Page 12 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

“It’s hard to stand up when the other person keeps fighting you on being wrong,” I say under my breath.

“Then maybe it’s time to ask yourself if you are wrong.”

Am I wrong? We just had one fight. The only time Cooper ever made me question him.

“Whatever is going on between you and Cooper, ask yourself if it’s more important to save your pride or your friendship.” She pauses like she’s hesitant about it, but adds, “Or relationship.”

But if he can break my trust once, how can I believe he won’t do it again? “What if I actually am doing what I should?”

She sighs. “All you can do is commit to a side and be willing to accept the consequences of that either way.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Montgomery.” I wipe my hands on the kitchen towel and hug her.

“Anytime, sweetie.” She pulls back. “Here.” She reaches toward the windowsill. “Cooper!” she yells loud enough for him to hear.

A moment later he appears in the kitchen, his eyes drifting to me before they focus on his mom. “What’s up?”

She holds last year's dried wishbone toward her son. Every year since we were old enough to grasp the concept, Cooper and I break the previous year’s wishbone. Melissa says letting it dry that long versus waiting a few days for the current year one makes the wish granting power stronger. I think she’s crazy, but I love a good tradition. “Make a wish.”

He hesitates then steps forward to take the bone from his mom. I take a breath and invade his space, close enough I can feel the tension between us again, his spiced apple cider cologne overpowering the other smells of Thanksgiving. Melissa makes a quiet exit from the room, leaving us alone.

Cooper nods to the end of the wishbone he holds out in front of us, and I pinch it between my fingers. Disappointment is clear in his stare, nearly bringing my tears back. “I wish for a relationship less fucked up than ours.” With an angry energy, he pulls his side away from me before I have time to object.

Before it snaps, I silently wish that I’ll be able to convince him that we can heal from this.

We both examine our pieces, broken evenly in half. With only a humorless laugh and a small shake of his head, Cooper turns on his heel, chucking his half of the bone in the sink as he leaves me again.

The only thing preventing me from running back to my house and crying in my bed is the fact that I don’t want to be away from Cooper–even if he doesn’t want to be near me right now.

I wish my family wasn’t leaving for Honduras. We never go on vacation this time of year, but my brother begged us to take this trip with him. It’s not that I don’t want to travel somewhere incredible–any other time I would be excited. But I’m not sure we’ll have service. Even though Cooper and I haven’t talked much lately, our pending relationship revival seems like it needs immediate attention, especially now that I’ve made my decision.

Melissa’s words run through my head. You choose who the one is. Is it more important to save your pride or your relationship? If I’m going to forgive him eventually, what am I waiting for? Why am I waiting? I can’t even answer those questions, and that tells me everything I need to know. It’s time to forgive him. It’s time for us to be us again. I keep trying to have all these experiences on my own, but all I want is for him to be with me. If I’m being honest with myself, being with JT is all it really took to know that Cooper is the one I want. I need to come up with a plan to force him to sit down and talk this through with me and make him believe me when I tell him that.

Chapter seven

COOPER

NOW

Carter flips one of the smoldering logs in the stone pit, and the fire roars to life with a loud crackle. Satisfied, he leans back in his camping chair, mirroring Troy and me. “So, what’s up with you and Sophie, bro?” It’s been three days since Thanksgiving. I’m surprised it took him this long to ask. “Crush gone wrong?” He laughs.

I tug on my hoodie strings aggressively enough to bunch my hood around my neck. “It’s not a crush.” Being four years apart, Carter and I have never been that close, so he’s never been attuned to my business. Plus, by the time we started dating, he had just finished his undergrad and was leaving for Reno.

Regardless, I’ve only ever said the words directly to one other person. At this point, though, figuring out how I feel about Sophie is not brain surgery. I look next to me, finding my best friend’s eyes full of sympathy between the flickers of firelight.

“Oh, shit. You’re actually in love with her?” My brother picks up the cues like I expected him to. There’s no point in hiding it. “You two dated?”

“Yeah. I’ll get over it, though. Maybe when Troy gets over Emily.” I shoot Troy a knowing look.

“Not funny,” Troy says, shaking his head in amusement and taking a sip of his beer. “At least I’m trying to get back out there,” he throws back.

“Do you think I should already?” I don’t bother filling in my clueless brother. “She just said she needed time to get over what happened.”

“Wait, what happened?” Carter interjects.

Troy ignores him. “Actions speak louder than words. We saw her with that guy the other night. He definitely didn’t look like just a friend. Not to bring it up again, but it does sound like they are doing more than friendly things.”

“Ooohh, drama,” my brother commentates.

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