“How can it be too great?” June asks.
Grace snorts. “June bug, for as smart and perceptive as you are sometimes, you are a dunce. She feels like it’s too good to be true.”
I lift a shoulder and glance at her.
“No way,” she says.
“I wasn’t going to admit it,” I mutter, as the waiter places the appetizer on our table.
“Coop is always so optimistic. He acts as if something is meant to happen, it automatically will, and I don’t … it doesn’t work that way,” I mumble and toss the rest of my mimosa back.
“You know, when I first started singing on stage, I was hopeful, but the longer I played, no one seemed to care. I was at a crossroads. I had to choose to dig in and go for it, or I had to figure out what else to do. Singing is all I’ve ever wanted to do. When I was finally signed, it’s like the lights came on. Dreams were comingtrue, but …” Grace trails off and takes another drink, almost as if she’s nervous to tell me what she thinks.
“Dreams can change. It’s okay that they change. So maybe while you keep things real, Cooper can keep things optimistic. We don’t know what the future holds, and if I’ve learned anything, Mae, it’s that if we spend too much time thinking about how things won’t work, or all the reasons we shouldn’t — we miss it. There’s clearly something between you and Cooper, so lean in. And I have to say, you seem to agree with Paxton, which is special in itself because you either love or hate Paxton,” Grace says.
“I really do like it here.”
“What’s keeping you from staying?” June asks.
I explain my situation and my mom. Understanding falls over both of their faces.
“Rock and a hard place, girlfriend,” June says.
“Is it, though? I mean, I don’t know how that feels, but you’re here now. You know you will be for a handful of months. Doing the thing scared is when it matters the most. Be brave. I think you have it in you,” Grace says.
I blink a few times, a little shocked. No one has ever called me brave before. I’ve never thought of myself that way.
“But what if it backfires?” I ask Grace.
She shrugs. “Then it does.”
“So you’re saying I should throw caution to the wind and let myself fall completely in love with Cooper?”
“Yep. Falling in love takes courage. It takes being brave enough to accept that you’ll be completely vulnerable with someone, and let them have all of you, knowing they might hurt you in the end. But there’s always the chance they’ll take it andlove you,” Grace says.
“My protective instincts tell me to warn you, but I also can’t disagree with Grace. My cousin is a big boy. He wouldn’t have let things get as intense as they already have if he wasn’t serious about you,” June says.
“The day that storm rolled through, he told me he’d marry me right now.”
Grace chokes on her mimosa, and June barks out a laugh.
“Oh man, you’re both done for,” June says.
“Sometimes we just need someone to remind us that we’re capable of being brave,” Grace says and glances at June.
Chapter 39
Cooper
Gravelcrunchesinfrontof the house. Naomi drops her dolls and runs to the door, throwing it open.
“Mae!” Naomi yells.
“Hey you,” she says, smiling as she comes up the stairs.
Naomi launches herself into Mae, and she leans over to hug her. My throat tightens, and I reach for my water.
Mae’s gaze finally finds mine, and my heart stops. I think the world did too.
