The Wall of Winnipeg and Me

by Mariana Zapata

“Could you get my girl a coffee?” His girl?

“She’s my wife.”

“Handle it for me, would you, Muffin?”

“We’re partners. We’re a team. You said it.”

“If someone messes with you, they’re going to mess with me, Van. I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I might not be good with this friend crap, but I’m not about to let somebody get away with hurting you. Ever. Do you understand me?”

“Touch my wife again and I’ll break every bone in your goddamn body.” My wife. Not Vanessa. He’d gone with my wife.

“No,” the familiar, deep voice answered unexpectedly, right before he dropped a metal chair into place right next to me. “She’s mine.”

“You haven’t left me when I needed you. Why wouldn’t I do the same for you?”

Aiden: I got you for longer, didn’t I?

He made a light noise, a tender one. “That’s my girl.” His girl? “I am?” I just outright asked him, hoping more than a little he wasn’t just . . . that was stupid, Aiden wouldn’t just say that. “The only one,” he said it like there was no other choice in the world.

“That’s my girl. That’s my fucking girl.”

“Did you listen to anything I told you when you finished your run? I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you so much you can’t begin to comprehend how much. I didn’t want to leave you. I kept trying to talk myself out of going. Why do you think I never brought it up?”

“How do you not know that you mean the world to me? I haven’t made it clear enough?”

“Do you love me?” His gaze was so intent the entire world seemed to stop. “You tell me. I never stop thinking about you. I worry about you all the time. Every beautiful thing I see reminds me of you. I can’t finish my practices in Colorado without wishing you were around,” he said in a steady tone. “You tell me what I feel.”

“Home is where you are. I would go anywhere for you if you wanted me to be there.”

“I don’t know anything about relationships, Van, but I know I love you. I know I’ve waited my entire life to love you, and I’ll do whatever I have to, to make this work.”