Page 123 of The Perfect Love

“I haven’t eaten,” I say numbly.

Chelsea smiles and climbs off the bed, bringing over a bag and then grabbing my water bottle. Inside the bag I find a croissant.

“It’s a chocolate one,” she says with a smile.

“Thank you.”

She kisses my cheek. “No problem.”

While I eat, she taps away on her phone, like she’s on a mission.

Once I’ve finished and moved on to chugging water, she turns to look at me with a serious expression.

“Does your mom know that you do that? Try to be the man of the house or whatever you want to call it?”

The cool water soothes my scratchy throat. “Yeah. She’s called me on it before, but I can’t help it. She deserves to be taken care of too.”

“She does. And I know you feel the same way about Hyla, but there has to be a line. You can let them rely on you, but you need to rely on them too—and trust them to take care of themselves.”

I know she’s right, but it’s my natural instinct to want to protect the people I care about—all of them. My mom, Hyla, and now Chelsea are at the top of that list.

Chelsea leans in and brushes her lips over my cheek. “Don’t worry. I won’t think you’re any less of a sexy, fantasy book boyfriend if you do.”

That gets a rough laugh out of me. I turn and press my lips to hers. “Thank you. For being here. Taking care of me.”

“You don’t need to thank me. I mean it. I’m happy to do it. Iwantto do it. But you have to let me. I told you that you’re my person. The one I want to run to in my best moments and my worst. Am I that for you?”

“Yes.”

“Then stop shutting me out. I know you want to take care of me and protect me, but I don’t need you to be my protector. I need you to be my partner. Which means it’s not one-sided. You take care of me, but I get to take care of you too. Let me take care of you.”

Fuck. I can’t even explain what those words do to me. They crack something open deep inside me. A lock I didn’t know was there.

I lean in to kiss her, overwhelmed by her desire to care for me, by how much it means to me—but then her phone vibrates on the bed between us, and I almost laugh, until she quickly pulls away and grabs it, a smile growing on her face as she looks at it.

“What?” I ask.

She turns the phone sideways and hands it to me, and there on her screen is the picture I was so desperate for.

Tears rim my eyes again, but I blink them back, wanting to see the picture with clear eyes.

Chelsea curls against me again, looking at the picture too.

“Where did you—”

“I texted your mom and asked. Turns out she had a copy on her desk.”

I almost facepalm. I can see it so clearly now. That’s why I thought of the picture. Every time I’d go to her office, I’d always see it there.

“I’m an idiot.”

Chels shrugs. “You were spiraling. We all have our moments. Some people kiss a really cute guy, run away like their pants are on fire, and think they’ll never see him again.”

I grab her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “Good thing I found you.”

She rests her head on my shoulder and sighs softly. “Yeah. It is. I kinda like you.”

I lean in and kiss her forehead. “Back at you.”

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