Road Trip with the Best Man

by Sophie Pembroke

  He looked absolutely ready to drop, and here she was asking him to have a deep and meaningful conversation about their feelings.

  No wonder men left her.

  ‘It’ll keep,’ she said, with a smile she didn’t feel. ‘We can talk tomorrow.’

  ‘That might be best.’ Cooper’s answering smile had more than a little relief in it. ‘I have a feeling it’s not the sort of conversation you’d thank me for falling asleep during.’

  ‘Probably not.’ She slipped her key into the door and opened it, turning back to say, ‘Goodnight, Cooper.’

  To her surprise, he leant forward and pressed another soft kiss to her lips. ‘Goodnight, Dawn. Sweet dreams.’ Then he was gone into his room, the door shutting firmly behind him.

  Dawn stood staring after him all the same. Somehow, she had a feeling that her dreams that night would be anything but sweet.

  Especially when she opened her own door and found a naked stranger in the middle of the room.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Dawn had established three things. One: that the new app they were using to book hotels since the disaster with the one in Salt Lake City also sucked, since it had let her book two rooms in a motel where there was apparently only one free room. Two: the girl running the reception desk at this motel didn’t much care for her problems. And three: she was far too tired even to think about finding anywhere else to stay that night.

  Her eyes itching with tiredness, Dawn leant outside Cooper’s bedroom door and tried to work up the courage to knock. What was the worst he could do? Send her to sleep in Claudia instead?

  Even that sounded preferable to being awake for another moment. And it might even be more comfortable than the couch in Salt Lake City.

  Raising her hand, she knocked lightly on the door, hoping she wouldn’t wake him.

  ‘Dawn?’ Cooper answered it wearing just a pair of shorts, his dark hair even messier than normal and his eyes barely open. ‘What’s going on? Are you okay?’

  ‘I think we’re actually cursed,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe it happened again.’

  ‘What happened again?’ Cooper frowned, and she saw the moment he got it. ‘Oh.’

  ‘Yeah. The stupid motel overbooked,’ she explained. ‘My room is already occupied by an alarmingly naked old guy, and there aren’t any others free. Can I crash in here with you tonight? I’ll even take the couch again.’

  Cooper’s eyes widened at that, and Dawn was suddenly all too aware that this wasn’t like last time. Last time, he hadn’t kissed her just that afternoon. Last time, she hadn’t even imagined that she could want him to do it again.

  And it suddenly occurred to her that this could look like something it wasn’t.

  ‘I swear this isn’t a play, Cooper. There really aren’t any other rooms. And to be honest, I don’t think either of us has the energy to make this into anything tonight anyway.’ If they couldn’t even stay awake long enough to talk about the kiss, what were the chances of it happening again before either of them got any sleep?

  Cooper didn’t answer, so Dawn reached down to pick up her bag again and stepped back. ‘Never mind. I’ll sleep in the car.’

  ‘No!’ His hand shot out at that, grabbing her wrist and tugging her towards him. ‘Sorry. I’m just half-asleep. Of course you can stay here. And you don’t have to take the couch. Not least because there isn’t one.’

  He let her go, running a hand through his hair as he stepped aside to let her into the room.

  There wasn’t much of it, she realised. What with the naked guy next door, she hadn’t taken in much of the room she’d originally been assigned, but it was clear now that they’d got what she’d paid for: not much. A double bed, barely more than a single, a small table with a kettle and mug on it, with some instant coffee sachets, a TV on the wall and presumably a bathroom through the other door on the far side.

  Absolute basic, minimum-requirement motel room.

  ‘We could go find somewhere else to stay,’ she suggested, looking back at the very small bed. ‘If you’d rather.’

  Cooper covered his mouth as he gave a jaw-cracking yawn. ‘Dawn, it’s late. We’re both exhausted. We can share. Come on. Let’s go to bed.’

  She nodded, hoping this wasn’t the worst idea she’d ever had. Although it wasn’t as if it didn’t have some stiff competition.

  It was strange, getting ready for bed in the bathroom, knowing that Cooper was just in the next room, already under the covers. The covers they needed to share. God, what if he was a blanket hog?

  And she still hadn’t bought any pyjamas. Damn. It hadn’t been such a problem last time, when she could wrap a blanket round herself for full coverage.

  Pulling out the longest of her collection of tee shirts, she pulled it on, leaving her knickers on with it and hoping for the best. Like he’d said, they were both too tired to think, let alone have inappropriate thoughts about each other. This would be fine. Two friends sharing a bed. That was all.

  No problem.

  She tried to smile at herself in the mirror, but even her reflection seemed to know that she was lying.

  Well, no point putting it off. Dawn finished cleaning her teeth then turned off the bathroom light, heading back into the bedroom.

  Cooper lay on the far side of the bed, his back turned towards her, the covers pulled up to his waist and his torso bare. Dawn gave herself precisely fifteen seconds to enjoy the view before she slipped into the bed beside him, her back to his, and pulled up the sheets to cover her. Reaching out, she switched off the light and lay, eyes open, in the darkness.

  ‘Goodnight, Dawn,’ Cooper murmured without moving.

  ‘Goodnight.’ The bed wasn’t particularly soft, but it was better than Claudia’s back seat. And the blankets might be scratchy, but they were keeping her from touching Cooper’s skin and losing her mind.

  All she had to do now was remember how to sleep, when Cooper was lying next to her half-naked.

  Yep. Absolutely no problem at all.

  * * *

  Cooper hadn’t expected to sleep from the moment Dawn had showed up at his door, room-less and bed-less for the night. Just the idea of trying to pass out while she was curled up beside him seemed impossible.

  But it turned out that complete and utter exhaustion had its benefits.

  The only problem was, he slept too well, and woke up fully rested at six the next morning.

  Wrapped around Dawn’s sleeping body.

  Cooper froze as he came suddenly and completely awake. Okay, this was bad. They still hadn’t talked about that kiss, he still didn’t know if she still loved Justin, he still hadn’t figured out if he should even tell her about his brother’s suspicions...and here he was, every inch of his body pressed against hers. And damn him if he didn’t want to get even closer.

  No. Not like this.

  It took all his willpower to carefully unravel their closeness, his jaw set and tense as he eased his way out of the bed without waking her.

  He needed to figure out all kinds of things before he could be that close to Dawn again, and he wasn’t sure his resolve would last if she woke up and blinked those big eyes at him. If she smiled. If she kissed him again...

  Damn it. He needed to stop.

  With a shuddering breath, and one last look at the woman asleep in his bed, Cooper went to find a very cold shower. And hopefully some more willpower.

  * * *

  Dawn woke alone, and had showered away the vague sense of regret about that and managed to get dressed before Cooper returned to the room fully clothed and with breakfast in his hand.

  ‘We should get going,’ he said, not looking at her directly.

  So. It was going to be like that.

  ‘I’m ready when you are,’ she said as she brushed past him towards where they’d parked Claudia the
night before.

  And she meant it. Sooner or later, they’d have to talk.

  Although apparently, if Cooper had his way, it would be later. Much, much later.

  Usually, their conversation was sparse in the mornings as Cooper slowly worked his way out of the bad mood he always seemed to wake up in. But today, he was full of things to say—keeping her distracted from the conversation they weren’t having by instigating all sorts of other ones instead.

  Dawn played along. For now.

  By the time Cooper pulled into a roadside diner for lunch, she had learned all sorts of new things about her road-trip companion. His favourite colours, favourite Elvis song, his most annoying habits—which his assistant had alphabetised—least favourite airports...and many more. But nothing on the one subject she was interested in.

  That kiss.

  She didn’t think he was regretting it, exactly, but he was pulling away all the same. Filling the distance between them with minutiae and top-ten lists.

  Well, he wasn’t going to get away with that for ever.

  Caroline’s Diner was just like any of the others they’d stopped in over the last five days or so: red seats and white tables, jukebox in the corner, burgers on the menu. But this lunch didn’t feel anything like the same.

  ‘So, what are your favourite burger toppings?’ Cooper asked, already hidden behind the menu, and Dawn knew it was time to call him out.

  ‘Cooper. Stop.’

  ‘Stop what?’ His dark-brown eyes appeared over the top of the menu, trying too hard to look innocent.

  Dawn sighed. ‘Look, if you’re regretting the kiss, or even last night... If you want to forget that it ever happened—’

  ‘No! I don’t. Really.’ Dropping the menu to the table, he reached out and placed his hand over hers. ‘Really, Dawn.’

  ‘Then what’s with the constant games of twenty questions, when none of the questions are anything either of us actually care about?’

  Cooper pulled a face. ‘I guess I don’t... I don’t know how to do this.’ He gestured between them.

  ‘What, hold an actual conversation?’

  ‘About our feelings? Basically.’

  She laughed. Of course he didn’t. The man didn’t have any friends.

  ‘I figured if I just kept talking, eventually I’d say the right things just by sheer probability theory.’ He shrugged. ‘Of course, there was the chance I’d say all the wrong ones first.’

  ‘Not wrong. Just irrelevant.’

  ‘Is it, though?’ Cooper tilted his head as he stared across the table at her. ‘I mean, we agreed we were friends. Friends know this stuff about each other, right?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ Dawn allowed. ‘But is friends what we’re still going for here?’ Because those kisses had said otherwise. As had her rather spicy dreams the night before. In fact she was almost certain she’d woken in the middle of the night to feel his arms wrapped around her before she’d drifted off again...

  Cooper looked away. ‘Dawn, you’re still engaged to my brother. And I know he left you, but he had reasons, and I can’t get between the two of you until you sort things out.’

  Of course. It all came back to Justin. How was he still screwing her over even after he’d jilted her?

  ‘Your brother left me at the altar,’ she pointed out. ‘Trust me when I tell you that even I, Miss Dry Run herself, has more self-respect than to chase after a man who has made it so abundantly clear he doesn’t want to marry me.’

  Cooper raised his eyebrows at her and gestured to Claudia. ‘Then care to explain to me what the last five days have been about?’

  She supposed he had a point. It did look rather a lot like they were chasing Justin across the country.

  Dawn took a deep breath. ‘I’m not going to talk to Justin to win him back.’

  ‘Or to reclaim your passport or belongings, I assume, since he could have easily have arranged to courier them back to you by now.’

  She winced as she remembered the lame excuses she’d made that first night. She should have known he’d see through them.

  ‘No. Although I do want them back.’ Dawn tried to find the right words to explain, and settled on the one Ruby had used that first night. ‘I’m not chasing Justin. I’m chasing closure.’

  ‘Closure?’

  ‘Yeah.’ He wasn’t getting it, she could see. ‘This time, I need to know why. I need to know what it is about me that isn’t good enough for anyone to want “forever” with me. I need to understand what I did wrong.’

  ‘What you did wrong?’ Cooper asked. ‘Sweetheart, you remember that he was the one who stood you up on your wedding day, right?’

  Dawn sighed, searching for a way to make him understand. ‘When you found out that Rachel was cheating, did you ask her why?’

  ‘No.’ Cooper shifted in his seat as he said the word, looking uncomfortable.

  ‘Well, maybe you should have done. It might have helped you move on sooner if you understood her reasons.’ Although, to be honest, Dawn could only assume insanity. Had the woman even seen Cooper? Who the hell had she thought she was going to find who was better than Cooper Edwards madly in love with her?

  ‘Her reasons were that she was an untrustworthy, lying, cheating—’

  ‘Those aren’t her reasons,’ Dawn interrupted. ‘They’re your interpretations. Like me saying that Justin is a twisted, cruel man for jilting me.’

  ‘Dawn, I know my brother isn’t perfect, but he’s not cruel. Usually.’

  ‘I know,’ Dawn said simply. ‘And that’s why I need to see him. To understand what made him act that way.’

  ‘I suppose that makes sense,’ Cooper allowed. ‘But what happens next? When you have your closure?’

  ‘I move on.’ Just the thought of it made her smile. ‘I start the rest of my life. But first, I need to exorcise all my ghosts about every guy who ever left me and went off to find his true love. I need to let it all go.’

  Cooper smirked. ‘In that case, you’re going to love our next stop. Come on. I’m driving.’

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  COOPER WASN’T ENTIRELY sure what he’d been expecting from a ghost town, but it hadn’t been this.

  The highway petered out as they approached, the road becoming cracked and uneven. Grass grew between bits of tarmac, and he thought he could even see a strange wisp of steam rising from between one of the cracks.

  Uneasy, he pulled Claudia over to the side of the road and cut the engine. He had a feeling the car wouldn’t enjoy exploring the town ahead.

  ‘It says on this website that there’s been a fire raging underground here for over fifty years,’ Dawn whispered, staring at the road ahead rather than the phone in her hand. ‘The fumes are toxic, so I guess we’d better not get too close to those cracks.’

  Cooper reached for Claudia’s keys again. ‘Okay, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. We can just exorcise our ghosts the way normal people do—with alcohol and bad choices.’

  But Dawn was already climbing out of the car. ‘No. I want to see it. I want to do this.’

  Well. It wasn’t as though he could let her go alone, so...

  Locking Claudia behind them, Cooper followed her along the road into what remained of the town of Centralia.

  ‘It used to be a mining community,’ Dawn told him as they walked. He smiled to himself. It might have been his idea to come here but, as usual, it was Dawn who’d read up on all the details and memorised them. ‘There were fifteen hundred people living here once.’

  ‘So what happened?’ He’d already read the website himself, but somehow it felt more real when Dawn told him the story.

  ‘They think the fire started in a rubbish dump over a coal seam,’ she said. ‘Firefighters tried to put it out, but the fire clung to the coal and went underground. It’s been burning u
p the earth under the town ever since, making everything unstable. Including Graffiti Highway.’

  She gestured to the road in front of them, and Cooper saw instantly what she meant. The whole road was covered in street art spray-painted on the crumbling road, a riot of colours and designs.

  ‘Graffiti artists come from all over to paint here, even though they know it could collapse at any time.’ Dawn sounded bemused by the idea.

  ‘I guess some people like living on the edge. Taking chances.’ He couldn’t help but stare at her as he said it, though, instead of the road.

  ‘Do you?’ she asked, looking up to meet his gaze.

  ‘I never thought I did,’ he answered honestly. ‘But this week... A little risk-taking doesn’t seem like the worst thing in the world.’

  Her smile told him she knew he wasn’t only talking about exploring a volatile ghost town.

  Cooper reached for her hand as they wandered up the highway to a small graveyard—one of three in the town, according to Dawn’s research. Cooper let her words wash over him as she told him about the residents who wouldn’t leave, and how the town had been shut down in pieces. It was interesting, of course, but none of it seemed to matter as much as being there with her.

  She wasn’t trying to win Justin back. She was ready to move on. She hadn’t told him she wasn’t still in love with Justin, of course, but it was a start. No, it was more than that. It was something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Hope.

  Maybe all he’d take away from this road trip in the end was memories of the person he’d been. But maybe, just maybe, he could keep something more.

  Dawn.

  ‘Are you ready to go back to the car?’ she asked as they looked out over the small graveyard. The eerie stillness of the place sent a shiver down his back but, even though every inch of him was itching to get away, he made himself stand there a moment longer.

  ‘That depends. Have you exorcised those ghosts?’ he asked.