Just like he was every day, in every light, every time I saw him.
But especially when he was bringing me coffee after a long day. I had every excuse—caffeine was good for muscle recovery, and I’d been running on it for so many years it made me sleepy now.
“Benji is. There’s a rose-breasted grosbeak,” I said, nodding toward the window.
Cooper crossed the room in two heartbeats, falling in beside Benji, who pointed the bird out to him. I stepped back, watching the two of them look at it with matching kid-at-Christmas expressions, my heart swelling so much it hurt.
Impossible as it seemed, I loved them a little more every day.
“Wow,” Cooper said. “Good spot, kiddo. If ballet doesn’t work out, you could be a… bird guy?”
“Ornithologist,” Benji annunciated with the kind of gravity only people under the age of twelve could muster.
“One of those,” Cooper agreed, ruffling his hair and turning to wink at me. To let me know he knew the wordornithologistbut was letting Benji show off, I assumed. That was his latest parenting technique.
I loved him just a tiny bit more for it.
The two of them watched the bird for another minute or so before it flew off, sharing broad grins as they backed away from the window.
Benji tugged on Cooper’s overalls. “Ask him.”
“Ask me what?” I looked between two pairs of big brown eyes I couldn’t say no to. Whatever Cooper was meant to ask, I knew the answer was yes.
“Uh, if you’re ready to go!” he blatantly and obviously lied. It was easy to tell, because he had absolutely no practice at it. “Benji’s got, uh… homework. He wants your help with it.”
Benji turned a disappointed scowl on Cooper, lips pursed. I’d already known he was lying, but that confirmed it.
“Keep your secrets,” I said, lips twitching into a smile. I knew it wouldn’t be anything bad.
“What secret?” Cooper asked, striding over to my bag and hefting it over his shoulder awkwardly, since he was still holding both coffees.
Benji put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot. I wished his grandma had been here to see his pitch-perfect impression of her.
“Coop,” he said.
“What?” Cooper laughed. It would almost have been believable, except for the nervous edge to it.
I held my hand out for my coffee.
“Why don’t you ask me?” I asked Benji. “You know I’d do anything for you. Even if I wouldn’t do it for Coop.”
“I have to keep it a secret,” Benji said seriously. “And he has to ask. But you have to say yes.”
“Benji,” Cooper said, warning.
“Assuming it’s within my power, you’ve got a yes,” I said, looking between them again. What could he possibly have to ask me that he’d sworn Benji to secrecy over? It wasn’t even nearly my birthday.
It was our anniversary, I supposed. If you counted from our first kiss.
I liked to count from all our firsts, so I could think about how lucky I was at regular intervals. Not that I didn’t think it every day, but it was nice to have special occasions, too. Lots of them.
“You drink your coffee,” Cooper said, giving Benji a meaningful look.
I laughed, raising my coffee cup to my mouth.
And pausing when it… rattled?
I frowned at it, gently shaking the cup. It was lighter than it should have been, and there was definitely some kind of solid object in it.
