Page 63 of Your Sharpest Edge
“No,” I said, and Ledger looked back at me, making me realize how loud I was.
“Sorry.” I shook my head, unable to believe this.
I walked around my friends, behind the sides of the bleachers so I was hidden but could confirm what I was looking at.
Sitting next to the woman on the bleachers was a little boy with blonde curly hair and beautiful green eyes. He looked just like...
“No.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.
I had to be seeing things. I was in Chicago. She was in OC in California, states away. This wasn’t happening.
Ledger looked over at me but didn’t stop his speech, and I shook my head. No, I was not okay. No, something was happening inside my chest. I stared in disbelief.
The room felt suffocating, so I turned around and headed toward the door. I kicked it open and pressed my back against the closest wall. It was empty, quiet, and dark. What was happening? After all this time, I had finally found her, and she was sitting there with her child.
I wanted to bury my face in my hands, but the door in front of me swung open. Dirks stood there, a tear rolling down his cheek.
“If she’s here, then she didn’t get the money from the case,” he said.
My head was spinning. “What?”
“She’s here as a participant, Alex. Her son needs the camp, so that must mean?—”
I felt sick. I had failed her again. I left when she kicked me out, but I should’ve checked on her. I should have made sure she was okay.
“I can’t do this.” A few moments passed. “I need to leave. I’m sorry.”
The door behind us opened again, and I heard the familiar voice of the lady in charge as she shuffled people outside.
It was Ledger, though, and thankfully, no one else was behind him.
“What the fuck kind of scene was that?” he shouted, taking in the sight of me with Dirks’s hand on my back as I crumpled to the floor, my face buried in my hands.
“What’s wrong?” he quickly followed up.
“She’s here,” Dirks said softly.
Ledger looked down at both of us before crouching down beside us. “Like... her, her?”
Dirks nodded.
“Holy. Fuck.”
I looked up at Ledger. “I can’t do this.”
Ledger stood up, looking down at me. “She’s walking.”
He reached down, and for a moment, I looked at him confused, but I grabbed his hand, letting him lift me up.
“She’s walking, Alex.”
I stared at him.
“Didn’t you say she was told she’d never walk again?” Ledger asked both of us, since I was clearly in shock.
“Yes,” Dirks whispered.
“She’s walking. I saw her. She left to go to the group with her son. She’s walking,” he repeated, and I clasped my hands around his back, giving him a hug.
