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“Really?”

He stepped back and nodded. “Of course. You did something completely out of your comfort zone, even against opposition. I might have to come to a few more of these plays. Your mother is giddy with excitement that we’re here.”

I laughed at that. Who would’ve thought my old man would change so much in just a few days?

“You still owe me a hundred bucks,” I heard someone say and turned to see Wyatt and Nash standing next to Sterling.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, surprised that my older brother would come home from college for something like this.

“To be honest, I came here hoping you’d make a fool out of yourself. Then I wanted to make sure you knew you lost the bet. But you actually did a really great job. I take back all the things I said before about theater. There is something fun about it.”

We hugged, and I had to laugh, knowing this was probably more hugging than my family had done in an entire lifetime.

“Thanks for coming, everyone. It means a lot. Here’s to the first performance and definitely not the last.”

About the Author

By day, Britney M. Mills is the wife to a builder and mom to five, but by night, she turns into an author, writing YA & contemporary romance stories.

A book lover, former college athlete, and Jane Austen fan, she crafts stories with the idea that anyone can find love.

When she's not writing, she spends time playing games with her kids, or shuttling them to and from their activities, watching Sanditon and Murdock Mysteries, or dreaming of future characters while she folds a mountain of laundry.

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Epilogue

Colt

The next few weeks were a blur, but the play had gone over well, and Hazel and I were just excited to be done with it for a bit. I had to catch up on a few assignments I’d put off the last couple of weeks of practices, but that wasn’t hard now that I only had baseball practice.

As far as the baseball state tournament, we made it to the championship game. After playing our hearts out and doing everything we could to win the game, we lost in the last inning. It was a heartbreaker, as we’d had two runners on and Adam at bat. He’d sent the ball sailing toward the outfield fence, but the left fielder jumped and made an amazing grab.

It was hard to see the seniors down, but to know we’d put our all out there helped soothe that a bit.

Hazel had been to every minute of the rest of the season and to all the games we had during summer ball. I’d never realized that having my own personal cheerleader would be such a boost. She even helped me work through my hitting slump, mostly putting balls on a tee so I could get all the kinks out of my swing.

And now, here I was, having makeup applied as we got ready for the fall play. We were doing a modern-day adaptation ofRomeo & Juliet, only this time the main characters lived. And who wrote it?

Hazel, of course.

“Are you ready to go out, my Romeo?” she asked, grinning at me.

“As long as I’m with you, I’m ready for anything.”