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“Cornell doesn’t have any plans to leave, does he?”
* * *
Ali stirred the tomato soup, blowing on the spoon as she brought it to her mouth. “If you want some, there’s more on the stove.”
Cornell shook his head.
“Then why are you staring?” Ali asked, looking up at him leaning against the island.
“Am I not allowed to look at my gorgeous girlfriend?”
“No one looks beautiful when eating soup.” She glanced down at her watch. “You’re going to be late.”
Pushing off the counter, Cornell sighed. “You’re beautiful to me eating ribs.” He stepped out of the kitchen before returning with a gift bag. “I really couldn’t think of a time when I should give you this. Or, I guess, give them back to you. But I know this is probably the only game you’ve missed in seven years.”
Ali looked at the bag held out in front of her and back at Cornell. “Them?”
Cornell nodded, pressing his lips together in silence for a moment before pulling a chair next to her. “He might’ve taken tonight away. But I promise, he didn’t take all the games and days before it. He didn’t take them away from you.”
Glancing between the bag and Cornell, Ali looked at him hesitantly.
“Open it.”
Ali took the bag, surprised by its heavy weight, and pulled out a dark blue photo album, opening it. The first photo staring back at her was the selfie she took of her and Marvin last year before he was discharged from the hospital—the same photo Ali had ripped down angrily from the wall in her office, followed by countless others, all of which Cornell had smoothed or taped and pressed into the protective sleeves of the album.
On the day she fell apart, Cornell picked up the pieces and stitched them back together.
Ali’s hand slipped from the photo album, and it shut when she covered her face.
“You did so much for that place. For every one of them,” Cornell whispered, pressing a hand gently to the back of Ali’s head to pull her forward. “He’ll never take that from you. It’s who you are. It’s why I fell in love with you. But if you forget that, and if I slip up and forget to remind you about it, now you still have it and can take it wherever you go.”
A sob echoed into Ali’s palm before she wrapped both arms around Cornell. She didn’t say anything with the emotional chokehold straining her voice, but her mind ran wild with all the things Ali couldn’t push out of her mouth.
He never took me away from you, even if it felt like that. He’ll never take me away from you, even if I work someplace else. We’re still together, we’re still a team. We’re the best team.
“Thank you,” was all she could mumble into Cornell’s skin.
Cornell’s warm breath danced across Ali’s cheek as he kissed her softly. “Are you going to be okay tonight?”
She nodded against him.
“Maybe Tara can drive out—”
Ali shook her head, pulling back and wiping her face with the back of her hand. “I’ll be fine.”
Cornell’s thumb wiped a place where Ali had missed. “I’ll come back right after, okay?” He nudged her cheek. “And then I want a rematch at Twister. Naked.”
Letting out a small laugh, Ali clutched the photo album to her chest. “Thank you for this.” She reached out, cupping his jaw, and pulled him in for a kiss. “Thank you for getting me through it.”
Cornell smoothed a piece of hair back. “It’s okay if you’re not through it. Just keep going with me, alright?”
Ali nodded, remembering the thoughtful message Cornell shared with her last year—“If someone asked me, ‘Cornell, how’s it going?’ I used to say, ‘it’s going’ for a long time.” He laughed. “It got easier. Then it started going great, or bad, or amazing. But it kept going. It keeps going, always, but only if you do too.”
And they were going through it together. Because Graham hadn’t just violated Ali. He planted himself right in the middle of their relationship. And she knew, they could only push him out together.
* * *
Hours later, after Ali had cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed all of Mowgli’s hair from the living room rug, and done two loads of laundry, she plopped down on the couch, the buzzing in her body signaling its discomfort with stillness in the middle of a tornado of anxiety.
