Page 70 of Love and Other Chances

I give them the play-by-play of our fun snow day, capped off by ourveryromantic dance and kiss in the snow. I’m fully aware that my eyes are starry and my lips permanently frozen in a dreamy smile as I share the story.

“You really like Brooks, don’t you,” Amaya says, more as a statement than a question.

“I . . . I think I more than like him,” I admit, chewingon my lip.

Amaya’s eyebrow quirks. “Already? Two months ago, you were driving to KC to distract yourself from the pressure of deciding whether to even give Brooks another chance. And now you’re already thinking the ‘L’ word?”

Lana’s face is more sympathetic. “Maybe the piece of you that loved Brooks so long ago never really died. Maybe that’s why the love has been quick to come alive—because it was never quite gone in the first place?”

I nod, appreciative that she seems to understand. “I know it sounds a little crazy. And I haven’t said it to him. That might bea lotcrazy. But my heart just . . . knows. Because it’s Brooks. The same, yet better. Like who we were and who we would become were always meant to be. The love of our lives.”

Lana looks teary, and although Amaya’s eyes still look slightly skeptical, she’s smiling.

“I’m so happy for you, Beef,” Lana says. “I mean, of course I still want you to be careful with your heart. But my gut has a good feeling about this. I’m glad we got to meet Brooks at your birthday party. I wish we could spend more time with him. When I needed help processing my feelings, it was really helpful that you both knew Mateo from Arrow and had seen us together.”

“Long distance friendship sucks,” I affirm. “But I’m grateful to still have you both in my life.”

“Seriously,” Amaya chimes in. “Just think—you may never have reconnected with him if we hadn’t pushed you to find some peers at church. Let me know whether to collect the finder’s fee from you or Brooks,” she finishes with a wink.

I giggle. “I think we’d both gladly chip in.”

“Sooo, anything new in your life, Teegan?” Sofia asks the question with so much sparkle in her eyes, you’d think she had diamonds in her irises. The rest of the girls turn to me with eager, knowing looks.

We’re sitting in my living room after our Bible study, eating brownies and sipping decaf coffee. I narrow my eyes and point my finger around the circle. “You’ve been scheming together, haven’t you?”

Sofia huffs and tosses her hair. “Come on. There’s no way you don’t like Mr. Murphy. You two made all sorts of googly-eyes at each other when you visited The Hangout. And you’ve been actingextracheerful lately. We want the tea.” She raises her mug at me, but it’s filled with coffee, detracting from the punchline.

I mime zipping my lips, earning a groaned “Teegaaan!” from Sofia. The other girls immediately chime in with pestering remarks.

“Fine, fine. I can confirm that Brooks and I have been officially dating for several weeks now.” I say it with an exaggerated sigh, but I can’t help the enormous smile that spreads across my lips.

“I knew it!” Sofia yells triumphantly. “I’m telling you—I’m a good luck charm for love. Both of my life mentors wound up finding the guy of their dreams. First Lana, now you. I should start charging for my services.”

My well-aimed throw pillow smacks Sofia across the face, only causing a new uproar of laughter.

“Show us pictures! Sofia met him, but not all of us have!” one of the girls exclaims. I carefully select a few photos to show them, which they appropriately fawn over. I mean, let’s face it—Brooks is averygood-looking guy.

They’re greedy for more, so I decide to show them the snow dancing video we took, which they all immediately recognize from its viral rounds on social media.

“Oh, you two are the perfect social media couple,” Sofia remarks. “He totally matches your energy for the camera, which isn’t the case with every guy.” Her observation kicks off a long, giggling conversation about which guys from Arrow would engage in trending videos and which ones would never.

As they chatter, Sofia’s remark has my mind racing with a growing idea.

Chapter twenty-seven

“No, you have to jump higher initially if you’re going to get both legs up over my arm,” Brooks says, breathing hard from laughing.

We’ve been in my living room for the past two hours, attempting every couples challenge we could find. At least, every one that wouldn’t put any of our body parts in awkward places. I may be in love with the man, but I’m not quite ready for my booty to be all up in his face.

We got the upside-down move on our first try, which gave us false confidence. Other challenges took several efforts, but we’ve managed to nail each one so far.

The challenge we’re currently filming looks like a deceptively simple kickover move, but it requires me to raise both feet above our clasped hands before he tips me backward over his other arm, which is around my waist.

Given my dance background, I expected this to be a breeze, but twenty-eight failed attempts later, we’re both rolling on the floor laughing rather than making serious progress. Maybe it’s the hysterical laughter that’s inhibiting our efforts. Not sure which is the chicken and which is the egg.

Regardless, we’ll likely have hours of bloopers recorded on my phone by the time we ever get this right.

I’m flat on my back on the floor again, Brooks hunched over me, hyperventilating with laughter for the thirtieth time. “That’s . . . it!” I gasp between laughs. “I . . . give up!”

---