Chapter 29
FELIX
“Pancakes on a Thursday morning,” Cooper’s dad commented as he came into the kitchen, sniffing the air. “Must be a special occasion.”
Heat rose to my face as he sat down next to me at the breakfast bar.
I’d never had to face anyone’s parents the morning after. Or the slightly later morning after the earlier morning.
My thigh ached. So did several other places, in the delicious, used way they always did after really good sex.
I squirmed, feeling Mr. Richards’ gaze settle on me.
He had a way of looking at me as though he could see the contents of my soul and even without being able to see him, I still had the sense he was reading things written on the inside of my ribcage.
It wasn’t threatening, exactly—I thought it’d be comforting, actually, once I was used to it.
I wasn’t quite used to it yet, though.
“Dad,” Cooper said. “Leave my boyfriend alone.”
He glanced away from the pancakes to smile at me. I couldn’t help smiling back. It must’ve looked unbearably dreamy and lovestruck, because that was how I felt.
“Boyfriend,” Cooper’s dad repeated, pausing beside me to look me up and down. “Well, your taste is improving, at least.”
I laughed, looking down at my hands where they were resting on the counter as another wave of heat climbed up the back of my neck, pooling in my cheeks.
I’d been here for dinner last night, but the whole evening was a blur. We hadn’t talked about our relationship, or what it might be—at least, I didn’t remember if we had. I didn’t remember much of anything except sitting at the table, between Cooper and Benji, my heart soaring high overhead.
Free.
I’d never felt freer than I did this morning, now that I was sure of a safe landing in Cooper’s arms.
Avery was never going to let me hear the end of it when I called later.
“And what are your intentions toward my son, Felix?” Mr. Richards asked, turning toward me.
“Dad,” Cooper objected without looking away from the pancake he was flipping.
“I got this,” I said, smiling at Cooper’s back, looking over his broad shoulders, the curls I loved playing with. The morning light caught the line of his jaw, and his exposed forearms flexed easily as he handled the frying pan and stirred the remaining batter.
What were my intentions toward him?
Some of them I probably couldn’t tell his dad. But the rest…
“I’m planning to bring him coffee later, to make sure he takes his lunch break,” I began.
“And so I can sit and listen to the sound of his voice while he tells me about his day so far. Then I’m planning to walk him back to the shop, and kiss him goodbye right in front of you just to see him blush.
Then I’ll text him in the afternoon to let him know I’m thinking of him. Am I invited to dinner?”
“Always,” Cooper answered before his dad could, pouring more batter into the pan. “You’ll have to start telling me what your favorite meals are.”
“In that case, I’m coming to dinner. Early, so I can hang out with Benji while he cooks—which is very attractive, by the way,” I added, grinning as Cooper’s shoulders rose up around his bright red ears.
“And then I’ll kiss him good night on the porch and tell him I wished he was coming back to my apartment with me but I understand why he’s not.
Which is when I’ll remind him that he wanted to go see that cottage and tell him Saturday would be a good day for that, because I want Benji to come with us. ”
“Cottage, huh?” Mr. Richards asked.
“The old Ellison place,” Cooper said. “Went to see it late last year. It’s still on the market and they’ve even knocked the price down, and now that…”
He trailed off, glancing at me again, the most adorable little smile playing around his lips.
I loved him. I loved him, I loved him, I loved him. So much it made me want to burst with it, climb up to the top of the ballet studio and shout it out to everyone on Main Street.
That might’ve been a little much for Cooper, so I’d just stick to telling everyone I met forever.
Mr. Richards turned to me, brow raised, lips twitching into a disbelieving smile. “Now that you’ve taken my sage advice about opening up, you’re finally ready for your life to start again,” he said, then offered me his hand. “Felix, I owe you one.”
I shook his warm, broad hand, so like Cooper’s it made my heart ache.
“You raised the most incredible man in the world, which meant I got to meet him,” I said. “I think we could call it even.”
Mr. Richards laughed, squeezing my hand and smiling so the corners of his eyes crinkled. “Even, then.”
“I do have a question, though, Mr. Richards,” I said, turning on the stool to face him.
“Dick,” he said. “Or Dad, if you want.”
The offer hit me so hard I almost forgot the question entirely. Dad.
I’d never had one of those. Not really.
Except now, maybe, I did.
“I…” I paused as my voice broke. “That would, umm. Wow.”
Tears stung at the corners of my eyes.
“If you want,” Mr. Richards—Dick—Dad?—repeated, voice low and warm and kind.
“I… could do a lot worse,” I said, my own voice a little rough from the tears I was absolutely not bursting into in the Richards’ kitchen at eight o’clock in the morning. “But, uh,” I continued, clearing my throat. “That was actually my question kind of.”
“Oh?”
“Well, I was wondering… is your name really Dick Richards? I mean, did your parents really name you…?”
He burst into laughter. So did Cooper, a sound I loved enough not to be offended by the reaction. Even if I was confused.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said, waving his hand in apology. “No, no. It’s just that when I met the most beautiful, smartest, most unbelievably sexy woman in the entire world and her surname was Richards…”
“Dad took Mom’s name when they married,” Cooper clarified.
That… made a lot more sense.
“You’ll get used to the sense of humor,” Cooper’s dad said. “That is, if you’re sticking around?”
I looked over at Cooper, a smile spreading over my face that I couldn’t have stopped if I’d wanted to. I was sticking around.
The more often I thought it, the more right it felt. There was nowhere in the world I wanted to be more than in this kitchen with this family.
Except, maybe, in a little cabin with my own little family. Cooper, Benji, and me.
“I want to be wherever Cooper is,” I said. It was the surest I’d ever been of anything in my life. The first decision I really felt was all mine to make.
With a start this strong, I wasn’t sure I could ever top it.
“You know,” Cooper’s dad began. “I always wanted another—”
“Felix!” Benji interrupted, tiny feet pounding on the kitchen floor as he ran toward me. I turned just in time for him to crash into my shins, throwing his arms around my waist and squeezing tight. “You’re back!”
My heart clenched as he looked up at me, bright eyed and excited.
Then my stomach swooped as I reached out to ruffle his hair, nerves and excitement coiling around my insides until I made contact.
Benji didn’t flinch, or pull away, or whatever I’d been afraid he might do.
He leaned into my touch, beaming up at me.
It felt exactly right. It felt as though this was exactly what I was meant to be doing with my mornings.
Mrs. Richards followed Benji into the kitchen at a slightly more sedate pace, nodding and smiling at me as she came over to kiss her husband.
I had a vision of doing that with Cooper in thirty-odd years, when the two of us were mostly grey and Benji was the one making pancakes just like Cooper had.
It was the first time in my life I’d imagined a future that had nothing to do with ballet. I grabbed the image with both hands, tucking it away in a pocket of my heart where I was sure I wouldn’t lose it.
Avery was never going to let me live this down. I couldn’t wait to tell them about it anyway.
“Promised I would be,” I said, tugging lightly on one of Benji’s curls. “How could I miss an opportunity to see my favorite ballet dancer?”
Benji broke into one of his heart-stealing grins.
I wanted that, too. Every day of my life.
For the last decade, my ballet company had been my—catty, dysfunctional, hyper-competitive, toxic—family.
Now I could have one I’d chosen for myself. Kind, warm, supportive, and loving.
“Felix?” Benji asked, eyes suddenly wide with alarm.
I sniffed, which was when I realized I’d teared up again and not caught it in time. “Sorry,” I said, swiping at my eyes. “Don’t anyone look at me, I’m such an ugly crier.”
No sooner had I said that than a pair of familiar arms wrapped around me from the side. I turned toward Cooper, burying my face in his chest and curling my fingers around the edge of his shirt, clinging like a baby.
“Good crying,” I mumbled, reaching out for Benji. His hand slipped into mine, and another wave of tears welled up. I sobbed against Cooper’s chest, and felt another hand fall on my shoulder, and a third on my knee.
“I’m so happy,” I choked out through a third swell of tears. After everything I’d been through, this was my happy ending.
I wasn’t sure I’d done anything to deserve it, but I wasn’t letting it go for anything.
“Me too,” Cooper said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “And I promise you’re gonna stay that way.”
I believed every word of that.