Page 64 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

Maybe that moment had passed.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly, wrapping both hands around my mug as if it might anchor me. “It’s like everything I built feelslike it’s gone. Poof. All because Ava didn’t want me to have a great brand deal. It’s madness.”

Lucy didn’t interrupt. She just let me keep going.

“I keep thinking, what if I don’twantto go back to all that? The hustle, the filters, the constant pretending. But then what? What else am I even good at?”

“You’re good at a lot,” she said without hesitation. “You’re creative. You’re smart. You’re really good with people when you’re not trying to sell them something. And you have a point of view. That still matters. Plus, don’t forget, youmadeyour idiot ex, right? You taught him to do social media. What else can you teach?”

I blinked fast, surprised at how much her words had gotten to me.

“I keep trying to think of ideas,” I admitted. “Like a blog that isn’t about brand deals or curated aesthetics. Real stuff. Maybe even a podcast. But then I think, who would even care?”

“I would,” Lucy said immediately. “And I’m not saying that because I love you. Okay, Iamsaying that because I love you, but also because people are starved for something real. You’ve always had a voice, Riley. Maybe this is your chance to actually use it.”

I didn’t say anything at first. I stared at the screen where the heroine was baking cookies for the grumpy, flannel-wearing love interest who probably owned a Christmas tree farm.

“Maybe,” I murmured. “Maybe I could make something new.”

Lucy grinned. “That’s the spirit. Reinvention. It’s very on brand.”

We clinked our mugs together in a toast.

Outside, the wind picked up, brushing against the window panes with a soft, restless rhythm. Inside, the lights on theminiature tree in the corner blinked lazily, half burned out and still managing to feel a little magical.

But something was off.

Somethinghadbeen off, and I was getting to the point where I couldn’t ignore it any longer. Even if I had been trying to keep it to myself.

It was hard to lose myself in the movie when it kept overwhelming me.

I’d been feeling it for days now, this hum of somethingnot quite rightin my body.

A constant thread of fatigue I couldn’t shake, even after sleeping in. Certain smells, like Lucy’s favorite cinnamon coffee creamer, turned my stomach out of nowhere.

And my emotions were swinging on a Tilt-a-Whirl: irritation at nothing, then tears over a commercial about puppies in the snow.

I’d chalked it up to stress. The fallout. Everything I’d been trying to carry.

But the truth was, I feltdifferent. Not sick, exactly. Just off.

Lucy must’ve noticed something, because she peered at me over her cocoa with a little frown. “Hey. You okay? You look a little pale again.”

“I’m fine,” I said quickly. Too quickly. I forced a smile. “Just tired.”

“You sure you’re not coming down with something? You’ve been yawning since lunch. And you passed on caramel popcorn, which, let’s be honest, feels borderline illegal.”

I laughed, but even that felt thin. “I think I’m just worn out. I haven’t really stopped since… well, everything. Maybe I need to take better care of myself.”

“Maybe.” She studied me for another beat. “Or maybe you’re pregnant.”

I snorted. “Please.”

She grinned, teasing now. “Come on, I’ve read the internet. Fatigue, weird smells, crying at dumb movies.”

“No way,” I said, laughing. “Besides, there’s no one in the picture.”

Lucy gave me a look. The kind she used to give me in high school when she knew I was full of it.

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