Mr. Cooper turned as much as he could manage in the wheelchair. “Which blonde?”
“The one with the big blue eyes and tight pants.”
“Oh yes,” Mr. Cooper rumbled. “I saw her.”
“All right, horn dogs,” I said. “If the staff hears you talking about them like that, they’ll kick Mr. Cooper out for misbehaving.”
“Oh bullshit,” Mr. Cooper said. “Let me have a little fun, Luke.”
“Yeah, Luke,” Mark grinned. “Don’t be a cock block.”
I flipped Mark off, and he winked back, his eyes mischievously dancing.
“This place is swanky, huh, Mr. Cooper?” Mark asked, coming further into the room.
“It probably costs more each week than my apartment did each month,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter,” I told him yet again.
“That’s Saint Luke for you.” Mark threw himself onto the bed and began testing its bounce. He sat up and stretched his arms over his head. “Did Luke tell you about his new girlfriend?”
Mr. Cooper looked at me in admonishment. “No, he didn’t.”
“We’ve been a little distracted with other things,” I said. “Finding Mr. Cooper a nice place to live kind of took the front seat.” I turned to the older man. “I can go to your apartment this weekend and start packing up your things, if you like. The front desk said there’s a spot available here right away.”
“Don’t change the subject, Luke. Who’s this new girlfriend?”
Mark spoke up before I had the chance to. “She helped break into your apartment.”
Mr. Cooper guffawed. “That hot dish, huh?”
I snorted. “Do you even remember much from that day?”
“I remember her pretty face. She’s your girlfriend, huh?”
“I guess,” I said, feeling the hesitation in the words.
“What do you mean you guess? Did you ask her to go steady or not?”
Mark laughed. “People don’t usually do that anymore, Mr. Cooper.”
“Right,” he answered. “I forgot. Now they just jump in the sack and don’t talk about it.”
His comment made me a little self-conscious. “It’s not quite like that,” I said in my defense. “I like Grace. A lot. It’s way more than physical.”
“So are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?”
I folded my arms and leaned against the wall. Mr. Cooper’s suggestion was actually starting to sound like a good idea. After all, what was wrong with getting a little clarity in a relationship? Grace and I had been spending each available minute together the whole week — which had been kind of tricky since I was busy helping Mr. Cooper and she was involved in creating a list of dog walking clients. Now that it was Friday, I looked forward to the weekend and spending more time together. Her aunt and uncle were having a little family barbecue the next day and had invited me. My hands itched at the very thought of getting to spend the whole weekend touching Grace.
I had thought it was still kind of early to put labels on our relationship, but for the first time that week, I found myself wanting to call it something. I wanted to find some way to declare my feelings for Grace, to show her just how deeply they ran.
“You in love with her?” Mr. Cooper asked.
I licked my lips and gazed at him. Over his shoulder, Mark grinned.
“Well, Luke?” Mark pressed, his smile growing even bigger. Clearly he enjoyed everything about the conversation.
I cleared my throat. “We only just started seeing each other.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Mr. Cooper said. “When you know you know. You ever been in love, Mark?”
The smile on my friend’s face dampened slightly. “I, uh, I don’t know.”
“It’s not much fun being put on the spot is it?” I asked Mark, making him scowl at me.
“How about this then,” Mr. Cooper began. “Could you be in love with her?”
I thought of Grace’s face, of how her dark eyes seemed endless. Looking into them was like looking into a tunnel leading into a whole new world — one extraordinarily more magical and vast than the one I knew. Even after I’d learned about her attitudes towards life — the ones stemming from her entitled upbringing — I hadn’t been able to deny my feelings.
Since the day we’d found Mr. Cooper on the floor of his apartment, those feelings had only grown. It had partly been because of the help she’d extended to the people around her. Me. Mr. Cooper. Tracey.
It was more than that though. It was a magnetic pull I couldn’t really describe. Grace could have done nothing and said not a word since the day we met, and I still would have been drawn to her.
“Yes,” I slowly said. “But it’s complicated. She has these… ideas… ones that are twisted.”
Mr. Cooper harrumphed. “She schizophrenic?”
I laughed. “No. At least I don’t think so.” I scratched my head and chose my words carefully, not wanting to make Grace sound awful. “She comes from a pretty privileged upbringing—”
Mr. Cooper interrupted. “So do you.”
“I expected you to say that.”
“So she’s too much like you? Is that the problem?”
“No,” I stressed. “It’s that she doesn’t know much about what real life is like. She thinks everything should be handed to her on a silver platter.”
Mark watched me with interest but didn’t say anything.
“What makes you say that?” Mr. Cooper asked.
“When she told me she needed to get a job and go back to school, she went on and on about how she was incapable of those things.”
“Hold on,” Mark said. “She has a job. Right? You told me she’s starting her own dog walking business?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “But only because she has to.”
Mark shook his head. “And what about volunteering at Community First? Did she have to do that?”
“No…”
“Then what’s the problem, man?”
“She’s changing,” I answered. “I can see that. She’s waking up and seeing things for what they really are. She’s becoming more helpful. It’s amazing, actually. It’s just…” I struggled for what I was trying to get at. “It’s too good to be true.”
“Then maybe it is,” Mr. Cooper said.
My shoulders fell. “I was hoping you’d convince me otherwise.”
He peered at me. “If you want to be convinced otherwise, then convince yourself otherwise.”
“You’re afraid,” Mark said.
I snapped my eyes at him, wanting to deny it but knowing he was spot on.
Mark shrugged. “Hey, it makes sense. Imagine if you let her go, though, and it turned out she really has become the great person you think she is. That would suck. It would suck balls.”
Mr. Cooper made a disgusted face.
“You’re in love,” Mark stated simply. “I’ve known you long enough to see that. This girl is something special. Don’t shoot her down just because she’s on the same path as you, but hasn’t gotten as far down the road as you have.”
Mark’s words echoed in the silent room while I stared at him. Mr. Cooper craned his neck to do the same.
“Damn,” I breathed. “That was deep.”
“Hell yeah it was,” Mr. Cooper agreed.
Hearing the curse come from his mouth made me laugh. “All right. You’ve got me.”
“So tell her you love her,” Mark said. “Before it’s too late.” He stood up and smoothed the top of his hair. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hot blonde to ask out.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Grace
Leaving the grocery store, I slowed my stride. The sun beat deliciously down on my back, and I turned my face up, eager to soak in the rays.
Remembering I still had to watch for traffic, I opened my eyes and peered through my sunglasses at the parking lot. It was close to empty, so I kept up my lackadaisical walk, going to Aunt Ginger’s car and unlocking it before setting my one plas
tic bag in the passenger seat.
Once in the car, I took a moment to adjust the air conditioning and turn the radio to a station I liked. Borrowing my aunt’s car to run to the grocery store for twenty minutes felt like a field trip. I’d practically leapt at the opportunity to helm something other than a set of handlebars.
It was late Saturday morning. Aunt Ginger and Uncle Joe were at home getting the backyard ready for our barbecue. Luke would arrive in an hour. Tracey and I had gotten four dogs signed on for walks in just the last few days. Everything was perfect.
Except I still hadn’t revealed my big secret to Luke.
I stared at myself in the sun visor’s mirror, watching the air conditioning lift the strands of hair around my face.
I wished the whole thing didn’t bother me so much. The plan to marry for money was in the past, after all. Suppose Luke had been poor. Wouldn’t I have still fallen for him? I looked away from the mirror and out at the Crystal Brook Grocery’s parking lot. I hoped so.
I needed to stop stressing out about it. I needed to chill, to just let things be. Everything was good as it was. Stirring the pot was stupid.
I backed out of the parking lot and took the longest way I knew back, singing to the radio along the way. The trip took me around downtown, through a cute little neighborhood about half a mile from Luke’s house. The car slid by a few apartment buildings and then past a collection of houses. A red and white sign stuck in the front yard of one house caught my eye.
Checking to make sure no other cars were behind me, I stopped the car and took a second glance. The sign said For Rent, and the house in mention was a small purple one with green trim and a little porch just big enough for a few rocking chairs.
My heart swelled, much in the way it does when there’s a cute puppy in front of me. The gravel driveway next to the house was empty, so I pulled the car into it and clambered out, nearly tripping over myself in excitement.
Already fantasies of having my own place swept through my brain. I’d never lived alone before. The concept seemed equal parts terrifying and thrilling.
It couldn’t be too difficult though, right? Not with my aunt and uncle just a few minutes away. Not with Luke a quick bike ride down the street…
I hopped onto the porch and peered through the front windows at a living room painted in white. It was small, but it had a fireplace and wooden floors. I swallowed hard, imagining myself living in there.
It would be like my loft back home in L.A., only better. There would be no sneaking men in past my father or any other parental units. Or, rather, no sneaking Luke in.
I jumped down from the porch and went along the side of the house, to the little backyard and door. I peeked in every window along the way, taking note of a kitchen with a small chandelier hanging in the middle of it, a bedroom with a slanted ceiling, and a bathroom — one with a claw footed bathtub. Yay!
The place was small, no doubt, but perfect for one person. Someone had obviously loved the place enough to give it some tender loving care.
I wandered back to the car, finishing the circle I’d started around the house. Before I opened the car door, I turned to take one last look at the place.
Me. In Crystal Brook. Not in a billionaire’s mansion.
An odd thought, truly… and yet not.
I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the For Rent sign so I could call the number on it later.
Smiling to myself, I climbed into Aunt Ginger’s car and continued on my merry way.
The backyard had been transformed. The long picnic table that had been sitting near the overgrown bushes in the back had been pulled forward to rest near the garden. Multicolored paper lanterns hung from the tree near it, bouncing slightly when a breeze moved across the yard. Uncle Joe stood at the grill, watching it heat up. Music played through the open kitchen window, the DJ spinning tunes that made my hips sway.
Aunt Ginger spread a red plastic tablecloth across the table then smoothed its edgings with her palms.
“Wow,” I said, stopping short and staring at the scene. “This looks amazing.”
Aunt Ginger smiled at me. “Did they have the right brand of pickles?”
“Yeah.” I went over to the table and pulled the pickle jar out of the plastic bag and set it on the tablecloth. “How did you decorate so fast?”
Her smile grew broader. “Oh, it was nothing.”
“When’s the lover boy get here?” Uncle Joe asked.
Aunt Ginger rolled her eyes. “I think he’s crushing on Luke,” she whispered.
I nodded fervently and tried not to laugh out loud. “We’ve already determined that’s the case,” I whispered back.
“What are you two talking about?” Uncle Joe demanded.
“Uh, about how I need to go and see if the oven is preheated yet,” I lied. “Okay. Bye.”
I went into the house, trying to remember where I’d dropped my purse upon coming in through the front door. After stashing the grocery store bag in the cabinet Aunt Ginger collected plastic bags for re-using, I walked down the hallway and found my purse in the living room.
Grabbing my cell phone, I pulled up the picture I’d taken of the For Rent sign and debated whether or not to go ahead and call the number. It was a big decision, moving into a house of my own. I would probably have to sign a lease, which meant I would be stuck in Crystal Brook for another year no matter what else happened in my life.
No. Stuck wasn’t the right word. I was no longer “stuck” in Crystal Brook.
I was happy in it.
My phone buzzed with a text, so I closed out the gallery and went to messages. It was Rainy. At her name, a lump formed in my throat. I’d been so busy the last couple days I had barely thought of her. The text conversation we’d had while I walked Mr. Jingles was the last time we communicated.
Are you ever going to talk to me?
I sighed and walked back to the kitchen. I needed a drink of water and a minute to think about just what I wanted to reply. After pouring myself a glass, I sat down at the kitchen table and sipped it for a few seconds before picking my phone up again.
I don’t know what to say, I wrote. Other than I forgive you. I just want to move on in life.
There. That was simple, to the point, and completely true.
I watched Uncle Joe and Aunt Ginger through the window while I waited to see if Rainy would text back. The radio set up at the other end of the kitchen table began playing some super cheesy and slow eighties song, and Uncle Joe swayed up to Aunt Ginger, shaking his hips at her. She laughed and playfully slapped him, but he took her hands and dipped her down towards the ground.
I laughed a little at the sight. My aunt and uncle didn’t seem unhappy in their relationship, but I hadn’t yet seen the level of affection I was witnessing. It was adorable and uplifting to see two people still happy together after years of marriage.
My phone buzzed. Half a second later, I heard a car door slam. I craned my neck, listening for more sounds. Was it Luke?
I quickly read the text.
I’m not asking for your forgiveness.
“Oh my God,” I muttered, dropping my head and pressing my cheek against the cool table. “What do you want from me?” I asked out loud.
I tapped my fingers against the table and thought about it. Luke’s voice drifted in through the kitchen window, his words muffled. I sat up straight and peered into the back yard. He walked across the grass, a six pack of beer in one hand. Aunt Ginger and Uncle Joe swarmed around him, my aunt patting his arm adoringly and my uncle shaking his hand.
I didn’t have time for drama with Rainy. That chapter of my life was as good as closed. Surprise, surprise, I was actually thinking of staying in North Carolina. Like, of my own free will.
I don’t know what you want, I texted back. And I’m sorry this happened between us. I’d like to move on with my life now.
I set the phone back on the table and stood up. There. I was done. She would respond I was sure, but i
t didn’t really matter what she said. The chapter in my life in which Rainy was a star player had closed. I had moved on.
No sooner had I taken a step than another text came in.
“One more look,” I told myself. After that, I was going into the backyard to enjoy my Saturday with my family and boyfriend.
So you’re staying there?
I held the phone in my hand. There it was. The big question.
From outside, Luke laughed at something. Aunt Ginger and Uncle Joe chimed in, Uncle Joe’s booming laugh so loud it could scare the birds from the trees.
Yes, I texted back. I’m staying here.
With that, I put the phone back down.
I hurried out into the backyard, the butterflies in my stomach fluttering away. Somehow I still got them whenever Luke was around. In some ways each moment with him felt like our first meeting over and over again… minus the bike crashing into the recycling bin.
“Hi,” I called, stepping into the grass.
He turned and looked at me, and the instant our eyes met, a smile stretched across his face. I smiled in response, loving everything about that moment. I did it. I made Luke happy, just by my being there. And he did the same for me.
We gazed at each other silently, all of the possible things we could have been saying already being delivered by our quiet looks. Just being there together, holding each other in that sacred space… it was everything in the whole world.
“Who wants shish kebabs?” Uncle Joe practically yelled, interrupting the moment.
Luke turned and looked at him. “Sounds great.”
“Excellent,” I agreed.
Aunt Ginger took the beer from Luke’s hand. “I’ll go put these in the fridge so they can get cool. I was just going to mix up a pitcher of margaritas. Would you like one?”
“Sure. Thank you,” Luke responded, although he wasn’t looking at Aunt Ginger. He still gazed at me, his blue eyes sparkling even from halfway across the yard.
Aunt Ginger shimmied past me, and I walked slowly up to Luke, his eyes following my each and every step. A breath away, I stopped and gazed up at him.
“You look beautiful,” he breathed.
I tried to keep back the smile. “You say that a lot.”
Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) Page 19