It was hard to get too irritated with concern.
“You don’t have to stick around.” Cooper shifted his gym bag over his shoulder. “I could give you a ride home and then pick you up after—”
“Cooper.” I placed a hand on his shoulder but dropped it quickly when I felt that now-familiar jolt of electricity. “Just go do your weight training thing. I need to get my homework done anyway, so I’ll just hang out in the library.”
He nodded but he still looked wary. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was going to be off alone on my own in the school, which had emptied out quickly after the last bell rang, or if he was second guessing his offer to help me find a part-time job.
“If you don’t want to go to Hazelcrest today, we can go next week,” I offered.
Hazelcrest was a senior assisted living facility where Cooper apparently had some connections. He’d heard that they were looking for part-time help on the weekends and had set up a meeting for me with their human resources person.
“No, today works,” he said, his gaze not quite meeting mine. “I usually stop by on Wednesdays.”
Now I was frowning...in confusion. He usually stopped by on Wednesdays? I opened my mouth to ask him why. I knew for a fact he didn’t work there, so was he a volunteer?
The thought did something funny to my heart and before I could outright ask, he was mumbling something about picking me up at the library.
I nodded as I watched him disappear into the locker room. He’d been so cryptic about his connection to Hazelcrest. It was one subject that he was still all weird about.
No, that wasn’t quite accurate. He was only weird when it came to Hazelcrest...and dancing with me at the academy.
At school, he’d gotten way more chill. Almost normal, actually. Without really talking about it, we’d slipped into a new routine. He picked me up in the mornings and drove me home after, usually turning right back around to head to football practice. He walked me to my classes and ate with me at lunch.
It was almost like having a boyfriend.
A boyfriend who refused to touch me, let alone kiss me. So you know...really, not at all like a boyfriend.
I let out an exasperated sigh as I found a place to camp out in the library. Boyfriend.
Seriously?
I had problems.
I opened a textbook and got to work. I was still playing catch up in most of my classes, but at least I was making headway in the social department. Despite the craziness at the party—or maybe because of it—everyone seemed to know who I was and it felt like anyone who was anyone wanted to get to know me.
I was sure it was just curiosity about Cooper and his crazy overreaction at the party, but it meant that I had a whole lot of people going out of their way to talk to me in the hallways and at lunch, so I was cool with it.
By the time Cooper picked me up an hour later, my head was spinning with calculus equations and I was actually looking forward to some alone time with Cooper in his truck. He was quiet as we walked out to the parking lot, only asking me questions about homework and looking like he was not at all interested in discussing his connections to Hazelcrest with me.
Not even when I made a joke about his involvement there. Instead, he changed the subject to Calculus as he started the engine and it roared to life.
I stared at his profile as he drove. Okay, I had been looking forward to alone time, but that was before he went back to being a giant stone wall. The closer we got to the facility, the more grim he looked.
I shook my head and turned my attention to the view outside the window. With Cooper, it was starting to feel like one step forward, two steps back.
Right now? We might as well have been right back where we were two weeks ago when he’d declared himself my bodyguard.
“The office is down and to the right,” Cooper said as we entered the quiet, homey foyer. His voice held a sort of reverence that surprised me. Not at all the reaction I expected him to have for this place.
Weird.
I headed toward the office and turned back to watch in fascination as he headed confidently down another hall. He walked like he owned the place. Like he knew exactly where he was going.
I pushed open the door with the words Office on the glass and found a small room with a tiny desk tucked in the corner. An older woman sat there with a phone pressed between her cheek and her shoulder. When she saw me, she raised a finger as if to tell me to wait. I nodded and settled down in one of the two chairs across from her.
Once she was done, she stood and smiled at me as she grabbed a notepad. Then she rounded her desk and settled in on the chair next to me. After some small chat, she leaned back and smiled.
“I’m so glad Cooper sent you our way.” Rene said. Apparently she was the woman in charge of hiring at Hazelcrest. She handed over some paperwork. “He was singing your praises and I can see why.”
I blinked once. Twice. My hearing was definitely going. “Singing my praises?” I repeated stupidly.
Her smile widened, accentuating the crow’s feet near her eyes. “Well, in his own way. Which is to say, he muttered a few words about how you’re reliable.”
I let out a surprised laugh. This woman seemed to know Cooper well. “That sounds more accurate.”
Rene laughed. “Cooper’s been coming here for ages so we all think of him as one of the family.”
I arched my brows, my insides going to war as amusement, surprise, and something close to betrayal rose up all at once. He’d been coming here for ages?
How had I not known that?
Did Trenton know?
“He visited his grandmother here like clockwork, right up until she died,” Rene continued, seemingly oblivious to my shock. “But the fact that he kept coming every week even after she passed, well….” She smiled at me like we were in on a secret. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how special he is.”
“Um…no.” I managed a smile in return but I couldn’t wait to leave her office so I could process this new information.
Cooper Jenkins had a secret life. Okay, maybe that was a little melodramatic but as I headed back toward the main entrance, that was all I could think.
That Cooper was living a secret life. Which made me wonder, what other secrets did he have?
The faint sound of swing music reached me and I followed it down the hall where Cooper had headed not long before. I paused in front of the two doors that had been propped open giving me an unobstructed view of what looked to be a communal living area. Two older men were watching a TV in one corner while some older couples danced to the music I’d heard but that wasn’t what drew my attention and caused me to gap.
I couldn’t believe it.
Cooper was playing some card game with three elderly ladies. But he wasn’t only playing, he looked like he was enjoying himself. Well, at least he didn’t look like he was having staples driven under his fingernails as he did it.
My jaw dropped but before I could faint dead away at the unexpected sight before me, everyone in the room seemed to notice my existence.
Including Cooper.
“There she is!” One of the women at Cooper’s card table shouted so loud that I literally jumped.
Cooper looked embarrassed as he pushed his chair away from the table and came over to me. “How’d it go?”
Questions. I had so many questions. But all eyes were on us so I smiled and nodded. “Good. Rene said I could start next weekend.”