We barely heard him introduce himself when she glanced at our table. I ducked my head down, but it was too late. She stared straight at me.
“I take it you’re related to him?” Her tone hardened as her voice rose.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“I’m sorry. That must be awful for you.”
Pax made a face as he ran a hand through his blond hair. “Aw, don’t be like that. He’s not that bad, but I promise I’m better. Are you going to judge me based on my brother?”
“Yes. You have a problem with that?”
“Doesn’t seem particularly fair, or friendly, Miss Flanagan.”
“Go back to your brothers and talk about football, or the snow, or something other than me.”
I watched Pax cringe at the tone of her voice. “Kindness is free. Doesn’t cost you a thing to smile or say a nice word.”
“Do all the Cooper brothers talk first and think later? Or is it a Frazier Falls thing?”
Pax held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, I get it. You want to be left alone. There was no harm in seeing if you wanted to join us for a drink, though, was there?”
“You didn’t make it far enough to ask.”
“Nope, because your mouth opened first. Hope you have a better night.”
She stood there with her jaw hanging open.
Paxton rejoined the table to bursts of laughter from both of us. “You deserved that,” I said as he sat down looking like he’d walked through fire.
“She’s got one hell of a sharp tongue on her.”
“I can hear you, you know,” Emily called from her place at the bar.
I looked up as she glanced at me. For the smallest of moments, the two of us almost smirked at each other, but then she looked away as John Reilly came out with a bag. I ignored my brothers and listened carefully to catch every word said.
“Here’s the food for your mom,” he said. “I’ve thrown in some of those dumplings she likes on the side. Tell her to hurry up and get better soon, okay?”
Emily gave him a warm smile, which transformed her already attractive face into something beautiful. “Thank you so much.”
John looked toward our table. “Have you taken a liking to a Cooper?”
She laughed. “That’s like asking me if I’d like a case of the pox.”
John shook his head. “Mae West once said, ‘Love thy neighbor, and if he happens to be tall, debonair, and devastating, it will be that much easier.’ You could do a lot worse than a Cooper.”
It was funny to hear John dish out his worldly words of wisdom to Emily. Lord, it was time he had a new audience.
“When they come up with a cure for stupidity, I’ll consider it.”
She gave me and my brothers a final look and left the bar.
It appeared she could be nice to small-town folk, or maybe only to John since he had food. Guess Miss Flanagan was more complicated than I’d originally thought.
“Hey, Eli, you want another?” Pax asked, holding up his empty mug. “Or are you going to sit there staring into space?”
“How can we already be on another round?” I’d been so focused on Emily that I missed everything around me.
Owen glanced at Pax’s empty mug. “Somebody drank away his shame, and I drank with him in solidarity. You want another or not?”
I shook my head. “No, leave me out this time.”
I wondered if I could find a reasonable excuse to visit Judy Flanagan’s house. Emily was like an itch I couldn’t reach. Maybe once I visited, she’d be out of my system for good.
Rich usually took wood from the mill to all the elderly residents in Frazier Falls. Between him and Pax, it was sometimes difficult to decide which one was saintlier. Maybe I needed to borrow the title for a day.
I supposed I could always call him and volunteer. At the thought, I froze. Why was I going to this much effort to see a woman I didn’t like? Who or what was I becoming? A damn masochist.
Disappointed in myself, I downed my beer, then motioned over to Pax, who stood at the bar.
“I changed my mind. Grab me one while you’re there.”
Ridiculous thoughts about Emily should be easy to erase with copious amounts of alcohol.
Chapter Six
Emily
I wished my mom could eat spicy food. Meals were boring if I had to stick to mild and easy-to-digest ingredients. I craved garlic, and jalapeños, and hot sauce. God, I missed hot sauce. I was so damn sick of potatoes.
The massive sack that Eli’s brother had found in the back of the store was a blessing, though there were only so many ways to make a potato. I wanted to burn all of them, simply so I didn’t have to see them again, but I couldn’t deny how versatile and filling they were. Besides, my mother loved them. I used to make fun of her for it, given that it made her look like an Irish stereotype. There was no potato famine in Frazier Falls.
“You worry too much about what people think of you, Emily,” she had told me on more than one occasion. She was content to love her potatoes, be they mashed, or boiled, or roasted, or fried, and she didn’t care how much I teased her about it.
There was no doubt I’d be a lot happier if I was more like my mother, but I couldn’t be her because I was me. Opinionated. Cynical. Judgmental.
Eli’s other brother, Paxton, was still grating on my nerves even now, two days after the fact. He had been so cocksure and arrogant like his brother. His easy charm wouldn’t have been out of place in Los Angeles, but it seemed obnoxious in Frazier Falls. If I was being honest, had I met him in California, I would have had no qualms about going home with him after a night of drinking and dancing.
The problem was, he wasn’t from California. He was from Frazier Falls, Colorado, and no different from his brother. Full of himself in a way only a man who knew everything about the people and places around him could be, but I wasn’t going to give him an opportunity to get to know me. I’d remain a mystery and forget the Coopers existed once I went home.
The other brother, Owen, was the engaged one, I assumed. Beyond frustrated, it annoyed every cell in my body that their names had stuck in my head after Sadie had shared her social media search. Out of the three brothers, he was the one who seemed the most level-headed and normal.
Technically, there was nothing bad about Eli or Paxton. Paxton had relented quickly when it became obvious I wanted him to leave me alone, and Eli had helped me with the potatoes I now peeled. He’d held the door open for me—though I was fairly certain he’d only done it to prove a point. Then again, he’d saved me from falling, which he didn’t have to do.
It was all well and good to say that I’d forget about him and his brothers when I returned to Los Angeles, but I was still in Frazier Falls, which meant running into Eli was a likely scenario. I’d now seen him twice in as many days. It was a miracle I hadn’t seen him before.
Looking out the kitchen window, the noonday sun shone as strongly as it could in the middle of winter, reflecting brilliantly off the snow. If it stayed like this over the next couple of days, then flights would resume in and out of the smaller airports. I could realistically be out of here by Wednesday.
I peeked at my mom through the open door. She was sitting on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, watching old episodes of Downton Abbey. She always found something British to keep her occupied. Shaking my head in bemusement, I returned to cooking her lunch.