Page 95 of The Ones We Fight For

“Eh, whatever,” the therapist laughed and tossed his hand in the air. “You win some, you lose some.”

Walker shook his head in admonishment at the use of yet another common phrase and chuckled to himself. “You’re killing me.”

The rest of the therapy session flew by, with additional tips on breathing and anxiety as well as an adjustment to the medication Walker had started. What Walker liked the most about Dr. Thomlison was not his bedside manner but, rather, his blatant honesty. Walker appreciated people who didn’t walk on eggshells around him. Dr. Thomlinson called Walker twice on his distractibility during the rest of the session, but all Walker could think about was wanting to know whether Talia felt the same way about him as he did about her.

What if he really didn’t have to have it all figured out? What if it wasn’t wrong to be in love with her? What if it was right?

The month prior, when Dr. Thomlinson had asked him to write down the places he felt comfortable and the places he enjoyed the most, Walker only wrote down a few examples; the docks, Roscoe and Amala’s backyard, in the dining room playing board games with the kids, and Roaster’s Republic all made the list. But compared to the number one item on his list, none of his other options mattered. The first rendered all the other options miniscule:

Anywhere with Talia.

Chapter 35

Walker

Walker drummed each beat of Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” into the dining room table as he ran the lyrics through his head. He waited impatiently for his nieces and nephews to take their seats, unable to sit still in his chair. The dining room was where Cole and Paisley used to hold all their family meetings. It was where Cole had sat Walker down a few times to get the status of his relationship prospects, which made it the perfect spot for Walker to announce his plans.

After his therapy appointment, he had mulled over several things, coming to the conclusion that he needed to know how Talia felt about him. His body, mind, and soul were already hers, and if she said she was his, he could no longer wait to be with her. There was that squeezing fear in his chest that a relationship with Talia could only crash and burn, but he wanted to try at forever with her. But regardless of how either he or Talia felt, he wouldn’t go there unless he knew for a fact that his nieces and nephews were okay with it. There was always his family to think about, and Walker knew he would fight for them until his last dying breath, even if it meant fighting himself forever.

“Are we in trouble?” Cooper asked nervously once everyone was seated.

Carter raised his hand. “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

“No one’s in trouble,” Walker reassured them, then reconsidered. “Or, I guess, I’m kind of in trouble, just in a different way.” He waited for any of the kids to respond, but no one said a word, so he charged ahead while he continued tapping the table with his fingertips. “I was wondering, and I won’t do it if any of you feel like it’ll hinder your relationship with her, but—”

“You want to date Talia,” Piper interrupted.

“Yes, I want to date Talia,” Walker confirmed. He immediately scanned each one of the kids’ faces for any sign of discomfort. He found none. “What do you think?”

“I thought you were already dating Talia,” Colin stated, sounding quite bored by the entire conversation.

“I—no, not currently. I don’t want any of you to think that her relationship with me is more important than her relationships with you. And I want you to know that it does bug me that she’s Jeff Cohen’s daughter. Not because she did anything wrong, but because I don’t like the idea of gaining anything from your parents’ death,” Walker explained.

“Dad and Mom wanted you to be in love,” Pearl chirped. “They would be so happy!”

“Do you even know how many times Mom tried to talk Dad into setting you up with random people she met through work?” Piper asked. “They wanted you to have what they did.”

“Talia makes you smile a lot,” Colin chimed in. “And Dad made Mom smile a lot.”

“If you’re dating her, then that’ll just mean she hangs out with us more, right?” The excitement in Cooper’s voice made Walker smile.

“I suppose so.” Walker nodded. “Relationships don’t always work, though, and I am worried about the potential impact on her relationship with all of you if it doesn’t. I would never want to ruin anything for you guys, so I need you all to really think about this.”

“Just don’t break up.” Carter looked at Walker like he was the world’s biggest idiot. “You guys can barely keep your hands off each other as it is. Seems like not dating would be worse for our relationship with her ‘cause neither one of you can focus on us when you’re thinking about—”

“Carter!” Walker cut him off with a loud shout to block out the end of the sentence.

“Each other,” Carter finished with a wide grin. “Get your head out of the gutter, Walker. What did you think I was going to say?”

“When are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?” Pearl wiggled with excitement in her seat and pushed her glasses up on her nose.

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet.”

“You should tell her now!” Piper slapped the table, the sound cracking in Walker’s ears like a war drum call to action.

“Right this second?” Walker’s voice went up a few octaves, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. Now was not the time to go through a second round of puberty.

“Yes! That would be so romantic!” Pearl squeaked.

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