Emily winced and shook her head, and he was falling for her a little more. “I feel so bad for her. I mean, what’s worse, your jerk father trying to make you go back home, or him not caring enough to even try?” she whispered.
He leaned forward and kissed her softly. “This is amazing, what you’re doing. Concentrate on that and how you can help her. I better get to work. How about when this place clears out tonight we go into town? Get some dinner?”
She smiled and nodded. “Perfect.”
She walked out of the room, and he rolled his shoulders, surprised for the first time in a long time that they weren’t stiff or weighed down by his past. He was actually looking forward to his day and then his night with Emily.
…
“So were you guys, like, having sex?”
Emily choked on her coffee and coughed as she drove Morgan to the local high school. She glanced at her younger friend, unable to hide her shock. The girl was slouched in the front seat, her brows drawn tightly together. She was the epitome of teenage anger and rebellion. Emily couldn’t really relate to that. She’d never gone through a rebellious stage because she’d been a people pleaser. Then again, she hadn’t had a drunk, abusive father, either. She still didn’t know what she was going to do with Morgan.
All of a sudden, her life was changing fast. Her weekend had been filled with Cooper and Morgan. It was probably the best weekend of her life. While Morgan hadn’t been exactly chatty, Emily could tell the girl liked her room. They’d ordered pizza, and Morgan had joined them, not really contributing to conversation but not making an effort to leave the table, either. Emily wanted to give her space, but she also wanted to help her.
Then there was…Cooper. He’d been amazing. She hadn’t expected him to just move in without complaint or without being asked. Not that she would have asked. But he’d sort of taken up residence and was making no mention of leaving anytime soon. It was as though they were falling into some kind of new routine. Or a relationship. Their date had changed everything. He’d opened up to her, and she was falling in love for the first time in her life. If that’s what it was. It had to be. She had openly talked to him about her family and her brother, and he hadn’t made fun of her or belittled her. It had been a life-changing experience. She trusted him.
“Um, no,” she finally answered. “We were talking about our plans for the day.”
Morgan shrugged and smirked. “I wouldn’t think you were a slut if you were.”
Emily tried frantically to think of something to say and not give away the fact that she was a panicked, unqualified person to be talking about this kind of stuff. She glanced at her from the corner of her eye while driving. It was morning; she couldn’t deal with stuff like this in the morning. She needed friends who had teenagers.
She cleared her throat and tried to sound like she was an authority and yet also somewhat cool. She kept her eyes on the road because this wasn’t a conversation where eye contact would be comfortable. “Well, I’m not a fan of the word slut. I don’t think it’s a nice word.”
Morgan snorted. “Tell that to my dad. Everyone talks like that anyway.”
Emily squeezed the steering wheel tightly. “You don’t have to. No one can force you to say things.”
“What if someone is?”
“We don’t need to label people, period.”
“Well, your boyfriend seems decent. He’s hot, too, for someone older. If you don’t put out, he’ll leave, so don’t let me being around stop you.”
If she could safely close her eyes and drive, she would. In fact, maybe she should. If only plowing into a tree would solve her problems. “He wouldn’t do that. And if he did, then he wouldn’t be a guy worth having.”
Morgan snickered. “Are you, like, from the past?”
That was almost funny, but she wouldn’t laugh. “Uh, no. But I wouldn’t stay with someone who pressured me to do something I didn’t want to do or who assumed I owed him something. That’s not a real relationship, so it wouldn’t last, and I’d consider him a douche.”
Morgan plucked an imaginary piece of lint from her shirt. “Wouldn’t that be labeling him?”
Emily clenched her teeth. She had such newfound sympathy for parents of teenagers. “I was trying to make a point.”
Morgan didn’t say anything, but her smirk held its position.
Emily frantically searched for something to say that had nothing to do with sex or relationships. “So, how’s school? This is your last year, right?”
“Yeah. It’s okay,” she said in that same despondent sort of voice. “I don’t really care anyway.”
“Do you have any favorite subjects?” Emily asked, desperate to draw her out.
Morgan scoffed. “No.”
Emily fiddled with her travel mug, wondering if it would be too much to ask her what her plans were after graduation. But who knew if she was even going to graduate? She knew nothing about her. One thing was clear: she was going to have to get the girl some help. There was no way she would stand by and let Morgan flounder and suffer. She would help her however she could, even if it meant more excruciatingly painful conversations. “I didn’t really have a favorite, either,” she said, trying her best to sound nonchalant.
Morgan scoffed. “I bet you went to private school and were on the honor roll and had your pick of universities. Your parents were probably loaded, and you were the perfect daughter. I don’t want to be mean to you, because you didn’t actually have to help me out, but you probably shouldn’t compare our high school years.”
Emily flushed, embarrassed and hurt, as Morgan turned from her and picked up her backpack. She pulled her car up outside the front of the high school. Students were milling around the front yard, but Morgan didn’t make a move to get out. “So, um, you have a good day, okay?” Emily said in a gentle voice.
Morgan nodded, picking up her backpack but not making an effort to move.
“Everything okay?” Emily asked when Morgan’s face turned red.
Morgan nodded again, and this time opened her door. Emily realized she was in way over her head. She needed some help if she was going to have Morgan in her house for an indefinite amount of time. She was also going to have to tell Moose that his daughter was staying with her. “Wait!” Emily called out just as Morgan was about to shut the door.
Morgan turned to her.
“Do you have a lunch? Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think of that,” she said, not waiting for a reply and reaching into her wallet. “Here.” She shoved her only bill at Morgan. “Will ten be enough for lunch in the caf?”
Morgan stared at the bill then up at Emily. “For real?”
Emily nodded, not knowing if it was enough money or not. “Is that enough for a drink, too?”
“Uh, yeah, thanks,” she said, taking the money and shoving it into the front pocket of her jeans. “It’s more than I’ve ever had.”
Her heart squeezed, but she was relieved that she’d done something right. “Okay. Um, maybe I can pick you up after school and we can go do some shopping? You can pick up some of your favorite foods? I’m not much of a cook, but I’m sure we can figure it out. Then maybe we can get you some extra clothes, since you didn’t bring too much. Who wants to have to do laundry all the time, right?” she said, forcing a smile, trying to hide how sad she was for this young girl. Morgan’s expression of disbelief was enough to make her want to cry.
Morgan gave her a small nod; she didn’t even make one of her sarcastic remarks. She shut the door, and Emily watched the girl walk across the lawn. Her chest was heavy. She let out a long, deep breath, almost feeling as though she’d just run a marathon. What had that girl been through? How was she supposed to even concentrate on school when she’d just left her father and was living with a virtual stranger?
Emily covered her face. Morgan had entered her life for a reason, and she was going to do everything she could to see that she was okay.
She took a deep breath and pulled away from the sch
ool, taking the quiet, tree-lined streets to downtown Maple Hill. She needed another coffee and a chat with Callie. As she passed the quaint family homes, she thought of Cooper and Catherine and wondered about their life. Had they lived in one of these houses? She drove past a mother pushing a bright-red stroller, and her heart clenched, thinking about how Catherine had wanted children. It was all so unfair…and now she was falling for this man who’d lived an entire lifetime before her.
She tried to shake off the worry that she was getting in over her head, that things were moving too fast, that she was falling too hard. She was inexperienced in this whole thing. She’d never been in love, and she had no idea if Cooper even wanted that again. What if he only wanted her physically? Or just for a little while? Then what? What was her plan? Sure, she’d made him sign a contract to basically promise not to be a jerk, but her contract didn’t exactly guarantee that she wouldn’t end up with a broken heart.
The Darth Vader ringtone blasted loudly in her quiet car, ripping her away from her current thoughts and dragging her into the past. She pulled into an empty spot outside the Sleepless Goat and parked, relieved when the ringing stopped. She grabbed her purse just as the ringing started up again. She squeezed her eyes shut and knew she should answer and get it over with, just as she’d always done. Or maybe she should block his number and be rid of him forever. But guilt seeped through her when she thought of her parents. She slowly opened her eyes and answered the call, vowing to herself she wouldn’t take any insults.
“Hi,” she said, holding the phone in front of her, focusing on the cute downtown, on the shops that she wanted to visit soon. Maybe she could focus on the adorable little cheese boutique or the flower shop with the potted mums outside and only have a half-assed conversation.
“I’m willing to make you a partner,” came the reply. She could already tell from her brother’s tone that this was the last thing he wanted to do. But he needed her. He didn’t have the people skills that she had. He also needed someone to control now that their mother was gone. His voice was low and filled with an anger that she knew all too well. She’d heard that voice so many times growing up; she’d seen the effect it had had on her family. She wanted no part of it anymore.
“I’m not coming back. I have my own life,” she said, leaning her head back on the headrest.
“That’s gratitude for you. I am doing you a favor—”
“No,” she said, sitting up straight and cutting him off. She had never been able to cut him off growing up because it would result in terrifying anger and then him manipulating the situation until she was forced by her mother to apologize. Those days were over. “You’re doing you a favor and disguising it as a good deed. You are incapable of leading a company, and you want me to bail you out.”
She happened to glance at Callie’s and saw Austin and Brody walk out, laughing, as Callie yelled something to them from the door. They would never talk to Callie that way. Her brothers doted on her. She couldn’t imagine Cooper ever speaking to a woman the way Emily’s brother spoke to her.
“Ever since you went away to school, you got this nasty edge to you. You changed. You’re depressed and angry. You can’t speak to me like that. You’re an ugly, little—”
Emily ended the call and dropped the phone on the passenger seat. She clutched the steering wheel and rested her forehead on it, trying to shake off the insecurities that were drowning her in a past she desperately wanted to forget. She wanted to be her own person, and she wanted to be surrounded by people who loved her and treated her with kindness. She counted to ten slowly and then thought of Morgan. She needed to focus on getting that girl help.
A few minutes later, once she’d composed herself, she pulled open the door of the Sleepless Goat and was greeted by the delicious smell of fresh coffee and a scream from Callie, who ran over to her. She hugged her and laughed. “How are you? I was expecting a call, like, Sunday morning!”
The coffee shop was bustling, so they moved to the side. She was relieved that Callie’s all-or-nothing personality enabled her to forget the phone call with her brother almost entirely. “Crazy. Everything is crazy.”
“Okay, I’m going to get us coffees, and then I want all the details about your date with Cooper! And I want to know why he didn’t show for Sunday night dinner!” she said with a squeal that made Emily laugh.
“Fine. I’ll go grab the table by the window,” she said, already walking toward it before someone grabbed it.
A few minutes later, Callie joined her, handing her a steaming cup of coffee. “Okay. Spill. But nothing explicit, because I can’t handle hearing that.”
Emily took a long sip of coffee, trying to hide the fact she was blushing. “Trust me, nothing explicit. I think I just had the craziest weekend of my life,” she said, leaning forward.
Callie’s eyes widened comically over the rim of her coffee cup. “No. Way. With my brother. What did Cooper do?”
She couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up at Callie’s dramatic outburst. “I’m pretty sure not what you’re thinking. Okay, let me see. Saturday night seems so long ago at this point. Well, our date kind of had a rocky start. We were driving to the restaurant, and he pulled over to talk about Catherine,” she said softly. Her friend’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m glad he told you,” she said.
She nodded. “Me, too. And thank you for trusting me enough to tell me, because I would have been a wreck hearing that story if I were unprepared. It’s devastating, what he went through, what you all went through. She sounded like an amazing woman.”
Callie nodded. “We were close. She was everything to him. She was the perfect package, the perfect family.”
Emily wrapped her hands around the cup, the warmth seeping through her hands as she tried to quell her own feelings of inadequacy and the worry that Cooper would never love anyone as much as Catherine. “I know. That’s the other thing. Catherine’s parents were at the restaurant.”
Callie groaned. “I’m heartbroken for them. I don’t think they ever recovered. Not that you could, but it’s just, they have no other kids, no grandchildren. They seem so alone. Her mother especially seems so lost still. I know Cooper still sees them, and my parents invite them over every now and again, but they don’t come that often. Did you guys talk to them?”
She glanced out the window for a moment, remembering that moment she realized who they were, and the sadness in Catherine’s mother’s eyes. “Yes. They walked up to us to say hi. It was…tense. I felt guilty to be sitting there with Cooper, you know?”
Callie leaned forward. “I can’t imagine how awkward that must have been for all of you. As sad as it is, though, Cooper should be out on dates. He’s too young to not get out there again, and he waited. It’s been five years. Well, he should be out on dates with you, I mean,” she said with a small pat on her hand.
Emily forced a smile. “Thanks. He was great. I mean, he was worried about me. That he’d ruined our date with all this baggage. He’s amazing, Callie. I’ve never met anyone like him.”
Callie gave a little squeal. “I’m so happy. Okay, what else?”
She let out a small laugh. “His truck got a flat as we were driving home.”
Callie slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and sparkling. “Talk about bad luck.”
Emily shrugged and tried not to smile at the memory of when Cooper had kissed her against the truck. It had been one of the best moments of her life.
“Uh, I’m sensing something here that you’re not sharing,” Callie said, waving her index finger around in a circle in front of her.
“Details I probably shouldn’t share,” she said, raising her eyebrows as she tried to hide her smile.
Callie clapped and did a little cheer. “Okay, say no more. But I am happy. But I kinda wish he wasn’t my brother because I really want to know how a flat tire could have resulted in anything I can’t hear about.”
“I know,” Emily said softly. “I…just
. Something changed in me.” She felt silly even speaking like this, but she had never let anyone close before. She was breaking her own rules, letting herself become vulnerable.
“Cooper, too, I’m sure,” Callie said. “Okay, what else?”
Emily took another sip of her now lukewarm coffee. “Well, he came back to my house for a bit”—she quickly skirted over that memory so that neither of them would be awkward—“and then Moose’s daughter showed up.”
Callie sucked in a gulp of air. “No. Oh, God, he’s such an ass. What happened?”
“She stayed. I gave her a room, and she’s staying at my house indefinitely.”
“Wow. What was Cooper doing during all this?”
“Helping me. He slept at the house—on the couch—because he was worried Moose would come over in an angry rage.”
“That’s why he didn’t come over Sunday. Okay, so what’s the plan? Can I help?”
Emily leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “I don’t know. I just dropped her off at school. I mean, I have no idea what I’m doing. All I know is I had the empty room, she was in need, and she has nowhere to go. But she has issues, understandably, and I need to get some help.”
Callie was nodding and scrolling through her phone. “Okay, one of my best friends from school is moving back to Maple Hill. She was a social worker, and she just got a psychology degree. She’s worked with at-risk teens in Toronto. Let me call her and get you some answers.”
Emily breathed a sigh of relief. “That would be amazing. Give her my number. I was thinking about Morgan, and I know I offered her help if she needed it, and I’m glad she remembered that and came to me, but it made me think about other women who might need a place to go. Are there any other women’s shelters around here?”
Callie tilted her head in thought. “Not close, that’s for sure. I think the nearest one is in Binbrook, and that’s about an hour’s drive from here. I know we’ve donated to them before.”
The Boyfriend Contract Page 17