The Hardest Fight. Amy Vastine

here to watch a basketball game. What are you doing here?”

      She faced forward and tried to pretend he wasn’t sitting back there. If she ignored him, it would be as if he didn’t exist. Kendall made Max switch seats so she could be next to Lucy. She hooked arms with her sister.

      “Is that who I think it is?” Kendall whispered, glancing over her shoulder.

      “Don’t look at him,” Lucy demanded. She wasn’t surprised by her sister’s uncertainty. Kendall had lived out east when Lucy and Dylan were together. “And don’t let me look at him.”

      “Well, aren’t you the queen of the cold shoulder? No one does it better than you, Lulu.”

      How dare he use that name not once, but twice, today. As much as she wanted to keep her cool, exhaustion was making it impossible. She swung her head around to find Dylan glaring back at her.

      “I’ve had just about enough from you,” she snapped.

      “I’m sorry, but what exactly did I do that offended you so much?”

      “Oh, like you didn’t know I was going to be there today! Just like you probably knew I was going to be here tonight. No one does more research than the almighty Dylan Hunt.”

      His eyes narrowed into angry slits. “Hate to burst your self-absorbed bubble, but the world does not revolve around you. I had no idea you were going to be here.”

      “Oh, that’s right. Your world revolves around your family’s money and power.” Lucy could feel her skin tingling with her own indignation. “I hope you know I’m not going to let the board sell Safe Haven today, tomorrow or ever. Whatever your big plan is, you can forget it because we’re not interested. You can leave me alone now.”

      “I’m already done with you,” he sneered. Those words stung more than she expected. “You don’t really have a say. Your role at Open Arms doesn’t give you the power to decide what you do with that house on Western. Your board will realize Prime is offering them an easy out. There was more than one person at that table today ready to accept our offer even before Elizabeth sweetened the deal. I could tell.”

      It burned her to know he was right. She hated that he could read people so well. Some of their fellow students in law school had actually believed he was psychic. Lucy knew better than to buy into that baloney. He was observant, that was all. Too observant.

      “They’ll never sell, and if by some miracle they do, it won’t be to anyone associated with you. I’ll make sure of that.”

      Kendall tugged on her arm. Hard. “Lucy, stop.”

      It was unclear how many times Kendall had already said that before it finally registered. The quarter had ended and the referee walked up the bleachers, stopping before he got to Lucy’s row.

      “I’m going to have to ask you both to leave. This isn’t the place for whatever is going on between the two of you. You need to take it out of the gymnasium, please.”

      “You’re kicking me out?” Lucy’s embarrassment heated her cheeks.

      “I’m asking you to leave the gym, yes.” The ref glanced up at Dylan, as well.

      “Fantastic,” Dylan mumbled under his breath, which for some reason struck another nerve.

      “Don’t act like this is my fault. You’re the stalker.”

      “Get over yourself,” he said, rising to his feet and shaking hands with the man next to him. “Tell Jeremy I’m sorry I couldn’t watch him play. I’ll be at the next one—as long as we sit as far away from certain crazy people as possible.”

      Lucy huffed and grabbed her purse. “I’ll be outside,” she said to Kendall.

      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.