There was a lot of preparation that had to go into a station at a craft fair, and although this certainly wasn't my first rodeo, it had to be my last if I wanted to live the life I wanted. I was born to be an aesthetic basic bitch, and sacrifices had to be made if I was going to make that happen for myself.

No one ever mentioned that having an Insta-worthy life was so damn exhausting, though. Everyone on social media seemed to have endless energy to check every item off their bucket list or have the most attractive significant others or taste all the best foods. And so far, I wasn't doing a great job at keeping up. What was the point of a boat if you couldn't take a nap on it?

Even so, I still had my last hurrah in Columbus on the horizon, and although I had drawers stuffed full of yarn and crafting supplies, it never was exactly what I wanted. The craft store was a few miles away, and without a car or a call back from my dad, it was way too far of a trip for me to walk.

Maybe I shouldn't have thrown in the question about co-signing a car loan for me at the end of the call. That probably made everything before it seem disingenuous.

Lesson learned.

But either way, I still couldn't get to the craft store without someone else's car, and with Alex and Blake both at work, I didn't have many options left. As far as I knew, Mason was still in town, but I also didn't want to ask in case it made me seem too clingy or desperate. I wasn't either one of those things. But my only other option was to bother Chris again, which seemed like a big ask from a guy I went to high school with who happened to be an Uber driver.

Was it crazy to be putting this much thought into asking one favor of Mason? Just one?

I took in a breath and let it clear my mind just enough for a fresh restart. Nope. It wasn't crazy. I couldn't scare him away like that.

I had put so much time and thought into the perfect scheme to see the red sailboat I loved so much, and now that I had a ticket, I couldn't let it go to waste.

I picked up my phone and texted Chris. "You don't have to respond to this if you're busy, but I was wondering if I could bum just one more ride from you. I'll pay you though, so it's not actually bumming."

As I waited for a response, I put my phone back down to enjoy the fall weather. Soon it would be gone and replaced with snow showers and freezing temperatures—

Ding!

"That was fast," I mumbled to myself as I read the text.

"No problem! I never mind catching up with old friends."

He and I apparently remembered high school differently, because I was pretty much only friends with Blake. But that wasn't important. Anyone who was willing to drive me to the craft store was definitely a true friend.

***

After he and I discussed directions (and him refusing the money until I insisted—Scorpios could be pretty stubborn when we wanted to be), Chris struck up a conversation before we were even driving to the store.

"So how is life treating you?" he asked.

That certainly was a broad question, and I wasn't entirely sure that I knew the answer. "It's going pretty good. I think I'm going to focus on my new role at the Lakeside Daisy moving forward, so that's a pretty big life change for me."

Even with his eyes on the road, I noticed him raise his eyebrows. "As in for now, or—?" He trailed off, but I wasn't sure what the second half of that thought was.

"Well, I think it's best if I just do what a responsible, mature adult would do. I haven't exactly done myself any favors by trying to live this self-employed dream, and it might be time to focus on what's going to definitely pay off in the future."

Time was fleeting, and I wasn't getting any younger, even if I still had old people telling me I had time. Time for what? It seemed like everyone else was already on some path to the future, and I was just—

Stuck being little old dreamer me.

"Or you could take time to explore what you really want—" He paused for a moment. "I probably shouldn't be telling you how to live your life. It's not like I have it all figured out."

"Well, I'm currently accepting feedback apparently, so if you have any ideas, feel free to throw them out there."

"What do you mean by that?"

Did I say too much? I shrugged. Chris was a good listener. He'd hear what I had to say. "Well, I'm probably being stupid, but I'm in a little bit of a situationship, and he's got a boat, and I want that life, so he's telling me that I have to act like an adult—"

He interrupted me. "Being your own boss isn't being an adult?"

I blinked a few times. It wasn't the first time he seemed to have some sort of criticism of me, and I was certainly used to that by surrounding myself with people like Blake and Mason, but it was a plot twist that he was criticizing me for not being who I thought I wanted to be. Maybe that dream was dying, but maybe I wasn't ready for it to be dead quite yet.

After all, Chris was driving me to the craft store of all places.

"I just—I don't think it's realistic to try to have it all, Chris," I said.

"You don't think that? Or other people don't think that?"

I didn't respond to that right away. What was I supposed to say?

He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. It's just that you've always had such a clear vision for yourself, and I'd love to have that. All I have is this car and people who have places they're going in life."

"You've never dreamed about something you've wanted to be? Something you wanted to spend your time doing?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Never had the time."

Never had the time to think about the future or what life had to offer him? What?

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. With staying home to take care of my dad since we were in eighth grade, I never felt like I had any time to focus on what I really wanted."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's going on there?"

"He's got early-onset dementia. Most of the time he remembers who I am, but it's getting tiring to keep disappointing him every single time he asks what my job is," he said.

I shook my head. "He knows you're doing what's best for him. How can that disappoint him?"

Of course, I didn't know the man, but I couldn't imagine that he saw Chris as a disappointment for being an Uber driver. We were living our lives in a small town, and now it made sense why I never met Chris's father, even if we were never really friends.

I never met his mother either, but I wasn't going to pry that can of worms open. He probably hadn't met the Reynolds family in all of our glory, and there was a reason for that.

Chris just shrugged. "I'm sure it's a hundred times worse for him than it is for me, though."

I nodded. "Well, if I ever make it big in the crafting world, you can work for me somewhere."

"That's every man's dream, really." He chuckled to himself. "But seriously, that's really kind of you. If you ever need a delivery driver or a transportation expert, I'm your guy."

I smiled. "I have a feeling you've got a lot more in you than just that."

Too bad my crafting career was going to be short-lived. He could have been the next MG Reynolds at the Lakeside Daisy.

Neither one of us spoke for a moment, but with the sound of the road underneath us and some good pop music on the radio, it wasn't an awkward silence. The craft store was only a couple minutes away, and Chris let out a breath like he had something on his mind.

"What?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Seriously. What's on your mind?"

He hesitated before responding. "I don't want to interject on how you're living your life, but it doesn't seem like you're the one who's done with your dream. It just seems like you're done fighting everyone for it. And I don't think that's a reason to resign yourself to a nine to five you don't want."

I looked down at my seat. "I mean, at some point, I have to be responsible, right?"

"Responsibility isn't the same thing as giving up what you love," he said. "Who can criticize the way that you're living if you're making ends meet?"

It seemed like we both had the answers to life, and we both sure as hell needed them. It was crazy how different I could feel after one car ride to Hobby Lobby.

Just when I thought I had my last hurrah all planned out. 

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Hello, and thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate your support as I try to keep plugging away on this story!

So for today's question, if you had a talk show, who would you invite to be your first guest?

I would probably ask Taylor Swift to be my first guest, and it is purely a strategic pick. She has the most loyal fans in the entire universe, so they would definitely watch and boost my ratings.