Page 52 of Puck & Make Up

“An annoying one,” Bailey mutters. “But she’s right. What else, Des?”

“It allowed me to keep hiding. If something was wrong with me, if I couldn’t choose right, if all men hurt me…” I trail off, hearing myself and realizing how much of a coward I was. “Ugh,” I mutter, scrubbing my hands over my face.

“Reality strikes?” Bailey teases.

I drop my hands and scowl at them. “It was easier to pretend to believe all of that than to acknowledge that I wanted…well, that I wanted what you both have.” A sigh. “Because if Ididadmit it then I’d have to actually do something about it.”

“And this is where Fox comes in?” Bailey asks.

My cheeks heat.

“I thought you couldn’t stand him,” she says softly.

“Oh, young matchmaker in training,” Rosie interjects, nudging Bailey’s foot with her own, “have you learned nothing?”

Bailey sighs and leans back against the cushions. “Just because you and Joel started off on the wrong foot?—”

“Handcuffs?” Rosie reminds her. “A naked, grumpy hockey playboy trapped on your porch?”

Bailey narrows her eyes. “You’re hilarious.”

“Turns out,” I tell them, interrupting what will surely devolve into an argument about them intervening in each other’s lives (something, for the record, both of them have gotten really good at—starting with Rosie playing matchmaker with Bailey and Axel and those handcuffs, and ending with Bailey dishing it right back out when Rosie got with Joel). “It turns out that I liked Fox a little too much. But…” A breath for courage before I fill them in about him showing up on my doorstep and the cookies and coffee and him comforting me when my uncle fired me and helping me figure out my next steps career-wise, and…

Well, I tell themallof it.

“And I guess,” I say as they stare at me with wide eyes. “I finally realized that even if most of my life is in limbo, there’s one thing I want for certain…and that’s Fox.”

Bailey smiles.

Rosie bumps her shoulder against mine. “Proud of you, kid.”

“Well, you’ll be proud until you find out what I did next.”

Sober expressions great me before Bailey says, “Whatever you did, we’ll still love you.”

My heart squeezes. “Don’t make me cry.”

“Meh,” Rosie teases. “Cry away. I always have tissues in my purse.”

Bailey swats her. “Stop.” Her eyes narrow in my direction. “But seriously. Now you need to spill the rest of it.”

So, I do.

I tell them how I panicked and know I fucked up and that I need to find a way to make it right and…

I do cry.

But at the end of that, they still love me.

And then they help me plan how to make it right with Fox…

Before I haul my butt back to San Jose.

Fifteen

Fox

Iwind up and put every bit of my strength into the shot, sending it tearing through the air and into the back of the net with a satisfyingthunk.

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