“Cole?” I question for the third time.
She opens her mouth to answer me when another voice cuts in. “Colette, who is here?”
Cole winces as a man joins her in the entryway. It takes me a moment to place him because I haven’t seen his face since high school, but the faded auburn hair and sprinkle of freckles across his wrinkled face gives him away.
“Mr. Russell,” I say, extending my hand. “It’s… uh, it’s good to see you?” It comes out as more of a question than a statement, and one glance at Cole doesn’t give me an answer.
She’s put her mask back on, that’s apparent. She looks like she did when we ran into each other last Christmas—hard, cold, indifferent. Not a trace of the warmth I’ve drawn out of her in the last few months.
“Ben Bardot,” booms Mr. Russell. “It’s good to see you too.” He claps a hand on my back, patting twice before he lets go. “What are you doing here?”
“Funny,” I mutter. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
Cole’s eyes widen and her head shakes imperceptibly.
“Well, a father has every right to visit his daughter, does he not?” There’s an edge to his voice that wasn’t there initially. He doesn’t like his motives being questioned, and it’s obvious he feels some sort of entitlement to Cole’s time and energy. To Cole, period.
“When that visit is agreed upon by both parties, he absolutely does,” I reply. “Cole, was this agreed upon?”
“I—”
“Excuse me, but what gives you the right to walk in here and monitor visits between me and Colette?”
This statement finally jump-starts Cole. Except, instead of going after her dad like I thought she would, she comes afterme.
“Don’t answer that.” She points at me, hiding her hand when I notice there’s no ring on her finger. “You need to leave Ben.”
“Me?” I ask, honestly shocked that I’m the one being asked to leave this unhappy little reunion. “What about him?”
“Young man, this is uncalled for,” Mr. Russell says. I make eye contact with him over the top of Cole’s head. It’s clear he is fucking clueless, which just confuses me even more.
A small hand comes to the center of my chest, urging me backwards. “Please, Ben.”
It makes me physically ill to leave her with a man who has caused her so much heartache. But one of the things I love about Cole is that she can hold her own, always has. “You’ll call me if you need me?”
“Probably not.” She shrugs.
“Dammit, Colette. Tell me you’ll call me if you need me or I swear to God I will sit outside your door and eavesdrop on the entire conversation.”
For a moment Cole looks guilty and then she nods, acquiescing. “I’ll call you if I need you,” she says through gritted teeth. “Now, go.”
I back up, hands in the air in surrender. Without another word, I turn and leave Cole with a sinking feeling that everything is about to change.
From the moment I was born, Jules has been the one person on this planet who knew me better than I knew myself. The one person that I knew wouldn’t feed me bullshit when I needed advice. The one person I could sit in comfortable silence with for an entire day if we wanted to.
Until Cole,my brain adds unhelpfully.
He doesn’t look surprised to find me when he opens the door to his house. He does, however, look exhausted.
“Shit,” I mumble. “Should I go? Were you taking a nap? Is Emmett taking a nap?”
He huffs a laugh. “What is sleep?” Jules waves me in, shuffling to the kitchen. “I was about to make another coffee. Want one?”
“Sure, thank you.” I take a seat at their kitchen table.
Jules works quietly. He’s never felt the need to fill the space with chatter. With him, I don’t either. He places a double espresso in front of me and I raise my eyebrows. “This feels excessive.”
He glares at me. “Does it, Benoit? How long did you sleep last night?”
