“It never is,” Magnolia said gently. “But hard doesn’t mean wrong.”
Sutton flopped down onto the bench beside me, exasperated. “You love her. She clearly loves you. There’s a baby involved. What the hell are you waiting for?”
I stared down at the letter again, trying to make sense of the mess in my chest. I wanted to go. Idid. But what if I’d already missed my chance?
“She’s not waving because she’s lonely,” Magnolia said, her voice soft. “She’s waving because she believes you’ll see her. Don’t prove her wrong.”
I turned toward my sister. Quiet, sad eyes and a crumpled frame sat next to me. She was destroyed, too. Our lives were upended. The romances, the fire, the bar, gone forever. She needed me.
I needed her, too.
“You need me here, Magnolia, I…”
She shook her head, placing a gentle hand on my arm. “I don’tneedyou, Charlie. I like having you around because you’re notonly my brother, but you’re my best friend, too. But I do not need you to fix me.”
Looking back out over the square, Magnolia took another deep breath, arms crossed tight over her chest like she was holding something in. Or maybe keeping something safe.
“Tally doesn’t need you to fix her, either, you know,” she said, voice steady. “She just needs you to stand beside her. Not in front of her. Not behind. Beside. Do you get the difference?”
Sutton and I groaned in unison.
“You two are insufferable,” Sutton muttered, pushing off the bench. “We should be in the truck speeding down I-75. But yes, please, continue being wise and poetic, Magnolia.”
Magnolia smirked but didn’t take her eyes off the fountain. “The point is, Charlie… you’ve spent your whole life trying to hold things together. Me. Uncle Cole. The bar. Everyone but yourself. And maybe it’s time to stop.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she beat me to it.
“I’ll be okay,” she said, finally turning back to me. “Really. I’ve got Sutton. Our friends. This wild, ridiculous life I somehow still love—even though a big part of it just went up in flames. I want you to go live yours. Find your family. Build it. Be in it. And one day, when we’ve both got the love we deserve, we can come back together. Not to fix what broke. But to celebrate what we built.”
A knot lodged in my throat. I swallowed hard, trying to push it down, but it stayed right there—grit and hope all mixed together.
“We’ll still be us,” she said, her voice quieter now. “Just… bigger.”
Chapter Forty-Four
TALLY
Thebabyregistrygunmade a satisfying littlebeepeach time I pointed it at something ridiculous, which apparently gave me the unhinged confidence to zap everything in sight.
“This?” I asked, aiming it at a miniature baby robe with bear ears.
“Obviously,” Daddy said, pushing the cart like it was a parade float. “Every baby needs a robe. With ears.”
Beep.
“What about this?” I asked, holding up a wipe warmer with deeply skeptical eyes. “Do I need this? I mean, I’m a child of thenineties. I was raised on cold wet wipes and internalized shame, and look how I turned out.”
Daddy gave me a once-over and winced. “Scan the butt wipe warmer, sweetheart.”
Beep.
The next aisle was full of things I hadn’t even known existed—pacifier sanitizers, vibrating bouncers, a plush giraffe that claimed to teach emotional regulation. Emotional regulation! I was thirty-one and barely qualified.
“You’re going a little feral with that thing,” Daddy noted as I aimed the scanner like I was hunting for sport. “I love it.”
“It’s not just a baby registry,” I said. “It’s retail therapy with a side of delusion.”
He laughed, the sound light and unguarded in a way I hadn’t heard in a while. “You needed this. Something to look forward to. Something real.”
