I CANTTTTT take it.
NICO
Could you please drive down here and save me from this house again? I’ll be extra good.
Cooper responded to Nico as if nothing was wrong.
COOPER
We both have practice tomorrow.
Cooper’s mother met him outside the elevator, standing with an apple pie in her hand.
Her nose wrinkled as she inhaled. “Whiskey?”
“Bourbon,” Cooper corrected her.
“You’re just like your father. A coward who hides behind alcohol.”
“I know people didn’t tend to give a shit about mental health when you were growing up in the Wild West, but you’re gaslighting the shit out of me right now. Because what the fuck do you mean I’m hiding behind alcohol when you’re always pushing alcohol on me?”
She snarled. “Don’t get too close to the Davies lest they smell your breath.”
Cooper couldn’t hide his disdain, even behind a forced cackle.
She put on a well-practiced smile as she rounded the corner to the dining room. “Who wants dessert?”
Cooper leaned against the archway to the dining room, contemplating every moment in his life that’d led to this moment. Theoretically, he could put an end to this entire charade. He could break free from the cage and burn it all to the fucking ground. So close that he could smell the freedom on the other side, but when he made contact with Sheree’s eyes, he knew he couldn’t. He knew he’d be breaking more hearts than his mother’s. The Davies, all of them, were good people.
But if his mother wanted a show, she was going to get one.
He cycled through a playlist on his phone and settled on a song that meant something to him. Nobody in that room would understand what it meant except for him. It was the perfect choice to give him the courage to do what needed to be done. He connected his phone to the Bluetooth speakers andWingsby Birdy played loudly overhead.
Elsa slid the pie onto the table and turned to him with a knowing glare, the same disappointed look he’d grown accustomed to anytime he dared to step an inch out of line.
Cooper tore off his suit jacket and tossed it to the side and suddenly, all eyes were on him as he approached the table. He used his mother’s chair as a stool to climb onto the table and took great pleasure in watching his mother seethe.
Shoes on a couch or a bed was a serious crime. On the fucking dining room table? That amounted to a death sentence in the eyes of the not-so-fair lady of Columbus.
Cooper came to a stop in front of Stassi andoffered his hand to her. She hesitated, but she understood the deal and ultimately accepted. He lifted her onto the table with him.
Stassi’s parents looked upward wide-eyed, but wearing inquisitive grins which was a stark contrast to Elsa’s disapproval and shame.
Cooper knelt on one knee and pulled out the ring. It truly was a stunning ring, but most facades were just that. Beautiful, meant to obscure the truth buried beneath the surface.
“Stassi Davies, will you fucking marry me?”
She played the part of the surprised lover, shrieking with glee and shaking her hands in disbelief. In another life, she could’ve been an actress. Could’ve taken the world by storm and won every award under the sun.
“Yes,” she screamed. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Cooper glided the ring onto her finger and it fit snugly.
He climbed back to his feet and gave her a quick peck before taking her hand in his.
And in a totally unplanned move, they both turned to Elsa at the exact same time.
Shrugged their shoulders with glee.
