“You don’t say.” The look on her face was decidedly less curious than I would have expected. I cocked my head and Tabitha burst out laughing. “Even when you close your door, everyone can hear what Isaac’s saying. Today, you left that thing wide open, my friend. I hope Amelia’s appropriately grateful to learn you have a line on a storefront on Main.”
The look in her eyes insinuated she expected Amelia to slap me in the face when she heard. Confused, I tapped the business card on her desk one more time and made my way back to my office.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Amelia
“Damn it, you guys! That’s enough!” The three Cooper children skidded to a halt, eyes wide as my shout echoed down the hall.
Charlie frowned. “I didn’t know you said bad words.”
“I try not to, but I’m so flippin’ frustrated, I could just…” I clutched the side of my head, bunched my hair in my fists, and took three deep breaths. Today’s t-shirt had a picture of a rubber duckie and the words ‘Like water off a duck.’ I’d chosen it specifically because I intended to let anything the kids threw at me roll right off my back.
It wasn’t working.
They’d screamed. They’d shouted. They’d pulled out the condiments and painted Connor’s face and chest, only to double down and paint the kitchen table while I cleaned him up. With each new offense, the intensity of my frustration cranked up another notch, ratcheting my tension to a level I hadn’t experienced in years.
“Come on, then.” Garrett waved his hand, summoning his crew toward his bedroom. “Let’s go to my room and wait for Dad to get home.”
“Nope. Nuh-uh.” Even I jumped at the harshness in my voice. “All of you. Into the living room, right flippin’ now!” I stabbed a militant finger toward the couch and the kids cringed.
At that exact moment, when my face was red, and my hair was wild, and I was so angry I couldn’t see straight, Jack walked into the house.
His smile disintegrated and his eyes narrowed. “What’s going on?”
I dropped my angry finger and took a deep breath. “They are being beyond difficult. I haven’t had a moment’s peace and I swear to God they’re actively trying to make me mad.”
“No we’re not.” Garrett smiled sweetly, feigning innocence.
“Oh really?” I balled my fists on my hips. “Then how do you explain the warpaint on the kitchen table that appeared after I’d cleaned up Connor’s chest and told you in no uncertain terms the ketchup and mustard would stay in the fridge?”
“Again with the condiments?” Jack gave his middle son a disappointed sigh. “I thought we’d moved past the warpaint phase.”
Connor’s lips parted, his eyes darting to his older brother. “Garrett said—”
I growled in frustration. “I’m so tired of hearing that. ‘Garrett said this. Garrett said that.’ All flippin’ day, Garrett’s said things that have meant trouble for me.” I turned to Jack, begging him to do something because I was so out of my depth, I didn’t know which way was up.
There was a moment of silence as he assessed the situation. Assessed me. His face was unreadable, cloaked in tension and dismay.
When he finally spoke, my heart dropped at the change in his voice.
“All three of you, go to your rooms. Now.”
Garrett started to protest.
“Now!” Jack jabbed a finger at the hallway. “I came home in a good mood with great news and was going to take all of us to RedBrick Pizza to celebrate. I guess now we have to suffer through another delightful rendition of my specialty…boring old spaghetti.”
The kids groaned and pouted their way down the hall while I paced back and forth, trying to get control of my emotions. “I’m sorry, I just…”
“Ran out of toxic positivity for the day?” The bite in Jack’s words sank into my skin.
Shock froze me in place, and I stared at him like he’d been replaced with a stranger. Toxic positivity? What the actual fuck?
Regret softened his features. “I shouldn’t have said that. That was the stress talking. Not me.” He opened his arms and I cuddled in. “I’m so sorry it was another bad day. I’ll talk to them and see if I can figure out what’s going on.”
Closing my eyes, I listened to the rhythm of his heart and a tiny bit of relief soothed my frazzled nerves. “I know what’s going on. They decided they hate me just as I realized I’m falling in love with you.”
The hand that had been rubbing my back stilled.
Jack pulled back to meet my eyes.
His gaze bounced around my face as he digested my admission. “What did you say?”
“I’m falling in love with you.” I shrugged, almost embarrassed to have the words out in the open after my display. Of all the times I could have chosen to say that…
The two of us in bed as pleasure bloomed in our bodies…
Sitting on the porch, watching the sun dip toward the horizon…
Curled on the couch during movie night…
Any of those would have been great. Instead, I decided to admit I loved Jack Cooper after he found me verbally assaulting his kids.
The beautiful part? He didn’t care.
He cupped my cheeks between his strong hands and kissed me, then grinned as he nuzzled my nose. “I’m falling in love with you, too. So fucking hard it makes me dizzy. Stay for dinner. I have something I want to talk about with you.”
I dropped my gaze. “I’m not sure the kids—”
“The kids love you.”
Was he flippin’ kidding? Nothing that happened today made me think they wanted me around.
“If that’s what you call love, then maybe we should compare our definitions. You know, to make sure we’re talking about the same thing when it comes to you and me.”
I was joking. Mostly.
Jack laughed and gave me a look he usually saved for Charlie when she was being obstinate. “Very funny, smarty pants. Now tell me you’ll stay.”
I nodded, even though I wasn’t confident about the choice. The last thing I wanted was to further disrupt the Cooper’s harmony.
“You can even use your sage if you think it would help.” He quirked a brow, his good mood returning so quickly mine followed suit.
“Think it would help? I know it would help. You need to have more faith in this stuff, Jackalicious.”
Jack boiled water while I sprayed sage and before long, the five of us were seated around the table, sharing an awkward meal. With their dad’s help, I managed to thaw Charlie and Connor, but Garrett remained intent on starting his own ice age. I finally stopped trying to engage him, even though the look on Jack’s face said it broke his heart. After dinner, the kids cleared the table and Jack sent them back to their rooms, then pulled me into the living room. We sat on the couch and he handed me a business card.
I turned it over, studying the unfamiliar name printed on the front. “What’s this?”
The grin on his face told me it was something good. “That is the name and number of the owner of Mimi’s Boutique, a shop on Main Street.”