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“And you’re the obvious choice for political advantage.”
“Exactly. One my parents don’t hate either as his family is wealthy and has a lot of contacts they wouldn’t mind having either.”
“This all sounds very medieval. Marrying your daughter off for the best alliance.” Cooper’s brow furrows.
“Well, it is. Very medieval and very fuck what Bea wants, as long as we all get what we want. Minus my mom. She does care to some extent what I want, but she thinks I want Craig. She knows I liked him as a kid, and in her mind, not much has changed since.” I sigh.
“Ah. Yeah. I get that. Mine can be the same way sometimes. She thinks she can set me up with the girl down the block, and we’ll get married and be happy. Except she forgets her son is an unrepentant manwhore who never met a relationship he liked.” He stares up at the stars.
“Don’t talk about yourself like that. If you enjoy your life, and it sustains your happiness, then that’s all that matters.” I feel defensive for both of us.
“It doesn’t. Not really.” It’s his turn to sigh. “It’s just where I’ve always been comfortable. But then comfortable doesn’t always mean happy, sometimes it just means you’re content. Just content enough to not want to change anything and risk being less than content. You know?” He looks over at me and his eyes search my face.
“I can understand that. I mean… I think that’s why I stuck things out in Pittsburgh for so long when I knew I wouldn’t ever really be happy there. Because I was at least content. I knew what to expect every day, and the alternative was wide open space for everything to get fucked up. And well… that’s exactly what happened.” I can’t help but laugh a little that all my worst fears have come true. I have no real job. No home to call my own, no one who loves me, and I’m essentially knocking on the door of my thirties with no plan. But at least I’m still here. There’s something to be said for getting up and trying every day even when you don’t feel like it.
“Yeah. I know what you mean. But for the record, I think you’re doing all right, all things considered. You’re figuring out your next steps, and in the meantime, you’re here working with Madison, doing an amazing job for the Chaos. I’m super grateful for your little side quest here.” Cooper squeezes my hand, and I glance down at the way our fingers intertwine.
“Me too.” I turn my head to look over and smile at him.
He reaches over me, and he brushes my hair carefully out of my face before he leans over to kiss me softly. We’re lost in each other for a moment before he pulls away and raises a brow.
“Do I need to be worried about this Craig guy stealing you away? I thought we had a pretty good setup here while we worked through our lists.” He grins.
“Not on my account, but I can promise my mother is going to try to make it happen. I have no idea how Craig even feels about it.”
“What if I come with you?”
“To Seattle?” I ask, surprised if he’s actually suggesting that.
“Why not? Lizzy’s gone at camp. We’ve got a break right now before training camp starts.”
“I don’t think you realize what you’re signing up for. My family is… a lot.”
“Oh, I know. Trust me, Rob bitched plenty about what it was like to deal with your brother and your father. But I’m much better at convincing people to like me than he is.” Cooper winks at me, and I can’t help the smile that forms in response.
“That’s true, but I just feel like they’ll stomp out any bit of fun between us. Ask you a bunch of questions and make things super uncomfortable.”
“Easy. We just pretend we’re dating already. Then you’ve got no time for Craig, and your parents can rest assured that you’re in good hands with me.”
“That easy, huh?” I raise a brow at his confidence, only slightly worried that my parents, and worse yet, my brother, will be more than he expects.
“I mean, I think it’s worth a shot. The alternative is that you go and deal with Craig and your family on your own.”
“Madison is coming too.” It’s partially a protest, but I don’t know if Cooper’s comfortable with people outside of Ramsey and his friend knowing our situation. Madison will be all over it if she figures us out.
“With Quentin?” he asks, and the implied statement is there. She’ll be too busy managing him to help me worry about my regularly scheduled family problems.
“Fair point.”
“Good. So it’s settled then.” He grabs another piece of candy and leans back against the pillows to stare at the sky with me.
“What am I going to owe you for this help?”
“I’m sure we can come to an arrangement. Probably a few more items off the list.”
“I suppose I can live with that.” I muse, my lips turning up even as I try to suppress the smile. It seems I can’t stop smiling around this man.
I lie back and stare at the sky, full of a million stars and possibilities. But there’s only one I really want right now, and I worry it might be more out of reach than any of them.
