Tayler slowly moves her head until she’s staring me in the eye. “Oh. My. God.”
“What? And can you keep your eyes on the road, please?”
“This one is real.”
“What’s real?”
“Cooke. He’s the real deal.”
“Yeah. He’s real.”What the heck is she going on about?I watch out the window as Tayler slows the car enough to take an exit off the interstate that isn’t ours. “What’re you doing?”
She pulls the car onto the shoulder of the road. Turning to me, she says, “I needed to pull over for this.” Then she reaches out and hugs me.
I should warn her about airplane cooties, but instead I ask, “Did you miss me that much?”
Pulling away from the hug, she smiles. “You haven’t put Cooke on a pedestal. You said it yourself, he’s not perfect.”
“He’snotperfect, but he’s perfect for me.”
“But every other guy you’ve ever lusted after wasperfect.” She says it in kind of a snooty way. I don’t appreciate that. “Nothing was ever wrong with them. Take Bryant.” She snorts. “You thought he shit sunshine.”
“Gross.” I laugh. “I did not.”
“Yes you did. But this guy… the hottest man to ever walk the planet, not to mention he’s a professional athlete, loaded, I assume, and British.Thatguy isn’t perfect?”
“No. He’s sort of a slob, and he’s super cranky in the morning, and—”
“See?” she practically squeaks. “This is fucking awesome.” Putting the car back into Drive, she looks back to make sure no one is behind us and pulls out onto the road.
“You’re crazy.”
“You’recrazy.” She laughs. “By the way, Vic has been asking about you every day. It’s getting on my nerves, so you’d better stop in and tell him you’re back.”
“Aw, that’s nice.”
“He loves you for some reason. Hell, he can’t even remember my name.”
“He calls me spitfire.”
“He called you Quinn to me.”
For some reason, that makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy. “Maybe I’ll take Mary for a walk or something.”
“You should. Find out the story about her, would you? All Vic said was she was abused. I want to know if the fuckers who abused her were punished.”
“I’ll try.”
“Good.”
I fall asleep for the rest of the ride home. Tayler wakes me up as soon as we’re in the parking lot, so I decide I’d better send Cooke a text letting him know I’m home.
Cooke: I’m glad you’re home safe & sound, love. Miss you. <3.
Me: Me too. I’m beat. I’ll message you after I’ve slept some. Love you.
God, it feels so weird to say that to him.
Cooke:Love you more.
