“I don’t know. He’s nice. He was there, I guess, and he was new. A relationship I created myself. Not someone from my forgotten past or a random person befriending me, just out of loyalty to Liam. A boy who was interested in me for me.”
Someone safe. I thought to myself. Someone who I could ruin things with and not lose everything.
I slumped with the admission and Chelsea squeezed tighter.
“I get it, but sweetheart, no one here is friends with you solely because of Liam or your mom. That may be what brought us all together at first, but we all love you for you. You created these relationships yourself. No one else did that for you.”
She pulled back, inspecting my face as she tucked a few rebellious curls behind my ear.
“And a few of us, me included, love you more than most,” she said, a meaningful glint in her eye that I wasn’t expecting. She continued, “I’m proud of you, and I want you to keep making friends. If Sam is something you want to continue to explore, I will support you full-heartedly. But excuse my boldness when I say, I have and will always be Team Turner.” Chelsea punctuated her statement with a wink that had me on the verge of panic.
I stepped back, wide-eyed.
“Oh, Chelsea, Trey and I are just friends,” I rushed out, my palms clammy, knees trembling.
Her smile was full of genuine love as she shook her head, her focus landing on something over my shoulder. “Sweetie, friends don’t look at each other like that.”
I followed her gaze to Trey, who had a small crowd surrounding him. Each individual stared up at him, laughing and congratulating him on a good game, but his attention wasn’t on them. It was on me.
His mouth curved into a smile. His eyes were soft but unyielding and when he saw me looking, he slowly lifted one hand to wave at me.
It was one of the cutest things I’d seen him do. It made my belly erupt into a flutter of feelings I couldn’t name.
Chelsea moved to my side, hooking an arm around me as she said, “Just know, no matter what happens, you’re my girl. Whether that means you come home to me with Trey or another man, you’ll always be my girl.”
***
I laid in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling, mulling over Chelsea’s words.
Could I, do it? Be with Trey Turner?
Stop pretending and just be?
My stomach clenched, and my body shook with anticipation. My previous fear of losing the Turners if things were to go badly between us held no weight.
But I still didn’t know him. What if I got hurt?
Well, didn’t I know him?
Trey was good, he was kind, patient. He took care of his people and even after everything, he continued to take care of me. Yeah, I didn’t know every detail about him, but he knew me, every piece of me, and he valued all the pieces. Even the broken parts I still didn’t fully remember or understand.
What I did know—without a lick of doubt—was that I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Trey was the magnet I was drawn to. My heart longed for him, my skin craved him and I lo—liked him.
Maybe. Maybe Trey and I could be it. The whole thing was still incredibly intimidating, of course, but the idea of me and Trey together was no longer a definite no but a maybe.
A possibility.
I wrapped myself up in my blankets, feeling like for the first time in weeks I could hope.
Hope for a future where Trey and I won out in the end.
35 On My Knees
Trey
Earlier that Saturday morning, the walk with Maybelle had been quiet. Too quiet.
I tried to talk to her. Desperate to start up any conversation, but she only gave me one-word answers. Even to questions that required a lot more than one-word explanations.
