Page 61 of New Year's Faye

Fear.

I feared Sam hurting me like Alex had. I feared not having control of my emotions, my life, my decisions. I feared he’d break my heart.

When every piece of evidence I had about Sam pointed to the opposite.

Damn.

"Trent?" I gripped my mug tighter. "I need your laptop."

"Why do I feel like I'm about to witness peak Faye organization?"

"Because you are." I pulled out my phone, already creating a new folder. "I need to make a PowerPoint."

His laugh was warm and knowing. "Of course you do."

"Don't mock me. This is important. This is..." I gestured at the notebook. "He gave me songs. Beautiful, heartfelt songs. I need to give him something that's... that's me."

"And that's a PowerPoint presentation?"

"No." I straightened in my chair. "It’s a comprehensive five-year plan, complete with contingencies, projected outcomes, and risk assessments, presented in my signature color-coded style with appropriate graphs and—why are you looking at me like that?"

Trent's smile was soft. "Because this might be the most perfectlyyouway to say 'I love you' that I've ever heard."

"You think it's too much."

"I think Sam's going to love it precisely because it's too much." He stood, retrieving his laptop. "It's you being unapologetically you. Planning and organizing your way through feelings instead of running from them."

I opened the laptop, fingers flying over the keys. "I'm going to need sticky notes. And that fancy paper you use for your fire department presentations. And?—"

"The color-coded tabs from your emergency PR kit you keep and Mom and Dad’s?"

"Yes! And?—"

"Your backup external hard drive with all the band's photos from the last five years?"

"How did you?—"

"Because I know you." He was already reaching for his keys. "And I know you've documented every moment without realizing you were creating a love story. Want me to grab it while you start your slides?"

I launched PowerPoint, already formatting my title slide. "Yes. And Trent?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you call Liz? I need statistics on successful marriages that started as friendships. And maybe some data on music industry relationship longevity. For the analytics section."

"The ana—you know what? Never mind. Of course you need an analytics section." He kissed the top of my head. "I'll call her. Anything else?"

I looked at my growing outline:

Slide 1: Executive Summary - Why Sam Dogg Should Consider a Permanent Merger of Hearts

Slide 2: Historical Context - A Five-Year Analysis of Unconscious Love

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