“So do it. Start writing.”
“Yeah, I guess the only way to know if I can write a book is to just try.” A surge of excitement shoots through me. “Let’s make a pact: I’ll work on a book, and you figure out something you want to do. And we both have to have it completed by the summer.”
He arches an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“It’ll be good to motivate each other, and it’ll give us a goal to keep us on track.” I shake his shoulders. “Come on, let’s do it.”
“Do what?” James walks into the room, and I suck in a breath.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing him in his uniform.
“I’m trying to encourage your brother to do something with his life.”
James’s dark eyebrows jump. “Like what?”
Leo pops a nonchalant shoulder. “Maybe an EMT. Ride around and help people. I could be good at it.”
James’s eyes bounce between the two of us. “I think that’s a great idea.”
Leo makes an attempt to snatch the bag of books from James, but he pulls back before he can get to it.
I shake my head and smile. “I can’t imagine what you two were like growing up.”
“Exactly like this.” James gives Leo a playful shove. “Get out of here. Go tell Dad you’re becoming an EMT. It’ll make his day.”
Leo shoots me a wink. “See you later, Nixie. Have fun writing.”
James lowers himself onto the edge of the bed and turns his attention to me once Leo leaves. “Writing?”
My cheeks burn. “I told him I was thinking about writing a book. Maybe. I don’t know.”
He empties the contents of the bag onto the comforter. “The romance section was very… interesting.”
I sift through the books. “It looks like you knew what you were doing. Colleen Hoover is the best.”
He rubs the back of his neck. “A worker helped me. She said everyone loves Colleen Hoover, and then I threw in a couple of rom-coms because those other books sound sad.”
I imagine this big man in his police uniform picking out romance books, and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. “You’re really sweet, James.”
His eyes drop to his lap. “You really like these love stories?”
“I do. It’s an escape from reality, even if there isn’t a love out there like that for me.”
“Who says there isn’t?”
“I don’t know. I never thought I’d find someone who could love me like that.” I pause. “Have you ever been in love?”
His eyebrows pinch together, and the corners of his mouth pull down. “I’ve dated, and I thought I was in love once or twice. But looking back, I don’t think that’s what love is.” He glances around my room like he’s trying to find the answer somewhere. “I watched my father love my mother with every ounce of his soul, and when he lost her, it broke him. I look in his eyes now, and he’s not the same man. That terrifies me.”
“Love can be scary, but I think it’s always worth it in the end, regardless of how it turns out. It’s better to be full of love than full of… nothing.”
“Even if you end up with nothing in the end?”
I nod. “Even if you end up with nothing. At least you had something. I wouldn’t take back the years I had with my father. I’d rather the memories than to never have known him at all.”
He picks up one of the paperbacks and turns it over in his hands. “There were a lot of shirtless dudes on the covers of these books. What’s that about?”
I bark out a laugh. “Sex sells, didn’t you know that?”