Page 47 of Dear Future Husband (The Dearly Written #1)

Geez, awkwardness must be contagious because I was catching whatever this poor boy had. I was stilted, tongue-tied, and desperate to leave.

I peered behind Sam, seeing Chelsea watching—and visibly cringing.

God, this was humiliating. I tried to create distance by pulling his hands from my waist, but Sam’s unexpected kiss caught me completely off guard.

I stilled completely.

I wished I had wings. Wings that could fly me up, up, up into the flames of the sun, burning this whole encounter off my skin. Chelsea, bless her soul, cleared her throat, making Sam startle and break from the kiss.

“Hi, you must be Sam. I’m Chelsea,” she said as she held her hand out to him. He released me, demurely facing her and accepting her hand.

“Yes. You’re—aren’t you—it’s nice to meet you,” he stuttered, but Chelsea only smiled kindly.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” she said.

I could see the gears turning in her head, looking for an excuse for us to get out of the situation. Except the oddest, most bizarre thing came out of Sam’s mouth.

“You’re Trey’s mom, right? How do you know my girlfriend Maybelle?”

His wha t ?

I could hear Chelsea answering him, but I couldn’t focus on what she said.

Maybe my amnesia got worse, and I didn’t remember the conversation where I agreed to be his girlfriend?

No. We’d seen each other only once earlier in the week to make sure all was well after the drama of the party.

The girlfriend topic was never brought up.

Not so much as hinted at.

I would’ve remembered a conversation like that, and I wouldn’t have agreed—because I wasn’t his .

I opened my mouth. What I would’ve said, I didn’t know, but Sam beat me to the punch, planting a kiss on my cheek.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, babe. Good to meet you, Ms. Turner.” And he was gone, prancing off into the locker rooms.

I was stunned. Chelsea was stunned. We both stared at one another, slack-jawed while the crowd moved around us.

Chelsea was the first to speak, stepping up next to me. “So, when were you going to tell me you were dating someone?” Her tone wasn’t serious, her gentle voice edged on teasing, but I still felt like my heart was in my stomach.

“If I’d known I was in a relationship, you would’ve been the first to know,” I grumbled, dropping my face into my hands.

She tittered and pulled me into her comforting embrace. “Oh, the joys of boys and dating.”

We stayed wrapped up in one another as I regained my stability. Chelsea—always my rock.

She brushed at my hair, combing at my frizzy curls.

“So, why him?” she asked.

I stiffened, feeling like I was reliving that night outside the party with Trey. The obvious hurt in his eyes as he asked me the same thing. I didn’t have an answer this time. I sighed into Chelsea’s embrace .

“I don’t know. He’s nice. He was there, I guess, and he was new. A relationship I created myself. Not someone from my forgotten past or a random person befriending me, just out of loyalty to Liam. A boy who was interested in me for me.”

Someone safe . I thought to myself. Someone who I could ruin things with and not lose everything.

I slumped with the admission and Chelsea squeezed tighter.

“I get it, but sweetheart, no one here is friends with you solely because of Liam or your mom. That may be what brought us all together at first, but we all love you for you. You created these relationships yourself. No one else did that for you.”

She pulled back, inspecting my face as she tucked a few rebellious curls behind my ear.

“And a few of us, me included, love you more than most,” she said, a meaningful glint in her eye that I wasn’t expecting.

She continued, “I’m proud of you, and I want you to keep making friends.

If Sam is something you want to continue to explore, I will support you full-heartedly.

But excuse my boldness when I say, I have and will always be Team Turner.

” Chelsea punctuated her statement with a wink that had me on the verge of panic.

I stepped back, wide-eyed.

“Oh, Chelsea, Trey and I are just friends,” I rushed out, my palms clammy, knees trembling.

Her smile was full of genuine love as she shook her head, her focus landing on something over my shoulder. “Sweetie, friends don’t look at each other like that.”

I followed her gaze to Trey, who had a small crowd surrounding him. Each individual stared up at him, laughing and congratulating him on a good game, but his attention wasn’t on them. It was on me.

His mouth curved into a smile. His eyes were soft but unyielding and when he saw me looking, he slowly lifted one hand to wave at me .

It was one of the cutest things I’d seen him do. It made my belly erupt into a flutter of feelings I couldn’t name.

Chelsea moved to my side, hooking an arm around me as she said, “Just know, no matter what happens, you’re my girl. Whether that means you come home to me with Trey or another man, you’ll always be my girl.”

***

I laid in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling, mulling over Chelsea’s words.

Could I, do it? Be with Trey Turner?

Stop pretending and just be?

My stomach clenched, and my body shook with anticipation. My previous fear of losing the Turners if things were to go badly between us held no weight.

But I still didn’t know him. What if I got hurt?

Well, didn’t I know him?

Trey was good, he was kind, patient. He took care of his people and even after everything, he continued to take care of me. Yeah, I didn’t know every detail about him, but he knew me, every piece of me, and he valued all the pieces. Even the broken parts I still didn’t fully remember or understand.

What I did know—without a lick of doubt—was that I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Trey was the magnet I was drawn to. My heart longed for him, my skin craved him and I lo—liked him.

Maybe. Maybe Trey and I could be it. The whole thing was still incredibly intimidating, of course, but the idea of me and Trey together was no longer a definite no but a maybe.

A possibility.

I wrapped myself up in my blankets, feeling like for the first time in weeks I could hope.

Hope for a future where Trey and I won out in the end.