Page 65 of Falling for the Grinchy Bad Boy

I looked around the cozy living room with its crackling fire and twinkling tree and thought about the festival. The relationships I had formed with some of the residents. The way the town had welcomed me back like I’d never left.

“Here,” I whispered. “My heart feels settled here.”

She smiled like she already knew what I was going to say. “Then maybe that’s your answer.”

We worked in comfortable silence for a while, the only sounds the soft dialogue from the movie and the occasional pop from the fireplace. I found myself thinking about Cooper, wondering if he was having similar conversations with someone—his sister, maybe, or one of his close friends at the firehouse.

Was he analyzing what had happened between us with the same intensity I was? Was he weighing pros and cons, trying to logic his way through emotions that defied rational thought?

Or was he regretting ever kissing me in the first place? Did I just make things weird between us?

“There’s a difference between being cautious and being cowardly, Joy. The trick is knowing which one you’re being.”

“What would you do?” I asked. “If you were in my position?”

She was quiet for a long moment, considering the question with the seriousness it deserved. “I’d be honest with him,” she said finally. “About what I want, about my fears and about the fact that I’m scared but willing to try. And then I would let him decide if he’s ready to try too.”

“And if he’s not ready?”

“Then you’ll know where you stand. But Joy, honey—what if he is?”

What if Cooper was ready? What if the walls he’d built around his heart were already starting to come down? What if that night in city hall had meant as much to him as it had to me?

“I’m terrified,” I admitted.

“Good,” she said again, smiling. “Like I said, that means you’re about to do something that matters.”

We returned to our crafting, but my mind was already elsewhere. Maybe instead of overthinking and analyzing and protecting myself from every possible hurt, I could just be honest. Tell him how I felt, what I wanted and what I was afraid of.

And then let him decide if he was brave enough to want the same thing.