Fighting For a Second Chance (Fighting 1)

And what the heck was Kayla thinking? Staying with Bentley instead of coming with Bella and me? What ever happened to bros before hoes or I guess for us it would be hoes before bros? Okay, that doesn’t exactly work in our favor either, but you get what I mean.

I know she has a thing for Bentley, but I didn’t think it was enough to make her stay living with him, especially since he’s clearly hooking up with other chicks. She and I will definitely be sharing some words.

My phone pings with a text from Cooper. What more could he possibly want?

Cooper: What time does Bella get out of school?

Me: 2 p.m. Why?

Cooper: So, I know what time to get you guys.

Me: I have my own car, and we only have the stuff you bought. Just give me your address and we’ll head over after she gets out of school.

After a few minutes, he sends me a text with his address. I go back to looking for jobs, copying down the information of a few possible leads.

After picking up Bella, we head back to the apartment to get our stuff. Before heading over to Cooper’s, I need to explain to her what’s happening. I’m sure she’s confused about moving so many times.

“Angel, do you have any questions about what’s going on with us moving?”

“No. I’m just sad all my stuff is gone away and I can’t get any of it back,” she says with the most heartbreaking look on her face. I make a promise to myself that as soon as I’m gainfully employed, I’m going to buy her as many new toys as I can.

“Do you remember the gentleman we ran into at the grocery store a while back? You dropped your flamingo and he picked it up?” Her eyes go bright at this and then dim down.

“Yes, he was so nice to find my flamingo. My poor flamingo didn’t make it in the fire.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry.” I give her a hug. “But you’re right, he was nice. His name is Cooper, and we’re going to live with him until we can get a new home. Kayla is going to stay here, though.”

Bella takes a minute to think about what I’m saying. “Can he be my daddy since I don’t have one? Tristan said Daddies live with you.”

This would be the perfect opportunity to tell her that he is in fact already her daddy, but I think it would be best to talk to Cooper first, just to make sure we’re on the same page. Then we can tell her together if that’s what he wants.

“That is true. Daddy’s do live with kids, but how about we focus on moving there first, and then we’ll figure it all out.” Thankfully, she accepts this answer and starts to gather up the few toys Cooper had purchased for her.

When we finish packing all our stuff, we head to Cooper’s house. For some reason, this feels like a new chapter of our life is starting, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

We arrive at Cooper’s neighborhood and I press the button on the call box, so he can let us in. He hits the buzzer and I drive until I see the address he gave me. This neighborhood is absolutely gorgeous. I would never imagine somebody like him living here. I shouldn’t be surprised because Bentley and Caleb’s place is really nice, but looking around, their complex has nothing on this one.

I pull up into the driveway and park next to his slick, black Range Rover, which puts my old Nissan to shame. We get out and look up at the townhouse in front of us, if you can even call it that.

“Mommy, is this my new house?” Bella asks, awestruck.

“Yes, baby. For a little bit.”

We both stand there checking out the home. She’s standing by my side, and in one hand, she’s holding the replica of the flamingo she lost in the fire that Cooper replaced. She reaches up and grabs my hand with her other one.

The house might be called a townhouse, but it’s really more like a miniature mansion. It’s got to be three stories high. The only difference between a mansion and this place is that all the homes are connected and all are identical. It looks like there’s four homes connected in each set. The outside of each home is white with cute black shutters and a set of stairs that lead to a dark red front door. Directly under the stairs appears to be a garage door. The garage must be the first floor and the next two floors are the home.

I’m no stranger to a nice home. The home I grew up in was very nice but modest, built in the 1960s. It was a typical family-style home. For the last five years, Kayla and I have lived in an apartment made for college students. It did what it needed to do and allowed us to live close to campus and gave Bella her own room, but I think my entire apartment could fit in Cooper’s driveway.