Chapter 25 – Cooper
Chapter Twenty-Five
Cooper
“ A untie Li is going to be pissed she missed breakfast,” Darius mumbles around a mouthful of food.
“Don’t talk with your mouthful, Big D.” I freeze in place, wondering if I overstepped some boundary with Ramona and her family, but no one says a word.
Things between Beauty and me are almost perfect. The last thing I want to do is overstep my boundaries as the boyfriend with her son. Even though I’m his hockey coach, my authority over him stops the moment he steps off the ice. Anything beyond that is Ramona’s territory.
His eyes drop to his plate. “Sorry, Coach. I mean Mr. Cooper.”
“Just call me Cooper. And it’s no big deal. I sometimes forget to close my mouth, too.” I rest my hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.
“He’ll do no such thing.” Beauty leans around me, pinning Darius in place with her stare. “It’s Mr. Cooper or Coach for you, young man.”
“What about Uncle Cooper?” he asks innocently, causing me to chuckle. It seems this family has a thing about making sure Ramona knows I’m a welcome addition to the family. I’d get down on one knee right here and propose if I didn’t know it would send her running in the opposite direction.
Beauty has been slowly opening her heart to me, but there’s something holding her back. Something that’s stopping her from giving herself to me completely, and I’m not sure what it is. It’s like she is waiting for the other shoe to drop, for me to turn and walk away from her, never to return. I’ve tried showing her I’m in this for the long haul with both my words and actions, but she’s still hesitant. I know this is a perfectly normal response for a single mother because it’s not just her heart that she has to worry about, but tell that shit to my heart.
I lean back in my chair, throwing my arm over the back of Beauty’s chair, waiting to see how she responds. “If it’s all right with Cooper.”
“It’s okay with me.” I plant a kiss on the side of her head before picking up my conversation with Darius. “And I texted Auntie Alise before we got here, but she never responded.”
“How about you boys go make her a plate? She’ll be over here at some point today. We need to finish our Mormon Wives marathon.”
“I’m still mad at you for watching it without me.” Ramona points her fork at her mother before spearing a piece of fruit with it.
“You’ve watched them all already. Don’t pretend you didn’t do the same thing when you went to the hockey game.”
“Ms. Melanie! How could you betray me like that? We had a deal.”
“I did no such thing. Mothers just know these things sometimes.”
“Or Alise forgot to not say anything about it last night,” Darius muses before grabbing his now-empty plate and heading into the kitchen. I’m pretty sure that’s my cue to follow him since Ms. King gave an order.
Darius is moving slower than usual, but much better than yesterday. This is good because I don’t think I’d be able to get his mother out of the house again if he wasn’t.
“How are you feeling this morning?”
“Much better.” He smiles while turning on the water to rinse his dish. “Auntie Mel made sure I put ice on it last night and woke me up to take some Tylenol on schedule, too.”
He winces slightly as he leans down to open the dishwasher. I slide up next to him, grab the plate, and finish the task for him.
“This isn’t Momma’s first rodeo with bad hockey bruises. I’ve had a few in my day.”
“You have three other brothers, right?”
“Yes. You met Beau at the game, but there’s also Cole and Kyle. Kyle is the youngest and still in college. Cole is the second youngest and plays for the Boise Wolverines, but we don’t talk very much anymore.”
Darius shuffles around the kitchen, filling a plate with as much food as humanly possible, his eyes locked on his task. “I know.”
“You know?” I lean against the counter, getting the feeling that I wasn’t sent in here to help him make a plate for Alise. This is an interrogation.
“Yeah. As the man of the house, I had to do my research.”
“Fair enough. We need to protect the people in our lives. I can’t fault you for that, Big D.”
Darius doesn’t say anything else as he slowly eases open a drawer and pulls out a box of Reynolds wrap, dropping it on the counter between us. “Can you help me pull off a piece to cover the plate?”
“No problem.” I stride toward him, pulling a large piece off the roll and laying it over the plate.
“Thank you,” he whispers, using his free hand to cover the plate before turning toward me. A look of pure determination covers his face as we get to the real reason for this conversation. “Do you love her?”
I could answer this question in a million different ways. Tell him what I think he might want to hear just so we can get this over with, but I can tell how important this is to him. Momma never dated once after my dad passed away.
I heard her talking to Auntie Peggy one day that she lost the love of her life when Dad passed. There was no sense in searching for anything else because it wouldn’t add up to the love they shared. That’s exactly how I feel for Ramona, as if the missing piece of my soul has finally been found, but I’m not about to tell her eleven-year-old son that. Not only does it have the potential to freak him the hell out, but pre-teens aren’t known for their secret-keeping abilities.
“Not yet, but I have a feeling I will soon.”
“Good. That’s good.” He smiles for the first time since coming into the kitchen, his shoulders visibly relaxing. “She deserves someone to take care of her. She takes care of me and Nanny all the time, sometimes to the detriment of her own happiness. You make her happy, Uncle Cooper.”
“She makes me very happy, too.”
I don’t need to tell him I’ve made it my personal mission in life to take care of Beauty and do everything in my power to put a smile on her face, but I have a feeling he gets the picture.
Just as we’re turning to head back into the dining room, the front door slams open. “I can’t believe you guys are having breakfast and didn’t invite me.” Alise groans before turning around and helping Auntie Peggy into the house. “Can you believe they’d do that to us, Momma?”
“There’s no need to be so dramatic, child. They’re still eating, and it looks to me like there is more than enough to go around.”
Aunt Peggy strolls into the room like she owns the place, even leaning heavily on her bedazzled cane we got for her last year. Her short hair is styled to perfection with a light dusting of blush on her cheeks to give them some color and a darkish red lipstick on her lips. She’s dressed comfortably today in a loose-fitting navy blue pantsuit.
“Auntie is right. We invited you, Lissy Loo Loo. Check your text messages.” I shake my head before leaning down to plant a kiss on Auntie’s upturned cheek before strolling through the entryway, back into the dining room, and taking my seat.
“I made you a plate, Auntie Li.” Darius beams as he places the foiled-covered plate in her hands. The answering beaming smile she gives him says it all. That boy is the only one not on her list right now. This isn’t the first or the last time I’ll be on Alise’s shit list, but it would’ve been nice to enjoy the rest of my breakfast in peace.
“Suck-up,” Ramona and I say in unison, a soft smile spreading across her face.
“It’s not sucking up if it’s the truth. You should remember that, Uncle Coop.” Darius plops down in the seat next to me, only wincing slightly. Momma must notice because she chides him to go take more painkillers, which he does immediately.
“So, it’s Uncle Coop now, is it? Did something happen last night you’d like to share with the class?” Alise steals his seat, turning toward the two of us. Her red Beats headphones cover her ears. Today must be a bad day. Probably being made worse by everyone being crowded in the room and speaking all at the same time.
“Nope. Not a thing.” Ramona keeps her eyes focused on her plate, not noticing Alise’s headphones.
“Do you want to go to the other room for a few minutes?” I run my hand down Alise’s back to get her attention, and she jumps away from me, wincing as if she’s in pain. “I’m sorry.”
I should know better than to touch her when she has headphones on. It usually signals that things have progressed to an extreme level. Alise’s SPD is all-encompassing. Sound, textures, almost anything can make it harder for her on any given day. She had a lot of therapy when she was younger, learning the right ways to cope when things become overwhelming, but it doesn’t always work.
We’ve all learned to not bring too much attention to it, not wanting to embarrass her or bring more attention to what’s going on. The hard part is watching her struggle and being powerless to help her. The only thing we can do is suggest we move to a quieter place and hope things start calming down from there.
“Hey, you’re in my seat,” Darius says to Alise, striding toward her but stopping in his tracks. “Today is a bad day, huh?”
I nod my head, tapping Beauty on the arms to get her attention. She scowls at me for a moment before noticing Alise’s predicament and pushes back from the table. “We don’t have enough seats for everyone. We’re going to go to the kids’ table and finish eating.”
Beauty grabs our plates and motions with her head toward the kitchen. Darius nods in agreement before tapping Alise lightly on the shoulder and motioning with his hand for her to follow him.
“Good idea, baby. Can you put on another pot of coffee when you walk by? I’m sure Peggy would love a cup.”
“Sure thing, Ma. Does anyone want anything else?”
“No, thank you,” Momma and Ms. King respond as I help Auntie Peggy have a seat before following everyone into the kitchen.
It takes me a moment, but I spot everyone seated around a small circular table in the breakfast nook, the perfect amount of space for our small party. “Kids’ table?”
“It’s just a fancy name for the kitchen table.” Beauty giggles as I take the seat beside her.
“No, it’s not. It’s where we are banished every holiday so the ‘grown folks’ can talk in peace without us hearing them.” Darius places Alise’s plate in front of her, free of the aluminum foil. The last thing she needs is to have to deal with strange textures on top of everything else going on.
“But you two aren’t—” I begin, but Ramona promptly cuts me off.
“Don’t try to make sense of it. You’ll give yourself a headache.”
Alise lowers her headphones slightly, her eyes drifting close. We all remain silent as she shakes her head, sliding them back over her ears.
“We will be children until we have our own homes with our own tables and can decide on the seating arrangements. Until then, we’re sitting at the kids' table.” Alise grabs a piece of French toast with her fork and shoves it into her mouth. “This is soo good. I need you to have Ollie come cook for us more often.”
Ramona freezes, the forkful of French toast only inches from her mouth. “How do you know Ollie was here?”
“Beau. He called me, pissed he drove all the way here to turn around and head right back to Portland because someone wanted to have the house all to themselves last night.”
I reach up, rubbing the back of my neck and checking for her reaction out of the corner of my eye. “That’s not what I said to him.”
Alise rolls her eyes at me before answering. “I wasn’t even there, and I know at the very least it was implied.”
“Fair enough, but can we not talk about this right now?”
“Talk about what? The fact you slept over at Cooper's house last night? I may only be eleven, almost twelve, but I'm not stupid,” Darius chimes in, his chin resting on the palm of his hand like he’s watching his favorite show on television.
The three of us look at each other for a few moments before bursting into a fit of laughter. It takes a few minutes for me to regain my composure. “We never said you were stupid, Big D. There are just some things we don’t discuss over breakfast.”
Darius nods his head in agreement. This probably isn’t the first time he’s heard a statement like that in this house, especially if Alise spends any significant amount of time here. I love her to death, but that woman has not mastered how to engage her brain-to-mouth filter successfully.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Are you coming to my birthday cookout this weekend, Uncle Coop?”
“I didn’t know I was invited.” I turn toward Beauty, searching her face for a plausible reason why she didn’t invite me herself. I thought things were progressing between us, but now I’m not so sure.
“You’re invited,” Darius answers my question, his eyes flicking toward Ramona. “Isn’t he?”
“He is, but it might not be his thing.” Ramona’s eyes are looking anywhere but at me, quickly locking with Alise’s for a few moments before dropping to her lap.
“Barbecue is my favorite kind of food. It’s even more amazing when I’m not the one who has to cook it.” I know I’m not helping, but I want to know why she doesn’t want me to attend.
“Oh, I can guarantee that you won’t be coming anywhere near the grill,” Alise responds, pushing her chair back from the table and heading toward Beauty. The two of them lock eyes again in silent conversation as I turn toward Darius.
“I knew your birthday was in October, but I didn’t think it was so soon.”
“Yup. This is the first time in a while my birthday lands on a weekend. My birthday is Saturday, the same day as the cookout.”
“Do you have a birthday list I can look at? If it were up to me, I’d just get you a signed Timberwolves jersey and call it a day.”
“I would more than welcome any Timberwolves gear you’d like to give me. I’d appreciate anything you give me.” Darius smiles at me, his eyes flicking to Ramona and Alise before leaning toward me. “Honestly, the best present would be for you to come to my party. No one believes I know you.”
“I can stop by, even if it's only to drop off your present. Okay?”
“I want you to come to the cookout this weekend, Cooper.” Beauty places her hand on my shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. “It’s just that my family is a lot, and they aren’t my biggest fans either. I really don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position.”
There’s something about Ramona’s family that she isn’t telling me. I completely understand what it is like to have family members you don’t see eye to eye with, but the downtrodden look of hurt in her eyes is something more than just a family squabble. I want to be there for her in any way I can, even if that means dealing with some not-so-welcoming family members.
“I’d love to come join you and your family to celebrate Darius’s birthday, but only if you’re comfortable with it. I know a thing or two about dysfunctional families.”
“He has a point,” Alise responds, giving Ramona’s hand a squeeze. “Cooper is a big boy and can take care of himself. Besides, it will be fun to have a partner in crime to tell your aunt Thea where to stick her opinions.”
“Are they really that bad?”
“Not all of them. But they’re my family, and I love them. We only see each other a few times a year. I just need to make it through this Saturday, and then I have months to repair my self-esteem before seeing them again.”
“I thought you said they weren’t that bad.”
“I’m being a little overdramatic.” Beauty smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Are you coming or not?”
“I’m coming,” I respond without hesitating, and Darius whoops behind me.
“I have to call Chris, Tyrese, and Quinton and tell them the good news. They’re gonna lose it when they meet you, Uncle Coop. Wait, do you think you could convince Beau to come, too?”
I hate to dash Darius’s hopes and dreams, but there is no way Beau can come to the barbecue, but I might be able to convince him to sign some gear for Darius and his cousins. “No can do, Big D. The Timberwolves have an away game this weekend.”
“Bummer.” He shrugs his shoulders without a care in the world. “I’m gonna go make the call.”
I wait for Darius to leave the kitchen before leaning over to Beauty and grabbing her hand. “Are you sure you’re okay with this? I can make up an excuse for Darius and only stop by.”
“No. I really want you to come. It’ll be nice to have another ally there besides Alise.”
That’s strange. I can completely understand why Alise would give anyone who had a bad thing to say about Ramona the what for, but there’s one very important person missing from her list of allies.
“What about your mom? Doesn’t she give them what for when they give you a hard time?”
“She does when she’s around to hear their snide and hurtful comments,” Alise chimes in as she plops down into the chair across from me. “Mostly, they keep their assholish behavior to a minimum in her presence.”
“The two of us have your back, Beauty.” I lean over and plant a kiss on her forehead.
“If you say so,” she mumbles before dropping her head on my shoulder.
I know Ramona has only had Alise to have her back at these things, but now she has me, too. It’s just a family barbecue. What could possibly go wrong?