“Maybe if I get it dry cleaned ...” I started.
Cooper cut me off. “I’m going to throw it away. The lining is shredded.”
“I’ll buy you a new one.” I glanced at his pants and remembered that suits came as a set and a new jacket wouldn’t match the one he wore. “I’ll buy you a set.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I told you I would when I asked you for it.”
He looked at me with an unspoken sigh. “I didn’t give it to you because you were going to pay me for it. I did it because I wanted to help you. Let it just be a nice gesture on my part, okay?”
“But—”
“I know you don’t like to be in anyone’s debt. But I’d rather have you be in my debt than have a new suit.”
When he put it like that, I couldn’t argue with him. “What does being in your debt require?” I asked. “I mean, will there be duties?”
“Definitely.” A smile curved his lips and his eyes found mine. Such beautiful eyes. All the hype about them was completely true.
“And what will those duties be?” I prodded because he hadn’t said more. He was just looking at me, smiling.
“I can think of a few things,” he said. “We’ll discuss them later.”
Was he flirting? It seemed like flirting, but maybe he meant things like making him more cookies. I clasped my hands in my lap and peered down the hallway.
No one was visible. Even the receptionist wasn’t at her post behind the front desk. My leg bounced nervously.
After a few moments, Cooper put his hand on my knee to stop my leg from tapping. “Are you cold or worried? If you’re cold, you can sit in my car with the heater turned on. I’ll wait here for the cat’s prognosis.”
“I’m worried.”
“Oh, in that case ...” He took my hand and wrapped it in his. “Like you said in the car, the vets know what they’re doing. They wouldn’t have paid those high-interest student loans if they weren’t serious about their profession.”
“Right.” I wasn’t really listening to what he said. I was fixated on his hand holding mine. His fingers were so warm and secure. This felt so easy and natural. He wouldn’t hold my hand unless he was interested in me, would he? Had I changed from nemesis status to friend status? Something else? What exactly did this mean?
The conversation had lagged, and I needed to say something. “So what is the shoe story?” I asked. I wasn’t sure why that question popped out of my mouth. Maybe because he’d refused to tell me earlier, and I wanted to see if he trusted me now.
He shrugged and looked at the ground. “It’s not that big of a deal. My sophomore year, the sole of one of my tennis shoes ripped, so I needed new pair. My parents were over budget, but my father had bought a pair for himself the month before. He gave me his new shoes and went back to wearing his old ones.”
It wasn’t what I expected in a story. There was nothing funny or endearing about Cooper in it. “Why would Claire think your mother might tell me that?”
Cooper swallowed and continued. “Even though I was shorter than my dad back then, I’ve got big feet, and the shoeswere tight. I didn’t tell anyone, wore them anyway, and got huge blisters.
“When my mom saw them, she asked why I hadn’t told my father that the shoes were too small. I said I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She thinks it’s a sweet story. But I just didn’t want to be a burden on them, you know?” He shook his head at his own question. “It’s not something you’ve ever had to deal with.”
The money part, no, but I still understood the concept. “When I was fifteen, I visited my mother in Norway. For the return trip, she planned to drop me off at the airport five hours early because she had a boat to catch for her next expedition. But she got the date wrong and actually dropped me off an entire day early.
“When I realized the mistake, I couldn’t bring myself to call her and mess up her expedition. I could’ve gone to a hotel, but my father would’ve seen the charge on my card, gotten mad at her, and it would’ve caused a huge fight. So I just stayed at the airport overnight. To this day, neither of them know.”
He squeezed my hand. “Our parents have pretty good kids. At least most of the time. Maybe not so much lately.”
He probably didn’t mean to cause little waves of panic to go through me, but his last sentence seemed like it was anI’m about to end our fake relationshipsort of sentence. Could he do that while holding my hand?
Footsteps sounded in the lobby, and the receptionist swept back into the room. “Good news,” she said.
I expected Cooper to drop my hand. He didn’t.
The receptionist strode over to us, shuffling some papers. Her gaze momentarily landed on our hands before going to my eyes. “Fortunately, the cat’s injuries are treatable. He’s got a broken hip, a concussion, and he needs a few stitches. We didn’t seeany internal bleeding that indicated more serious problems, but we’d like to watch him overnight to be sure.”
