Page 75 of The Ones We Fight For

“Hey,” Talia stepped forward and touched Walker’s arm gently. “Look at me.” When his worried eyes met hers, her hand slid up to cup his face. She knew she shouldn’t be touching him that way, but he looked so broken that she couldn't help herself. “You’re a good parent. You’re doing a great job, Walker. This isn’t a reflection on you. They just miss their parents, and I think that they miss us being a duo. Can’t say I don’t miss it either.”

“You do?” Walker blinked and reached his hand up to encircle her wrist.

“I’ve been miserable,” Talia admitted. “I feel like every coffee I drink is shit and I’m missing a piece of me. You’re… you’re family.”

Walker sighed. “I’m sorry I ruined everything,” he said, eyebrows pinching together in a saddened expression that made Talia want to rub the creases away with her thumb.

“You didn’t ruin anything.” Stepping into him, she buried her face into his chest, wrapping her arms around Walker and breathing him in. There was no hesitation before his arms wrapped around her back, pulling her harder against his torso. She was finally home again, cocooned in the safety of someone who cared so much about her that he was willing to drop fifteen hundred bucks to save her.

“I missed you,” he whispered into her hair.

“I missed you, too,” Talia breathed.

“Do you want the stupid restaurant ticket?” Walker let out a breathy laugh as he let her go.

“Let’s just go together. We might as well get some good food out of this whole debacle. Plus, I’d like to watch you eat escargot,” Talia mused.

“Es-car-what?”

“It’s snail.”

Walker scrunched his nose, smiling. “Gross. Let’s do it.”

Chapter 28

Walker

Walker nearly catapulted himself out of his car, leaving his door wide open as he sprinted toward the entrance of Roaster’s Republic. The sign was already flipped around to read “closed” when he peeked through the glass. Everything was dark inside. Mission failed. Letting out a sigh of defeat, he turned back around. He was midway through convincing himself on the trek back to the car that it was a stupid idea anyway when he heard a rustling coming from the side of the building. Stopping dead in his tracks, he looked around the corner to find Harper dragging a large black trash bag across the ground.

“Hey, let me get that for you.” Jogging over to her, he took the garbage from her and heaved it into the dumpster. Harper was surprised by his presence. Either that, or he had scared the shit out of her when he yelled ‘hey’ like some deranged person hiding in the bushes.

“Oh, Walker.” Harper blinked, then offered him a light smile. “What are you doing here? You know we closed fifteen minutes ago, right?”

“Yeah, um…” Walker wiped his hands on his slacks and cringed at the thought that he was about to go to a nice restaurant and had just dusted his trash hands on his legs. “It’s stupid, really. I'm going to dinner with Talia, and she really likes those stir stick things. Well, she likes chewing on them—I’m not sure she’s ever actually stirred anything with them. Anyway, sorry to bother you. It’s dumb.”

“Do you want me to go get one for you? I think most girls prefer flowers for a date, but it’s not that hard for me to walk back inside and get you a stirrer. At least you’re not asking me to make you a coffee,” Harper laughed.

“I—it’s not a date, but if you could, that would be… I’d owe you. Thanks, Harper,” Walker stammered, finishing lamely by looking at his feet. His hands went clammy at the mention of the outing because, if he was being honest, it definitely felt like a date. He and Talia had both been really clear that it wasn’t, but he still had the nerves of a sixteen-year-old about to show up to some girl's house with a corsage (stir stick) to take her to the prom (a French restaurant with snail food).

“No problem,” Harper smiled genuinely and turned to make her way back inside. She came back a few minutes later holding out a small rectangular box. Walker broke into a wide grin.

“A whole box of them? She’s going to love this!”

“Sure thing. You guys really aren’t together?” Harper pried.

“Just friends.” Walker rolled the box over in his hands.

“Why not?”

He turned to Harper again, confused. “Why not what?”

“I’ve been watching you and Talia for months, Walker. You’re in love with her. She’s in love with you. What’s the problem?”

“She—” Walker’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

The blunt way the barista had just casually declared his lovefor Talia wasn’t that shocking. He was starting to get used to everyone blatantly calling him out. What was shocking was Harper’s impression that Talia loved him, too. Talia would have to be clinically insane to love him back. She was so out of his league it was laughable. There had been a sexual spark between them Walker couldn’t ignore, but there was no way Talia had conveniently forgotten what a disorganized hot mess he was.

Harper gave him a pitying look, and this time it had nothing to do with Cole or Paisley. “I thought when she invited me over to your house that one time you might have thought I was cute or something and she was trying to set us up, but then Talia gave me this whole song and dance about how you weren’t available, and then she looked incredibly jealous when I was showing you how to use the coffee maker, so I figured that she really was just trying to get a demonstration on how to make espressos. You’ve always been nice to me, Walker, and I’ll admit that I think you’re very attractive, but I know a lost cause when I see one. That right there,” Harper pointed to the box of stir sticks gripped in Walker’s hand and shrugged, shaking her head, “lost cause. You’re not available. You’re taken. If you want my advice, which I’m offering freely because I think you need to pull your head out of your ass, whatever you two are doing, just figure it out already. It’s exhausting just watching you beat around the bush from behind that counter. One time, I put soy milk in Talia’s drink instead of regular milk just because I was bored and I wanted to see if you would switch with her. You did, by the way.”

---