I grasp her chin, and instead of arguing with her, I plant a loud kiss on her lips. “You’re not ready to hear that yet, and that’s okay, but you were never something I wanted to possess just because I could. You’re not one thing, sweetheart. You’re everything. From the moment you caught my attention, you’ve been it. Don’t I show you?”
She looks away and refuses to answer.
“But since you want to know more, I got into the UCLA School of Medicine. It was my first choice. I couldn’t wait to be on the West Coast and away from the cold. I was looking at apartments, and everything went to hell. I had to make a different choice, and I don’t regret it. I would choose my family all over again if I had to.”
“Unlike me, you mean?” There’s an edge to her voice now.
“I’m not comparing. Those are two different situations. You didn’t choose to stay. I did. And sweetheart, you can go toschool or do whatever you want now. You never have to work again.”
“It’s not the same. You only have a small window in your life to be a carefree student. Now, I’ll be older. Married. I can’t get drunk and sleep in all weekend."
I let out a bark of laughter. “I hope not. I’m sure you got drunk plenty of times in the past ten years.”
“Yeah, like the time me, Eden, and Selene went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.” She giggles at the memory, and my ears perk up while I wait to hear more. “We stayed at this shitty motel, even though it was super expensive. Don’t tell anyone this, but we showed our tits to everyone. You should have seen how many beads we collected.”
Her last statement stuns me, and I burst into laughter.
“Thank goodness you won’t be able to do that when you go back with my mom.”
“Unless I can get her to flash her tits too.”
Cori giggles after seeing the stunned look on my face.
“You’ve traumatized me, Bella, but tell me more about you and design school.”
“When I had to give it up for the second time, I made peace with the idea that I would never go. I’m fine with that. I can still sew, and I can still run a business.”
“But now you can get the credentials, too. You know why that matters for you? Because you’re not just good, you’re talented, and haters will say that you’re not trained. That’s why you should go. Your credentials are something no one can take away from you. They can’t dispute that you’ve earned it. It’s one way to silence the naysayers.”
“But what if I can’t do it? What if it’s too much while running a new business?” She takes a deep breath. “I’ve never done either before, but I’m supposed to combine them?” Herbeautiful eyes fill with unshed tears. “I don’t know if I can, Daxton. I can’t take another failure.”
A single tear slides down her cheek, and I swipe it away. I remember the conversation she had with her mother in the hospital.
“Hey, now. What have you failed at?” She opens her mouth to answer, but I talk over her. “Nothing. You’ve failed at nothing. You didn’t pursue your dream because of circumstances that were out of your control.”
“Not true. I had a choice.” She sniffles.
“An impossible choice. A choice no one should have asked you to make. Your family put their needs above yours, and that was shitty of them. I want to give you everything you missed out on. I’ll even get drunk with you next weekend if you want. I’m not cleaning up your puke, though.”
“Yes, you would.”
“Okay. I would.”
She lets out a half-laugh, half-sob before she crawls into my arms. I hold her against me. She doesn’t speak about it anymore, and I let it drop, but I still feel like she’s resisting, and I want to know the reason why.
This is the thing she wanted that got away, and I’m offering it to her, but she hasn’t agreed to take it.
Chapter 41
Cori
“It’s like stealing candy from a big, stupid baby.” I look around Seven Heaven, but no one is paying attention to us.
Selene reaches across the table and gives me a high-five, but Eden shakes her head in disapproval.
“That’s what that idiot deserves.” Selene nods at my plan.
“So, you’re playing nice so you can get him to fall in love with you?” Eden asks.
