We all got ready to head to the art gallery, and again Ladasha told me how excited she was for it all. When we got there, I was shocked to see the crowd around the building, including the paparazzi flashing away outside. Ladasha told me it was a big deal, but I didn’t think the paparazzi would be involved—and I was really hoping I would never see those people again.
As we stepped inside to see a ton of fancy people in fancy clothing, a loud cry escaped my lips as I looked around and saw large photos of myself throughout the room. There were photos of me dancing down in South Carolina on the tennis court. Pictures of me holding Freckles. Pictures of me crying.
Some were in black and white, others with faded colors.
I was overwhelmed when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Cooper standing before me. No words came to mind so I stood there like an idiot.
“Has anyone showed you around?” he asked. I shook my head. “May I?” He took my hand and walked me around. Feeling him touch me awakened my soul; his touch alone gave my heart the jumpstart that I had been looking for. His hair was longer, and he’d let his beard grow in a bit—he looked perfect. My eyes started to fill with water as I kept looking to him. My gosh, so perfect. He told me he was most attracted to the model in his photos because she was flawed. She had emotion in everything she did. She danced when she walked and sang when she talked.
He brought me over to the photo from South Carolina. He leaned in closer to me, his lips touching the rim of my ear. His hot, sweet breaths hit me as he spoke, “This is actually my favorite. See, during the weekend of this shoot, unlike ever before, the dancer showed up. Not just physically, but emotionally she was there. She was invested in this project. She laughed, she welcomed me into her mind. She allowed me to see her. Of course after that she tightened up a bit more and tried to run away, but that’s another photo.” He snickered.
I turned to him and realized how much I had missed his smile. His dimples. His laugh.
I found the strength to speak. “I'm so sorry. I just. I am still messed up from Derrick and I really am trying my best to put myself back together. I know I said some terrible things to you, and I started thinking…What if something happened to you? What if you cheated on me? What if you died? How could I handle that? But that was just me being…”
“Shut up.”
I was a bit taken back by him telling me to shut up, but I had to make him understand where I was coming from. “I know you're probably still upset…”
“I said shut up.” His southern accent was thick, and I knew it was time for me to close my mouth. “I'm crazy about you, Andie. I’ve been crazy about you since I was nine-years-old. I’ll be crazy about you when I’m ninety. I'm crazy about everything I know about you. I'm crazy about everything I plan to know.”
“Coop...” I whispered.
He shook his head at me and held up one of his index fingers. “Over here is Chaos.” He held up his other index finger far apart from the other. “And over here is Order. I'm not asking you to leap from one to the other for me. I'm just asking that we meet somewhere around the space in between the two. We never have to get married. We never have to say I do or slow dance to a stupid first dance song. But I want you to know that I do.” He took my hands into his and pulled me close to him as he continued.
“I do promise to give you all of me each and every day. I can't promise you it won't be hard, and I can't promise you bad things won't happen, but I do promise it will be worth it. I will give you all of me, the good, the bad, and the broken parts because I know you make me better. You make me whole again.”
I smiled as he wiped the falling tears from my eyes and I bit my bottom lip. “I'm scared.”
He nodded in understanding. “Yeah. Me too.”
“But I would rather be scared with you than terrified by myself.”
“We'll go slow. Maybe a coffee date.”
I smiled at his offer and added to it. “Maybe breakfast.”
“Maybe a soda pop or two,” he chimed in. As my face dropped and I rolled my eyes, he quickly retracted his statement. “That was a joke. A bad one, bad moment, bad timing. All right, erase it from your mind.” He ran his hand across my cheek. “You're so beautiful.”
I laughed. “I'm not going to sleep with you, so you can stop trying so hard.”
He grew serious in his demeanor. “I'm not looking for sex.”
“Yeah? And what are you looking for?”
He smiled and winked at me.
I looked near the art gallery window and noticed all of the paparazzi cameras flashing away at the two of us. I said, “I really want to kiss you, but it appears we have an audience.”
He smirked, placed his hand on my lower back, and pulled me closer to him. I could feel his breath against my skin as he whispered, “Let’s give them their damn picture and they’ll leave us alone.”
“Promise?”
“Nope.” He smiled as he pulled me into a deep, passionate kiss. Everyone disappeared the instant his lips met mine. It was just me and him in the moment, and no one, not even the paparazzi, could take that away from us.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
“‘WE’LL JUST GET coffee,’ he said. ‘We’ll go out for breakfast,’ he said.” Andrea rolled her eyes, mocking me as we sat in the back of the black car. I laughed as I looked down to her growing stomach and kissed it.
“I can’t help it that you’re addicted to sex. We’ll look into getting you help.”
“We have arrived,” the driver said.
I turned to him and smirked. “Thanks, Jesu—Joe. Thank you, Joe.” I handed him a few bills and he shook his head.
“You don’t have to keep paying me. If I’m going to be your driver, you gotta understand that I get a check every two weeks.” He pushed the money back at me, and being unwilling to give up on the issue—I slid it into his pocket.
“I’m just paying you back for all of your sound advice. We’ll be done around ten.”
“I’ll be here.”
Suddenly, Andrea reached forward and placed her hand on Joe’s shoulder. “Joe...Awhile back, you helped me through some of the hardest times. And it sounds like you helped Cooper, too. So, I still don’t know if there’s something bigger out there...Something helping guide us around this crazy world. But I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for the ride, Joe.” Her soft smile met with his as he nodded.
As Andrea and I got out of the car, we saw Eric and Ladasha stepping out of their ride. Eric had flown in to see the show with us, and the way he looked at Ladasha made me damned happy for them both. They were still trying to learn what their story was. They were learning how to make their relationship work with the distance and the different lifestyles between the two, but I could tell they both were willing to do the best they could. Ladasha had a few things from her past that she had to face, and Eric was there to help her through it all. I watched Eric whisper into Ladasha’s ear and she turned to him, pressing her lips against his. They deserved each other.
I guided Andrea into the theater, where her dance company was performing that evening. When we reached our seats, I looked to her and saw the pride in her eyes.
As I took her hand into mine, we grew comfortable in our seats and prepared for a wonderful show. We took it one step at a time. One adventure. One event. One memory.
There was no hurry to plan our futures—other than which crib to buy for the nursery.
We didn’t follow society’s rules and walk down the aisle before having children. We made our own rules. We promised to give ourselves to one another completely—mind, body, and spirit.
I leaned in towards Andrea, kissed her earlobe, and whispered to her. “Marry me.”
She turned to me and huffed as she narrowed her eyes. She gave me a quick kiss on the lips, turned back to the stage, and said, “Okay.”
One step.
One adventure.
One love.
We made the rules.
And we promised to always, always, live happily in the moment.