Page 45 of Can We Just Be Happy Now?

Cooper,

I regret to inform you that we’ve decided to take another route with the new builds. To my surprise, my sister has recently gotten her real estate license with the intent of partnering with me. I hope you can understand that family comes first. I will keep Montgomery Realty in mind should we need a partner in the future. Thank you for your time and meeting with me yesterday. Send my regards to your father.

Jason Smith

Fuck. I groan, slamming my phone against my mattress harder than I intended. Kylie stirs, opening her eyes slowly, letting her surroundings filter in.

“Hey,” I acknowledge her. “Sorry.”

“Morning,” she says sleepily, keeping the sheet wrapped over her chest as she sits. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

“Umm. Are you sure? Do you regret last night? I can leave.” My poker face is clearly non-existent when it comes to work disappointment.

I sit, moving a little closer to her in the process. It’s not her fault I’m mad. “No regrets.” I force a smile. “Sorry, just work stuff.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks, relaxing a little.

Do I? Yeah. I’ve never talked about this with anyone besides Sophie, but I can’t exactly call her up right now. And if I don’t talk it through, I might not be able to approach the situation with the right mindset. Sighing, I take her up on her offer. “I’ve been working for my dad.”

She nods. She knows that much already.

“I worked hard the past couple weeks to secure a really good deal for him, something to prove he made the right choice hiring me before I graduate. Well, it just fell through, and now I have to tell him I failed to deliver.”

Kylie reaches for me, and I will myself not to pull away. The pity in her eyes takes away from any comfort that could possibly come from her touch. “It’s okay. He’s your dad. He’ll understand.”

That’s the thing, though. I don’t want to be off the hook because I’m his son. I want reassurance that I can do this. That I can fix this. That I can earn my place without relying on a safety net. Ethan’s dad might believe family always comes first, and maybe I believe that when it comes to being given an opportunity. But I think you have to prove you deserve it going forward. I feel like Kylie doesn’t understand that about me, and without giving her a chance, I immediately shut down. “Yeah, you’re right. It’ll be fine.”

She smiles in a way that makes me think my poker face is believable this time.

Racking my brain, I shuffle through my options for what to do at this moment. I need to call my dad, cancel our meeting and break the news to him. Instead, I pull Kylie into a kiss and ignore reality for the next twenty minutes.

Chapter twenty-five

SOPHIE

THEN

Cooper, 18; Sophie, 16

“Well, it’ll happen eventually and when it does it will make it harder when we inevitably break up. I think it’s best we call it before we get in too deep, you know?” I say the words as if I’m not in love with him.

“Is that what you think about this, about us?” He scoffs.

I’m flooded with guilt as I look anywhere but at Cooper. The antique jukebox. The waitress in a poodle skirt walking by with two chocolate milkshakes piled high with whipped cream and red heart sprinkles. The black and white checkered floor. Of course our breakup isn’t just about him being ready for sex when I’m not. But I’m trying every angle to make him understand that this is what’s best for us. Maybe we are right for each other, but not right now, not like this. We’re too young for a relationship with this much distance. Yes, we’ll be ten minutes apart physically. But mentally, we aren’t even close to being in the same place. I’ve heard the aftermath of what happens when you try to force timing from both of my parent’s first marriage. I don’t want Cooper and I to become just a sour memory down the road.

“Tell me, Sophie,” he spits my name like it’s poison, and I almost take this all back. I almost tell him it’s a joke. Watching him break in front of me is nearly unbearable. It’s breaking me watching his love manifest as anger.

I take a breath, finally meeting his gaze and preparing to finish my speech. “It’s going to be too hard. It will be easier to just call it off now–you know, before we fall in love or whatever.”

He takes a deep breath through his nose, closing his eyes for a moment. They shoot open and pin on me with his outbreath. “You think we aren’t there yet? You think I don’t love you, Sophie?”

I ignore my heart shattering in a million pieces, begging me not to let him go. I look away, not knowing what to say.

“Is this seriously happening?”

Standing my ground, I nod slowly, and he moves to get out of the booth like he can’t sit here with me for another second.

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