Page 128 of The Fix-Up

—LEOR K., AGE 13

A grim-faced Gil met us at the house. He took Mikey into Ollie’s old room, where he’d been sleeping, and closed the door. I had to get to work, so I didn’t have time to see what happened and no amount of putting my ear to the door was getting me any information.

All through breakfast, I replayed Mikey explaining that he wanted to go home. “Where Gilly goes, I go.”

Maybe it was time for me to let this all go. Who was I to say my dreams were bigger than Gil’s reality? It was selfish—selfish and cruel of me to keep fighting this. Gil needed the money. I’d get a lot of money, too. Oliver and I would be fine. Maybe we’d move up to Oklahoma where my parents were. Not with them, but near them.

The award for Small Business Owner of the Year glinted from its place of honor where I’d hung it. I’d started over once before here in Two Harts. I could leave my brother and Mae and Ali andthe café and that gazebo and it would be okay. Maybe my time here was done. Maybe there was a new dream somewhere else. It would be hard, but as Sunny liked to say, nothing good ever comes easy.

I hoped I could convince Sunny to do video sessions with me.

Of course, there was Gil. Even now, tears welled up thinking about him and what could have been. But he’d never said the words or made promises, even if I’d foolishly hoped for more. I wasn’t going to be another person who he had to take care of. I refused to put that on him.

Chris picked up Oliver at lunchtime to spend some time with his cousin. The rest of the day went by quickly and it being a Tuesday, Teddy stopped by after closing to get a meal and chat. But Gil also showed up. He had bags under his eyes and the lines around his mouth seemed deeper somehow. I wanted to smooth out the worry lines on his forehead with my fingers. He seemed a decade older than he had yesterday. Mikey trailed behind him with his tablet and tucked himself into a booth in the far corner.

“Hey there, Gilbert,” Teddy said, raising a fork in the air. “How are you?”

“Been better.” Gil’s smile was lukewarm at best, but he slid into a seat across from his great-uncle. “How about you?”

Teddy grinned. “Better now that I get to eat this.”

I brought over a piece of lemon cream pie and set it in front of him. Before I could move away, Teddy’s hand wrapped around my wrist. “What’s up with you two? You look as sad as those clown figures Ollie’s mother collected. Those things always gave me the creeps, to be honest.”

I pulled out a chair and sat next to him. “Just tired.”

And hurt and sad and wishing life worked out the way I wanted it to. Just once.

Teddy dug into his pie. “I was worried about you two at first, but I do think Ollie was right. You look real good together.”

“We aren’t together,” I said, but I was looking at Gil. “Gil is leaving next week to go back to Austin. It looks like we’ll be selling.”

Teddy’s fork clanked on the table. “You’re what?”

“Selling. It’s the best decision,” I said firmly, directing my words to Gil. The words didn’t hurt to say out loud as much as I thought they would. In fact, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my chest. A decision had been made. Plans could be made. I could get on with figuring out life without Gil’s presence.

“We need to talk about this,” he said; there was a look in his eyes I couldn’t read.

Teddy slumped in his seat. “That’s not what’s supposed to happen.”

“A lot of things weren’t supposed to happen,” Gil said, still watching me. “Seems like we don’t have any control of those things most of the time.”

Teddy’s head swiveled as he looked between the two of us.

“There’s been so much this year,” Gil said. “My stepdad, Mikey, Ollie, and…other things.”

“Am I the other things?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He shook his head and turned away. “Mikey hasn’t had time to process everything that’s happened.”

“Neither have you,” I said gently.

“What happens now?” he asked.

“Let’s not make a hasty decision,” Teddy said. We both ignored him.

“You wait five more days and you go back to Austin and your life with Mikey. We’ll take that offer from Peter and live our lives.” Not together though. That had never been on the table, had it?

Gil looked at me, something like longing in his expression. “What will you do?”

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