Page 4 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

COOPER

THEN

Cooper, 18; Sophie's 16th birthday

The passenger door of my black 4Runner opens as I turn my key in the ignition, my car humming to life for the last time in my high school’s parking lot. Sophie slides into her usual seat, her last day of school smile as bright as her yellow sundress covered in little white flowers. Her big brown eyes find mine as she clutches her yearbook to her chest.

“What?” She chews on the bottom corner of her lip.

“What?”

“Why are you smiling like that?”

My hand instinctively drags across my mouth. I didn’t realize I was. “How was your day, birthday girl?”

“Perfect.” She grins. “Everyone was so busy celebrating the end of the school year, they forgot it was my birthday.”

“Only you would get excited about that.” I chuckle, ignoring the way my stomach twists at the idea of anyone forgetting Sophie. She’s unforgettable.

Her shoulders lift into a shrug before falling. “Sixteen isn’t a big deal anyway. Especially since Dad still won’t teach me how to drive.” She releases her yearbook so it falls flat against her thighs and runs her hands over the cover. “But enough about me. How are you? You’re officially done with high school!” Her smile is infectious when she looks back at me. “How do you feel?”

“Immediately more mature.” I tug on one of the dirty blonde curls hanging over her shoulders and smirk before putting my car in reverse.

“I didn’t know you were capable,” she teases and tucks her hair behind her ear. “I wish I didn’t have two more years until I graduated.” She sighs.

“It’ll be here before you know it.”

“You don’t sound excited. You’re just happy to be away from me, aren’t you?” she jokes.

“No.” I’ve been trying to suppress my hesitation. “Just a little nervous.”

“How come?” If anyone besides Sophie was asking, I’d brush off this conversation. Then again, anyone besides her probably wouldn’t have picked up on an issue.

“You know I suck at math.”

“You don’t suck at math, Coop. It’s a hard subject.”

“I know, but there’s a bunch of classes I’ll have to take for my business degree.” Leaning back against my seat, I adjust to just one hand resting on the top of the steering wheel as I pull to a stop at the light.

“You’ll do great. I can try to help if you need it.”

I flash her an appreciative smile. Sophie is great at math, at anything with numbers, really. She’s also a killer artist. She’s really got both sides of her brain working for her. “I don’t want Dad to think I won’t take real estate seriously because my grades make it seem like I’m not taking school seriously.” I put my biggest fear on display with a sigh.

Sophie reaches over, her fingers brushing reassuringly over my arm as the light turns green. The innocent touch sends a spark of comfort through me even before she adds, “You can do this, Cooper. You just have to work hard like you do with football, with your friendships, with skating. All of those took time and effort to perfect. And oh, remember that time you built a bookshelf for me?”

I roll my eyes. “That took me six months.” She showed me a picture from Pinterest of a non-traditional bookshelf she wanted. It was a bunch of cubes that looked like a flower when you assembled them correctly. “I couldn’t figure it out. I broke it like eight times.”

“But now it’s perfect.”

“I would have given up if it wasn’t for you.”

“And you won’t give up on this because it’s important to you too.” Her smile fixes everything.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks.”

“Anyway, you don’t need to worry about this right now. You’re done with high school, and that’s something to celebrate. Are you going out with Troy and the guys tonight?”

Flicking on my blinker to take a left at the stop sign to turn onto our street, I glance flatly at her. “And miss out on birthday cupcakes? I don’t think so,” I tell her as if it’s the dumbest question she’s ever asked.

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