Chapter 33
Callie
The sun’s just starting to sink, fire crackling in the middle of us, Poison humming through the speakers at a low, lazy volume.
Landon’s on Luke’s lap with Maddie beside him, both of them watching the flames like they’re a magic trick meant just for him.
His eyes are wide, reflecting orange and gold.
Mitch sits beside me, one hand resting on my leg, a beer in the other. I’d kill for one, but breastfeeding makes everything complicated, so Macy handed me a virgin Bloody Mojito instead. It’s good. Just not the same.
Mitch stands to light a cigarette, drifting a few feet away. I watch him. There’s something tight in his shoulders, like he’s bracing for something he won’t say out loud. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s just the weight of being nineteen with a baby. Or maybe it’s something else entirely.
“Fire’s getting pretty high,” Brad says, staring into it.
“Yeah,” Mitch says, exhaling smoke. “Bet you couldn’t clear it.”
Brad grins. “I absolutely could. You couldn’t. Luke definitely couldn’t.” He snorts. “Shortie.”
Luke glares. Brad’s the tallest of them—lean but solid. Luke’s the shortest, thick and strong, all football muscle.
“Wanna bet?” Brad stands, setting his beer down and stepping back.
“Brad, no,” I say immediately. “Don’t.”
He waves me off. “Relax. It’s not even as bad as last time.”
Last time someone twisted an ankle, Luke ate dirt, and Mitch lost leg hair.
Brad doesn’t wait for permission. He takes off, jumps clean over the fire, and lands a little shaky but upright.
We all gasp.
Mitch claps. “Bravo.”
“My turn,” Luke says, handing Landon to Macy and already standing.
“No,” Maddie snaps.
Luke ignores her, moving to where Brad stood.
“Luke! No,” she says again, sharper now.
He shoots her a look. “Calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” she fires back. “You almost broke your face last time. Do you have memory loss?”
“I didn’t break my face,” Luke scoffs. “You can’t break your face.”
“Yes, you can!” she yells.
Macy and I exchange a look. Brad makes a mock talking-hand motion behind Maddie’s head, grinning.
She whips around. “Shut up!”
“I wasn’t the one talking,” Brad says innocently.
Luke steps closer to the fire. “I’m a grown-ass man, Maddie. Would you just sit down and let me live?”
Silence crashes over the group.
Maddie crosses her arms, hurt flashing across her face before anger takes over. “Let you live?” she says. “That’s funny coming from the guy who wants to know where I am and what I’m doing every five minutes.”
“That’s completely different,” Luke snaps. “And you know it.”
“How?” she challenges.
“Because I’m jumping over a fire,” Luke says, gesturing wildly. “Not going to some frat party, getting drunk with people you barely know.”
“There it is,” Maddie says quietly. “That’s what this is really about.”
Brad clears his throat. “Alright. You guys knock it off now.”
Luke doesn’t even look at him. His eyes stay locked on Maddie. “You’re twisting it.”
“No, I’m not,” she says, her voice cracking despite how hard she’s trying to keep it steady. “You don’t trust me.”
“That’s not true.”
All of a sudden the fire snaps, sharp and loud. Sparks fly, everyone jumps. Macy screams and Luke curses. Brad straightens, holding a fistful of firecrackers, completely unbothered.
“Stop,” Brad says flatly, “or I’m throwing in the whole box.”
For a second, no one moves.
Then Maddie shakes her head, once, like she’s done arguing. “I’m not doing this,” she mutters, already turning toward the house.
Luke stands frozen, chest rising and falling hard, shoulders tight. He watches her go like he’s stuck between chasing her and staying right where he is. He pulls out another cigarette and lights it, his jaw tight.
No one says a word.
The music keeps playing, low and wrong now. The fire keeps burning like nothing happened.
Macy steps closer to Mitch and hands Landon off to Luke.’ “I’m gonna go talk to her,” she says quietly.
Mitch nods, watching her go. Brad looks too. Luke doesn’t; he’s staring into the fire now, jaw still tight, cigarette glowing between his fingers.
“I’ll go in too,” I say softly. “I’ll put Landon to bed while I’m in there.”
Mitch hands him over, careful and quiet, and I head up toward the house.
Maddie’s in the kitchen, pouring another drink. Macy’s watching, arms crossed, and I hear her say, “I get it.”
Maddie shakes her head, fire coming out of her ears. “I’m done,” she says hoarsely. “I’m so done with him.”
“You say that every time,” Macy reminds her.
Maddie presses her palms into her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Okay, well, I can’t do this anymore.”
“Do what?” I interject, swaying lightly with Landon in my arms.
“Explain myself. Reassure him every time I leave the dorm like I’m asking permission instead of just…living.”
“Yeah, what’s hard,” Macy says and I step in.
“For years it’s been you and Luke, all each other really had. Now you’re finding more friends and people to lean on, and it’s new for Luke. Big adjustment, you know?”
“Yeah, but she’s going into her second year soon. Don’t you think he should be adjusted?” Macy asks me. And Maddie waits like whatever I say is the right answer.
“I mean…I don’t—” I start but Maddie cuts in.
“He makes me feel like I have to pick between college and him.”
“You don’t,” Macy says flatly. “You’re allowed to do both, and you are, and I think that’s impressive.”
“I know that,” Maddie says, frustrated. “But it doesn’t make it hurt less when he looks at me like that.”
Silence stretches between us. Outside, music drifts faintly through the open windows.
Maddie wipes her eyes again, her breath shuddering. “I just don’t know if we’re supposed to be together.”
“I think it’s just a hard season right now,” Macy says.
“Yeah,” I agree. “You don’t have to decide that tonight. You guys had a few drinks, you’re both tired.”
She deflates. “I know. I just…hate fighting with him.”
“Everyone hates fighting,” I say. “Especially with the person we love.”
That one hits her. She presses her lips together, nodding once. We sit there for another minute, no one rushing to fix it. Landon’s passed out in my arms now.
The screen door opens a second later and we wait to see who steps in. It’s Luke, looking upset. He looks at Maddie, not mad, more like defeated.
“Baby, can we talk?” His voice is unsteady and soft. Maddie wipes her cheeks and walks toward him. The screen door shuts behind them. Macy and I glance at each other.
“They’ll be fine, right?”
“They always are.” I shrug.
I put Landon down. Macy says she’s going to bed, and I head back out to the fire with the monitor, hoping Landon sleeps for a little while before he needs something.
Brad and Mitch are both smoking a cigarette, beer bottles to their lips, talking, but I can’t hear what about exactly.
“All good?” Mitch asks.
“I don’t know, they’re talking. What did Luke have to say?”
“He’s just…tired of it. Not her, college. He doesn’t know how he’s going to do it for three more years,” Mitch says.
“He’s not gonna dump her, right?” I ask.
“No. He didn’t say that,” Brad says.
“Did Maddie?” Mitch asks.
“She said she wasn’t sure if they were supposed to be together.”
Brad shakes his head again. “I can’t imagine a Luke without a Maddie.”
“Yeah,” Brad says quietly. “Me neither.”
Mitch exhales and glances toward the cabin, gesturing vaguely with his beer. “I’m just glad we don’t do all that.”
I nod and Brad lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah. Same.”
The fire pops, a sharp crack sending sparks spiraling into the dark. Brad stares into it for a second too long, like he’s working himself up to say something else.
“I was gonna tell everyone tonight…” Brad says.
Mitch looks over. “Tell us what?”
Brad exhales through his nose, a half laugh that doesn’t quite land. “I’ve gotta finish probation and stuff, but after that, I’m gonna try for Atlanta.”
The words hang there, heavier than the smoke.
Mitch straightens. “Atlanta?”
“Yeah.” Brad nods. “Way bigger department. More opportunity. More…action, more everything.”
“Wow,” I breathe.
“That’s…” Mitch pauses, searching for the right word. “Big.”
Brad shrugs, trying to play it off. “I know. I’m excited. Gonna miss being around, but it’s not like I’m leaving tomorrow.” He laughs once.
“That’ll be good for you,” I interject.
Mitch nods. “Yeah. Proud of you, man.”
Brad’s mouth twitches. “Thanks.”
The fire crackles again. Brad drains the rest of his beer, crushes the can in his hand, and flicks his cigarette butt into the flames.
“I’ll tell the rest of them tomorrow sometime,” he says, standing. “As long as Luke and Maddie can get their shit together by then.”
Mitch laughs. “Yeah, that’ll be good.” He claps him on the shoulder.
“Yeah, I’m gonna head in,” Brad says, already backing away. “I’m beat.”
We watch him for a second as he heads toward the back porch. When his foot hits the first step, Mitch exhales.
“That’s not what I was expecting,” he says quietly.
“Me neither.” I glance back at the fire, then toward the dark outline of the cabin. “I’m happy for him, though.”
“Yeah,” Mitch agrees. “Me too.”
We let the silence settle in around us, sound of the water, the crickets. Somewhere far off a firework pops and echoes, distant and muted.
Mitch shifts beside me. “Landon go down okay?”
“Yeah.” I pull the monitor from the pocket of my sweatshirt. The screen glows faintly in the dark, his tiny chest rising and falling, his chin twitching with that little sucking motion, like he’s dreaming about eating.
Mitch shifts closer, tugging me gently into his side. He kisses the top of my head, warm and familiar, and I melt into him without thinking.
“Wanna sit on the dock?” he asks.
I nod, already moving.
We walk hand in hand through the grass, away from the dying fire, over loose gravel that crunches under our feet.
The dock creaks softly as we step onto it, the lake stretching out dark and endless in front of us.
I sit at the edge and slip my feet into the water.
It’s cold at first, then my feet adjust.
Mitch watches me with that look I know too well.
“What’re you doing all the way over there?” He smirks.
He slides an arm around my waist and pulls me toward him, slow and deliberate, until I’m tucked into his side. I turn just as he tilts his head down, and he kisses me, one hand on my cheek, his palm lifting my chin just enough to deepen it. His mouth tastes like cigarette smoke and beer and summer.
“Kind of weird to think about where we were this time last year,” he says.
“Scared out of our minds?” he adds with a laugh. “Wasn’t this the weekend we told everyone you were pregnant?”
“And that we were dating,” I say.
“Yikes.” He shakes his head, like he still can’t believe it.
“It feels like longer than a year… Not in a bad way,” I say.
“Yeah, it does,” he agrees.
We fall quiet for a moment, the water lapping gently against the dock, steady and unhurried.
“And to think about where we’ll be next year,” he says, a half smile tugging at his mouth. I tilt my head, watching him.
“Hopefully engaged.”
“Hopefully,” he echoes.
The word lands heavy. A small part of my chest sinks, subtle but undeniable. Because I want that now. Not in six months…now. If we were engaged, we could be married by this time next summer. Settled into life as a family of three and more stable than ever.
I know it might not happen that fast. Macy already told me that he hasn’t bought another ring yet. She promised she’d tell me when he did. So I know better than to expect anything in the next few weeks, let alone today, or even this weekend.
But knowing doesn’t stop the ache.
I lean into his side anyway, pressing my cheek to his shoulder, watching the dark water move around us. Wanting him hasn’t ever been the problem. Wanting this, the future, the promise, the certainty, has always come just a little faster than the timing allows.