Page 139 of Now to Forever

I am, in fact, clinging on to him for dear life.

Damn him.

A car pulls up and he pulls away, taking my hand. “They’re here.”

I look;his parents?

Charlene and Earl get out, stacks of pies in hand and smiles on their faces. Ford doesn’t look at me, just walks me over to them. His mom hands the pies to him . . . and hugs me. “Scotty,” she says as she pulls away, looking at me square in the eyes. “It seems you’re sticking around.”

My chin jerks back as she chuckles and looks at Ford. “Put me to work, son.”

“Inside. Fair warning, June’s a drill sergeant.”

Charlene looks back to me and reaches into her purse, pulling out two framed pictures. “For you.”

Despite my confusion, I take them from her, and my breath catches. In the first one, me, June, and Wren are mid-laugh as we dance at Orchard Fest. In the second, me, Ford, and Zeb stand in the middle of their orchard with teenage faces. Zeb’s wearing a T-shirt that saysNo Fearwhile holding up a peace sign with one hand. I’m leaning on Ford’s shoulder smiling. Ford’s looking at me. It cracks my heart in two.

Charlene and I look at each other, a small smile pulling at our lips before she goes to help June.

Lyra swoops in from seemingly out of nowhere. “I’ll take these,” she says, swiping the pictures out of my hands and taking them to the table at the edge of the yard, propping them up next to the one she brought.

Ford’s next to me again, squeezing my hand in his. I look up at him. “What’s happening?”

“I can’t let you leave, Scotty,” he says, kissing my thumb. “Can’t live anymore of us not being us. So”—he looks around at the chaos happening around us—“I’m fighting like hell to keep you here.”

I should say something. Argue. Tell him I’ve made up my mind and this is ridiculous.

But I don’t.

Because I can’t.

Because inside of my body, every single piece of me is being taken apart before being remade.

And then, Thanksgiving day unfolds like a dream I didn’t know to have.

The cars keep coming.

Wanda and Dondi arrive, carrying two casserole dishes. Dondi is wearing a ridiculous plaid suit, Wanda is wrapped in shades of brown and orange with turkeys dangling from her ears. She hands me a framed photo, a selfie of her and Dondi. “Never would have met the man of my dreams if you didn’t believe in us, honey,” she says as she hugs me. “I’ll miss your face every single day.”

Then Mel, carrying a large bowl of cranberry sauce. She’s wearing a sweater dress and gold earrings—she looks beautiful. When she steps up to me, she hands Ford the dish and hands me a photo. It’s her and I standing outside of the church by the LL sign, looking at each other with half smiles on our faces. “Your friend took it,” she says. “Thought it suited us.”

I open my mouth only to once again find nothing. She shows mercy. “You’re not so bad for a pain in the ass.”

I laugh. It’s borderline watery.

Three of Ford’s boys from the boxing gym show up with bags of premade rolls and a picture of them with Ford at Fight Club.

Gary shows up with his wife, Deb, and a sponge cake and picture of the two of them from Halloween. She’s wearing a maid costume. “Thanks for the idea,” Gary says with a sheepish grin. I will scrub that visual out of my mind later.

Vince the real estate agent comes with his family; he’s wearing a coat and sweating as he gives me a picture of him and Archie—the grandpa he was friends with—fishing from a few years ago. “We could have made a fortune on this one.” It was the same thing he said to me when I called him yesterday and told him I wasn’t selling.

I laugh and he shrugs.

June’s parents bring yams and a picture of me and June from her wedding.

Camp’s parents arrive with a crate of rosé and a picture of me, June, Camp, and Ford outside of the gym before senior prom.

Ben and his girlfriend show up with ingredients for Moscow Mules and two pictures. The first is of me, June, and Ford the night they hauled my ass out of Liberty Tap. Ford is holding me like a child in his arms; there’s a drunk smile on my face. The second one is Ben and another man wearing leather jackets standing in front of motorcycles—his brother. He gives me a knowing look; tears in my eyes, I hug him tight.

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