Noah loved me. Noah Douglas loved me. I’d already figured out that I was in love with him, but it seriously hadn’t entered into my head that he would love me back. As we walked out of the hospital room hand in hand, I knew that I should tell him. But I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t say the thing that would make him walk away from me and never talk to me again.

But for some reason, I couldn’t tell him I loved him, either. I didn’t know why or what was holding me back.

And I didn’t know how to resolve it.

The next morning I got my phone out to call my mom and saw that I had a text from Gladys.

But she didn’t respond. I decided I’d go by tomorrow regardless. She wasn’t the kind of person to ask for help, but she was going to get it. I knew how much Sunshine loved his teddy bear.

Then I called my mother to inform her that Noah, my boyfriend, and I would be coming by for dinner.

She let out a tormented sigh and said, “I thought you were just friends. Do you think an actor is the best person to be in a relationship with?”

Annoyance exploded behind my eyes. I couldn’t keep quiet. “You’re trying to be an actor. You cannot keep doing stuff like this. Mom, I love you, but do you know how many weird hang-ups I have because you hated Dad?”

“What do you mean?”

“You always think no guy is good enough for me.”

“No guy is good enough for you,” she agreed.

“Mom!”

“You’re my baby. I want to protect you. I never want you to get hurt the way that I did. And that Noah seems like he could be a real heartbreaker.”

I decided to ignore her last sentence. “I know you want to protect me. But you can’t protect me from life. You need to let me fly and make my own mistakes.”

“I know.” She sighed again. “I just love you so much that I want to put you in bubble wrap and keep you in your old bedroom.”

“That’s not at all creepy.”

“Speaking of your room, I’ve started packing your stuff up. It’s been your shrine for long enough. I’m thinking about turning it into an exercise or sewing room. You’ll have to take the boxes back to your apartment.”

“I will,” I promised. “But I want you to meet Noah and really talk to him and I want you to be nice to him and I want you to love him, because I already do.” Whoa, I felt that deep in my gut. I’d never said the words out loud before, and it seemed monumental.

“Do you see a future with this boy?”