Until Maggie.
I’d always been adrift, floating through life, watching the shore from afar. But Maggie was an anchor, holding me steady. I couldn’t float anymore — I didn’t want to. I wanted to be everything for her. I wanted to prove to her, to myself, that I meant what I said. I was ready for my life to begin. I only hoped she would be a part of it.
The door behind me opened, and I turned to find my dad smiling at me.
“Hey, Coop.”
I smiled. “Hey, Dad.”
“What’s going on? Dinner cancelled last week, haven’t heard from you. We’ve been worried.” He watched me as he stepped behind his desk and set down several leather portfolios and a small stack of papers.
“I’m … I’ll be all right.”
He took a seat. “So, you wanted to see me? My curiosity is piqued — not that I’m not glad to see you. It’s just rare to see you here.”
I took a seat of my own across from him and looked him in the eye. “I’m here to talk about my purpose.”
His face softened, and he nodded at me with understanding. “Ah. That. Well, when it hits you, it’s never subtle.”
I chuckled. “Or gentle.” I leaned forward. “I’d like to work for you, if it’s possible.”
“All things are possible. I’m glad you decided to intern here in college. The board will be pleased with that and your Columbia credentials. But I have to ask, why here? Are you sure this is what you really want out of life? The hours are long and stressful. It’s no easy job.”
“I know. But this is the only place that makes sense for me. I want to be a part of this, of what you’ve done here. I want to follow in your footsteps, in Grandpa’s. It’s a legacy. It’s my legacy.”
He looked proud and touched, though his jaw was firm, his brow flat. “I’ve been waiting to hear that for a long time, Coop. But I have to ask how certain you are. I can get you a position as a financial analyst, but you’ll need to do the work, put in the time just like anyone else, work your way up from the bottom. It’s not going to be glamourous.”
“I understand. You know, when I worked here that summer, I didn’t hate it. At all. It was like the numbers, the data, it was all a pattern, a puzzle. I could see it, make sense of it.”
He smiled. “I know the feeling. If you do with the opportunity what I think you’ll do, some day, this office will be yours, just like it was my father’s before me.”
“I’m certain. And I promise — I won’t let you down.”
He folded his hands on his desk. “I’m more concerned that you’ll let yourself down.”
“I’ve done enough of that. Now I’m ready.”
He smiled. “Well, in that case, when can you start?”
Maggie
Brooke and I stood at the counter of the ice cream parlor that afternoon, bent to eye the frozen goodness from behind the double-paned glass.
Her hair was piled in a caramel-colored knot on her head, held back by an elastic headband. She snickered and pointed at one. “You should get the Billionaire.” She read off the plate. “Sumptuous dark chocolate, laced with swirls of salted caramel and decadent fudge. Only for the self-indulgent.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned. “Goddammit, that sounds so good.”
“Then get it.”
“Well, now I can’t just on principle alone.”
She shook her head and stood. “You’re a mess.”
“Obviously.”
The teenager behind the counter smiled at us, a pretty girl with braces. “Did y’all decide?”
Brooke smiled back and leaned on the counter. “I’d like a scoop of Black Raspberry Chip in a waffle cone, please.”
The girl was already reaching for a cone. “Sounds good. And for you, miss?”
I wrinkled my nose. “A scoop of Billionaire, please.”
Brooke laughed. “Ha. I knew it.”
“Waffle cone?”
“Why not.” I sighed. “Waffle’s my middle name.”
Brooke snickered. She turned to me as the girl assembled our cones. “I can’t believe you finally talked to Jimmy.” She waved a hand. “No, what I can’t believe is that it took you so long.”
“I’ve been running away from months. I’ve got nowhere to go. If I’d dealt with him in the first place, none of this mess would have happened.”
The girl passed over Brooke’s cone, and she immediately stuck her face in it. She took a break from making out with it to say, “You weren’t ready.”
“I was never gonna be ready for that, Brooke.” She handed me mine. “Thanks.” I reached for my wallet.
“Nope, I got it.” Brooke whipped a twenty out of her back pocket faster than Doc Holliday.
“Jeez. Prepared, were you?”
She smiled at me and shrugged. “I had it all planned out. We’re on a date, Mags! I can’t let my girl buy her own ice cream.”
I laughed as we took seats at a small table next to the window.
She licked her ice cream and watched me. “Are you gonna eat that or just stare at it?”
I looked down at my Billionaire waffle cone. “I’m afraid it’ll taste good.”
“Isn’t that the point?”
I sighed. “I should have gotten another flavor.”
She gave me a flat look. “God, Maggie. Eat the damn ice cream I got for you.”
I made a face at her, licking it lewdly for show, but the second it hit my tongue, I groaned. “Oh, God. That’s fucking heaven in my mouth.”
“Oooh, how good is your Billionaire?”
“So good. I could lick my Billionaire all day.” I stuck my tongue out and licked with a seductive flare. You know, for emphasis.
She cackled, and a lady with a toddler gave her a look. “Does it taste as rich as it looks?”
“So rich and creamy. And so thick. I can barely get my mouth around my Billionaire.” I closed my lips over the top of the scoop.
“Oh, my God, Maggie.” She giggled.
I laughed.
She settled back in her seat, her green eyes bright. “How are you feelin’?”
I shrugged and turned the cone for a better angle. “I dunno. Better. You were right. I needed to see Jimmy and tell him I didn’t want him. Say it out loud, not just for him, but for me. I feel … free.”
“Think he’ll leave you alone?”
“I hope so. I really think he got it. I mean, I told him straight up I didn’t love him anymore. I don’t know how much clearer I could be. But even if he does come back around, I feel like I’ll be all right. I know I can tell him no. I know I don’t want him at all. He tried to kiss me, but he may as well have been trying to feed me snakes. There wasn’t a single part of me that wanted to kiss him at all.”
“Good, because if you’d kissed him I would have slapped you.”
“I don’t doubt that. But now I know, you know? And if he comes back around, I know how to handle him. I figured out my DEFCON protocol.”
“He’d better not come back around. He’s done enough damage for a lifetime.” She took a lick. “Figure out if you’re goin’ back to New York?”
“No.”
“Heard from Cooper Moore?”
I gave her a look.
She raised her eyebrows and ignored me, sticking out her tongue to run her ice cream over it.
“No, I haven’t heard from him.”
“You gonna call him?”
My stomach sank at the thought. At least I was filling it with ice cream. “I dunno, Brooke. What would I even say?”
“How about, ‘Hey, Cooper Moore, you decadent billionaire hottie, I superlove you and really want to see you and your peen soon.’”
I snickered. “It’s definitely direct.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, Mags. Just tell him how you feel.”