by Ash, Nikki
Fourteen
Liz
We don’t have much stuff since we lost everything in the fire. The only items we have are the ones Cooper purchased for us the other night, so it’s easy to pack everything up quickly. I drop Bella off at preschool and then attempt to scour the classifieds for a job. Living with Cooper is not a good idea. Sure, it’s the lesser of the two evils but at least living with Bentley meant my heart was safe. I seriously need to find a job so we can move out as soon as possible.
And what the heck was Kayla thinking? Staying with Bentley instead of coming with Bella and me? What ever happened to bros before hoes or I guess for us it would be hoes before bros? Ok, that doesn’t exactly work in our favor either but you get what I mean.
I know she has a thing for Bentley but I didn’t think it was enough to make her stay living with him, especially since he is clearly hooking up with other chicks. Her and I will definitely be sharing some words.
My phone pings and I see its Cooper. What more could he possibly want?
Cooper: What time does Bella get out of school?
Me: 2 pm why?
Cooper: So, I know what time to get you guys.
Me: I have my own car and we only have the stuff you bought. Just give me your address and we will head over after she gets out of school.
After a few minutes, he sends me a text with his address. I go back to looking for jobs, copying down the information of a few possible leads.
After picking up Bella, we head back to the apartment to get our stuff. Before heading over to Cooper’s, I need to explain to her what is happening. I am sure she is confused about moving so many times.
“Angel, do you have any questions about what’s going on with us moving?”
“No, mommy. I am just sad all my stuff is gone away and I can’t get any of it back.” She responds with the most heartbreaking look on her face. I make a promise to myself that as soon as I am gainfully employed, I am going to buy her as many new toys as I can.
“Do you remember the gentleman we ran into at the grocery story awhile back? You dropped your flamingo and he picked it up?” Her eyes go bright at this and then dim down.
“Yes, he was so nice to find my flamingo. My poor flamingo didn’t make it in the fire.”
“Yes, he was nice. His name is Cooper and we are going to live with him until we can get a new home. Kayla is going to stay here, though.”
Bella takes a minute to think about what I am saying. “Can he be my daddy since I don’t have one? Tristan said daddy’s live with you.”
This would be the perfect opportunity to tell her that he is in fact already her daddy but I think it would be best to talk to Cooper first just to make sure and we can tell her together if that’s what he wants.
“That is true. Daddy’s do live with kids, but how about we focus on moving there first, and then we will figure it all out.” Thankfully she accepts this answer and starts gathering up the few toys Cooper had purchased for her.
When we finish packing all our stuff, we head to Cooper’s house. For some reason, this feels like a new chapter of our life is starting and I am not sure how I feel about it.
We get to Cooper’s neighborhood and press the button on the call box so he can let us in. He hits the buzzer and I drive until I see the address he gave me. This neighborhood is absolutely gorgeous. I would never imagine somebody like him living here. I shouldn’t be surprised because Bentley and Caleb’s place is really nice but looking around their complex has nothing on this one.
I pull up into the driveway and park next to his slick, black Range Rover; which puts my old Nissan to shame. We get out and look up at the townhouse in front of us, if you can even call it that.
“Mommy, is this my new house?” Bella asks awestruck.
“Yes, baby. For a little bit.”
We both stand there checking out the home. She’s standing by my side, and in one hand is holding the replica of the flamingo she lost in the fire that Cooper replaced. She reaches up and grabs my hand with her other.
Looking up at the townhouse it’s more like a miniature mansion. It’s got to be three stories high. The only difference between a mansion and this place is that all the homes are connected and all are identical. It looks like there’s four homes connected in each set. The outside of each home is completely white with cute black shutters and a set of stairs that lead to a dark red front door. Directly under the stairs appears to be a garage door. The garage must be the first floor and the next two floors are the home.
I am no stranger to a nice home. The home I grew up in was very nice but modest, built in the 1960’s. It was a typical family style home. For the last five years Kayla and I have lived in an apartment made for college students. It did what it needed to do, and allowed us to live close to campus and gave Bella her own room but I think my entire apartment could fit in Cooper’s driveway.
We must be admiring his home for a while because he walks out of the red door with a quizzical look on his face and says, “It’s not going to bite you. Get in here you two.” I nod quickly and go back to the trunk to grab our stuff as Bella runs up to the door. Cooper meets me at the trunk and helps me grab everything.
“This car isn’t suitable for driving Bella around. We need to do something about that soon.”
He says this so nonchalantly I almost think he is just thinking out loud, until he looks at me and raises his one eyebrow.
“Let’s just focus on one issue at a time. I can’t afford a new car and once I find a job my money needs to go toward a new place for Bella and I, and hopefully Kayla, too.”
His jaw ticks like he wants to protest but he decides to let it go. Good thinking on his part, that’s for sure. We get inside and the first thing I do is introduce Cooper to Bella. Although she has seen him a couple times, they haven’t formally met.
“Bella, this is Cooper. We are going to be staying here in his home for a little bit. Cooper, this is Bella.”
They both suddenly look so shy. “Hi, I’m Bella. You found my flamingo when it fell at the store. I have a new one now because it went away in the fire.”
“Actually, Bella, Cooper is the one who bought you the new one and… he’s the one who bought me the one you had before.”
Bella’s eyes bug out with this new information. “You are the special person who gave my mom the flamingo?”
Cooper nods his head. “Yes, I gave it to your mom five years ago when I met her. She said she liked to count animals when she couldn’t sleep.”
Bella laughs. “She still does! When I can’t sleep she always counts the flamingos for me until I fall asleep.” Cooper looks to be so overcome with emotions, I quickly change the subject before it gets too deep.
“Yup, I count flamingos. Anyway, how about you give us a quick tour of this beautiful house and show us to our rooms?”
I hope Bella’s room is near mine as I have never been too far from her. Bella must just now notice the stairs because she starts squealing and jumping up and down. “Yay! Stairs! I love stairs. Is my room up the stairs? Huh, is it? Please? I will be so happy and I promise to walk so slowly up and down the stairs. Please!”
Cooper starts chuckling at her rambling on and I can already see the love in his eyes. Bella is easy to love. I just hope it’s enough to keep him around, for her sake.
“There are four bedrooms. The master is on this floor with its own bathroom along with the library-slash-office and a half bath in the laundry room. Upstairs are two more bedrooms. One is your bedroom.”
He stops for a second because she starts jumping up and down again, saying, “Thank you,” over and over.
Once she calms down, he continues. “There’s a bathroom connected to your bedroom and the third bedroom was converted into a small gym. There’s another guest bathroom up there as well.”
Bella doesn’t even wait for him to tell her it’s ok to head upstairs before she’s flying up the stairs. So much for taking them slow.
We both follow her up and when we catch up, she is standing outside her room with her hands over her mouth. “Is-Is this my room?” She asks with such hope in her voice.
I walk closer to see what the big deal is and when I look inside, I see the most beautiful little girl’s room I have ever laid my eyes on. The room is light pink with a white chair rail running along the length of the walls. On the walls are huge hangings of all the different Disney princess characters including a huge hanging of Cinderella’s Castle.
In the center is a huge bed fit for a princess with pink and white polka dotted bedding and in front of the pillows is the dragon from Maleficent she has been asking for. Bella spots it and hugs it to her chest then continues to look around the room. There is also a delicate light pink silk canopy spread out over the top.
Wood dresser and nightstands are placed against the walls and since the floors are all hardwood, there’s a cute pink princess rug spread over the center of the room. Near the bathroom, there is a sitting room that is about half the size of the bedroom. Against one wall is the most adorable pink chair that looks like it is from Pottery Barn kids, and on the other wall is a flat screen television with a DVD player. I walk into the bathroom and the princess theme continues. I look back at Cooper and he looks uneasy like he is suddenly not sure of himself. He’s staring down and his feet are shifting from one to another.
Bella is running around the room checking it all out and then stops right in front of Cooper making him look up. “Is this all mine? Like really mine? Like black-black no trade back, mine?”
“Um, I am not sure what black-black no trade back means but yes, this is your room. I hope you like it. I wasn’t really sure what you are into.” His smile turns into a frown when he says this.
I jump in to stop him. He is second-guessing all of this and he shouldn’t be. He just made Bella’s entire year and he doesn’t even know it.
“What you did here is amazing, Cooper. I don’t even know how to thank you. Any chance my room looks half as good as this?” I ask jokingly to lighten up the mood.
He starts laughing and I get to see his beautiful smile return. I can’t help but smile back.
“Well, I haven’t done anything to the master bedroom since I moved in but you are welcome to add or change anything you like,” He says with a huge knowing smirk across his face.
It takes a second but then I remember when he named all the rooms he didn’t mention a room for me. Motherfucker. He thinks he is slick. Two can play this game.
“Oh, that’s ok. I am sure this bed is big enough for Bella and me to share.” Liz: 1 Cooper: 0
Bella looks back and forth from the bed to me, and with hands on her hips says, “Mommy, I am almost five years old. I don’t want to share a bed with you. Remember when I tried to sneak in your bed before and you told me big girls sleep in their own beds.” Well damn it she has me there.
I turn around to give Cooper the evil eye and almost run right into his chest. He must have moved closer to me while Bella was giving me her mom speech. I can see his eyes dancing with laughter as he sucks in his bottom lip to keep from laughing.
“Don’t worry baby girl. My bed is big enough for the both of us.” Then the cocky bastard winks. He actually winks. He is so lucky our daughter is in the room or I would choke him with my bare hands.
Cooper: 1 Liz: 1
I rub my hands over my face in frustration then walk out of the room. I walk towards the room he said holds the gym and open the door to see if I can put a bed in here. Unfortunately, the room is filled with tons of gym equipment, and a bed, no matter the size, would never fit. I continue down the stairs opening each door along the way. I open the door to the master bedroom and close it immediately. I can feel Cooper on my heels but I ignore him.
When I open the door to the library-slash-office, I notice there is a comfy oversized reading chair in one corner and a chaise lounge in the other. Well, this will have to do.
“I will just sleep in here. Hopefully, I will find a job soon and then we will be out of your hair. Until then I can just sleep on this couch. It looks super comfy.” Ha! Another point for me.
Cooper walks up to me slowly like he’s afraid I might attack him. I almost laugh at how nervous he looks. He grabs ahold of both sides of my waist and before I realize what he is doing, he kisses me softly on the mouth. I sigh at the comfort his touch brings to me. He pulls away too quickly but then he comes back again this time placing one kiss to the corner of my mouth. I can feel my nipples pebble so I step back before I embarrass myself.
“Look, I know I have messed up but I am here now and I am fighting. Just give me a second chance to fight for us. Let me at least have one more shot. I have a proposition for you, if you will hear me out.”
There’s now a lump in my throat. This is all I ever wanted, all I ever prayed and wished and hoped for. I nod my head for him to continue.
“I have a job opening at the gym. My dad ran all the books. I have no clue what I am doing and I am too busy training to focus on the money aspect of the business. Come to work for me and live here. Give me this last chance to fight for my family. If, after a while you don’t want this, you can move out and we can figure out the custody arrangement for Bella. But I really hope it doesn’t come to that. I want both of you. Please.”
I want to say no because I feel like he is just giving me a job that I didn’t earn but I need the money and it would be great to work in the same place as Hayley and Kayla plus Cooper would be there often. The problem is, can I give him another chance? He has already broken my heart once. I honestly don’t think I would survive a second time.
He takes my chin between his fingers and kisses me once again on my mouth letting it linger for a few seconds when we both hear little feet padding into the room and a shriek coming from Bella.
“Ewww you guys are kissing like Cinderella and the Prince! Does this mean Cooper can be my daddy? He gave me the most bestest room ever and I love him now.”
I laugh at that. It clearly doesn’t take much to win over my daughter. Cooper looks scared shitless and that makes me nervous so I elbow him and tilt my head to the side silently asking if he’s ok.
He snaps out of it and whispers, “She wants me to be her daddy and she loves me.” It must all be hitting him at once.
“Bella, why don’t you go pick a movie for us to watch in your new room.” Yup! Parent of the year award goes to me for once again ignoring her daddy question. She says ok and runs out to pick a movie. I watch her run across the hall and into her room. Then I turn and look to Cooper, seeing a mixture of emotions going through him.
He backs up and sits down in the reading chair, he hands scrubbing up and down his stubble. “I never thought anybody would ever call me daddy. And when she asked if I could be her daddy, I thought it would scare me to death but it didn’t. I just wanted to grab her and hug her and never let her go. I barely even know her and I already love her more than life itself. I felt it in the hospital when you said she was brought in but hearing her calling me daddy, my heart feels like it just grew ten times bigger. I just want to give her the world.”
“I know what you mean. When she was born, I held her in my arms and stared at her, refusing to believe she was mine. I guess it’s a parent’s love. You don’t have to know everything about her to feel that connection.”
He looks up at me and I see a single tear fall down his cheek. He shakes his head and says, “I missed it all. I missed you being pregnant. I bet you were so beautiful carrying our little girl. I missed her birth, her first steps, and her first words. Damn it, Liz. I missed everything. All because I was a fucking idiot who thought I didn’t deserve any of this so I pushed you away. For four years, I had a daughter who had no father all because of the choices I made. I will never be able to get any of that back.”
I move closer to Cooper and put my hands into his. “You didn’t know Cooper. It wasn’t your fault. You had a crappy childhood and you made the choices you thought were
best at the time. I was just going off to college. I didn’t try to give you my number either.”
He looks over at me and gives me a small smirk. “Yeah, that was cute the way you got into a twenty-one and older club and acted like you just graduated college. Any younger and you would have been jail-bait.”
I smile big and stick my tongue out at him. Wait until he hears the other half of it. “Oh, well, you also didn’t realize that I was a virgin when we hooked up.”
His eyes bug out and he gets serious. “Liz, what the fuck! I took you in the shower our first time. Why didn’t you tell me? I would have been gentler or caring…” I cut him off at that.
“No, you were perfect. My first time… and second time…. and third time were all perfect. I don’t regret anything we did. I wasn’t lying when I said I was on the pill. The problem was I had only just started it a couple days before. I didn’t plan to have sex so I didn’t look into when it becomes effective. I had no clue birth control pills take a week to work. I was eighteen and stupid. I got to Las Vegas and four weeks later after throwing up for days went to the doctor where she confirmed I was pregnant.”
“I can’t even imagine how scared you were. I wish I could have been there for you. I am so sorry, Liz.”
“It’s ok,” I say honestly. “Kayla was there every step of the way. We worked part time and took classes and graduated together. It wasn’t easy but we did it.”
He lets out a loud sigh, shaking his head. Before he can respond, Bella comes running back into the room. “I got the movie!” She waves it in the air.