“Okay,” he said. “Okay, great. In that case, a little sunshine?” he gestured at the open shop door.
I nodded and followed him out into the surprisingly warm spring sun, breathing in the salt on the breeze and the hints of flowers wafting down from the florist a handful of doors along the street. Otter Bay was a postcard-perfect small town from the dramatic cliffs to the cute little shopfronts. People here smiled and nodded to each other in the street—even stopped to talk.
I’d been in New York so long—and in the company bubble—it was like being on an alien planet.
“What do you think of Otter Bay?” Cooper spoke up as we reached a little green space complete with a park bench under a tree and neat flower beds just starting to come back to life after the winter. It was an obvious question to ask a newcomer, but for a second I worried he’d read my thoughts.
“Uh.” I winced as I sat down next to him. My leg still didn’t like the movement of sitting down, especially if I’d been on my feet a while. If Cooper noticed, he didn’t react—which was fine by me. I couldn’t take any more pity.
“It’s…” I continued, struggling to find words that would both describe it and—hopefully—not insult a local.
“Small,” Cooper concluded for me. “Quiet. Peaceful, I guess. Took me a while to get used to it again.”
“You lived somewhere else?” I asked, handing over the bag with the blondies in it.
“Portland, for a while.” The bag rustled as Cooper opened it. He peered in, and then offered it to me.
“That’s for you.”
“Go halves with me,” he said. “Mom will kill me if I’m not hungry at lunch.”
I hesitated. I’d already had one yesterday.
Cooper shook the bag. “I’m serious. You’d be doing me a favor.”
My tongue darted out to wet my lips. When he put it likethat…
I took out the blondie and broke about a third off it. A compromise.
Cooper huffed, but took his own piece out and smoothed the bag out between us to serve as a plate. “I moved home for Benji. My sister, uh. She died suddenly, so there were no arrangements. A grieving six-year-old was a little much for me to handle alone, so… I came back. After finding out my boyfriend was kind of an asshole. Ex-boyfriend,” he corrected.
“I know all about those,” I said. “Asshole ex-boyfriends, I mean. Sorry about your sister.”
Cooper smiled wryly. “Benji lost a lot more than I did.”
“You still lost her. And you must’ve known her longer.”
I sipped my coffee, watching something I couldn’t quite read play over his face, lips pursing and nose wrinkling. It was a good face. Strong jawline, strong nose, strong brow. Classically handsome, my mom would have said.
Benji had his eyes, warm amber that lit up in the sunlight.
“Thank you,” he said. “But you didn’t want to talk about my sister. You wanted to talk about Benji?”
Cooper took a bite of his two-thirds of the blondie before I could say anything and made a sound that reminded me of the one I had—only whenI’dmade it, it hadn’t sounded nearly as obscene. The rumble that came with a deeper chest sent a jolt of interest right to the pit of my stomach.
“Uh,” I said, wetting my lips again.
I hated it when Avery was right. They knew me far,fartoo well.
“Umm, yeah. I think you know about the competition coming up?”
Cooper nodded, more focused on his blondie than me. I could see why. Next to one of those, a washed-up ballet dancer who’d already spilled coffee on him once couldn’t possibly compare.
“Amelia has me doing the choreography for it. I want to put Benji in the lead role,” I said. “But I wanted to ask you first if that’s okay.”
Cooper’s eyes widened. “Yes,” he said, licking crumbs off his lips and holding a finger up to stop me saying anything else while he swallowed. “Are you kidding? You’ll make his entire tiny life! Why would it not be okay?”
I shrugged, gesturing out at the world beyond the little shaded sanctuary we were seated in. “You might not want him to pursue this.”
