“What did you do?”
“Nothin’ I could do but watch from a distance.”
“That must’ve been so hard.”
“It was tough cuz I still loved her and woulda stepped up for her and her girls, but ya know what kept me from doin’ that?”
“What?” Gigi asked, riveted by his story.
“My own foolish pride and a whole lotta fear. I coulda had it all with her and those sweet girls years ago, but I was too afraid ta try. Ya have any idea what I missed out on?”
Gigi shook her head, not sure what to say.
“Everythin’,” he said softly. “That lovely gal and I are married now cuz I finally worked up the courage to do what I shoulda done years ago, and now… Now I finally have it all when I coulda had it decades ago. Those little girls are grown women now, and they’ve made me a grandpa seven times over. I have everything now, doll. Every single thing I coulda had way back when, if only I coulda found the courage.”
Gigi wept silently in the back seat, moved beyond reason by his sweet story.
He pulled the station wagon into Jared’s driveway and put the engine in Park before he turned to her, handing her a tissue. “Don’t have regrets, sweetheart.”
She took the tissue from him and used it to dry her eyes. “I’m so happy things worked out for you and your wife.”
“I am, too. Never been happier in my whole damned life. I have a feeling things are gonna work out the way they’re supposed ta for you, too.”
Gigi opened the case that housed her wallet and phone and held out a twenty.
“Yer money’s no good here, sweetheart. Happy to have the chance to meetcha and have a chat.”
“What’s your name?”
“Ned Saunders.”
“Thank you, Ned, for the ride and the chat.”
“A pleasure, doll.”
Gigi got out of the car and walked up the dark driveway to her apartment over the garage.
Ned put the high beams on to light her way and waited until she was at her door before he tooted and drove away.
His wife and daughters were lucky to have a man like him in their lives, even if it had taken years for them to find their way to each other.
Some people got lucky. Others didn’t. That was how the world worked, and Gigi had always been a realist who didn’t let herself get caught up in the fantasy of happily ever after that other women pursued so relentlessly. Marriage and children and white picket fences… That life wasn’t for her, and she’d known that all along.
Now that she’d ended things with Cooper, she could focus on getting back to reality.
* * *
“She broke up with me,” Cooper told Nikki and Jordan when they joined him in the hallway outside Nikki’s office.
“No way,” Jordan said. “She did not.”
“Ah, yes, she did.” The ache that started in his heart had overtaken every part of him as he’d watched her run away from him as if her life depended on getting as far from him as she could get.
“She’s afraid,” Nikki said. “She’s learned the hard way that she can’t trust anyone except the very small circle of friends she allows to get close to her.”
“I’ve tried in every way I can think of to let her know she can trust me.”
“Now, you’re going to have to take a step back and wait for her to come to you,” Jordan said.
“Except she won’t.”
“No,” Jordan said, “I think she will, but she has to believe it was her decision, not something that was forced on her in any way.”
“So what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” Cooper asked, desperate for insight from Gigi’s two closest friends.
“Wait and hope,” Jordan said. “Give her the space to figure out for herself that you’re what she wants.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Then I guess it wasn’t meant to be, but I don’t think that’s what will happen.”
Cooper wished he shared Jordan’s certainty.
“Jordan is right,” Nikki said. “You have to let her go for now and give her the space to think and breathe and make her own decision. She knows what you want. Let her figure out what she wants.”
He’d go mad waiting and hoping for her to come around, but the sisters knew her better than anyone, so he’d try to take their advice.
“Let me ask you this,” Nikki said. “Was she crying when she said it was over?”
“Yeah.” Her tears had wrecked him. “Big-time.”
“Gigi doesn’t cry,” Jordan said. “Like, ever.”
“If she was crying as she ended things with you,” Nikki said, “it’s because she cares too much about you and isn’t sure what to do about it. I completely agree with Jordan’s plan for you to chill and give her time to come around on her own.”
“Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it.”
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Jordan said, smiling, “we’re on Team Cooper. We’re rooting for you guys to figure things out.”
“Means a lot to me that her two closest friends want us to be together.”
“She’s happy with you,” Nikki said. “Anyone can see that. The problem for her is she doesn’t know what it’s like to be truly happy, so she’s resisting it out of fear of everything going bad and ruining the life she’s created for herself.”
“Strangely enough, I get that,” Cooper said. “All I want to do is make her happy. I already told her I’d never hurt her or let her go if she takes a chance on me.”
“It’s freaking her out that she can’t find any good reason not to take that chance,” Jordan said. “She feels things so deeply, and she’s been burned by that in the past, starting with the parents who couldn’t have cared less about her even as they said all the right things and two idiots who convinced her they were madly in love with her when they were only in love with themselves. She’s learned to be wary when people make big promises.”
“I mean every word I’ve ever said to her.”
“And she knows that.” Nikki squeezed Cooper’s arm. “Now give her the time to decide for herself that she wants you in her life.”
Cooper heard what they were saying and even agreed with their advice, but how in the world would he find the patience to stay away from her when he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything or anyone?
He hung out at the Wayfarer until the party wound down shortly before midnight.
Chloe hugged and kissed everyone, thanking them for helping her turn thirty in style before she left with Finn.
Cooper drove home by himself, which wasn’t how he’d expected this evening to end. After parking in Jared’s driveway, he glanced up at Gigi’s apartment, which was dark. He walked toward the house and noticed a spark of light on the pool deck. “Jared?”
“Yep. Join me for a smoke, brother?”
Though he desperately wanted to be alone with his thoughts, Cooper walked toward his brother and took the seat next to him, along with the cigar and lighter Jared handed him.
“Any news from the mainland?” Cooper asked when he’d lit the cigar and taken a few puffs.