Page 77 of Worth the Fight

A wedding in the backyard would be incredible. Grayson’s mom and grandma have perfected their flower gardens. With the lush fields serving as a backdrop and the green grass at their feet, it’d be the most picturesque setting.

“I’d love to.” And I mean it, but the season starts mid-September, and once we are in full swing, I’m back to the distance. Back to a lonely life. Back to missing most family holidays and birthdays. There’s a stinging behind my eyes, but I brush it off, telling myself it’s the sleep deprivation mixed with the overwhelming emotions at seeing Lukas and our families.

“Should we let her start tearing into presents?” Lukas asks Candi, who nods in response.

She crosses the room, reaching for Ivy just as she was about to pull a candy bowl off the table. Ivy starts to protest as she’s lifted, but then Candi peppers her cheek with kisses, and Ivy squeals, squirming with delight.

Candi sits on the floor next to Lukas with Ivy atop her legs. Pops brings some of the presents closer to them, piling them up beside Lukas.

Rick has his phone out, camera ready to take pictures. A smile on all their collective faces as they stare down at their little girl.

She reaches for the first present from the pile—a medium-sized box wrapped in glittery pink paper.

“That’s mine,” Harper says as Ivy tears into the paper.

Lukas helps her with the harder parts, pulling out his pocketknife to cut open the taped sides. The flaps fall open, and Ivy glances inside. Her little hands dart in, and after a few seconds of fumbling, she pulls out the softest gray and black goat, immediately bringing it to her face and hugging it tightly.

“Aww, Harper, that’s adorable,” Candi says, and the room murmurs their agreement.

“I figured she needed to start her goat obsession early.”

“I think one goat lover in the family is enough, don’t you think?” Theo teases. Harper reaches a hand out to playfully slap his side, but he twists, and her hand barely misses him.

“One of her dads is a rancher, and the other is a vet. I think there are going to be a lot of goats in her future, Theo.” Harper sticks her tongue out at him, but my eyes fall to Lukas, seeing if her comment upset him at all.

I know he’s grateful for the relationship he has with Candi and Rick. They rely on each other to raise Ivy while still working to keep some of their routine and sanity. But I can also tell how sad it makes him that he doesn’t get to have her with him every night. And eventually, when she’s older, he might have to go a few nights in a row without having her at his place, depending on her schedule.

That tingling is back again, and I inhale sharply through my nose to pull it together.

“This one’s nice,” Pops says, pulling another package from the top of the pile and handing it to Ivy.

Lukas holds it out for her, letting her tear open the smaller box on top first. He flips the present to the other side, looking for a name.

“That one is from me,” I whisper, and he smiles. The look in his eyes is so heated it almost seems inappropriate for a child’s birthday party.

“It’s a two-parter, both things that I hope you and Ivy can share.”

His brow furrows at that, and I run my thumb along my mug of coffee, suddenly nervous that there are nearly two dozen people witnessing this.

One of the presents was something I had started working on long ago, long before Lukas and I broke up. It was something I wanted to give to him one day but never got the chance to. The pieces of it sat in my closet for months and months. Sometimes, I’d take them out and look them over, tossing around the idea of just throwing it away. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and I wonder if some part deep inside knew that I’d get my chance.

Ivy opens the first small box, ripping out the tissue and finding a pink baseball glove with white lacing along the sides. A foam ball rolls out of it, and she reaches for the ball with her left hand, immediately tossing it over to Theo.

“Looks like you got a lefty, Lukas,” Theo says, leaning down. He playfully throws the ball underhand back to Ivy, and she picks it up with both hands, bringing it to her mouth for a slobbery taste.

“I can work with that.” He smiles, and then his gaze falls to the longer present.

He and Ivy open that one together, and when she tears the paper off the front and he gets a good look at what’s inside, he falls quiet.

The soft smile that had been on his face before falls, and his brows twist together ever so softly.

Aaaand this is why I should have done this one in private.

“What is it, Lukas?” his mom asks, and he doesn’t answer.

He pushes the rest of the paper off so he can see, and when Pops leans over his shoulder, he smiles, a hand coming up to squeeze Lukas’s shoulder.

“It’s me,” he whispers.