by Lucy Gilmore
Hailey laughed to see the expression on Cole’s face, but she also felt a pang of pity. If he’d come here hoping for a quiet, personal chat with his father, it was obvious he wasn’t going to get it.
She, however, was. Cole’s dad indicated the chair next to him, and this time with enough authority that she complied. He accepted the crushed flowers with a sniff, but it was a pleased sniff, so she was glad she’d brought them.
“Whatever it is you’re doing to break that curse, keep it up,” he said with a nod across the room at Cole. “We’re so close to the Kickoff Cup that I can taste it. What’s your secret? Chanting? Sage? Promises of your firstborn child?”
Hailey smiled and shook her head. “It has nothing to do with me, I’m afraid. I’m only a spectator, like you.”
“Bullshit.”
Cole’s mom overheard this last part. “Julian, language.”
Julian shot Hailey a conspiratorial smile. “Bullshit,” he said, quieter this time. “Is it those dogs of yours? Regina told me you gave one to Garrett Smith this morning. If you’re handing out lucky puppies, you might want to add Byrd to the list. His defensive tackles could use some work.”
She couldn’t resist. “Actually, there is a sweet little beagle who could use a place to stay for the next few weeks—”
“Hailey, I absolutely forbid you from giving my parents a puppy.”
She sneaked a quick peek up at Cole. Although he still looked like a little boy who was afraid his parents were about to send him to his room, the lines on his face had relaxed. It was as if just walking into the room—seeing for himself that his father was sitting up and talking and well on his way to recovery—had calmed him.
Which, if his family had any sense, they would have realized last week. Hailey could think of fewer fates worse than to be shut out at a time like this. These people were obviously everything to Cole, and he was obviously everything to them.
Didn’t they realize how precious that was? How rare?
“I wouldn’t be giving her to them,” she protested. “It’s only temporary. And it doesn’t seem fair that all your puppies get to enjoy rich, cushy homes before the big game while my puppies suffer deprivation and despair.”
“A beagle?” Cole’s mom pursed her lips thoughtfully. “They are awfully cute, Julian. And you know what the doctor said about you getting more exercise as soon as we get you home. You could take her for walks.”
“Don’t fall for it, Mom.”
Both of Cole’s parents ignored him. “It would be one of the lucky ones, right?” Julian eyed Hailey askance. “Not a knockoff?”
Hailey soothed her conscience with the thought that she wouldn’t even be in this situation in the first place if Cole hadn’t asked it of her. Besides, a cuddly beagle was just the thing a man recovering from a heart attack needed. Unconditional puppy love healed everything.
Well, almost everything.
“Absolutely,” she promised. “A bona fide Puppy Cup puppy, and I’ll even deliver her to your door myself—including all the supplies you’ll need to take care of her.”
She could see them relenting and was toying with the idea of seeing how Cole’s grandmother and the Wegmores felt about temporary puppy custodianship when they heard a light knock on the door. It was followed by the entrance of a lab-coated woman in a bright-purple headscarf.
“Ghastly of me, I know, but I’ve come to see if I might borrow your visitor for a few minutes.” The woman, whose name tag proclaimed her as Dr. Shad, spoke with a cultured British accent. “Actually, that’s a lie. It never takes a few minutes, does it?”
Considering how hard Cole had fought to get into this room in the first place, Hailey was afraid he would take the interruption badly. At sight of the woman, however, he broke into his signature dimpled grin.
“And here I thought I might be able to slip in and out unseen.” He shook his head and heaved a mock sigh. “I should have known better.”
Dr. Shad looked immediately contrite, her exquisite brows drawing together in the center of her forehead. “Oh no. Do you want me to pretend I didn’t see you? I can, you know. I didn’t tell any of them you were here.”
“Them?” Hailey echoed.
“Children’s ward,” Regina supplied as she and Mia slipped into the room behind the doctor. She didn’t quite meet her brother’s eyes. “I meant to tell you, Cole, but for some reason or other, it kept slipping my mind. Amara wanted to know if you’d be available to make a round during one of your visits.”
Hailey didn’t believe that for a second, and one glance at Cole’s face convinced her that he felt the same. But a man who spent as much time with a camera trained on him as this one didn’t have to be told how to hide his emotions.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m here now, isn’t it?” Cole said lightly. He nodded at the doctor. “Of course I’ll swing by.”
Dr. Shad’s face broke out in a bright smile. “You’re sure you don’t mind? I know your schedule is busy right now, and I’m sure you have a hundred other places to be, but—”
“I don’t have anywhere else to be,” Cole assured her. Hailey thought she detected a flat note in his voice, but it could have been her imagination. “I’m yours for as long as you need me. Hailey?”
“Of course.” Hailey moved her hands in a sweeping gesture. “Go do your thing. I’ll, uh, visit with your parents for a bit longer and then hang out in the cafeteria or something until you’re done. I don’t mind.”
Dr. Shad clucked her tongue. “Don’t be silly. You’re more than welcome to tag along. You’re that puppy woman from the news, aren’t you? The one who’s going to break the you-know-what? The kids will get a huge kick out of that. They love animals.”
Hailey wasn’t sure she liked this new reputation of hers, but there was little she could do about it now. Besides, that was the deal, right? Break the curse, save the puppies. All the rest of this stuff—Cole and his family and friendly doctors knowing her on sight—were just temporary perks. Emphasis on temporary.
“Come with me,” Cole said, adding his fuel to the fire. “Please?”
She felt a little weird about it and might have protested further, but the thought of sitting and chatting with Cole’s parents for the next hour was worse than following him around the hospital. Not because she felt unwelcome but because she had no doubt that they’d happily keep her company the entire time.
If she thought it was difficult not getting attached to the dogs she fostered, then not getting attached to this good-natured family was a hundred times worse.
“I’d love to,” she said, giving in. Since she still had some dignity left, however, she turned to Julian and Paula and added, “But think about what I said regarding that beagle. The offer is an open one.”
* * *
“He’s something else, isn’t he?” Dr. Shad—Amara, as she’d insisted Hailey call her—leaned on the wall next to her. It was brightly painted with underwater sea creatures and mermaids, all of which were frolicking down the hallway and through the nurses’ station. “He comes down every few months to check on them.”
“Yeah, he’s something, all right,” Hailey agreed, stifling her sigh.
It wasn’t extraordinary for a man like Cole to include charitable hospital visits in his regular lineup of duties. Football players did it all the time—usually for publicity or as part of a Make-A-Wish promise—bringing a small bit of joy into the lives of kids who needed it the most.
But why did he have to be so good at it? There wasn’t a camera or journalist in sight, and she doubted the Make-A-Wish Foundation ran to playing checkers with every child on the entire floor. Yet that was what Cole was doing, treating each game as a precious opportunity to hone his skills—and to lose in a spectacularly hilarious fashion.
He just had to be great with kids on top of everything else, didn’t he?
&
nbsp; “It’s a nice thing you’re doing, by the way,” Amara said.
“Oh, um.” Hailey was startled into a blush, fearful that her uncharitable thoughts were showing. “I don’t mind…not really. They obviously adore him, and I’m not busy.”
“Not the kids.” Amara pushed off the wall and turned to face her. “The you-know-what.”
Hailey couldn’t pretend not to know what she was talking about. The curse.
“To be honest, I’m doing it more for the puppies than the Lumberjacks,” she confessed. “We’re expecting record numbers of viewers this year. My boss is over the moon.”
“I’ll bet.” Amara pointed up at a nearby television. “It’s all they’ve been talking about on the news.”
Although Hailey would have gladly ignored the images moving across the screen, the alternative was to watch as Cole showed a child hooked up to an oxygen tank how to throw a football using a teddy bear as a prop. At least the news had the sound turned all the way down. She could pretend the newscaster was making sensible remarks about the lowering annual rates of puppy adoption and how viewers could make a difference.
“Here,” Amara said, squashing Hailey’s plans by pulling a remote from out of her pocket. “You probably want to hear what they’re saying.”
The newscaster paused on an image of Cole and Hailey standing close to each other in front of the puppy drafting board, both of them laughing at something Penny had said. From the way their bodies were angled, they gave the appearance of holding hands. For a brief, shining moment, she hoped it was just her imagination, but Amara finished switching off the mute function.
“…which begs the real question: Just how far is Cole Bennett willing to go to break the curse?” asked the female anchor, whose blond bob cut across her shoulders like a scythe.
The male anchor chuckled. “It looks to me like he’s willing to go all the way, Karen.”
Hailey felt her cheeks burn. “Oh dear. I didn’t know word would get out so quickly.”
Amara laughed. “You didn’t think you could keep this sort of thing a secret for long, did you? He’s Cole Bennett, darling. The only thing the fans care about more than his game play is his love life.”
“It’s not like that—” she began, but she stopped herself short. Technically, it was like that. That night on her couch was burned into her memory, tingling in places better left unmentioned while in the presence of so many children. So was the fact that Cole showed every intention of wishing to repeat his performance, kissing her in full view of the world and bringing her to the hospital to visit his father. Sometime in the past week, their relationship had officially become a thing.
The idea of their entanglement was reinforced when Cole glanced up from the child’s bedside and caught her eye. The smile he gave her—that deep, dimpled, devastating smile—was impossible to ignore and even more impossible not to return.
So she did.
Amara saw it, of course. The doctor sighed as though she’d made the match herself. “I can’t wait to tell my husband,” she said. “He was heartbroken when the Lumberjacks lost to the Timberwolves last year. Whatever you’re doing, keep it up. I haven’t seen Cole like this in a long time.”
“Like what?” Hailey couldn’t help asking.
“Not as stiff in his movements. Not as worried about his shoulder. We noticed it in the game last Sunday, but I chalked it up to the new pain meds his doctors switched him to.” She beamed at Hailey. “I’d much rather it be this. I worry about him.”
“Worry about him?” she echoed.
“Of course. Don’t you?”
Hailey didn’t have a chance to follow up before the man in question finished his last game of checkers and came up to join them.
“Well, I think that’s all of them.” Cole bore the self-satisfied look of a man who’d just made two dozen children deliriously happy—and enjoyed himself in the process. “Now they’re pumped up and likely to keep your nurses awake all night. You’re welcome.”
Amara chuckled but showed no signs of dismay as she accompanied them down the hallway. Hailey wished she could say the same. Dismay was all over her—in the careful way she took each step, in the way her head whirled, in how her heart wouldn’t stop pounding.
“Thank you for playing along,” he said, the words low and next to her ear. “I know this wasn’t how you planned to spend your evening, but they’re good kids.”
“Of course,” she murmured back but without fully registering his words. She was too busy trying to make sense of this new information.
Cole was stiff? There was something wrong with his shoulder? I’m supposed to be worried about him?
“Was that our faces I saw on the news just now or another pair of puppy-drafting professionals?” he asked, louder this time.
Amara answered for her. “I was telling Hailey that you two have been the highlight all week. Everyone is sure that this year’s Kickoff Cup will be the one to end all Kickoff Cups.”
“Excellent,” he said, more to himself than to either of them. “That’s exactly what we were hoping for.”
Hailey stepped back as Cole and Amara made plans for a future visit to the hospital as soon as the Kickoff Cup was over and Cole’s schedule returned to normal. It was a perfectly ordinary conversation, and nothing about it should have upset her, but her stomach felt tight at every word.
“What’s wrong?” Cole asked as soon as Amara walked away and the two of them were left alone next to a waiting room filled with half-finished puzzles and several battered board-game boxes. “What did Amara tell you to make you look like that? Whatever it was, she was lying.”
Hailey smiled but didn’t allow herself to be charmed. “She sang your praises, naturally. What else could she do? You’re really good with those children.”
“I like kids. I always have.” He gave a half shrug, dismissing his generosity as easily as if it were a pair of socks with his face knitted into the toes. “Well, what’s next? A cup of coffee and a snack cake in the cafeteria? Some of those strange vending-machine french fries that only seem to exist in hospitals? I brought you all this way. The least I can do is feed you.”
She could appreciate what he was trying to do, but she’d never been any good at pretense, and she wasn’t likely to start now. There was no way she could eat vending-machine fries without giving everything away.
“I think I’d like to go home, if that’s all right with you,” she said. “It’s been a long day, and if there are going to be reporters showing up at my house demanding that I throw dice or nail horseshoes over my doorstep, I need to start preparing now.”
Cole laughed but didn’t press her. “Just open the door and let them get a glimpse of your living room,” he said. “If that doesn’t convince them you mean business, I don’t know what will.”
Chapter 15
There were times when Hailey wished she had a bigger house so she could have a roommate—not just someone to split the bills with but someone to split her time with, someone to make the place less lonely on cold, gray winter nights when the whole world seemed to be asleep.
This was not one of those times.
“It’s a good thing I tried—and failed—to take up knitting last year,” she said to the puppy she held cradled in the crook of one arm. Rufus had just finished a very satisfactory bottle and emitted a sleepy yawn. “This red yarn adds a touch of pizzazz to the whole thing, don’t you think?”
Now that he was sated and cozy, the puppy answered by drifting off to sleep. Which was for the best, really. Even a three-week-old runt of the litter would find it easy to judge her for this latest exploit.
She stepped back and viewed her handiwork.
If she were to die right here and now, her body found on the living room floor after being eaten by puppies, the world would assume she was the stalkeriest stalker in the history of stalkerdom—a
nd with good reason. The wall in front of her was a collage of Cole Bennett images and articles she’d printed out, along with various stat sheets and injury reports. It covered the past six years of Lumberjack football highlights, including a breakdown of the plays in every single Kickoff Cup playoff game to date.
It also included a complete medical history of labral shoulder tears, surgeries, and recovery rates.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” Hailey said as she absorbed the whole. She’d always been a visual learner. Seeing the timeline laid out like this, the cause and effect attached with red yarn that was, okay, possibly a little over the top, had a way of clarifying her thoughts into one cohesive whole.
Cole Bennett had been on a steady decline ever since his shoulder injury. It was such a mild rate of deterioration, disguised by the regular ups and downs of a six-month season, that it had gone unnoticed by the public.
And by her.
“If he continues like this, he has one, maybe two more years in him,” she said to the sleeping puppy. “But they won’t be his best ones. No wonder he’s been taking all those unnecessary hits. His time to throw is almost double what it used to be.”
She lowered herself to her couch and fell back against the cushions, seeing but no longer seeing the facts laid out in front of her. Everything was starting to make a dizzying amount of sense.
The way Cole had been so stiff after wrenching open those elevator doors, the things Amara had said at the hospital…what he’s doing with me in the first place. She wasn’t just some good-luck token to break the curse; she was a piece in a much bigger, much more final puzzle.
This was probably Cole’s last chance at a Kickoff Cup.
Her phone rang with such portentous timing that Hailey was almost startled into dropping Rufus. Fumbling to reach into her back pocket without disturbing the puppy, she was too breathless and distracted to take note of who was calling her.
And by the time she said “hello,” hanging up was no longer an option.