26. Dana
Dana
T he stain of snot and drool on the breast of my robe was exactly why I was wearing it over my dress.
Drew coughed in my arms, his little mouth buried against my collarbone. The medicine his doctor had prescribed seemed to be doing nothing. “It’s just a cold,” Dr. Sinclair had said. “He probably picked it up in Costa Rica,” adding that I just needed to give the medicine a bit more time.
I stared down at the two dozen red roses in my free hand.
The stems crinkled in my grip, mangling themselves.
Just the sight of them made me want to vomit regardless of who they were from.
I’d never liked the smell of roses.But it was the little tassel hanging from the plastic that encased the tops of them that made it so much worse.
To Dana: I hope I didn’t give you the wrong impression. Maybe I’ll see you out running again soon. Love, Robert.
Fucking psycho.
If he genuinely thought I’d just gotten the wrong impression, he was out of his mind.
The man was insane and incessant, and the more often these showed up—it was the fourth time this week—the more I wanted to tell Cole.
But he had too much going on in his own life, too much for me to keep up with, and I didn’t want to add to that.
We just had to get through this evening, and then maybe, somehow, things could start to calm down.
Maybe then, I’d tell him.
Making a mental note to contact the police at some point, I shoved the bundle of roses into the garbage can and slammed the lid.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to the launch wearing a robe.”
Drew coughed again as I looked over my shoulder at my sister.
She collapsed onto the sofa, her shorter, wavy locks flying up into her face from the movement.
How she’d managed to stay here this long without moving on was beyond me.
In any other scenario, she’d have gone on to the next location, following wherever her heart or phone led her, but it had been months now. I was thankful, at least.
“No,” I chuckled, turning on the spot and pointing to the damp patch over my breast. “Just keeping my dress clean until I leave.”
She looked me up and down. I must have looked ridiculous—my fluffy pink robe with a hint of my black dress poking out from underneath, shimmering black heels, my hair swooped up with little tendrils hanging around my face. I’d even managed to get a full-glam makeup look on while Drew was napping.
“Damn,” Vee grinned, giving me a little whistle as I spun in a circle. I parted the bottom of the robe a bit to give her a better idea of what I was working with. “You look hot.”
“Had a bit more time than usual,” I chuckled. I shuffled Drew on my hip, lifting him a bit higher and easing the weight. “He napped for ages.”
“Probably just fighting off his cold.” She shrugged and reached for the remote, flicking on the television. “When are you heading out?”
I pulled my phone from the pocket of my robe and checked the time— shit. “Cole’s driver should be here any minute.”
Carefully, I popped Drew into his swing and released the sash of my robe, shucking it from my shoulders. Before Vee could even take it in, a fit of coughs erupted from his tiny mouth, spittle and snot flying at high velocity right into the dangling fabric of the robe.
Almost using it as a shield, I kneeled down in front of Drew, my worry for him only growing.
I hadn’t heard him cough like that until that moment.
It had all been dry and irritating, the only mucus in sight coming from his nose.
But this cough was wet, deep, and angry.
He sputtered out a little cry before another round of coughs hit him.
“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” I cooed, wiping the little bits of snot hanging from the corners of his mouth.
“That’s good,” Vee remarked, and I swear I could have killed her.
“How is that good? He sounds worse.”
“He’s finally getting the phlegm out. It may sound bad, but honestly, it’s probably an improvement. Poor guy’s just coughing out the devil.”
“You can’t still think—” I cut myself off, breathing in deeply and trying to center myself. “Maybe I should stay home.”
“Dana. He’s fine,” Vee sighed, pushing her body weight up so she could get a good look at both of us. “I’ll keep a close eye on him. The thermometer’s in the medicine drawer, right?”
I tightened my lips as I watched Drew. The fit ended and he calmed, his demeanor changing back to his usual, happy-go-lucky self as he reached out for his giraffe.
Things would be fine.
Vee was right.
“Yeah, it’s in the drawer.” I sighed and pushed myself back up to my feet at the same moment a honk came from outside.
Vee nodded toward the door. “Go. It’s fine.”
I hated this. Hated the conflicting feelings swirling in my gut, the need to be in two places at once to support the ones that needed me. “Promise you’ll text me updates.”
“Of course.”
I took a deep breath and grabbed my purse from the countertop, quickly double-checking I wasn’t taking anything Drew would need with me. “Alright.”
————
Having Lottie and Hunter by my side was enough to keep me distracted from constantly worrying about Drew. I almost wished they’d brought Brody but a part of me wondered if I’d give him Drew’s cold from the amount of doting I’d do on the poor kid.
The center of the brewery had been cleared of workers and their stations to make room for the soft launch party.
Banners hung from the ceiling, decorated with the images that would be on our cans and bottles when the drinks landed on shelves in a few months.
Shareholders and people much higher up than me littered the floor, all in suits or fancy dresses that likely cost much more than mine.
The wait staff of the restaurant worked the floor with hors d’oeuvres, passing them out to whoever simply stretched out an arm.
Apart from me.
They seemed to have picked up on our relationship and weren’t exactly happy for us.
“Who’s that Cole’s talking to?” Lottie asked, saddling up beside me as she sipped at a bottle of fruit-infused IPA. She hid her scowl fairly well, most wouldn’t realize how much she hated the stuff.
“You don’t have to drink that, you know,” I laughed, following her line of sight until I spotted him.
His dirty blonde hair poked up from the crowd as he spoke animatedly with another man I didn’t recognize.
Even from where I was standing I could tell Cole looked a little better—no massive bags under his eyes, the color in his face had returned, and even the stubble that he’d neglected for weeks had been clean-shaven.
The cut of his jaw was harsh again, and the way he spoke…
it was like someone had breathed life back into him.
“I don’t know who that is,” I said, taking the bottle from Lottie when she tried to sip at it again. “Probably a shareholder.”
Hunter’s hand snaked its way around her waist as he presented her with a fresh IPA, no fruit this time, and she beamed back at him. “What’d I miss?”
“Just trying to figure out who that guy is,” Lottie said, keeping her voice low as she pointed in Cole’s direction.
“That would be our good friend, Cole,” Hunter grinned. “Drunk already, sweetheart?”
Lottie’s expression soured. “You’re so annoying.”
His lips pressed against the side of her head before he took a swig of the beer.
A part of me was almost jealous—there wouldn’t be a time when Cole and I could be like that: easy, free, drinking if we wanted, making jokes about it.
It seemed like such a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it felt almost as if the normalcy of it was calling out to me, shouting at me for the first time in weeks, that I was going down the wrong path with him.
“That’s Dale Hawthorne,” Hunter finally said. “He’s been our liaison with local businesses for the agriculture stuff.”
“I feel like I should know that” Lottie mumbled.
“You just stick to breeding, horse girl,” Hunter laughed, resting his chin on top of his simmering wife’s head.
“You’re Dana, right?”
I spun on a dime, instinctively plastering on my customer service smile and came face to face with the man who’d been here the night Cole had turned up unannounced three months ago.
Tall, built, and just an inch shorter than Cole, I wondered why I couldn’t have fallen for this one instead until a pretty little girl about the age of four with blonde braids poked out from behind him, a little stuffed rabbit clutched in her fingers.
“Uh, yeah,” I said, giving the girl a small wave before she tucked herself further in behind him. “You’re Cole’s friend.”
“Grayson,” the man grinned, all dimples and hard lines as his cheeks shifted. I’d heard about Grayson, he’s Cole’s best friend. He’d picked him up from the airport when Cole came back from rehab. Did something in… sports? “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
He stuck his hand out to me as an offering. I took it gently, his palms making mine look as small as a doll’s. “All good things, I hope?”
“You really think Cole would have a bad thing to say about you?” he laughed. Grayson placed a hand on his daughter and pulled her out from behind him. “This is Penny, my daughter.”
She held up her little rabbit toward me.
“And Thomas, her rabbit.”
“Nice to meet you, Penny and Thomas,” I said, briefly shaking hands with the stuffed animal.
“You’ve not seen Bobby around, have you?” he asked, his brows creasing as he scanned the room.
Who the fuck is Bobby? I followed his gaze, watching the crowd for a moment. I wanted to ask, wanted to know who he was talking about, but if Cole hadn’t told me himself maybe there was a reason. “I haven’t really been paying much attention,” I said instead.
“Let me know if you see him.” He picked Penny up, her legs wrapping around his abdomen as she snuggled into the side of his suit-covered chest. “Cole doesn’t like it, but I just can’t stand the guy. And this is the last place he should be.”
Wait, is Bobby the roommate?