My Heart for Yours by Jolene Perry, Stephanie Campbell

you doing? You shouldn’t be out here,” she says. Her voice is full of pity and it’s the last thing in the world that I want from her right now.
     
    I feel her hand on my shoulder and I jerk away.
     
    “ Come on, Tobin. Let me take you home,” she says.
     
    I can’t do a whole lot of arguing. It’s already early morning, and I’ve got to give my brother’s eulogy in just a few short hours. I run my forearm across my face to wipe away any tears that may be there. I hope I do it quickly enough that she doesn’t notice. What the fuck do I care anyway right now, though?
     
    She wraps her arm around me to help me up.
     

     
    ***
     
    “ Tobin, she was everything to me,” she said.
     
    I wiped the tear from under her hazel eye with my thumb and then stroked her chestnut hair. I wanted to tell her that at least her grandmother was away from Delia’s asshole of a father now, but refrained. He gave her grandma hell for not rolling over and agreeing with him and what he believed. She was a feisty little woman. I know Delia really looked up to her.
     
    “ I know, baby, it’s going to be okay, I’m not going to leave you,” I told her.
     
    I cradled her in my arms and picked her up off of the ground.
     
    Her grandmother died that summer and there was nothing that I could do to make her feel any better. But I stayed by her side for days despite her father’s objections about me being in their house—he was far too busy and important to make the trip back home. He’s such a stereotypical, political ass.
     
    I helped her into bed the night before her grandmother’s funeral. I fluffed the pillows like I’d seen my mom do when we were having company and pulled the thick down comforter up over her. It was the first time that I’d actually taken care of someone. The first time that someone needed me.
     
    “ I love you, Delia Gentry,” I told her. My heart raced, I’d never said the words to a woman before.
     
    “ So, what, your love for mine? Another trade?” she asked. It was her first smile in days.
     
    “ Nope, I love you. That’s it.” I said.
     
    “ Well, Tobin LeJeune, it just so happens that I love you, too.”
     
    ***
     

     
    “ You know in all the time we were together, this is the first time I’ve ever driven your truck,” she says.
     
    “ Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. It’s never going to happen again,” I mumble. She grinds the gears as she slows down to stop at a stop sign. I feel like I’m going to be sick. It has little to do with Delia’s poor driving of a standard, but that isn’t helping either.
     
    “ It’s this one up here on the left,” I say smugly.
     
    “ I know which—” she stops and looks at me, “Oh, I see. You’re trying to be funny.”
     
    She pulls the truck into the driveway and then starts toward the front door.
     
    “ Okay, so, I’m going to call Weston, and then get you inside.”
     
    The mention of his name makes me fume with anger. She speaks softly into the phone like it’s too private for me to hear. I wonder what she’s telling him. I can’t focus enough on anything to concentrate on her voice right now.
     
    “ I don’t need your help,” I say after she hangs up.
     
    She’s wearing that same damn pair of cut off’s that she always did, the ones that always drove me a little crazy. I want to run my finger along the frayed edges. I shouldn’t be thinking about things like that right now, but I am. “Tobin, I’m not leaving you out here.”
     
    “ Whatever,” I say. “So, isn’t your boyfriend going to be pissed that you’re with me?”
     
    Delia lightly tiptoes up the stairs.
     
    “ And where are you going?” I ask.
     
    “ I’m going to make sure you get settled in bed. You really need to get some rest. Oh, and for the record, Weston isn’t your concern,” she says.
     
    “ Ah, that’s sweet. I didn’t think you had it in you to stand up for anything,” I say. She turns around with eyes narrowed;