“Really? But you always seem so confident,” Ollie says.
Maddox shakes his head. “In that moment, I lost all my confidence. But my point is, if you continue to let your fears prevent you from going after what you want, you’ll live your life in regret and constantly wonder what if.”
Even though Maddox isn’t addressing me directly, his words strike a chord with me. If I had allowed those negative voices in my head to control me, I would have missed out on pursuing what my heart truly desires. A life without Maddox would have been a life full of regret.
“Thank you, Maddox—for the advice.” Ollie smiles. “I think I’ll, uh, ask her out on Friday.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Maddox holds his fist up and dabs it with Ollie’s.
“My baby is all grown up.” Mom sniffles, her eyes glazing over with tears. “It seems like it was yesterday when I held you in my arms and rocked you to sleep.”
Ollie groans, turning his attention back to the food.
“You better not do anything more than kiss,” Mom says,pointing a fork at Ollie. “The only person I want to give me grandkids right now is Annalise.”
I nearly choke on my food, and Maddox laughs next to me. “Mami, you need to slow down. Wejuststarted dating again.”
“My mom said the exact same thing when I called her earlier to tell her about us.” Maddox chuckles, shaking his head.
“Don’t listen to them,” Abuelo says, waving his hand. “Focus on your careers first. Babies can wait. But when it does happen, you two will have beautiful babies.”
“We would, wouldn’t we?” Maddox kisses me on the cheek and I melt into a puddle.
Having kids isn’t something I’m opposed to. I’ve always pictured having them with Maddox one day.
However, I don’t see myself being a mom for at least another decade. I want to succeed in my career and continue to build a life with Maddox first. When the day does come, I already know Maddox will make an amazing dad.
Over the next week, all of my free time is spent preparing for the soft launch of my online store. After work, I go over to Mom’s house to finish working on my clothes. Maddox had offered me one of his empty rooms, but I didn’t want to invade his place.
With Ivy’s help, I created an Instagram for my shop and started posting sneak peeks of the clothing. She gave me a bunch of tips on marketing and ideas for content creation. My account currently has around a hundred followers, and although it’s not a huge amount, seeing people commenting about how pretty my clothes are warms my heart.
Maddox begged me to let him give me a shoutout on his Instagram—which would probably give me a huge boost, since he has over twenty million followers—but I told him this is something I want to do on my own.
“I’m so excited for you to launch your shop tonight. You know, I’ll be the first customer. I need to get my hands on that pink two-piece set.” Ivy smiles and takes a sip out of her taro tea.
We stopped by Boba Guys after lunch, and now we’re heading back to the office.
“Thank you, Ivy. I really appreciate all your support.”
“You’re welcome, queen. Don’t forget about me once Thorny Roses blows up.”
Rolling my eyes, I take a sip of my strawberry matcha latte. “I’m not going to forget about you. And I doubt it’ll blow up.”
“Sure it will. What are your plans for next week?”
Dauntless will be closed for a week for spring break, so I’m able to get a break from Veronica and her antics.
“I plan on utilizing that time off to make more clothes for my shop.”
“Are you doing anything for your birthday?”
“I don’t have anything planned.” I shrug. “Probably just gonna have dinner with my family.”
“And some birthday sex?” Ivy says, wiggling her brows.
Shaking my head, I sip the rest of my drink and toss it in a nearby trash can.
I fully plan on having birthday sex.
