For act three, I would be outside these walls, my pockets full of cash and sitting in a front row seat.
I liked the sound of that.
As the idea was planted and took root, I nodded Eli. “You’re a smart kid.”
“You’re leaving my brother and his friends alone,” he said, smiling. “I’m just repaying the favor.”
I was still thinking about my pockets filling with cash when I was led out into the yard the next day.
After Eli had me returned to my cell, I came up with a rough draft of sorts. I decided I would make Nate the villain. Every good story needed a villain. The drug-dealing bartender who entered a world of chaos. I would simply leave out my part in the tragedy. The drugs in Cooper’s story would also be absent, deciding the boy’s background and anger issues were enough for some interesting side notes.
As I plotted the climactic moment of imparting my wisdom to my cellmate that inspired the boy to become a walk-on and future star, I didn’t notice the men from Nevada’s biggest MC moving across the yard. My mind was on the outfit I would wear in my first live interview, so I didn’t catch on to the circle that had formed around me, blocking my body from prying eyes.
I had decided on an opening line when I felt the knife slice into my kidney.
“This is for Al’s boy,” the guy holding the knife to my back growled.
I heard the song I would’ve requested be in my Lifetime movie when I felt the knife go into my gut.
“This is for Al’s girls,” the inmate pressed against my belly hissed.
When I felt the knife go into the side of my neck, I no longer thought of my bright future.
As I felt the blood gush from my body, I could only wonder who’d orchestrated this third act.
COOPER
I was sitting in a damn wheelchair because of the hospital’s protocol. Apparently they didn’t let you walk out the doors even if there was nothing wrong with you anymore.
I grumbled and fussed, but when Lizzie and the nurse clearly weren’t budging on the stupid rule, I stayed seated. It didn’t hurt that Beth climbed into my lap and started pretending it was a race car when Lizzie began pushing us to the exit.
When we got outside, Lizzie started moving toward the parking lot. I placed my palm on hers and squeezed it to get her to stop, then gestured to the long black limousine parked against the curb. Its sleek paint was a stark contrast beside the cement pavement.
“I’m taking that,” I told her. “And you guys are going home without me.”
“You’re leaving the hospital in a limousine?” Lizzie questioned. “You enter the NFL when I wasn’t looking?”
“Funny. No, I'm going to Flash’s. Going to pull out the big guns to win her back to me.”
“She might need a little more time, Coop. She seemed a little shaken when we ran into her in the cafeteria yesterday. Maybe give the girl a break for a bit, focus on the game and apologizing to your Coach. You can use my car to drive back and forth. Wait until it’s been at least twenty-four hours since you sat in a wheelchair to tell your girl you’re not in danger anymore.” She looked concerned.
“I wouldn’t be in the damn wheelchair if you and the nurse hadn't insisted. I’m fine,” I hissed. “Liz, I’m serious. I’m not going back with you guys. I’m staying here.”
“You’re going to keep living in the apartment your asshat cellmate set up?”
“Fuck no. I’m going to live with my girl.”
“God, you’re cocky,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “You think you can go from her not returning your phone calls to living with her, her daughter, and the daughter’s grandmother?”
“Yep.” I smirked. “I finally have a plan for my future, the plan I want, and it’s about me getting the girl, fixing a house, and playing ball.”
“God, you and your damn plans. Please at least tell me Tom’s in the driver seat?” Tom was a limo driver that Al did free maintenance for in exchange for the occasional free ride.
“Yep.”
“Fuck. Okay, at least your plans won’t send you broke. But before we leave and you go humiliate yourself, I want you to promise me something. Promise me that you won’t make up an excuse to avoid Thanksgiving at ours. It’s been years, and we all deserve a nice day together. No one from social services will be knocking on our door that day giving us shit about an ex-con being there because no one does that shit on Thanksgiving.”
“Done,” I replied. “But we’ll need a booster seat for Jessie, and a spare spot for her grandmother, Tahnee.”
“Al is already on it.”
“You never thought I was coming home with you, did you?” I asked.
“I told you I saw the redhead yesterday.”
“Yeah. So?”
“She looks like Ariel.”
“Who?”
“The mermaid princess,” Beth explained. “From the book we used to read.”
“Ah. Yeah.”
“I knew we didn’t have a chance in hell,” Lizzie chuckled. “Not when we were competing with a princess.”
“So you sent Al to get a booster seat the day after you met her?”
“He said he was sorting out your shit today. For all I know, he’s finding you a lifetime supply of water bottles.”
“Funny,” I muttered.
“Seriously, Coop, we’re just excited that you’re smiling. Just like you would for us, we’re ready to do anything to keep you happy.”
“Thanks.”
“Wish Jake was here to mock you for how whipped you are right now.” Lizzie looked at Beth and me siting in the wheelchair, then at the car I planned to use to get my future back.
“Me too.”
MILLIE
I WAS SITTING ON THE porch swing, trying to forget about the last twenty-four hours, when I saw the limousine turn around the corner. Criminals in this neighborhood really need to be a little more covert if people aren’t meant to know their occupation. No one living here can afford to ride around in a limousine unless they’re obtaining it illegally.
When it stopped in front of my house and Cooper climbed out of the back seat, all my internal snarky comments vanished.
“What are you doing here in a limo?” I asked, shocked.
“I just want to take you on a ride around the block. Celebrate everyone being safe.”
“Yeah right. Look, Cooper, I’m glad you’re well and that everyone is all right, but this really isn’t a great time for me. You showing up on my doorstep in a fancy car doesn’t change that. It just makes things weird.”
“Weird,” he repeated, laughing. “Babe, have you forgotten all the crazy shit we’ve been through over the last couple of months? The false starts and insecurities? The con man? The fact that just yesterday, we decided we were going to make plans together to only have you ignore my phone calls today? Flash, me showing up in a limo trying to celebrate the good in life isn’t weird. It’s a fucking break from the weird.”
“You keep feeding and giving water to the driver,” I replied, looking quizzically at the man sitting in the front seat eating his lunch during our discussion. “You’re pulling sandwiches from a cooler.”
“Tom’s a family friend, and since I figured it would take you an hour to come out and talk to me, I sweet-talked the nurses to put together a little something for him. I figured it was a good idea to fuel him up before I asked him to take us around town. Turns out you can’t have too much water.” He winked.
“That’s not funny. And that’s part of the reason I can’t do this anymore. You don’t take care of yourself, and while I thought I was ready to sign up to help you figure your shit out because you were helping me work through mine, that game made me realize I can’t. It hurts too much to watch you fall, Cooper. I need to be there for my daughter, and I won’t be there if I’m breaking down over you getting hurt. If I’m grieving over another man. You made me promise yesterday that I would jump if we were about to crash—for Jessie. This is me keeping my promise.”
/> I saw pain and acceptance settle on his features.
We stood in silence outside my house for what felt like an eternity. “I should be going back inside,” I told him. “To my family.”
“When I picked up your dreams in the student services building,” Cooper stated quietly.
“I’m sorry what?”
“You once told me you became mine when you gave me your name. I wanted you to know that I became yours the moment I held your dreams in my hand.”
“Cooper, don’t—”
“I wasn’t saying that to convince you to get into the car. I’ve heard you. I get it,” he muttered, the pain in his voice slicing me open. “You’re right that I made you promise me that you’d be safe, and at the end of the day, babe, if you think that means staying away from me, I want you to. I can’t promise you that I won’t get hurt. That I won’t do something stupid or an accident won’t happen. One day you might have to grieve over me. So I’ll let you go, if that’s what you want. My life seems chaos free at this moment, but I don’t know how long that’ll last.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He nodded and I walked inside before I could change my mind.
I found Tahnee leaning against the wall.
“You’re going to teach your daughter to run?” she asked with one eyebrow raised.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.
“Your daughter will feel the loss you do. She’ll have the same experiences you had. Stories will be told about her dad that she won’t be able to relate to. I don’t talk about his birthday, but one day she’ll find out. It’s only natural. She’ll picture a life that might’ve existed without him and it’ll hurt her. But she’ll look to you. She’ll know you went through the same pain and she’ll try to follow your example. Are you going to show her that running away and insisting you do it all on your own is the only way to handle the pain of losing someone?”
“That’s low,” I murmured, my eyes filled with tears.
“I love you. I want what’s best for you. And I have watched you grieve for my son and protect my granddaughter above all else for too long. I’ve let you work at the place to help you feel in control, and I have loved you like the daughter I wish you could’ve been, hoping that you’d be happier. But you only started being happy the day that boy outside pushed his way into your life and you stopped talking out loud to my dead son whenever you thought I wasn’t in the room. I’m going to say this and say this quickly before he drives away. If you think you’re helping your daughter by closing yourself off from loving that boy, you’re a damned fool.”
Mom’s right, Pamela. I don’t want to come back to you. I want you to be happy.
“I don’t know if I could handle this all again,” I told both Tahnee and the ghost I saw standing beside her. “The good moments sometimes don’t feel like they can compete with how bad I feel when things go wrong.”
“Millie, you are the strongest person I know. You can handle anything,” Tahnee stated. “I won’t tell you what to do, even if I wished that boy out there did. I will encourage you to stop talking though. Stop worrying. Get out of your head. Feel, live, and deal with whatever comes at you later because the good can’t compete if you don’t give it a fighting chance.” With those piercing words, she turned her back on me and walked over to where Jessie was playing with her dolls.
With Tahnee’s and Nate’s words ringing in my ear, I ran back outside to see Cooper’s limousine turning around the corner.
I had a good guess as to where he might’ve been going, so instead of feeling defeated, I ran back inside.
And grabbed my keys.
I went to the park. It was the only place I thought Cooper might go to, to seek refuge following my verbal thrashing.
When I saw Tom eating another sandwich in his car, I exhaled the breath I was holding. I scanned the park, looking for Cooper, when I saw him sitting on our bench.
I started running.
“I screwed up just then,” I puffed out when I finally stood before him. “I was wrong. I can’t get out of the car. It’s too late. I’m in love with you. I want you to help my dreams come true, and I want to help yours. I probably won’t stop worrying or freaking out on you. I might change my mind twelve times a day about how I’m going to be able to handle this, but I want to try. I’m shit at making choices, but I really want to choose us.”
“What if something happens to me? If I get hurt? You aren’t wrong. I can be careless.”
“If I can’t help prevent it, if I have to deal with something happening to you, then I show my daughter that tragedy happens every day. I teach her that no matter what, you can get through it, and to be grateful for the time you had and make new dreams.”
“Flash, you fucking slay me,” Cooper murmured, looking into my eyes.
“And you drive me insane on a daily basis.”
“How about for the rest of your life?”
“What?”
“Tom’s not just a limo driver. He’s also an officiant, and I love you. Marry me. Here. Now. Tick off one of your dreams.”
“I’m not ready for that dream just yet,” I laughed. God, I wanted to be foolish and say yes though. “How about we try for a week without drama and some more family time with my daughter? You need to try living with a two-year-old before you marry into this family. She might not look like me, but my girl is possibly more dramatic than I am and possibly bossier than you are. Simon Says you’re going to meet your match.”
“Deal. Al already helped put my stuff in the car.”
“What?” I asked, my eyes narrowing on his cocky smile.
“I had to give up my fucking apartment due to its connection to Tony anyway. I would love to live with you.”
“And you figured I would just invite you to live with me?”
“Babe, it’s going to be great. I’ve already decided to let Jessie decorate my beard every morning, and I’ll help Tahnee fix the gutters. I’m free labor, and I think she already loves me.”
“You’re going to win them both over with bribery?”
“That’s the plan. Plus, when I ask you again”—he grabbed my hand and pulled me into his lap—“to marry me in this park, you’re going to say yes. And you’ll need them to help you do your hair in those curls and find that strapless dress you wanted.”
“You remembered what dress I mentioned?” I asked him, leaning closer.
“If I’m going to make your new dreams come true, I have to listen,” he murmured softly before kissing me. “And I’m ready to prove to you that I’m the best choice you’ve ever made.”
I said nothing, just grabbed either side of his leather jacket and held on tight.
MILLIE
THERE WERE TOO MANY PEOPLE in Al’s small apartment. It was so lovely that they made room for all of us, but this was lunacy.
“I feel like I should apologize,” I said to Cooper as I watched Jessie put her entire hand in a jar of cranberry sauce and start licking it off her palm.
“Babe, they know she’s two. We didn’t expect perfect table manners at Thanksgiving from her.”
“Oh, I’m not talking about Jessie. I’m talking about those two idiots trying to carve the turkey.” I gestured to D and Gray, dressed in identical “Kiss the cook” aprons and making a mess of the bird Parker had just pulled out of the oven.
“Al was happy to have everyone who considered themselves your family. Lizzie and Beth almost fainted when they realized you came with seven people.”
“I would’ve gladly left them behind,” I muttered.
“They wouldn’t have let you,” Cooper replied as he noticed Beth and Parker huddled over Beth’s science project. “With the team playing tomorrow night, it’s actually nice that we can all be together. You’re loved by a lot of people, Flash, no escaping it.”
“It might be a few less in a moment,” I said quietly. “Especially when one of mine takes out one of yours.”
“Huh?”
“Liz
zie is flirting with danger.”
Cooper looked around the room until he spotted Lizzie walking toward D with a soft smile on her lips. “Babe, she could do more damage to him than he could to her. Trust me.”
“I’m not worried about D,” I told him as my eyes shifted to where Marissa was sitting with Tahnee on the couch, but watching D’s and Lizzie’s interactions like a hawk.
“I thought they hated each other,” Cooper stated, confused.
“Are you serious?” I groaned. “I thought Grayson and Parker were the only ones with their heads buried in the sand. Please not you too. I need an ally, and they clearly need to get their shit sorted.”
“Are you going to start rescuing people now?” Cooper laughed. “Did I abdicate my throne when I moved in?”
“You’re hilarious.” I reached for his hand and squeezed. God, I loved my guy.
“Pwetty man! Pwetty man help me!” Jessie yelled from her booster seat at the table as she tried to reach the barbecue chicken wings that were out of her reach. “Help me.”
“My new princess calls,” Cooper chuckled as he left to follow the instructions of his new dictator. “I’ll be back.”
“Pushover,” I called after him, laughing when he gave me the finger behind his back.
“Do you think she’ll ever call him by his actual name?” Parker asked when she made her way over to me and took in the sight of Cooper following Jessie’s every command. Her eyes filled with warmth. “Or do you think that’s also something she inherited from her father?”
“I hope it is,” I replied. “Do you see how Cooper lights up when she calls him ‘pwetty’? It’s his favorite thing.” I rolled my eyes.
“Look, I know it’s not time for presents yet, but Gray and I are going back home to see my dad during the Christmas break, and I wanted to give you something before I left.”
“You brought me a gift?” I inquired.
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