“Yeah,” she calls out over the running water.
I push open the door and curse the fact she has a dark green shower curtain. “Hey, babe, I’m going to run to the diner and grab us some breakfast. You were right. The kitchen is bare. You need anything else?” You know, like help with that shower?
“Told you. No, I’m good. Thanks, Coop,” she calls back.
Reluctantly, I close the bathroom door, grab the keys from the kitchen counter, and lock up behind me. I walk since it’s just a block over, and call Nixon on my way.
“Where should I send the bail money?” is his greeting.
“What the fuck? What makes you think I need bail money?” I ask.
“Because I know your stubborn ass, and Reese sent Tess a message telling her you were waiting at the airport for her. I know your stubborn ass too well and assumed Reese had to call the cops to get you to leave.” I can hear the humor in his voice.
“For your information, I stayed at her place last night.”
“Really?” He’s surprised.
“Yes, but nothing happened. We talked a lot, and then I might have got fed up with the couch and crawled into bed with her,” I confess.
“How’d that go over?”
“She didn’t kick me out. We talked some more, and I woke up this morning with her in my arms, where she’s supposed to be.”
“You know, I’m kind of glad you didn’t realize you were in love with her until now,” he tells me.
“Why’s that?” I’m almost afraid to ask.
“Because I would have had to listen to all this sappy ‘I’m in love’ bullshit all four years of college.”
“Like I didn’t listen to you when it came to Tessa.”
“Dude, you don’t hear yourself. You’ve got it bad.” He laughs.
“Yeah, I do. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I also know what it’s like to not have her in my life, not fully. When you experience that, you’ll learn to cherish what you have and shout it from the rooftops too.”
“You think I don’t cherish my fiancée?” he asks, surprised.
“No, I know you love her. I just mean that until you know what life is like without that person, you won’t get it. You and Tessa are solid, have been since day one. Be grateful for that. I was the dumbass who pushed Reese away. Then, I was the same dumbass who found out what life is like without her. It changes you. At least it did me. I want anyone and everyone to know how I feel about her.”
“Tess, babe!” I hear him call out.
“Yeah?” she asks.
“Cooper loves Reese.”
I can hear Tessa’s loud laugh through the phone. “This isn’t new news,” she tells him.
“Did you hear that?” Nixon asks me.
“Yeah, I heard her.” I’m not sure where he’s going with this.
“So, you see, you might think you need to tell the world, but we already knew. Seems to me that you and Reese are the only two who didn’t get the memo.”
“Well played, my friend, well played,” I say as I enter the restaurant. “Anyway, I need to go. I just got to the diner to pick up breakfast. Just wanted to check in.”
“You two need to come and visit,” he tells me.
“I’m not sure if Reese can get the time off work. I’ll talk to her about it and let you know.”
“We can go to them.” I hear Tessa say in the background.
“If not, we’ll come to you,” he tells me.
He might not be as boastful about his fiancée, but I know damn well she’s the love of his life. They have it together and are where I hope Reese and I can one day be. One day soon. Sliding my phone into my pocket, I step up to the counter. “Order for Reeves,” I tell the waitress.
“Oh my God, are you the Cooper Reeves?” she squeals.
“That’s me,” I reply awkwardly. I love my fans, but I just want our order so I can get back to Reese.
“What are you doing here? I mean, I know you went to college here, but what brings you back to town?” she asks, batting her eyelashes at me.
She looks not a day over eighteen, if that. No, thank you. I’m not interested. Not now, not ever. “My girlfriend lives here. And breakfast?” I hear myself saying. I fight back my grin at calling Reese my girlfriend. She’s not there yet, but to me, that’s what she is. In fact, she’s more than that, but saying you’re getting breakfast for the love of your life sounds weird, even to me. However, this girl doesn’t seem to be getting the hint. I might have to use that line to get our food.
“Me and some friends are hanging out at the bar next door tonight. You should stop by.” Again, she bats her eyelashes. They’re fake as hell, and that’s just not sexy. Not to me.
“No, thanks,” I tell her flatly.
“Oh, come. It will be fun.” She winks.
“I’ll be spending the night in with my girlfriend, and since you didn’t catch that the first time, let me break that down for you. I’m not interested. She’s the love of my life. No bat of your eyes or any other offer you have is going to change that.” I give her a hard look.
“Whatever,” she quips. “Your loss.”
“Not hardly,” I say, not giving a fuck if she hears me. She rings up my order and hands it to me. I don’t miss her writing her number on the back of my receipt before she drops it in the bag. Taking my card and sliding it back into my wallet, she smirks, handing me the bag. I reach in, pulling out the receipt and make a show of wadding it up. “Can you toss this for me? No point in bringing home more trash,” I say, and turn to walk out.
I’m seething mad at the audacity of her, and not watching where I’m going, which is why I collide with someone. “Sorry,” I say, looking up to see my victim, and I freeze. “Hunter.”
“Cooper.” He nods.
I don’t have to ask him if he just heard my declaration. I can see it written all over his face. “I’m sorry, I—”
He raises his hand to stop me. “I don’t want to hear it. Give Reese my best,” he says, stepping around me.
I reach out and grab his arm. “She wants to see you.”
“We don’t always get what we want.”
“Don’t take this out on her.” I plead her case.
“No, after your little speech, I concluded you were just as much to blame. Not that I didn’t already know that.”
“We didn’t mean for this to happen.”
“So, what? She runs out on me and now she’s yours?” The anger and the hurt in his question are evident.
She’s always been mine. “Not exactly,” I say instead. “Just let her explain. Please.”
“Yeah, we’ll see. You better get that food to the love of your life. It’s going to get cold.” He turns and rushes down the hall to the restrooms.
I debate going after him, but I’ve caused a big enough scene as it is. People are staring. My only saving grace is that Hunter kept his voice down. No way could anyone hear our conversation. Not that they needed to. The tension was thick and obvious.
I rush out the door and start toward her place. When she hears this, she’s going to be pissed. How was I supposed to know Hunter was going to be there? And the waitress, I told her I was taken, and she kept flapping her jaws about meeting up. I was over that shit and wanted to end it. I’d much rather today’s event occur than it get back to Reese that I was entertaining the idea. Yeah, fuck that. It is what it is, and we’ll deal with it. Together.