Page 85 of Guys Can't Write Romance
And Chad.
Chad, who wrote horror stories on napkins, yet melted her heart when she watched him coach his team. Chad, who thought a door balanced on milk crates was a proper table, yet made her laugh till her side ached. Chad, who hung his clothes on furniture, yet wouldn’t have made her feel small for wanting to sing karaoke or watch the baseball game. In fact, he would have been right there with her.
“I...” Daisy sank into one of the kitchen chairs. “I don’t know.”
“I think maybe you do know,” Chloe said gently. “You’re just scared to admit it.”
Daisy stared at her phone, at Ethan’s perfectly punctuated text message. Everything about it was proper and planned, just like him. Just like the life he was offering. Just like the life she’d always thought she wanted.
The life that now felt like a beautifully wrapped package with nothing inside.
“What do I do?” she whispered.
Chloe abandoned her smoothie-making and sat down across from her. “Well, first, you put on some clothes. Then, you text him back and say yes to dinner. Because whether it’s a proposal or not, you need to figure out what you actually want, not what you think you’re supposed to want.”
“But what if what I want is wrong?”
“Wrong according to who? Your five-year plan? The universe doesn’t care about your color-coded calendar, babe.”
Daisy nodded slowly, then looked up at her friend with damp eyes. “When did everything get so complicated?”
“Around the time a certain P.E. teacher started making you laugh so hard beverages came out your nose.” Chloe reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “For what it’s worth, I think complicated is better than boring. Boring is safe, but it’s also dead. Complicated means you’re alive.”
“Even if it’s terrifying?”
“Especially if it’s terrifying.” Chloe stood up and returned to her smoothie preparation. “Now go get dressed. And maybe we should start drinking early today, just in case?”
Despite her churning emotions, Daisy managed a small laugh. “That doesn’t sound very adult.”
“Good,” Chloe said with a wink. “That’s exactly what you need right now.”
Daisy started toward her room, then paused. “Chloe?”
“Yeah?”
“What if I make the wrong choice?”
Chloe looked up from her blender. “The only wrong choice is picking the life you think you should want instead of the one that makes your heart race.”
As Daisy headed to her room to get dressed, she glanced at her phone one more time. The ‘big news’ text stared back at her, and for the first time, instead of feeling excited about what it might mean, she felt something else entirely:
Dread.
And maybe, just maybe, a little relief.
She typed out a quick response to Ethan:‘Sounds great. See you at 7.’
Then she opened her text thread with Chad. His last text came in at around 1:30 am that morning. He’d been up writing, and couldn’t wait to share his latest story ideas with her. As she scrolled through the texts, she saw that she’d sent similar texts to him several times. He was the first person she thought of when an idea hit, and she was the same for him. It was an important part of her life they shared; and one of that Ethan wanted no part of.
She quickly texted back:
‘Can’t wait to hear it!’
She knew it was the same text Chad would have sent her. And like her, he would have meant it.
Chapter twenty-one
The Big News
