The Hardest Fight

The referee followed them out, waiting until the door closed before returning to the game. Lucy peered through the narrow window that offered her a partial view of the court. She could feel Dylan staring a hole in the back of her head.

“Don’t think seeing you again was easy for me just because I knew it was coming,” he said. His voice was soft, as it often sounded in her memory. “You left me, remember?”

She hadn’t forgotten, although it was more like she had left him before he got the chance to leave her. He would have left. Eventually.

Lucy swallowed down the emotion lodged in her throat. Her feelings for him had never really gone away, and they demanded to be felt right now. There had been a vulnerable side to Dylan that made her protective of him. A side that longed to break free from his mother’s expectations and demands. He had wanted to make a difference, to work beside Lucy as she made a difference, too. They were going to change the world...together.

She could deny it all she wanted, but part of her still loved the man who once climbed up onto the bar at their favorite restaurant and announced to everyone that he was madly in love with her. She still thought about the guy who had fallen asleep more times than she could count on her couch, surrounded by law books after a long night of studying.

Lucy searched for some courage and turned around, only to find the corridor empty. He was already gone. It shouldn’t have been such a shock. She already knew that the man she had fallen in love with didn’t exist anymore.

* * *

“I’M SORRY,” LUCY mouthed to Kendall when they finally emerged from the gym after the game. Lucy had been able to see everything that happened on one end of the court but not the other. The final score was still a mystery.

Her younger sister gave her “the look,” the one that said she forgave her but wasn’t the least bit happy.

“So, how’d you do?” she asked Simon.

The smile on his face spoke a million words. “We won by four points!”

Lucy held up her hand for a high five and he didn’t hold back. She shook her hand out to ease the sting. The kid was growing up too fast. Lucy could remember when he was as small as his baby sister. At eight, Simon was too heavy to carry and had feet that were almost as big as his mom’s.

“I think that means I need to take you out for ice cream to celebrate.”

“Yes!”

Max side-hugged Simon. “I have to head back to the restaurant, but you did awesome, buddy.”

Kendall had lucked out in the kid and the husband department, at least the second time around. Max wasn’t Simon’s father, but no one would ever know by watching the two of them interact. When Simon’s father died, so did the light inside of him. But then Max came into their lives, and he lit him back up and helped him shine even brighter than before.

As Kendall and Simon said goodbye to Max, Lucy watched as the older gentleman who had been sitting with Dylan walked by hand in hand with another kid on the team.

“Are you sure Dylan wasn’t mad at me for not making a basket?” the boy asked the man.

“No, no, no! He would never be mad at you for that. He’ll be at the next game, I promise.”

The guilt was like a stab straight through the heart. Dylan really had been there to watch the game. Not only was she embarrassed for the attention she had drawn to herself, but now she had to live with the fact that she had made a little boy doubt himself.

“Can we go to the Triple C, Aunt Lulu?” Simon asked, grabbing Lucy’s hand. Lulu was the name Simon had called her when he was just learning to talk. Dylan had thought it was cute, so he took to calling her Lulu, as well. The nickname always left her with mixed emotions.

She forced herself to smile for Simon’s sake. “Where else would we go?”

The Chi-Town Chilly Cow was an Everhart family favorite. Lucy remembered going there as a kid and wanting to order everything. Her dad would only let them get a one-scoop cone, so she would order a different flavor every time they went. Now she could get whatever she wanted, but ice cream was not part of her diet. Given the studies on dairy, there was no way she was giving her body any more ammunition to do her in.

Lucy let Simon order the craziest sundae on the menu. Something with chunks of brownies and chocolate chip cookies in it, topped with gummy bears and more chocolate. The girl behind the counter began to ring it up, when Lucy stopped her.

“There should be a note back there saying Lucy Everhart gets free ice cream for life.” Thanks to her idea that the Triple C go all organic, the owners had experienced an explosion in sales. They’d offered her a lifetime supply of ice cream as a thank-you. She rarely took advantage of the perk unless she was treating her favorite nephew.

“There is, but you’re not Lucy Everhart,” the girl said.

Lucy’s forehead wrinkled. “I’m not?”

“No, you aren’t. I’ve been working here for almost a year. Lucy Everhart comes in here all the time. She’s a really tall brunette. Comes in with this supercute guy. I know Lucy Everhart.”

“Emma,” Lucy said with a growl.

Kendall nodded. “I told her it was going to catch up to her one of these days, but you know Emma. She thought she could get away with it forever.”

Lucy pulled out her driver’s license. “I am Lucy Everhart. The woman you’ve been giving free ice cream to is my sister. Do me a favor and add an extra note back there that warns your coworkers not to be fooled by tall brunette frauds.”

The girl inspected the ID as if she was a bouncer at a college bar. She even tried to scratch the picture off to no avail. Once she finally agreed she’d been duped by the most conniving of the Everhart sisters, she gave Lucy Simon’s sundae for free.

Simon and Kendall took turns devouring the frozen treat while Lucy kept Darcy entertained. It didn’t take those two more than a few minutes to put the whole thing in their bellies.

“So...Dylan Hunt,” Kendall said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

“Don’t start.”

“I don’t remember him being so incredibly hot.”

“Don’t. Start.” Lucy didn’t want to think about how good-looking Dylan was or wasn’t. Of course, he was incredibly hot, just as Kendall had said. He was the most attractive guy Lucy had ever dated.

“You got kicked out of my son’s basketball game because you made a ridiculous scene. I get to start.”

“Fine,” Lucy huffed. “Dylan showed up at Open Arms today with his client—the developer that wants to buy the house we use as a shelter in Logan Square. I spent all day trying to convince Paige we don’t have to sell yet.”

“Yet? I thought that was why you were adding the auction to the fund-raiser.”

Lucy wanted more than anyone to believe that was true. “Right. The fund-raiser should bring in a lot of money.”

“Enough to pay off the house?” Kendall asked. Her hopefulness was almost too much to bear.

“No, but enough to get us by until I come up with another plan.” What that plan would be was beyond her.

“Things will work out the way they’re supposed to. So, back to incredibly hot Dylan—is he married? Did he ask if you were married? What’s he been doing the past five years?”

Kendall was obviously trying to punish her for embarrassing them all at the game today. This was some cruel payback. “I don’t know, no and I don’t care. There really is nothing to tell. He’s probably trying to think of a plan to convince Paige to beg the board to sell. He’ll fail. He’ll move on. I’ll never see him again.”

“And I thought I’d never have to see Max once I finished remodeling Sato’s,” Kendall reminded her. “And look how that turned out.”

“Fine, never say never. But it doesn’t matter.”

“Really?” Kendall could always tell when Lucy was hiding something.

“Really.” Even if Dylan wasn’t working for the enemy, she couldn’t let herself forget that she’d sent him away and he’d gone willingly. “Running into him twice in one day? Maybe the universe is trying to tell you something,” Kendall said although she knew Lucy didn’t believe in that kind of stuff.

“The universe doesn’t communicate with anyone.”