Page 68 of Broken Heart

And while I guess it was possible someone might have believed it was too early to be sure about Cooper, given the time we’d known one another, I’d argue that time had nothing to do with it. Not when that man was like Cooper. Not when he took the time to get to know me, merely to help me out of a crappy situation. Not when he made the effort. And especially not when he willingly shared his delightful family with me.

A man who wasn’t a good man wouldn’t have been surrounded by the people Cooper was surrounded by on his birthday and today.

Plus, I had been with Simon for two years, and he proved to be anything but wonderful in the end. Time, in my opinion, didn’t factor into the equation the same way I used to think it should.

On top of all of that, I didn’t want to be cynical. I mean, I’d always been slightly more introverted, willing to sit back and observe. And I thought I wanted to keep myself even more secluded after being betrayed by people I loved. But Cooper made me realize I didn’t deserve that.

I deserved to be happy, to find love.

Whether that would be a lifelong commitment, I didn’t know. But I knew if there was a chance to get something better than what I’d gotten so far in life, I needed to take it.

And I intended to do just that.

Tonight.

The day with Cooper’s family at the lake house had been wonderful so far. I wanted it to get even better with him when we were alone later.

So, I was going to tell him the truth about how I felt. I wanted him to know I, too, wanted to give us a shot. But I needed to give him everything, which meant I had to share my fears as well.

Fortunately, I felt safe enough with Cooper to believe I could do that, and he wouldn’t make me feel bad about it.

On that thought, I went in search of his grandmother to see if she’d take me on a tour of the lake house property. Wendy jumped at the opportunity, Evelyn deciding to come along with us as well.

And as I took in the sight of the gorgeous flowers that reminded me of my parents, I remembered that word—fate. I believed this was exactly where I was meant to be all along.

20

COOPER

“What made you think this was a good choice?” Skye asked.

I was beginning to believe there was no better sound in the world than that of Skye’s voice. It didn’t matter to me what she was talking about—I wouldn’t have cared if she told me the plot of every book she’d read over the last five years—as long as I could hear her voice, I would be happy.

Well, that and being able to have her to myself every now and then. I loved my family—adored them—but after spending nearly all morning and afternoon with them, I was glad I’d decided to bring Skye back to her place, so we could have some time alone together. Time that wouldn’t include one of my brothers walking in on us and disrupting anything we might wind up doing.

For now, I was content to simply sit and talk to her. Of course, Skye didn’t have a problem coming up with things to discuss. It was just that I wasn’t quite sure what she was referring to now.

“What?”

“For dessert. A few days ago, you said you were going to cover breakfast and dessert. Breakfast was one thing, but I got the feeling you were going to have your sister make something again for dessert. I wasn’t expecting this,” she explained.

I tipped my head to the side and assessed her. “Is this not a good choice? Would having Jules make something else have been better?”

She shook her head, looking slightly horrified. “No. No, I’m not saying that at all. I think this is great. I just hadn’t expected it. That’s all.”

Relief swept through me. “When I was in your kitchen having a cupcake with you that day, I noticed you had this firepit in your backyard,” I revealed. “And I thought s’mores were synonymous with summer, especially the 4th of July.”

Skye was sitting close, roasting a marshmallow over the fire I’d started for us, and she seemed perfectly content with what we were doing. “It was a great idea.”

“Yeah, but you better watch, or that marshmallow isn’t going to survive,” I noted, unable to contain my laughter.

She shrieked, yanking the marshmallow away from the fire. “Ah! That was close.”

I held the plate with the graham crackers and chocolate out to her. She placed her marshmallow on top of the chocolate already on a cracker, positioned the other half of the cracker on top, and squished the marshmallow beneath it.

That’s when she glanced over at the fire and noticed my marshmallow was ready. So, she took the plate and said, “I’ll hold it while you do yours.”

I did the same as she had done and assembled my s’more.