“You weren’t a fool,” she said, stepping closer to him. The scent of her—vanilla and sunshine—was even more intoxicating in the cool night air. “We were just in different chapters of our lives. I was afraid that being part of your world would swallow me whole before I had a chance to live. I couldn’t bear to ask you to come back, to give up your dream job. To be a father before you were ready.”
“I’m ready now,” he whispered. “Not just for fatherhood, though Cora makes it easy.”
Scarlett snorted. “Stay a while, the weather changes.”
He’d seen bits and pieces of that, when she was overtired or frustrated, but none of it put him off. It only made him appreciate and admire Scarlett more.
“I’m ready for more,” he continued. “Partnership, Scarlett. Us together as a family.” He reached out, his hand cupping her cheek. Her skin was warm, her pulse thrumming beneath his thumb as he stroked the column of her throat. He waited, giving her every chance to pull away, to put the walls back up. But she didn’t move. She leaned into his touch, her eyes searching his in the moonlight.
“Cooper,” she breathed.
He leaned down, and when his lips met hers, it wasn’t the tentative, experimental kiss of seven years ago. It was a collisionof history and hope. Her lips tasted of salt and wine and the seven years of longing neither of them could successfully hide any longer. He kissed her with the deep awareness of time lost and the passion he wanted to reclaim. Here, everything was possible. She had to feel it too.
When they finally pulled apart, Scarlett was breathless, her eyes shining. “That… Holy cow, Cooper. How is that a thousand times better than before?”
Cooper laughed, relief quaking through him. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his thumb lingering on her jawline. “Because it’s you. You’re the magic that supersedes logic for me. It’s always you.”
“But you c-can’t stay.”
Her voice broke and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her soundly once more. “I can. Trust me, Scarlett. I’m not going anywhere.”
She nodded, but he knew she wasn’t convinced. Not yet.
When she shivered, he wrapped his blazer around her shoulders. He could be patient. A month, a year, or a decade. He would be here for her and their daughter. She wasn’t alone any longer.
As they walked back toward the ferry terminal, a warm sense of belonging he hadn’t known was missing coasted over him. He looked at the city lights and then at the woman beside him, and for the first time in way too long, he was one hundred percent certain that this was where he was meant to be.
CHAPTER 9
Scarlett’s Monday morning in the Brookwell Primary School admin office smelled of floor wax, sharpened pencils, and the lingering, sweet memory of the Battery in Charleston.
Her date with Cooper had left her floating on cloud nine and when she’d gone to pick up Cora, Willow refused to let Scarlett leave without sharing all the details. Instead of feeling annoyed or pressured, Scarlett had been delighted to confide in her friend. Hope had bloomed and didn’t seem inclined to stop.
After hearing the whole story, Willow had grinned from ear to ear and though she promised to stay quiet about it until Scarlett was ready to share the news, her happiness was obvious. Contrary to the normal skepticism she carried when it came to all things romance and love, Scarlett was thoroughly charmed—by Cooper, by the date, and by the possibilities.
For the first time since that pregnancy test had shown positive in her drafty college apartment, Scarlett felt like she was breathing with both lungs. She’d let the wall down. Just a little. Just enough to see a future where she didn’t have to be the only guardian of Cora’s world.
Sitting at her desk, Scarlett stared at a spreadsheet of state-mandated testing schedules, but the numbers weren’t clicking. Instead, she kept replaying the sensation of Cooper’s hand against her cheek and the way his mouth felt on hers, erasing seven years of what-ifs with tantalizing fantasies of the future.
He said he would stay. She believed him. He’d offered partnership and she was quickly warming up to the idea. Spinning her chair toward the window, she let a version of the future play out in a lovely daydream. The first time Cora called him “Dad”. Days at the beach or in the garden as a family. Cooper teaching her to play guitar or how to drive. Standing together through the nerves of Cora’s first date, her high school prom, her move to college.
It was heady stuff not being alone in those moments. Having someone to count on and help. Someone to love.
Not just someone. Cooper.
“Scarlett? Do you have a minute?”
With a start, she swiveled around to find Cooper standing in the doorway. He looked energized today, a light in his gaze that drew her in. How had she survived so long without this sizzling magnetic attraction?
“I always have time for my favorite handyman,” she teased, her heart doing a light, hopeful skip. “What’s going on? You look like you just solved the riddle of life.”
Cooper stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. “I have news.”
“Good news?” He looked elated, but wariness was muting those sweet scenarios of a moment ago.
“Yes. I just got off the phone with the search committee at a university in Ohio. It’s the exact specialty I spent a decade researching. It’s... it’s a great new opportunity. One I thought was beyond me when the California campus closed.”
His announcement popped that happy bubble of possibility and sucked all the air out of the room. Scarlett’s warm enthusiasm drained away, replaced by a cold, prickling numbness that started in her fingertips and moved unerringly toward her heart.He told her he would stay.
