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“Me?”
She nods.
“That’s right, missy. You. You’ve been holding out on me, and I think it’s about time you tell me what’s really going on with you and Guardians’ GM, Trent Nichols.”
“I think you have enough on your plate than worry about me, Lottie,” I try to deflect since it feels wrong to boast about my happiness when her life is in such disarray.
“But I am worried,” she says, her gaze softening. “What is really going on between you? And don’t tell me it’s just sex because I know what I saw back at the precinct.”
“What did you see?” I probe, wondering how far her intuition goes.
“Do you really want me to say it?” She arches a brow. “Fine. Then here you go—I think you’re in love with him.” I can’t keep my smile hidden when the words leave her mouth. “Oh, my goodness, you are!” she squeals in surprise, quickly covering her mouth with her hands.
“Shh! Everyone is looking at us,” I giggle, unable to keep from grinning like a lovestruck fool.
“I can’t believe it,” she says, bewildered and amazed. “I just said that to see if you’d fess up, but I never imagined you actually would be in love.”
“Technically, I didn’t confirm or deny anything yet.”
“You don’t have to. That goofy smile says it all. Wow. Piper Lee. In love. I swear I thought I’d never see the day.”
“Trust me, it came as a total shock to me, too.” I laugh.
“Is he good to you?” she asks, suddenly apprehensive. “I mean, is he the right man for you?”
“You tell me,” I say before going into a long-winded and detailed account of everything that’s transpired since last summer.
By the time I’m done, Lottie’s eyes are full of happy tears.
“I take back what I said. Trent deserves a medal after all he endured to win your heart.”
“I really didn’t make life easy on him, did I?” I smile shyly.
“Nope,” she pops the ‘p’ at the end. “Just goes to show you that he must really be in love with you if he fought so hard to make you fall in love with him. Have you told him how you feel yet?”
“In some way or another,” I chew my bottom lip.
“Jesus, Piper. Please tell me you’ve told him that you love him at least?”
“I’m not ready yet. I know that I love him and feel it in my heart every time I look at him, but I’m just not there… yet,” I tell her honestly.
Her stare softens at the lingering fear she still sees in my gaze.
“That’s okay, Piper. I guess people do love differently, and that’s perfectly okay. There’s no rule book to love. I mean, look at me and Nate, for example. It took less than twenty-four hours for me to move in with him and get engaged.” She laughs. “Don’t feel pressured to live life like society expects you to. Live life on your own terms. But take it from me, a person who couldn’t express her love for the man she cared about just because she felt obligated to stay loyal to someone who didn’t deserve it. My advice is that when you love someone, don’t wait too long to tell them. Life’s too short, Piper. You never know if you’ll miss your chance.”
I take her sage advice in and ponder on it for a moment.
I know she’s right.
I know that Trent deserves to hear the words he longs for.
But I also know myself.
I don’t want to force the words out if I’m not ready to say them.
I don’t want to force anything on us, much less my profession of love.
When the time does come, it will feel right.
