A Love Worth Fighting For

Ch. 9 *Clay's POV*

Clay's POV——— A/N at the end

When we got home, Mikey asked if I would play the newest video game he got. Of course I agreed and we were already playing when Claire and Hannah walked in. When they did get home, they immediately went to the kitchen.

I sent Mikey to see what was going on. He came back just to tell me that Claire was making banana splits. Not for all of us, just for herself and Hannah. When I tried to walk in, Claire just told me to go away. She claimed that it was just for girl talk. I still didn't know what was going on with Hannah but it seemed like she was talking to Claire about it.

An hour or so later, Mikey decided to go on upstairs. I peaked into the kitchen and Claire was saying something to Hannah but I couldn't make out what she was saying. After they were finished with their ice cream, Hannah gave Claire a hug and went upstairs.

I watched as she started cleaning up the kitchen. I walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her away from the sink and started dancing.

    "Clay, there's no music," she laughed.

    "I can easily fix that, my love," I said, pulling my phone from my pocket and turning on some Beach Boys music.

I put my phone on the counter and we started dancing again.

    "Thank you," I told her.

    "For what?" she asked.

    "Never giving up on me. For always being there for the kids."

    "Clay Redden. I'll never give up on you. You are the absolute true love of my life."

I knew what she meant because it was the same for me. I have never felt the feelings for anyone that I felt for her.

    "And you're mine. I apologize again for making the last few years so difficult."

    "Isn't that part of a last relationship? Got to take the bad with the good," she said.

    "I don't know what I did to deserve you," I told her, kissing the top of her head.

Nothing else needed to be said tonight. We fell asleep just holding one another.

I had not had a dream in forever, I thought to myself as I woke up drenched in sweat. It was barely 2 AM and after that, I wouldn't be going back to sleep. I stood up and went to go change into some shorts and a T-shirt. I needed to blow off some steam so I was going to go to the 24 hour gym.

When I got there, there was only two other people there. The girl scanned my member card and shot me a flirty grin. A lot of women did that but I ignored them. They honestly held nothing compared to Claire.

Claire.

I hoped that she wouldn't wake up and noticed me gone. I didn't think about that until now. I decided to send her a quick text just in case.

    -Hey sweetheart. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep so I came to the gym. I should be home before you wake up. I love you.

I knew once she saw the message, she would start to over analyze it. I just hoped she wouldn't bring up therapy again. I was over this. Yes, the dreams flared back but we were doing good.

The wedding was about 80% planned and by the fall, Claire would be Mrs. Henderson. Things were where they were supposed to be. Things would continue as long as this episode was not brought up.

After what I thought was just an hour, more people started showing up. I put the weights I was using up and looked at the time. Claire will definitely be up already. When I looked at my phone, she had texted me twice. Once simply asked if I was OK and the other said I love you more. So far so good, I thought to myself. I went to the locker room to grab my keys and headed home.