Page 41 of Love By the Book
“Where do you want it to go?” Alex asks.
A kid with smeared face paint and a half-eaten stick of cotton candy runs by us shrieking with laughter. I shrug. I’m going to pretend this is casual. Not even my friends get to see the icky, insecure parts of me. “It really can’t go anywhere. I mean, I have the fellowship coming up—assuming I get accepted, fingers crossed.”
Alex gives me a long, knowing look. Not pushy. Just…. Present. The kind of look that says she’s not buying it, but she’s not going to call me out either. Which somehow makes mefeel both seen and exposed. We reach the front of the line and Alex throws up two fingers then pays. The attendant hands us cones of the candy that reflects the festival’s colorful lights.
Alex loops her arm into mine and leans in to whisper as she walks us back through the crowd again. “For what my opinion is worth, I think you’re going to get in. But maybe don’t write off Eli so quickly… he seems great. Maybe don’t assume this is something that can’t work.”
"Isn't that exactly the problem?" My hands crunch around the honey candy cone. "That heisgreat? It terrifies me, the idea of falling for someone.”
Alex stops walking. The festival roars around us, colorful lights flashing, kids shrieking, fair rides blaring. But between us it feels quiet.
She studies me. “Why does that scare you so much?”
I exhale slowly, “I’ve told you about Jacob before.”
Her nod is small, careful.
“Some things like that… they leave scars. He saw me at my lowest and decided it was too much. And ever since, I’ve just assumed that if anyone gets too close, they’ll do the same.” I pause, struggling to find words for something I almost never speak about—especially not with carousel music blaring behind me and the scent of fried Oreos clouding what little dignity I have left. “The idea of letting someone in again, especially someone who’s actually kind, and thoughtful, and makes me feel seen in this impossible, terrifying way? That’s not just scary. It’s risky.”
Alex’s expression softens. She squeezes my arm. "Yes," she finally says, her voice barely above a whisper. "Sometimes the best people are the ones who make it a little terrifying. Because you know they're different. And maybe... that's worth risking your heart for."
The words settle over me like a truth I've been avoiding.Because Eli is different. Not just because he’s kind or thoughtful or beautiful in that unassuming, old-books-and-soft-eyes kind of way. But because he doesn’t make me feel like I have to be anything but myself. He doesn’t flinch at my chaos. He leans in.
And that’s… new.
Jacob laughed off my biggest ideas, gently steered me away from the parts of my ideas that didn’t fit into his picture of stability. At the time, it made sense. I told myself compromise was part of love, that healthy relationships included balancing each other.
But then I met Eli.
Someone who doesn’t just tolerate the wild ramblings of how my brain works—he embraces it. Listens like it’s poetry. Like there’s something beautiful in my mess.
Being seen like that—really seen—and loved not despite the chaos but because of it, should feel like a gift. But instead, it feels like a risk I don’t know how to take. Because love that true, that steady, only means it’ll hurt that much more when it ends.
And how could it not end?
Eli is grounded in a way I’ve never been. He builds his life with quiet intention, with roots and structure and long-term thinking.
And me? I have a travel goal chart taped to my wall and an ever-growing list of cities I want to disappear into. I chase change like it’s oxygen.
We want different things.
We live at different speeds.
The ending feels inevitable. Like something we’re both pretending not to see because we like the way the beginning feels too much to stop now.
We walk the last stretch toward the guys in silence, my thoughts still tangled around that truth. Eli's dark bangs havefallen over his forehead, and he's caught in conversation, his mouth wide in a grin. His gaze shifts to me automatically, like he can sense me. My breath catches. Our magical energies reach for each other without any hesitation, intertwining like they've always belonged together. Like they’ve made the decision my heart’s too scared to embrace.
Alex walks back over to Ethan and bats her eyes at him. “Ethan has promised me a ride on the Ferris Wheel. I’m forcing him to take me up on that.”
Ethan laughs but claps Eli’s hand and gives me a nod before the two of them disappear into the crowd. Alex and Ethan seem so in sync—something that seemed impossible with their backgrounds. Alex gave up living in New York City—one of the coolest cities on the planet—to come live here. She had a whole life there, a career on the rise, and she chose something else instead. She chose Magnolia Cove. She chose love.
Nope. Not going there right now. Not while I’m standing in the middle of a corny festival with gum stuck to my shoe and Elvis crooningSuspicious Mindsin the background. These are not thoughts for tonight. Tonight is for fun and sparkles and maybe stealing kisses behind the Ferris Wheel. I can freak out about potentially life-altering feelings tomorrow.
“So,” I say, looking up at Eli and smiling when I discover he’s already looking down at me. “Ready to experience more of the Elvis extravaganza?”
He moves closer. “Lead the way, Wilder. I’m all shook up with anticipation.”
I groan but take his hand and pull him through the crowd. We pass a variety of cheesy stands.The Hound Dog Ring Toss.A pink and white stripedLove Me Tenderkissing booth. And the local soup kitchen’s stand where Grammie Rae is decked out in a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit and cries out, “Try your luck at theJail House Rock Escape Room!”
