Tuesday tales: From the Word FIGHT

Welcome to September. Where has the year gone? Today, I continue with Forever in my Heart. The Tuesday Tale word is FIGHT.

“I suppose I shouldn’t have turned the phone off,” she admitted. “I apologize. Leaving like that … I guess I just wasn’t thinking straight. You know—the old fight or flight instinct—not that we were going to fight…”

No, she’d been in full panic mode, a wounded gazelle fleeing a pride of hungry lions.

“Maybe not,” he said. “But I understand why you did. Becca explained things to me. I wish you’d told me first, but a lot of things fell into place. I can see my rushing you like that wasn’t a good thing. Why don’t we just let things go back to the way they were between us? No talks of marriage. We’ll be like Leonard and Penny, and who knows, maybe someday … I love you, Callista. I’m not ready to face the future without you.”

The pain in his voice was her undoing, and tears streamed down her face. To agree to his suggestion would be courting disaster because, despite wishing it might be different, she didn’t love him. The only man she’d ever loved had been Luke Branscomb, and he’d chosen her sister over her.

“Brett, I need space right now, and I think you do, too. I like you more than I’ve ever liked any man, but I just don’t love you the way you deserve to be loved,” she said, her voice hoarse with emotion.

“Why not let me be the judge of that?” he argued. “We’re great together in bed, we have fun … maybe you just don’t recognize love when you see it.”

“You may be right, and I may be throwing away the best thing in my life, but if we stayed together, the love you think you have for me could turn to hate. I would rather hurt you now than crush you later. I’m sorry. This is my fault. I’m broken, and I don’t think I can ever be fixed. Goodbye.”

She hung up before he could say anything, walked over to the couch, and threw herself down, dissolving into tears for what had been and could never be. It wasn’t that she’d loved Brett; it was that with her mother and grandmother gone, alienated from the sister she’d barely known, and dumped by the man she’d planned to spend her life with, she suddenly felt more alone than ever. Callista Hayworth, not worthy of love, trust, or fidelity.

That’s it. Stay safe and don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales