."

"Excellent," Will smiled, "I dare you to climb the tree in your backyard. Naked." She choked on his last word, then coughed, holding her hand in the air.

"Okay. I just made a rule. No nudity."

"Julia..." Will's shoulders sagged, "You just took all the fun out of this for me."

They went back and forth a few rounds, and she took it easy on him, laid off the Avery topic for a little bit. But she was determined to get to the bottom of that situation! So, after a particularly ridiculous dare, she decided to dive back in.

"You're not getting off easy after that one!" she laughed, "Get ready, Will."

"I'm ready," he smiled, taking a deep breath in. "I pick dare."

"I dare you to tell me the real reason you and Avery broke up."

His eyes grew wide, then he took a sip of vodka, paused and sighed.

"Do you really want to hear this?" he asked, turning to her.

"I really do," she nodded, "Take another sip, it'll loosen your tongue."

"We dated for about a year," he sat up and stared into the flames. "She was the first girl I ever slept with." Another swig of vodka. "It was high school, Julia. She was pretty and we had the same group of friends, but...I don't know...something was missing. We didn't have a lot to talk about when we were alone. I did break up with her before I went to college, that's the truth. It wasn't a complicated split."

She remained silent, waiting for him to continue. She could see the pain in his eyes. What happened between those two?

"You can tell me, Will," she whispered. "I won't judge."

"I came back from school over Thanksgiving and saw her at a party. We were both drunk and ended up having sex." Will turned to her, his eyes clouded with tears. "It was just sex. I didn't want to get back together with her. A month later, I came home for winter break and she called me, crying. She said she was pregnant and the baby was mine."

Oh. My. God.

"I didn't know what to do." Will laid back against the pillows. "She was a senior in high school. I'd just started college. My parents would've killed me. I thought about asking her to marry me. That's what people do, right?"

"Not necessarily, Will... this isn't 1955!" She brushed the hair away from his face, and noticed a tear seep from the corner of his eye. "So, what happened?"

"She had an abortion," he said, his face crumpling, "I'm Catholic, Julia. Abortion is wrong and I did nothing to stop her."

Wow. She could see how that'd mess with the head of a good Catholic boy.

She was raised Catholic too, but fundamentally disagrees with key church policies, that one included. But, it didn't feel like the time to make an argument for a woman's right to choose. She lay down beside him, and held his hand.

"Did your parents find out?"

"No. I've never told anyone. Not even Ellie."