Page 10 of Worth the Fight

She sniffles. “And cheese fries?”

I wrap my arm around her shoulder, pulling her to me for a hug as we spin toward the diner. “Always room for cheese fries.”

CHAPTER 5

Lukas

“Hey, this is Magnolia. Sorry I missed your call. Leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Hey, Mags. Me again. I don’t really have much to say, guess I just wanted to hear your voice. Just got back from my evening with Nana. Not sure if she mentioned to you that I’m stopping by to see her a few times a week. She may be getting old, but she can still whoop my ass at a game of Rummy. Been spending time with my family, too, and it feels good to be around everyone. Grayson is ready to settle down; we think he’s going to propose to his girlfriend soon. Theo is … well, he’s Theo. The same Theo he was ten years ago. I had dinner with Harper the other night, just the two of us. Man, she’s grown. It’d surprise you to see her now. I missed so much when I was away. It’s like I traveled through time into the future or something. I like hanging out with her, hearing her ramble on about life and work and her friends. She and I even went and got tattoos together the other week. Can you believe my little sister now has her own ink?”

CHAPTER 6

Lukas

NOVEMBER

“Hey, this is Magnolia. Sorry I missed your call. Leave me a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Hey, Mags. Me again. Winter is officially on its way, I think. We made it almost to Thanksgiving this year without any real snow, but they’re calling for a pretty big blizzard over the next few days.” I take the stairs of the old farmhouse to the second floor, admiring the newly sprayed insulation that covers the ceiling and walls. It was a miracle to get it done before winter came.

“You always hated this time of year, when everything is dull and brown and frozen over. It’s so damn cold.” Magnolia hated this limbo right before the snow fell, when the leaves had blown away, and the skies were no longer blue. She’d swear that she was allergic to the cold. That it changed her more than the average person. This time of year, she would steal my sweatshirts, and when we’d be side by side on the couch, she’d always tuck her feet under mine. Lying in bed with her, her hands would slip under my shirt, and I’d hiss when her cold fingers wrapped around my sides, but I never pushed her away.

“You thrive in the warm weather, in the summer. Always smiling like the sun. The beach days were some of the best times, weren’t they?” I clear my throat as I take the stairs back down to the first floor, standing in the center of what was once the sitting room, which will be the future living room of the house. We knocked out the wall that divided the sitting room and formal living room, making it one large space. On the east wall sits a large bay window, one that practically spans the entire width, bringing in as much natural light as possible. I take in a ragged breath, the smell of fresh plaster and saw dust still clinging in the air.

I want so badly to tell her about this house, about what I’ve done. The one promise I made to her that I haven’t broken yet.

I wonder if she would love this room, if she’d convince me to turn it into a dance studio where she could stretch her legs on a barre along the window and watch the sunrise every morning. But I can’t tell her—not yet. Because if she knows it’s here, that I’m making this dream a reality and she doesn’t ever want to see it … well, I don’t know if I could survive that.

“I’ll let ya go. I don’t have much to say today. I guess, well, toward the end of our relationship, the end of us, I held back a lot of what I should have said. I didn’t tell you how often I thought about you, especially when I was in the military. I probably acted like I was too busy. I know I told you I was too busy. I didn’t make you feel like a priority when I should have. And sometimes, I wonder if maybe this would have had a different ending if I hadn’t kept it all in.” Even when it was bad, I should have talked to her instead of pretending. “So, I just wanted you to know that you crossed my mind today.” That’s not a new thing. She crosses my mind all the time. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of her. “Just thinking of you, that’s all. Bye, Mags.”

CHAPTER 7

Magnolia

Adeep inhale, hold for two, and then I bend at the waist, reaching down to press my palms flat to the floor. The stretch is felt in the back of my knees, pulling at my hamstrings in the way it should, in the way I need it to after the fitful sleep I had last night.

Letting my head hang down, I roll my shoulders side to side, desperate to work out the kink in my neck.

“Earth to Magnolia,” Raymond calls, and I smile down at my feet.

“Earth to Raymond,” I sing back.

His shoulder bag and leg warmers are tossed by my feet, sliding to hit the wall. He sits down, twisting his shoulders so his face is underneath mine, smiling up at me. “You’re ignoring me today.”

I scoff, standing to my full height, feeling the blood rush back down my body. I stretch my arms above my head, clasping my hands together and twisting my back side to side. “How can I be ignoring you when this is the first time I’m seeing you today?”

He tsks, rolling his eyes. “Ronaldo dropped me off today. He was waving at you from the car as I called out for you, but you kept your little nose held high, blowing right past us on the street.”

My mouth drops. “No, you weren’t!”

He raises a finger, circling it around my face. “I was. And you look tired. You look worn down.”

“Gee, thanks. Good morning to you, too.” I playfully stick out my tongue at him before sitting on the floor, pulling the leg warmers down my calves. I fold them together, then roll them into a ball, and toss them in my bag. “I wasn’t ignoring you guys, obviously. I’d never ignore Ronaldo, anyways.” I send him a wink, and he feigns shock, holding his hand to his chest. “I didn’t sleep good last night. The last few nights, really. So, it’s possible I’m a bit out of it.”

“And why aren’t we sleeping?” he prods, just like my mother would.

“I don’t know.” Lies. Pure lies. I know exactly why I’m not sleeping, but it’s something I can’t quite form into sentences. Or something I’m not ready to admit out loud to myself.