He sighed, then took her hand and wound her fingers through his. It was the first time they had touched in a long time.
“Annabelle, I’ve been thinking about what Ethan said to me today. He made me realize how hard I’ve been on you since I came home.”
“It’s okay. I know how tough this is on you.”
“It’s not okay, and I’m sorry for letting you down. Sorry for turning my back on everything that you taught me, and so sorry for stealing from you.”
“Coop—”
“Let me say these things, while my head is clear enough to do it. I’m sure my mood will darken soon and I’ll turn back into the sniveling brat I’ve been, but for now just let me speak. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry I treated Ethan the way I did. I know he paid my debts and I know he flew me back here, and I should never have spoken to him the way I did. He was right to say what he said to me today… more than right.”
“Why did you, Cooper?”
“Because you love him and that scared me. I was afraid I could lose you, and right now you’re the only thing anchoring me to this world.”
Annabelle leaned her head on his shoulder. “You could never lose me. I’ll always be there for you, and Ethan wouldn’t expect that to change if we end up together.”
Cooper snorted. “There is no ‘if’ about it. You love each other.”
“How do you know that when you’ve only seen him once and that was today?” Annabelle said, battling the bubbling happiness inside her.
“God, Annabelle, without even taking into consideration what he did for you, putting himself in danger to go to Vegas, it’s there in the way he looks at you, and it only took once to see that.”
“He’s a special man. When you get to know him, you’ll understand that.”
“I’m sure I will. Now I want to tell you what happened to me, if you’ll listen?”
She sat there in the quiet of their living room and listened as he told her where he’d taken a wrong turn. It had started with the gambling.
“To begin with, it was fun. I could walk away at any time. Then that all changed and I couldn’t and that was when I started borrowing and stealing from you.”
“I wish you’d told me in the beginning,” Annabelle said.
“I was ashamed, and then I didn’t care. When I got desperate I turned to the drugs to keep me awake so I could gamble, and then everything just escalated from there and before I knew it I was spiraling out of control.”
He told her about his wins and losses and the drugs he snorted or injected into his body. He left nothing out, and she never told him to stop even when her stomach felt as if it was being turned inside out.
“Okay, Ethan paid off one of my debts, but there’s another one, and it’s him that I’m worried about, because he’s not known for walking away from a debt.”
“We’re safe here,” Annabelle said, but inside she was thinking,Oh my God, please let them be safe!
“I hope so,” was all Cooper said.
The siblings talked well into the night. Finally exhausted, they both found their beds. Annabelle lay in the dark replaying her brother’s words and feeling calmer from hearing them again, hearing the sanity that she felt was beginning to return to Cooper Smith. There would be setbacks, as he’d said, but today was a big step forward and she owed Ethan Gelderman for that. It had been his words that had helped her brother to unburden himself and in doing so, Annabelle believed they had turned a corner. Now she needed to get Ethan to forgive her and then everything in her world would be starting to right itself once more.
Well, nearly everything, she thought, remembering her brother’s words about the man he still owed money to.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Annabelle couldn’t sleep, so after tossing and turning and punching her pillows a few times, she turned on her beside lamp and picked up her cell phone. It was 1:45 a.m. Would he be still awake?
Taking a deep breath, she found his number, and called Ethan.
“Hey,” she said when he answered.
