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“I know, Carys, but you’re only a year in. Suck it up, buttercup. You’ve still got three to go.” Paper rustles on her end of the line, followed by a loud thud. “Shit. Sorry. Damn phone. Listen, overnight those sets. Then look over the swimwear. Tell me which you want me to make you for vacation, kay? See you in three weeks, right?”
“Yup. See you soon.” I end the call and sit there for a moment, contemplating my next moves.
Jack and Theo want me to agree to join the band, so they can stop searching for a replacement and start building on the momentum we’ve got going.
Chloe thinks I’ve got to finish school because she knows my mom.
My mother may have been strangely chill about me moving in with guys, but if I tell her I’m dropping out of college after only one year, I have a sneaking suspicion she’d go ballistic.
I’ve got to figure out what I want.
When I ask myself what I want to do, the answer is always the same. I want to design lingerie. Maybe bathing suits too, with the occasional dress thrown in for special events.
But what about school?
It’s easy to say you don’t want to finish out your degree, but do I mean it?
I think I might. But I’m not ready to make that call yet.
To deal with the consequences of making that call.
Guess that makes me acoward.
I like what being in California has given me.
A chance to figure out the person I want to be, far away from home and the expectations surrounding me there. I’ve loved my design classes. But I’ve hated everything else related to school. However, that said, I don’t know if I can give up yet.
No promises that I’ll finish my degree. But I’ll give it a little more time before I make that decision. I’ve got a summer full of classes so I can at least cut back on how many years I’ll need to be in school. Of course, that means this summer is going to blow.
After a few more minutes of my mini pity party, I stand and wipe off the sand off my butt, then turn toward the house. But instead of moving, I stop and stare. Cooper is standing in the sand a few feet in front of me, outside of our back gate. He’s dressed in his pale tactical camo pants, and a long-sleeved matching tan and camo polo shirt. Black aviators hang down from the v of his shirt, and my breath catches in my lungs at the sight of him.
He crosses the sand in two strides.
He looks like a man who just found his salvation, and my knees threaten to buckle from the emotion in his eyes. “Hey.” Cooper cups my face in his hands, and I melt at the warmth.
“Oh my God, Cooper. You’re back.” I grab hold of his wrists, then trace my finger under his eye. “What happened?” He’s got a butterfly stitch beneath his eye and a slight bruise on his cheek.
“Nothing. I’m fine. I just needed to see you.” He holds me gently against his chest, keeping me there like I’m the most precious thing in the world. “You okay? How’s everything been?”
I squeeze him tighter, needing to assure myself he’s here. He’s real. This isn’t a dream. “I’m better now that you’re back. I know you’re trained for this, but not knowing what was happening or where you were was so much harder than I was prepared for.”
“We didn’t exactly have time to talk about any of that, did we?” He takes a step back and holds his hand in mine as we walk back to my house. “I really wish we’d have more time today.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
He holds the gate open for me, then sits down on an Adirondack chair and tugs me down onto his lap.
Strain is evident in the lines of his face.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Listen, Carys. I don’t have a ton of time. We only landed a few hours ago, and as soon as we all finished our reports, I came here to see you. I have to be on a plane today that’s leaving at fifteen-hundred for that training I told you about, and I still need to go home and pack.”
My heart drops, and a sense of déjà vu takes hold. “You’re leaving again? You just got back.”
“I have to. I knew this could happen when I agreed to join this last op. Ford offered to let me skip out, but I could never do that to the team. I had to go.”
“How long will you be gone?” This is it. This is what being with Cooper Sinclair is going to be like.
