Page 53 of Sea Glass Serenade

“No, don’t do that! We need the bees.” She laughed. “It just startled me. I just…” She took another deep breath. “I want to tell you that…” She hesitated, feeling her heart pound in herchest. She wished she hadn’t gotten delayed the first time. She was starting to lose her nerve as her jitters intensified. “I’ve been meaning to say it for a while, but I kept getting interrupted and then I lost my nerve. But I think that now is a good moment for me to?—”

A police car whizzed past the town square, its sirens blaring.

“Ooh, someone was speeding,” he joked, laughing.

“Yes, probably.”

She laughed breathlessly, wondering if she was ever going to get a chance to tell him she loved him. Her heart was really pounding by that point, and she told herself she needed a moment to work up her nerve again. As a distraction, she reached for Cooper’s bag of pastries and started to rummage in it for something to eat. She pulled out a sugar cookie that had been frosted with yellow icing in the shape of the sun and the words “Peek-a-boo.”

“This is cute!” She laughed. “Is this one for Macey?”

“What?” Cooper stared at the cookie in dismay. “That’s not—oh, no. That’s not the right cookie.”

She cocked her head to one side, feeling confused by his reaction. “It’s a great cookie. I think it’s adorable. Macey will love it.”

He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s not—it’s the wrong one.”

She laughed again, not understanding why he seemed so flustered. “Why does it matter what it says on it?”

“Because—” He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. He locked eyes with her, and her heart began to beat faster. “Because I picked out a different cookie. For you. I pointed to it in the display case, but then I wasn’t looking at her when she bagged it. I was looking at you to make sure you didn’t see what cookie I’d pointed to.”

Julia shook her head, feeling confused. “I don’t understand. What cookie was it?”

“It was the one that said, ‘I Love You’ on it.”

She blinked. For five full heartbeats, they stared at each other. Julia felt dazed, as if she might be dreaming, and then a smile spread across her face.

“Do you really love me?”

“I do.” He reached out and took her hand. “I love you, Julia.”

“I love you too!” The words burst out of her, followed by a breathless laugh. “I’ve been trying to tell you the same thing! That’s what I was doing when I tried to make that fancy dinner for us when you were sick. I kept trying to say it to you, and something always came up to interrupt me.”

He chuckled, reaching for her and pulling her into his arms. “I’ve been scared to say it to you for weeks. Remember when I took you out to lunch? I just kept blabbing on about all the things that make me grateful for you, but I couldn’t work up the nerve to come right out and say the words to you.”

“Oh! I’d been so confused. I was worried you had something bad to tell me.”

“You’d looked worried! Honestly, that was part of why I lost my nerve that day. I thought maybe you had something on your mind and I should wait and tell you another time.”

“Look at us.” She laughed. “We sure struggled to get here, but we finally made it.”

“Now we both know.” He looked down into her eyes, grinning at her.

“I love you, Cooper.”

“I love you too.”

She felt a surge of happiness as she lifted her face up to his for a long, well-deserved kiss.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Hazel hummed quietly to herself as she bustled about her kitchen, concocting a batch of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. She had the windows open, and she could clearly hear birds chirping outside, even over the sound of the folk music that she had playing on a small speaker.

She looked around the kitchen with a smile. Alexis’s renovations were all finished, and there was no doubt that the room had never looked better. She and Alexis and Samantha had done a little rearranging as well, and the tidy little kitchen looked more cozy and inviting than ever before. They’d hung a three-tier hanging basket from the ceiling and filled it with fresh produce, and there was a line of herbs growing in pots on the windowsill. She took a deep breath, savoring the smells of sage and basil as they mixed with the sweet aroma of the cookie dough.

Her eyes roamed over the refrigerator area and she swallowed, thinking about the pipe that Jacob had fixed and the day that he’d been there in her kitchen. She’d been so hopeful at the time, believing that things were going to work out between them. She was grateful that Jacob had fixed so many things in her house, but sometimes she wished that she didn’t have somany reminders of him in her own home. She was happy for him and she wished him the best with his new relationship, but she didn’t want to think about him multiple times a day—not anymore. She felt a slight ache in her chest, but she pushed her sad thoughts aside.

I’m sure it’ll all be for the best,she thought.Maybe Dean is right, and I will get another chance with Jacob. Or maybe I’ll move on and find someone new. I feel ready to start dating again, and that’s an exciting thing.

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