Page 103 of Can We Skip to the Good Part?
“Was there anything about the book you liked?” Morgan asked, attempting to get them back on track.
Ella sighed. “I thought the dinner date—” Another long sound of the horn, this time, followed up by several short ones.
“Someone is really laying on that thing,” Stevie said, turning in the direction of the street. “Do you think there was an accident?” She stood and swept her blond hair to the side.
“Attention, Weepers!” a voice called from outside. A familiar one.
Ariana swiveled her gaze to Ella, her eyes wide. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Is it? What’s going on?” Ella asked, following Stevie to the door, the rest of the group not far behind her. When they arrived on Stevie’s front lawn, there was Max, sitting on the edge of her open window, the Range Rover door closed, and the glass rolled down.
“M, is everything okay?” Stevie called.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I needed you all to hear something very important.”
“We’re listening,” Olive yelled back with uncharacteristic volume. She was here for this and intertwined her fingers with Stevie’s.
“What is happening?” Ella murmured, her heart hammering. Once again, she didn’t know what to do with her hands. Why were they always so confusing?
“Sorry to interrupt book club,” Max called, “but I figured if I wanted to rewrite the ending of our story, I needed to start by showing up in the middle of yours.”
“I see what she did there,” Morgan said quietly to Ariana.
“A good opener,” Ariana said back.
“Ella, I’ve been trying to figure out the right words, the right moment, the right everything. And then I realized—I don’t need perfect. I just need honest. That’s all we’ll ever need, and the honest truth is I love you.”
“She’s in love with you!” Mayumi called, hanging her head out of the passenger window. “Isn’t that great?”
Ella’s eyes went wide. Max’s mom shouting from the rooftops, or a car window, had not been on her bingo card.
“And if there’s still a chance, I want to be the person you choose,” Max said. “Not quietly. Not someday. Now.”
“Choose her! She’s a good one. Do you know Bette Porter?” Mayumi shouted. Ella laughed because what was happening? “She loves you, Ella. And she’s not the only one who thinks you’re worth the leap.”
“Hi, everyone,” Max said, turning to the group. “I have to confess that I didn’t believe in the kinds of romances we read about. In fact, I was positive they were downright fiction, borderline ludicrous, and a sham. They’re not. I have proof, and it’s in this woman standing here right now, and everything I’ve experienced since she first sat in Stevie’s living room and gushed about Parker Bristow’s last book. Ella Baker, listen to me when I tell you that romance novels have nothing on us.”
“She has a point,” Ariana said. “Do you remember any of the grand gestures involving the mom?”
“Can’t say I do,” Morgan said. “Bonus points for creativity.”
“I’m gonna have to step it up,” Stevie said, putting her arm around Olive, who reciprocated with a soft kiss. Apparently, romance was in the air all around.
“If you’ll let me, I will spend every day showing you that you’re the most wonderful and important person I’ve ever met. When you walk into a room, the temperature changes, and people smile. That’s the kind of power you carry.” All eyes were on her. The Weepers were nodding along. Morgan dabbed at her eyes. “Can we please pick up our story and keep going?” Max said, her voice steady but thick with emotion. “No more limbo. No more wondering. Just … us. I love you, Ella. And I want to build something real with you. I want to be the person you come home to, even on the messy days. Especially on the messy days.”
The silence that followed wasn’t empty—it was full of memory, of hope, of all the words they hadn’t said but had felt pressing between them for weeks.
Ella stepped forward slowly, the damp grass crisp beneath her shoes. Her chest ached, but in that kind of way that meant something was shifting. Finally.
She didn’t shout. She didn’t make a speech. She just said, quietly, “You showed up.”
“I did. And I always will.”
Their connection locked into place. Ella could breathe again. “And you brought your mom. Hi, Dr. Wyler. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Hi, Ella. You, too.” She came around the front of the car and leaned in. “I’m the wingwoman today. How’d I do?”
Ella held her hands up, still in awe and touched that she was a part of this. “No notes. You were fabulous.”
