Page 79 of Changing the Game

Em must have forgotten something.

“Has the ball dropped yet?” I guess that’s a stupid question. It’s after ten p.m. here, so it’s after midnight there.

“Answer the door, Carys.”

“What?”

I yank open the door and then burst into tears as I drop my phone and throw my arms around Cooper. “How? Why?”

He wraps his arms around me and kicks the door shut behind him, then carries me to the couch. When he sits down, he holds me impossibly closer. My legs are locked behind his back, and my face is buried in his neck.

“I requested leave. It’s just for two days, and I flew commercial, not military. So I have to be on a red-eye tomorrow night. But baby, I needed to see you. To feel you.”

I finally pull back and look deep into those blue eyes I love to get lost in. “I love you.”

* * *

Eventually, we make our way upstairs and drag blankets and pillows outside to my balcony, nestling together under the moonlight. Filling each other in on everything and anything we haven’t had a chance to discuss. The mundane, everyday things that aren’t a big deal but you just want to share with your best friend.

“How much longer, Cooper? When are you coming home?”

“You are my home, Carys.” The words are everything I’ve ever wanted to hear, but the small crack in my heart that started when he left grows a little deeper.

I press my lips gently to his. “When are you coming back to me?”

“I’m not sure, yet. It could be next week. It could be the beginning of March.” He cradles me to him. “They’ve talked about offering me the position permanently.”

A million what ifs race through my mind. “You’d leave Charlie Team?”

“I’m not sure. But if I did, we could be closer to home.” His fingers lace with mine as he lifts them to his lips. “Once you’re done with school, we could live in Virginia. We’d only be a few hours from home. If Murphy moves to DC to be with Sabrina, you’d be just a few hours from him too.”

I sit up in shock. “But what about the guys? Your team? You love them. Why would you leave?”

“I love you more.”

“Cooper...?”She reaches out like she’s going to touch me but pulls her hand back unexpectedly. Carys stands as the first fireworks explode over the ocean, signaling the start of the new year. “You want me to move to Virginia with you?”

“I want to at least know what you think about it. We haven’t talked about where you see your life. Is it here in California? Or is in it Kroydon Hills? Hell... Do you want to move somewhere else?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess I thought if we wanted to be together, we had to stay here.”

“No, babe. Your options are endless. But mine are San Diego or Virginia Beach. I don’t think that’s changing any time soon.” It would kill me if she doesn’t want to live in either place, but we’d figure something out.

I think.

Bright colors burst in the distance behind her, and her hands white-knuckle the railing. “You know, a year ago I was just barely hanging on. I had no idea who I was. Did I want to be a singer? An actress on a Broadway stage? I’d been groomed my entire life for that because it’s what I always thought I wanted. But that dream changed. Le Désir became my new dream. And one by one, things started falling into place.”

Carys spins around to face me but doesn’t let go of her hold on the railing.

“Baby...” she says slowly, like she’s scared of my reaction to whatever she’s about to say.

I think I’m about to have my heart ripped out.

“I love designing. I love creating. Chloe and I make one hell of a partnership, and I want to see where that goes. I’m stronger now than I was a year ago. I finally like the person I am. I like that I’ve figured out how to speak up for myself. I like me.”

She crosses back to me and sits down in my lap. “And I love the me I am when I’m with you. I don’t really care where I live. I think Chloe and I can work together wherever we are. And I want to be wherever you are, Cooper. If that’s on the East Coast, then that’s where we’ll go.”

“Are you ready to talk to the family? Because I don’t want to hide us anymore.” I run my hand over her soft hair and wrap it around my fist. “I’m tired of hiding, Carys.”

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