The Off Limits Rule: A Romantic Comedy (It Happened in Nashville Book 1)

Waking up in Cooper’s clothes is a heady feeling. His shirt smells rugged and handsome, just like him, and for some reason, I can’t bring myself to take it off. Just one more quick minute, I tell myself like a freak as I bring the cotton to my nose and drag in a deep breath. So good. He’s the only man I’ve ever known to smell as good as he looks.

Being rejected last night was definitely one of the worst moments of my life. But then, after we talked more and he shared everything about his ex, it was clear that Cooper’s heart is good, and even if he is a bit of a flirt, he’s not the type of guy to string me along for no reason. It was good he didn’t kiss me since he’s obviously not into me. It’s a tiny bit (read: massively) disheartening that he doesn’t feel the same way about me that I feel about him, but it’s better that he is upfront about it and not playing with my emotions and treating me like a passing encounter he never intends to follow through on (ahem, Brent).

Also, I don’t think I have anything to be embarrassed about, because I’m pretty sure Cooper is used to women trying to kiss him. I bet it’s a very regular occurrence. If he made out with every woman who ever tried to lock lips with him, it would turn into his full-time job. So, it’s fine. I’m going to choose not to freak out about it or dive into a hole of closed-off mortification in typical Lucy style and, instead, go about my day. I also might have mentally decided to take that memory and shove it somewhere deep down where I can never reach it again and pretend it never happened. Denial is healthy, right?

Cooper’s sweatpants are loose around my waist, and I have to roll them three times before leaving my room to make breakfast. My mom said she could keep Levi as long as I needed, but since I don’t have any appointments today (still building my clientele), I took the day off and am anxious to be reunited. I decide to get my day going early so I can pick him up this morning instead of later. Being a mom is kind of weird. One minute, you’re begging a sitter to take your terrible/snotty/sleepless kid off your hands, and then five minutes after they’re gone, you find yourself misty-eyed, staring at pictures you took yesterday of that darling/angelic/precious child and wondering if it’s too soon to go pick them up.

“Where’d you get those clothes?” My brother’s voice booms from behind me, making me startle and launch the cereal I was pouring into the air. It’s raining hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, and balloons.

I put my hand over my heart and let out a breathy laugh. “Gosh. You scared me.”

He’s not deterred. Drew’s eyes are like lasers on Cooper’s shirt draping my body like a tent. “Whose shirt? It looks familiar.”

Oh shoot, oh shoot, oh shoot. What am I going to say? Lie? Tell the truth? Drop my bowl of cereal and run out the door? Actually, yeah, that make-a-break-for-it option sounds pretty good.

I swallow and tiptoe around the truth. “Just from a guy.”

“Which guy?”

Which guy…? Good question. “Why does it matter?” My pitch is too high. It sounds like a siren alerting him to danger.

Drew’s eyes narrow on my shirt like he’s trying to place it. I’M SUCH AN IDIOT. Why did I have to parade around the house in this like a lovesick shmuck? “Looks like one of Cooper’s t-shirts.”

I laugh a booming HA-HA-HA and throw my head back like no real person ever does when they are laughing because I’m a terrible liar. “Cooper’s shirt! Now that’s funny!”

His face is devoid of amusement. We look like an illustration of opposites. “Not really. What’s wrong with you?”

I wipe an imaginary laughter tear. “Nothing. It’s just a funny thought. Me, wearing one of your friend’s shirts. How would I have even gotten it? Broken into his house and stolen it without him knowing so I could wear it and smell it forever?”

He sighs. “Tell me right now—did you do that, Lucy?”

“Oh my gosh! No!” I pick up my bowl of cereal to carry it to my room and escape the brother inquisition. “I can’t believe you even asked me that.”

The moment my back is to him, I widen my eyes and puff out a relieved breath then hightail it to my room. Pretending to be angry at his lack of faith in me works, and Drew doesn’t bug me the rest of the morning about the clothes. I then try to concoct a believable story about the origin of these garments so I can wear them around the house for the rest of my life. Cooper is never getting them back.

“Helllloooo, anyone home?” I yell into my parents’ house.

“Up here, honey!” says my mom from upstairs.

I take the stairs two at a time like I’ve done forever then follow the sound of laughing all the way into their bonus room. I stop on the threshold and smile at the sight of what looks like a room struck by a hurricane of fun. All around, there are pillows forming various paths to end tables covered in blankets. There are plastic laundry hampers turned upside down and a long blanket tied to the running ceiling fan. My mom is standing like a flamingo, perched on the arm of the couch, and my dad is lying face down, acting like a human bridge with his feet on the couch and chest on the coffee table. Levi is walking, arms outstretched like wings, using my dad as a balance beam.

“Hi, hun! How’s your day?” asks my mom like this is the most normal situation to find them in.

I laugh and step in farther, ready to ask her what they’re up to, when the room collectively erupts in one giant “NOOOO!”, making me jump back and nearly fall onto my butt.

“What!” I ask, clutching my heart and wondering if it’s possible to die of fright.

“Mom, that’s lava!” Levi says, eyes wide and pointing to the floor where I was about to step.

“Ohhhh, I see now.” Suddenly, all the bridges and pillows make sense. “How do I get over there to you, then?”

“You have to take the fluffy golden road, over to the reading rainbow, and up the super slipper mountain.”

My mom raises her hand. “I made it up the slipper mountain, but I had a casualty.” She points to her foot. Apparently, if you touch the lava, you lose that extremity for the remainder of the game.

“And that,” says Levi, pointing to the blanket swirling in the middle of the room, “is the tornado. Don’t get near it or it will suck you up!” Levi’s eyes are shining as he relays the rest of the rules to me. His cheeks are rosy and bright, and my heart stretches painfully.

I felt like a failure having to come home and move in with Drew after leaving to make a fresh start in a new town. It wasn’t even that there was anything wrong with Nashville or my family or friends. I just felt this overwhelming need to try something new. Make a change. And yeah, maybe get away from all the tourists thinking cowboy boots and hats are the proper attire for our city. Believe me, there is no faster way to be hated by Nashville natives than to dress up like you’re going to a honky-tonk for brunch.

But no matter how hard I tried to make Georgia feel like home, it never worked. There was always a gaping hole that Levi and I could both feel. And now, being here and seeing my kid happy and reunited with my parents, I know coming home was the right thing to do.

“How was your night?” Mom asks after I’ve made it down the fluffy golden road, over the reading rainbow, and up the slipper mountain to stand on the armrest with her.

My mom and I look remarkably similar, which honestly, I’m grateful for. I’ve always looked young for my age, and even now, people assume I’m Levi’s nanny most of the time, but I don’t hate it because it just means I’ll age as gracefully as her.

“It was great,” I say as we hug while trying not to topple off the armrest.

Suddenly, I hear her take in a sharp sniff, and she pulls back to look at me. “YOU SPENT THE NIGHT WITH A MAN!”

My eyes widen, and my mouth falls open. How did she know that?!

“You did what, young lady?” asks my dad. It’s so hard to take him seriously while he’s planking across the furniture.

“Oh, hush, Scott. Your daughter is not a baby anymore. She’s allowed to spend the night with a man.”

“Not unless she has a ring on her finger and I’ve handed her off in front of God and a preacher.”

Mom rolls her eyes. “You do know how we got our precious grandson, right?”

Levi’s head suddenly pops up and swivels in our direction. “How did you get me?”

“The stork,” we all say in practiced unison, and luckily, Levi accepts our answer for now.

Mom’s eyes whip back to me, and she jumps to the ground, yanking me down with her. “Now, come on, I’m putting on a pot of coffee and you’re gonna tell me all about him.”

“La, la, la. I don’t want to hear any of that heathen talk!” my dad yells at our retreating figures, but I can hear the amusement in his voice.

“Then plug your ears, old man.” Mom drags me down the hall, nearly pulling my arm out of its socket.

“Levi!” I bellow over my shoulder. “Come save me from your grammy! I’m going to need a rescue mission!”

Mom keeps tugging me. “Levi, if you stay out of the kitchen for fifteen minutes, I’ll bake you chocolate chip cookies and let you eat them for lunch.”

“Oooh, you’re ruthless.”

Once we’re in the kitchen, she turns to face me and cocks a sassy eyebrow. “You’re gonna have to up your ante if you want to play with the big kids, darlin’. Now, sit and tell me all about him.”

I pull out a kitchen chair and do as I’m told. “How do you even know I spent the night with a man?”

“Unless you’ve changed your perfume over to Old Spice, it was beyond obvious. You smell like the men’s body wash aisle, and I do mean that in the best way.”

I smell like Cooper? Why does that thought make me feel all tingly and hot?

“Well, you’re right. I did hang out with a man last night, but not in the way you’re thinking. We’re just friends.”

“Pumpkin, I’m not stupid. You don’t come away smelling like your friend when you’re just hanging out.” I wish she wouldn’t do that—plant ideas in my head that shouldn’t be there. It’s every parent’s responsibility to think their child poops rainbows, but she shouldn’t be trying to make me think that about myself too. I tried going after someone above my level before…it didn’t work out for me, and I don’t care to do it again. Cooper had a chance to prove me wrong last night, and he didn’t. He pulled away from my kiss, and that told me everything I needed to know.

“I only smell like him because after we got done swimming, he let me wear his clothes.”

Her eyebrow rises another centimeter into the smug-mother-who-knows-everything zone.

“Mom, I’m serious. Please don’t make this something it’s not. I’ve embarrassed myself in front of him more times than I can count, and it’s clear that he is not interested in me like I am in him. I need to get him out of my head, and your meddling is not helping.”

“But—”

“Mom.”

“I just—”

I cut her off with a zip it up gesture and matching sound.

Her shoulders slump over adorably, and she rolls her eyes like she’s the teen and I’m sucking all of her fun. “Fine, I’ll zip it up. But are you SURE he’s not interested and you’re not maybe projecting your own insecurities onto the situation?” Clearly, she doesn’t know the meaning of zip it up.

“Unfortunately, yes…I’m positive he’s not interested.”