“I’m a little nervous,” I admit shyly. He immediately turns, shirt still held up to his chest. “And that looks really good.”
He looks down. “Well, thanks.” He puts it down and takes a seat next tome. “Why would you be nervous?”
“I don’t know. I’m not great at making friends. We don’t know anyone.”
It’s true. I’ve had the same friends I’ve had since I moved here, and I made them because I already knew Mila. Then, I met Briar through Isla, who was dating her brother, and Izara through Briar.
Cooper’s face twists as if he smells the wet cat food I made him take a whiff of the other day. “Amara, I know it sucks, but also, I don’t think any adult has ever been good at making friends. Like, ever.”
“You’re great at making friends!” I throw my arms out in frustration, but he shakes his head.
“I’m good at socializing and getting people to like me. Those are two very different things. You can have hundreds, if not thousands, of acquaintances who don’t know you. A friend is something entirely different.”
Before I can say it, it escapes my mouth. “I feel like we’re acquaintances.”
He doesn’t miss a beat. “Yeah. We used to be best friends.”
“We used to be almost more,” I fire back.
Cooper studies me, but I study him right back. Every angular curve of his face. Every freckle. If I were brave enough, I’d let my eyes trail down his neck to his shoulders, and down his tattooed arms.
“But now we’re married,” he says slowly. “And all I want is to know you again.”
“You’re getting to know me.”
“Not in the way I want.”
My heart stops as my blood runs cold, the rushing in my ears threatening to pull me under.
“What?”
“You don’t think I want to know you?”
“I don’t?—”
“Amara, I’ve spent the last several weeks trying to figure out what I can do to make sure you’re in my life again. To payoff the debt my past actions have racked up. To finally be free and to have you in my life to—” he pauses, his thumb running along his lip. “To love you in whatever way we deem fit after all of this.”
He takes a deep breath as I sit there, shell-shocked, just trying to find my pulse again.
“It hurt every single time I had to see you over the last few years. Every time. I can’t even imagine how you felt. How much it hurtyou.I’m just,” he tosses his hands up before they land at his sides with athwap.“I’m just trying to figure out how we can even befriendsagain. Because God, do I want that.”
I gaze down at my hands, tracing my lifeline with my right thumb over and over and over until it starts to feel numb. “I want to be friends too,” I say quietly.
I leave him in his room to get ready, the door quietly shutting behind me.
Lindsey gave me clothes to wear too. Something about making sure that everyone looks good for the camera, or that they fit the narrative that’s being painted for us.
But I think that my dress is an olive branch. A plea, of sorts, for me to start making their lives a little easier.
I haven’t decided if I want to give in quite yet.
Stepping into the dress, I immediately gasp, because it’s no lie when I say this is the most gorgeous piece of art I’ve ever placed on my body.
Deep blue, and covered from top to bottom in beading. There’s a slit up to my lower hip on the right side, and the bottom is completely lined with silver beaded flowers.
The seconds we have to get ready are ticking, so I grab the strappy heels they had delivered, throw them on, and grab the bag that goes with them, and head out to the hall to find Cooper. The only thing I have left is to get my dress zipped.
I nearly run into him.
