Page 49 of So Not My Type

Her mom wrapped the brace back around her wrist and snugged the Velcro tight. “When I got a little older, I dreamed about one day leaving the trailer park and getting my own house. I mean, I couldn’t even imagine. An actual house—in Seattle. It was unheard of in the park.”

Sophie’s neck grew tight.

“Your dad loves working on cars so much. How he can go from working in the shop during the day to coming home and doing the same thing at night is beyond me.” She grabbed the root beer in her hand and took a small sip. “How many people are lucky enough to work at a place that is also their hobby?That, Sophie Squirrel, is a dream come true. Your dad and I live our dreams every day. It may not be your dream, and that’s okay. You own your dreams. We own ours.”

Oof.The words clobbered her over the head, and she bit back a tremble in her lip.

Why did she focus on the negative parts of her life? The money, the time spent alone, the lack ofthings. And yet she’d had two loving parents, who also loved each other. She couldn’t even remember them yelling, except for the night she got caught sneaking out as a teen.

“Now, about this Ella girl.”

Sophie smiled through her moistened eyes and reached for her mom. “I don’t think I want to talk about her right now.”

Her mom dug into the cracker box and popped one in her mouth. “Okay, but let me just say one thing. You’ve always accomplished what you’ve set your mind to. You’re a fighter, always have been.” Her mom kissed the top of her head. “Just make sure she deserves you.”

Make sure Ella deserves me.A few weeks ago, the concept of someone like Ella deserving her was unfathomable. She would have thought about everything she lacked and compared it against everything Ella had. She would have convinced herself she wasn’t good enough while pushing herself to prove otherwise.

But knowing Ella the way she did now, it wasn’t about who deserved each other more. It was about opening herself up to the possibility of happiness.

Sophie lifted herself from the couch and stretched, fatigue setting in. “Is it okay if I sleep in my old room tonight?”

Her mom smiled and folded the cracker box closed. “Of course. Anytime.”

EIGHTEEN

ELLA

Six shampoos later, and the glue still would not come out of Ella’s hair. She tangled her fingers through the brittle pile of burned ends, her scalp raw from scrubbing. Shaking out her aching arms, she exhaled, and scrubbed one last time.

Not that she was surprised this had happened, of course. Ever since her first seizure, she’d had twice-yearly EEGs to monitor her brain activity. But the glue sucked. Tacky, flaky, and nearly impossible to remove.

The timing of her doctor appointment the previous evening wasn’t ideal. She’d skipped the final meeting to make it to the doctor’s office on time, and Sophie was mostly MIA for the evening. Ella had sent her a few text messages after the appointment and received delayed, brief responses, which frazzled her nerves. Later in the evening, Sophie finally shot a quick message that she was spending the evening with her parents, and Ella calmed.

After confirming she looked respectable, she hopped down the stairs to the kitchen and pulled out a yogurt parfait. One bite in, her father’s heavy footsteps sounded around the corner.

“What’s up, kid?” he asked, straightening his tie and reaching for a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

Kid. She tried hard not to roll her eyes. “Nothing.” She may not have rolled her eyes, but the annoyance was thick in her tone. He didn’t mean the things he said, like calling her kid. But that was the crux of their relationship—well-intentioned, but horribly executed, dialogue.

He lowered his phone and stared at her, his eyes folding with concern. “You okay? Did you have an episode I don’t know about?”

“I’m sure with the secret service level of monitoring you have from my smartwatch you would’ve been informed already.” She grinned and rolled the spoon over her tongue. “No, I’m good. I just had all that gunk in my hair from my EEG last night and it took me longer to get ready than I hoped. And right now, we don’t have a second to waste.”

How did her dad do this, day in and day out, with a smile? Not only a smile, he thrived on the intensity. A level of excitement was attached to the chase, for sure, but the stress was so much. She didn’t want to admit to Sophie or her dad, but she’d been sleeping pretty terribly lately, plagued with nightmares of being in the wrong building, or that they pushed an ad out without the proper legal sign-off and she’d single-handedly bankrupted the company.

“And the results were fine, I assume?” her dad asked as he twisted the lid on his to-go mug. When she nodded, he patted her on the shoulder. “Good. Why don’t we head in together today, then?”

Ella grabbed an apple for the road and followed him to the car.

The office buzzed more today than was typical. Ella wasn’t sure if it was because she was fifteen minutes later than usual because of the glue debacle, or because they were getting close to sending the creative to the clients. As Ella rounded the corner, Sophie’s face lit up, and Ella’s breath halted sharply in her chest.

“Morning, sunshine,” Ella whispered as she slid into her seat. “I can’t believe it’s Thursday already. I feel like the week flew by, but also like we must be in July by now.”

“Same. I’m so done.” Sophie reached into her bag and handed Ella a teal cupcake with edible pearl sprinkles. “For you.”

Ella opened the compostable container and inhaled. “Smells amazing. What’s this for?”

“I had so much nervous energy this morning, so I stopped at a bakery by my parents’ house. Figured I’d load us up for the day we’re about to have.”

---