In Chap­ter 17 of If These Wings Could Fly, the atmos­phere in Leighton’s home grows increas­ing­ly tense as a series of chal­lenges unfold. Fam­i­ly con­flicts esca­late, adding to the already strained mood of the house­hold, and to top it off, Leighton faces the dis­ap­point­ment of los­ing a cru­cial con­struc­tion bid. As if that weren’t enough, she becomes over­whelmed by a mas­sive pile of papers she’s print­ed for her research on crow myths, a project she’s been work­ing on in the chaos of a mal­func­tion­ing print­er at the news­pa­per room. The stress of these mount­ing issues weighs heav­i­ly on her, and her focus is shat­tered when she acci­den­tal­ly col­lides with Liam, a fel­low stu­dent, caus­ing her papers to scat­ter all over the floor. This unex­pect­ed encounter high­lights just how chaot­ic her life has become in recent days.

As Leighton gath­ers the papers and shares an exchange with Liam, a sub­tle con­nec­tion between them begins to form. Their con­ver­sa­tion is light­heart­ed at first, as they jok­ing­ly dis­cuss the pres­sures they both face in jug­gling aca­d­e­m­ic com­mit­ments and extracur­ric­u­lar activ­i­ties. The chem­istry between them is evi­dent, though nei­ther acknowl­edges it ful­ly. Liam com­pli­ments Leighton on her writ­ing, a ges­ture she brush­es off, dis­miss­ing it as flat­tery, but Liam insists that his praise is sin­cere. The con­ver­sa­tion, full of play­ful teas­ing, reveals a grow­ing famil­iar­i­ty between the two, offer­ing a moment of lev­i­ty in Leighton’s oth­er­wise tense and over­whelm­ing day. As the two talk, a friend­ship starts to solid­i­fy, and Leighton allows her­self to enter­tain the thought of a deep­er con­nec­tion with him, per­haps even roman­tic, though she tries to keep those thoughts at bay.

Their brief but mean­ing­ful con­ver­sa­tion con­tin­ues as they both arrive at the news­room, where Liam sur­pris­es Leighton by offer­ing a lis­ten­ing ear. He pro­pos­es that if she ever feels the need to talk or unload her thoughts, he would be there to lis­ten. Leighton, caught off guard by his kind­ness and under­stand­ing, feels a wave of emo­tion flood over her. In that moment, she feels vul­ner­a­ble, caught between her bur­geon­ing feel­ings for Liam and the many com­pli­ca­tions in her life. She admits that she has feel­ings for him, but the tim­ing is wrong. She explains the com­plex­i­ties of her life, espe­cial­ly her respon­si­bil­i­ties toward her sis­ters, which make it impos­si­ble for her to focus on a roman­tic rela­tion­ship right now. Despite her feel­ings, she pri­or­i­tizes her famil­ial duties, acknowl­edg­ing that she can­not afford to get involved with some­one when so much else demands her atten­tion.

Liam, in turn, shares his own per­son­al strug­gles and the ways his fam­i­ly life has shaped his own choic­es. While they exchange these inti­mate details, Leighton feels the weight of her respon­si­bil­i­ties bear­ing down on her. She is torn between the desire to explore a rela­tion­ship with Liam and the prac­ti­cal real­i­ties of her life, where fam­i­ly always comes first. Though part of her wish­es to give in to her feel­ings and say “yes” to Liam, she can­not escape the role she’s been play­ing as a care­giv­er. The chap­ter ends with Leighton grap­pling with this inter­nal con­flict, stand­ing at the cross­roads of per­son­al desire and the heavy bur­den of famil­ial oblig­a­tion.

This chap­ter serves not only to deep­en the emo­tion­al con­nec­tion between Leighton and Liam but also to explore broad­er themes of duty, sac­ri­fice, and the com­pli­ca­tions that come with grow­ing up. The inter­play of these themes offers read­ers a poignant reflec­tion on the strug­gles many face in bal­anc­ing per­son­al wants with the respon­si­bil­i­ties that life throws at them. Through Leighton’s inner tur­moil and her inter­ac­tion with Liam, the nar­ra­tive high­lights the dif­fi­cul­ty of mak­ing choic­es when emo­tions and oblig­a­tions col­lide, a strug­gle that will res­onate with read­ers who have expe­ri­enced the ten­sion between per­son­al aspi­ra­tions and famil­ial ties.