Jilted

  I don't need a Coop, but I do want something more for myself.

  "I don't know," Colleen says thoughtfully as she looks back up. "I think he was the real deal. You could see it. I know I wasn't around him long when you brought him out here to LA, but he seems genuine."

  "Oh, no doubt about that," I say as I pick the magazine back up and start flipping through it again. I look at the pictures vaguely and mutter, "Coop's the real deal. He's just not my real deal."

  "I bet he was just scared," Colleen says as she manages to text and talk at the same time. A true multitasker. "You explained your history with Coop to me, and I'm thinking he's just scared. Doesn't want the same type of pain again. And he's a man. He can't see the forest for the trees, you know? Give him time--"

  "He gets nothing from me," I say petulantly as I look at a fashion spread for Gucci. "He blew his chance."

  "You sure about that?" Colleen asks.

  I look at her and roll my eyes. "What part of him saying we reached our expiration date didn't you understand? That was harsh, and I didn't deserve that."

  "No you didn't," I hear Coop say from behind me, and I let out a sharp cry of surprise as I spin around in my seat. And there stands Coop, looking tired and frazzled and leveling a death stare past me to Colleen.

  "You're on my shit list," he says to her.

  My mouth drops open and I look to Colleen, who's smirking, and then back to Coop. I'm so confused.

  "What the fuck is going on here?" I hiss at Coop. "Why are you here?"

  "I'm here," he grits out, "because your business manager made me chase you here."

  "Huh?" I ask stupidly.

  Colleen snickers, but I don't look back at her. Coop on the other hand is glaring at her so fiercely I'm pretty sure he'd strangle her if given the chance.

  Finally, he walks around the long couch I've been sitting on and comes to sit next to me. Colleen sits across from me in a chair, separated by a low coffee table. This would be a good time for her to give us privacy, but she remains firmly planted in her seat, smiling at us.

  Coop grunts and turns to me. "I followed you to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, you got the last flight out that night, and so I was about nine hours behind you. I'd managed to get Colleen's phone number through some magic Missy worked since you wouldn't respond to me and I told her I was coming out there."

  His last words were accusatory and accurate. I wouldn't respond to him and so he had to chase me.

  "So you flew to LA?" I ask, stupefied.

  Coop turns his head and glares at Colleen again. "Yes, and she knew I was coming. She didn't bother to tell me you were flying right out to New York until your flight was about to take off. So I had to chase you from LA to New York."

  I turn to look at Colleen and I give her my best disapproving look, but really...I don't care. Coop kind of deserved it. "Colleen, that was very, very rude."

  "I know," she says, proud of herself. "But I figured he needed to chase you for a while. It's his fault you ran."

  With a sigh, I turn back to Coop. "Why are you here, by the way? Surely you didn't buy a ticket to Ireland just to come in here and talk to me?"

  Coop shakes his head, and that beautiful dark hair shimmers. I want to touch it, but I remain steadfast in my anger at him, so I don't move. "I can't afford a ticket to Ireland. Got wiped out flying back and forth across the States over the last twenty-four hours. But I only needed to buy a ticket to get past security. I went ahead and got a return one to Atlanta."

  "So you're here to talk?" I say.

  He shakes his head again as he reaches out and takes my chin in his hand. "I'm here to get you back."

  "Get me back?" I whisper, my eyebrows knitted together. This is not the conversation we had night before last.

  "Eden," Coop says with a patient smile. "I came down from that shower, saw you were gone, and I knew immediately I'd made a mistake. Fuck, I knew it while I was in the shower. No, wait, not true. I knew it as I was saying the words that were pushing you away. Knew it was all a mistake from the start. I pushed you away from me because I was a fucking coward and was afraid to try to make it work."

  "Oh, that's the most romantic thing I've ever heard," Colleen coos from across the table. Coop releases his hold on my chin and we both turn to look at her.

  "Colleen," I say gently. "Think you could give us some privacy?"

  "Hell no," she says crossing her arms over her chest in defiance. "I want to listen to this."

  I sigh and turn back to Coop, but he's looking at his watch. His eyes come back up to mine and they're both frustrated and apologetic. "Doesn't matter. My flight's boarding now and I've got to go."

  He stands up and I stand up too. "Wait. You can't just run in here, say those things, and run back out again."

  "I do in fact have to run," Coop says with a grin. "The doors will be closing soon."

  "Coop," I say in exasperation. "I have no clue what to even say to you."

  "You don't have to say anything," he says softly, and steps toward me. His hand wraps around the back of my neck and he peers down at me earnestly. "Come back to Newberry after you finish filming in Ireland. I've got it all worked out and I'll explain it then."

  "But--"

  He cuts me off with a hard kiss that has my head spinning. But then his lips are gone and so is he as he heads out of the lounge.

  "Coop," I call out, still thoroughly confused as to what in the hell is going on. "You know you could have just texted that to me...that you wanted to work it out and you'd had some things figured out."

  He shakes his head, gives me a beautiful smile, and calls back, "You never would have taken me seriously without me flying all over the place to catch you."

  I smile back at him, completely charmed in this moment.

  Damn him.

  Coop winks at me and then he's gone.

  I sit back down slowly and turn to Colleen. I give her a stern look. "I can't believe you made him chase me back and forth across the country."

  Her gaze back to me is impassive, unapologetic. I have no clue what she's thinking.

  But then she snickers, and so do I, and then we are both doubled over with laughter.

  Chapter 24

  Oh those crazy kids...

  Coop

  After screwing in the bulb, I replace the top of the cast-iron sconce and tighten the screw on top. It's a pain in the ass to change these lights that flank the front door of Goodnight House because they're just high enough I can't reach them without a ladder. Of course, I can reach them from just the bottom rung of the ladder, so it pisses me off they couldn't have been placed just six inches lower, which would be far more convenient for me.

  Normally, something like this would roll off my back, but I'll admit to being a grumpy, frustrated son of a bitch the last week. It started by me making a colossal mistake in the way I'd handled things with Eden, causing her to vanish like a ghost. It got exponentially worse when Colleen made me chase her to the West Coast and then back to the East Coast, which ended up costing me a few thousand bucks in plane tickets.

  Okay, I probably deserved that, but then this past week just got crappier and crappier as I realized that without Eden, I was one miserable dude.

  I think things are going to be all right, though. I've got it all figured out, and once Eden shows up, I can explain it to her.

  After I probably do some more groveling.

  This week hasn't been radio silence between the two of us. I thought it might be, as Eden had a right to make me suffer, I suppose. But she actually texted me quite a bit while she was filming in Ireland, and of course, I texted her right back. We didn't speak by phone, and that was a good thing. The things I needed to tell her had to be face-to-face, so we kept our typed conversations light and engaging, but short. I think she reached out to me and gave me that lifeline because she knew I'd probably be worried that I'd fucked things up beyond repair. The mere fact she was communicating with me gave me hope. I was still a grumpy SOB, but
I was a hopeful one.

  I hop down off the first rung of the ladder and move it over to the other sconce. Grabbing the teardrop bulbs that go in the fixture, I step back up on the ladder.

  But then I immediately go still as I hear a car turn into the driveway. Looking over my shoulder, I see a white four-door sedan pulling in. I don't know anyone who drives a car like that, so my heart immediately starts a mad thumping as I realize it could be Eden. She wasn't supposed to get in until late tonight, but still...it could be.

  I step off the ladder, lay the bulbs on the cushion of one of the outdoor rockers, and step to the edge of the porch. The sun is bright and the glare on the windshield prevents me from seeing who's in the car as it drives straight at me.

  But once it makes that turn into the circular drive and I can see in the passenger window, I recognize Eden immediately.

  Fuck yes...she's here.

  She turns the ignition off and gets out of the car, and yet my feet are rooted to the porch. I don't know whether to swoop down on her or wait for her to come to me, because I'm not sure if she's here to listen to my solution or to tell me to fuck off in person.

  So I wait.

  And it's worth it because she looks amazing even though she just flew across the Atlantic. She's got on a pair of white denim pants that come above her ankle with a navy and white striped shirt. Paired with white tennis shoes, the outfit looks very nautical. Her hair is up in a ponytail, and although she looks tired, she still looks just fucking amazing.

  "Hey," she says with a smile as she rounds the front of her car.

  "Welcome back," I return as she comes to stand at the bottom of the porch, looking up at me.

  "Am I welcome back?" she asks, and while I hear the humor in her voice, I also know it's a serious question.

  "Always," I assure her, my eyes boring into hers so she understands the truth of what I'm saying.

  Eden's smile goes bright and I think I see her shoulders relax with relief. She takes two steps up toward me then turns around to sit down. She pats the spot next to her as she looks over her shoulder at me. "Come sit down and let's talk."

  "You don't want to come inside?" I ask her as I trot down to sit beside her. It's hot as hell out here and the air-conditioning is blasting inside.

  "No sense in going inside if I'm not staying, and I'm not sure I'm staying until I hear what you have to say," she says softly.

  My body tenses up under the threat that just because Eden came here directly from Ireland and is willing to listen to me doesn't guarantee anything. While she may have been totally willing to compromise last week when we fought about this, I'm certain my jackass behavior may have had her reconsidering the meaning of compromise.

  Reaching out, I take her hand closest to me and thread my fingers through hers. I lift her hand to my mouth and kiss her wrist briefly before I release her. Then I rest my elbows on my knees, look out over the vast expanse of the front yard of Goodnight House, and tell her, "I think you were right when you were offering some options. I think we could absolutely split time between homes so we could be together. But if that's not something you're willing to consider anymore, I'll move with you to LA permanently."

  "What?" she gasps as her head whips to look at me. "You'd give up your business? Newberry?"

  "Newberry? Yes," I tell her without any doubts. "My business? Not exactly."

  "What would you do?" she asks with her head tilted, and I'm bolstered when she takes my hand now and pulls it over onto her lap.

  "I'd hire a manager to oversee the maintenance business," I tell her, thinking back to the tedious work I did going over my numbers to make sure I could afford it. "But I'd keep the design business. See about expanding it, maybe working some in LA. I'd have to travel a bit, but it wouldn't be that much."

  "You'd do that?" She looks at me completely awestruck. "You'd give up your home here for me?"

  "I'd do anything to be with you, Eden," I tell her truthfully. "I couldn't do it fourteen years ago, and I don't think I was supposed to. I think what happened between us was supposed to happen. Needed to happen. We both went our own ways and we grew up and had experiences. But we were brought back together, and I know you felt it too, honey, but it was right between us. I mean...it was the most right thing I've ever felt in my life."

  "But you said we couldn't make it work," she reminds me. I knew this was coming and I'm ready for it.

  "I was an idiot," I tell her simply. And that's my big comeback.

  Eden snickers and looks back out over the front yard. "You hate LA. You'd be absolutely miserable there."

  "Not if you were there," I say, although she's right, I do hate LA. But she'd more than make up for it.

  "Well, I've been thinking about this as well, and I've got some ideas you might want to consider," she says as she turns toward me.

  "I'm all ears."

  She takes a deep breath and launches. "We make our permanent home here in Newberry at Goodnight House. I'll sell my home in LA. I'll continue to act, but cut back on the amount of films I do, with the goal to spend as much time here as I can. When I do travel to film, I'd love for you to come with me. Maybe just for a few weeks here and there so you can attend to your business, or the entire time is great too. Whatever will work best for us both at that point in our lives. And that's really all I have, but I think it's the start of a good plan."

  "I'm digging it," I tell her with a smile.

  She doesn't smile back. "But I'm not sure it's sustainable."

  My stomach flips. "Why not?"

  "Because I have no clue how you really feel about me," she says softly. "These last few weeks together have been amazing, but they haven't been revealing. It may have been a very young love we had all those years ago, but it was love. And even with love, we didn't work out. So while we may have all these great ideas on how we can be together, I'm feeling like we skipped over something really important, and that would be the why of things. Why would we even bother doing this?"

  And it's clear. I mentally slap my forehead as I realize I've gotten ahead of myself. Well, that's not it, really. I just got so panicked when Eden left, and I was trying to come up with the best game plan so she'd take a risk on me, that I forgot something very, very important.

  "You want me to tell you I love you," I say with certainty. I also say it with a confident, almost cocky grin.

  "It wouldn't hurt," she mutters.

  "Eden," I say as I lean into her, brush my lips against her cheek briefly. Then I bring my hand to the side of her neck, thumb to her cheekbone. "Do you really think I'd fly all over this fucking country just so I could talk to you for two minutes face-to-face if I didn't love you?"

  "You're referencing that whole 'actions speak louder than words'?" she quips with a smile, and I'm relieved she finds me amusing.

  But I'm also deadly serious. "I love you, Eden. Have since I was sixteen years old. Never stopped once. It may have been dormant, but it never died. And I will do anything to make you understand that, and I will give up Newberry so we can be together forever. I'm not letting you get away this time."

  "I don't want to get away," she murmurs, her eyes warm and tender. "I love you too."

  "Thank fuck," I gust out on a relieved breath, then I'm yanking her into my arms. Wrapping my arms tight around her, I bury my face in her neck. She throws her arms around me too, we just hold each other for a few moments as we take in all that we just gave to each other.

  When we finally break apart, I cup her face and give her a sweet kiss. Her eyes flutter closed for a second, then open when I pull my lips from hers. She smiles at me.

  Clearing my throat, I say, "Last week...before you walked out...we had talked about kids and where they'd stay if you were traveling."

  "That's right," she affirms.

  "And you didn't freak out about the prospect of kids," I remind her.

  "Why would I? I love kids."

  "I know," I say with a laugh. "But my point is, we were talking about
permanent things that we both apparently thought were a given with us."

  "Agreed," she says cautiously, because she can't see where I'm going with this. "So...?"

  "So we love each other," I say, affirming the biggest plus we have going for us.

  "We do."

  "We're going to live here together permanently at Goodnight House."

  "True."

  "And we've known each other a long time," I add.

  "Most of our lives," she says with mock disbelief. "That's a long damn time."

  "I'm glad you agree on that," I tell her, and then I get to the point. "Eden...will you marry me?"

  "What the hell?" she exclaims as she jolts up from her seat next to me. She trots down the two steps to the ground and looks back up at me as if I've sprouted antlers or something. "You just throw that out there like that?"

  "I'm sensing that was the wrong thing to ask you," I say with disappointment.

  She rolls her eyes at me. "It was the total right thing to ask me. It just wasn't very romantic."

  My chest swells as I realize the answer will be yes if I can just ask it the right way. I push up from the porch and stalk down to her.

  When we're toe to toe and she's looking up at me, I put my hands on her shoulders and squeeze them gently. "Let me try that again."

  Her lips curve upward.

  "I've never loved another woman but you," I tell her softly. "I lost you once, and it was an unbearable pain. But for some reason, God graced me with you again. You were brought back into my life as a precious gift that's meant to be treasured...revered. I will never take you for granted. I will never take our love for granted. I know this with surety because I believe I was put on this earth with the sole purpose of loving you. So I'm asking you to make my purpose a reality and fulfill my destiny by agreeing to be my wife."

  I take in a deep breath and let it out.

  Eden just blinks at me, her eyes wide and round. Slightly glazed. I don't know what that means.

  "I could do that whole speech over again if I need to get down on my knee," I tell her. "I forgot that part."

  She just blinks. She stares at me unfocused.

  "And I know I don't have the ring," I continue. "I could get a ring, get down on my knee, and do the speech again."

  And more blinking.

  I snap my fingers in front of her face. "Eden...you in there, honey?"