27
Nine
The first two weeks without Cooper were excruciating. I wandered around in a daze feeling like something important was missing, and it was. My heart had flown to LA, and I was never getting it back.
The RV was quiet as fuck without the chatterbox there, so I’d begun playing country music softly through the Bluetooth speaker when I was fixing and eating dinner. After dinner, I usually went back to work and took the speaker with me. Sometimes I listened to podcasts, and sometimes I even played some of the pop music Cooper liked.
So when my phone rang one night, the ring trilled loudly through the speaker, damned near scaring me to death.
It was Eli.
“Hey,” I said, disconnecting the phone from the speaker and turning off the music. “What’s up?”
“Why didn’t you tell me Cooper left?”
Just the sound of his name made my chest tight. “I didn’t think we were telling anyone.”
“I’m not everyone. Besides, Cooper wanted me to check on you. He said you aren’t answering his calls.”
I put him on speakerphone so I could start cleaning up the paintbrushes for the night. “I’m fine.” I certainly wasn’t telling my brother about how hearing Cooper’s voice over the phone had become too hard for me to handle.
“Sure, sure. So then tell me why you missed Beth’s birthday.”
I dropped the brush in the sink with a clatter. “Oh shit, what? I did? Fuck. What day is it?”
If there was one thing you could rely on me for—besides everything—it was celebrating my siblings’ birthdays and special moments. I hated being lost in the shuffle, so I made a big deal out of helping each of my siblings feel special whenever I could. That meant birthdays were a big deal to me. I never forgot them. Ever.
“It’s June twenty-ninth, Nine.”
Fuck. “Really? Her birthday was three days ago and you’re just now calling?”
“It didn’t occur to me you missed it until she mentioned it tonight at Mom and Dad’s cookout. Even Mom said she’s tried calling you several times and you haven’t answered.”
I picked up the paintbrush and continued rinsing it out. “Because I don’t want to hear any of her ‘I told you so’ bullshit,” I admitted. “I just need some time alone.”
“Well, too bad. I’m coming there tomorrow to help you.”
I stood up straight and looked at my reflection in the big picture window over the cabin’s new kitchen sink. “No you’re not. I don’t need help. In fact, I need to slow down the work I’m doing and make it take longer. So, no. You’re not coming.”
“Cooper sent me the address. He thinks it’s a great idea.”
“Cooper can go to hell,” I growled. “I don’t need any of Cooper’s bright ideas.”
There was silence for a beat and then, “Oh.”
“Stay away, Eli. Please.”
“Nope. See you bright and early around noon.”
The call ended. Fuck.
I finished cleaning up and then headed to the cabin’s bathroom to take advantage of the big shower where I’d already put all of my things. The hot jets felt good on my tired body, but my dick had absolutely no interest in any action. It had been on strike since the day I’d taken Cooper to Denver for his flight.
And that was fine.
Totally fine. I hadn’t needed sex before, and I could survive without sex now.
I turned off the jets and dried off with a towel before wrapping it around my waist and slipping my feet into my open boots to trek back across the clearing. When I finally settled into bed with Nacho taking up Cooper’s spot, my brain wouldn’t shut off.
I wondered how Cooper was doing in LA. I worried about him juggling his family’s needs with his job. And I welcomed any news of him my brother might bring with him tomorrow. I finally fell asleep to thoughts of seeing him on the big screen one day, happy in the knowledge that there was a reason I’d told him to go. And that reason was him finally getting a chance to live the life he’d always wanted.
When Eli pulled into the clearing, I had to admit I was happy to see him.
Eli stepped out of his SUV and opened the back door. Out shot his two black labs, Barnaby and Rose. Nacho let out a yip and went tearing across the clearing to join in the excitement. The three of them had spent plenty of time together over the years, so they were thrilled to see each other.
“You look right at home here,” he said as he approached me with a bro hug. “You got the woods, the dog, the cabin full of fix-it needs. Seems like your kind of paradise.”
I nodded. “Definitely.” Even though it was missing something pretty important. But I was choosing to ignore that for the time being so as not to be a depressing son of a bitch. “Let me show you around.”