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She stared at the digits on the glossy rectangle. “The fear that I’m not good enough, but I’m tired of thinking of myself as the girl nobody wanted. That’s not who I am,” she said, believing it with every fiber of her being.
“Who are you, H?” Charlotte asked with a coy grin as they took their spots on the swings.
Who did she want to be?
The answer came easily and effortlessly.
She’d be a performer. A singer and a songwriter. A musician.
A star.
A star who wanted it all, and that included love.
“In a perfect world, I’d have a career in music, and I’d be Landon’s wife and Aria’s forever aunt. But I don’t know if that’s possible.” She brushed a tear from her cheek, and Libby passed her a bonbon.
“Forget about Landon for a second,” Libby began, “and think about what kind of qualities Aria’s mom would want in a person who’d influence their daughter’s life.”
“We’ve asked ourselves this question, H. And the answer is as reassuring as it is distressing,” Charlotte added.
“We had to become the person we’re supposed to be,” Penny answered.
Harper chuckled. “That’s all?” she teased, but she shouldn’t have been surprised by this. She’d been at her friends’ sides when they’d stood at the crossroads.
“I know this sounds super Libby-ish—no offense, Libbs,” she said, tossing her Zen bestie a wink.
“None taken,” the raven-haired woman replied.
“But I felt Leighton’s presence the first time I saw Aria in person,” she continued. “Aria and I were singing and playing piano in Landon’s foster parents’ detached garage, and this weird sensation came over me like we weren’t alone.”
“It’s not weird, and we’ve all experienced something similar,” Penny replied, looking to the other women.
But what now? How did she move forward when her life was in limbo?
She concentrated on her wedding band—a ring placed on her finger thanks to an agreement to throw caution to the wind and a double-dog dare. “You guys took the risk, and it paid off. What if that doesn’t happen for me? What if I don’t get the nanny-match happily ever after? I’m not the Cinderella type. I’m more evil stepsister with a side of baked goods.”
“Sorry to wreck your badass baked goods vibe, H, but you’ve got some Cinderella in there,” Penny countered. “And by the way, Cinderella was no damsel in distress. She was a girl who took the risk. She broke the rules. She had a great group of friends—animal friends, but friends, no less, who were behind her every step of the way. She found true love. But she had to fight for it and push her limits. She didn’t let fear win, and she never stopped believing in love. She believed.”
Believe.
“You’ve got to believe in yourself before you can believe in anything or anyone else. It’s the yin and yang of nanny matching, or nanny-aunt matching, in your case,” Libby added, throwing a dash of Zen into the mix.
Penny tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. “No happily ever after worth ever-aftering was ever easy.”
Jesus, that was a mouthful.
“Ever-aftering?” she said, eyeing the woman.
Penny bit back a grin. “Yes, it’s a word. I’m a writer. I know about these things.”
Bullshit.
But she loved that she had friends who would give it to her straight.
It was time to act.
She had to take Schuman’s advice and shed the snark and allow herself to be vulnerable to face her fears.
She had to look the little girl version of herself square in the eyes and make something perfectly clear. She might have been rejected, but she was surrounded by love. From her grandparents to her friends, to the kindness of people like the Sweets and the gifted musicians she’d met through her grandparents, there was good and happiness in this world, and she owed it to herself to go after a slice of that happy pie.
