Piper
He looked less than enthused. In fact, he looked ready to set fire to the glitter section of the table, and I had worked really hard to make everything look fun. After our talk last night, I’d realized two things. One, he was being open with me, which was good. And two, the professional me, the one who had very serious boundaries in place, wasn’t gonna get the job done. So I figured if I stopped being so clinical and opened up a bit, he would respond better.
“How is this supposed to help me?” He crossed his arms, making it impossible for me not to take notice of the lean muscles that bulged. It’s like the minute I turned off Life Coach Piper, the girl who found the rock star attractive charged to the surface with a giant roar.
I licked my lips and tried to focus on explaining why this was going to be helpful, but I seemed unable to form words.
He was pretty.
Really pretty.
Focus, Piper!
Still professional. Remember?
I mean, so what if my boyfriend dumped me right before I boarded a plane for Portland, only to be told that the flight was full, and I’d been moved to a middle seat?
It had been a direct flight from LA.
Three hours with no armrest.
But I knew that this was a fresh start, compliments of my ever-changing vision board.
I grinned triumphantly. “Close your eyes.”
He stared me down, his blue eyes twinkling with total judgment before he let out a sigh and did as I asked. “You’re right, Piper, closing my eyes and pretending nobody can see me is super helpful. Gee, why didn’t I think of that? On stage? In front of thousands of people—”
“Sarcasm is oftentimes used as a defense mechanism,” I interrupted. “Now keep your eyes closed. Where do you see yourself in one year?”
“Touring,” he said quickly. “Hopefully.”
“Uh-huh. And where do you see yourself in three years?”
He hesitated for a few seconds. “Making music.”
“Five years?”
He sighed heavily. “I don’t know, hopefully still doing what I love.”
“All right, open your eyes.”
He did as instructed. This time his eyes darted down to stare at his bare feet before locking onto mine. “That just proves that music is my life.”
“Music can’t be your life, Braden.” I said it softly, hoping to lessen the blow, but I saw his body flinch as if I’d just shoved him toward a cliff. I grabbed a blank piece of paper and held it out to him. “You can say that music is your life, that you want to do nothing but make music for an eternity. But a human needs more than just something they’re passionate about. Wanna know why?”
He sighed and took the empty sheet of paper from my outstretched hand. “Fine, I’ll bite. Why?”
“Because you lose who you are when you lose the only thing that gives you purpose. If I took music away from you right now, what exactly would you have, Braden?”
He paled significantly, his bravado almost gone as he shook his head. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
I reached out to comfort him. I touched his shoulder, realized how massive it felt beneath my hand, how warm, how right, and shuddered. “I’m not going to let that happen either. That’s why I’m here. To help you find your focus, your identity, your purpose so that music isn’t just your passion, but also trickles into every area of your life. You aren’t just Braden Connor—rock god. You’re so much more. And until you see that, see your worth, make a plan…” I grabbed a bottle of the green glitter. “Create a vision where you’re not standing still, panicked, in a vicious cycle of fear—”
“I’m not afraid,” he snapped.
I tilted my head. “I’m not the one who said it, Braden.”
He tensed beneath my hand. And then he reached out and grabbed another glitter container from the table, gave me an annoyed look, and grumbled, “I wanna use the blue.” He eyed me up and down. “You know, to match my balls.”
I squeezed his shoulder and laughed. “That’s the spirit—ish.” I didn’t ask him why he had blue balls. I didn’t even want to go there, even though my curiosity made me want to comment. I put the professional boundary back in place and waited for him to get started.
He exhaled, and then his grin slowly lit up the room. “If I’m playing with glitter, we’re going to need alcohol. Take a picture of this and post it to social media, and I’ll drive your rental into the ocean. Got it?”
“Got it.” I laughed. I didn’t have a rental. He was my ride. He was my everything for the coming days, he just didn’t know it yet. “Let’s get started on that vision board!”
I almost cheered when he pulled out a chair and started organizing all the different pictures and arts and crafts around him, and then his eyes fell to the polaroid camera.
Braden’s head lifted. “You up for an adventure, Coach?”