Chapter 11
Eva
ARNA
Coordinating our calendars is a minefield. But I refuse to give up. I’m dying to see you all, but mostly you, Evangeline. We need to celebrate. Can everyone share their availabilities?
FELICITY
I need to see the ring. Pleaseeee send us a photo already. Also, I’ll make myself available.
WINTER
They say emeralds are thought to improve your mental clarity and increase fertility.
ARNA
An EMERALD! Of course. Your favourite colour.
MARLEE
Well played, Coop. Well played. I am also free any time for this.
EVA
Don’t you ladies have jobs?
My reply was so obviously avoidant that they each fired back replies calling me out - including Winter. Apparently, an engagement ring was her weakness and she needed a photo too.
Concern caused my brows to pinch as I wondered how I was going to get out of this one, matched only by my confusion. An emerald? I didn’t even have a ring, yet they spoke like one already existed. Coop and I had only discussed it in jest and now my mind was reeling with too many questions.
Just as I was about to silence my phone and go make a tea, another message came through.
COOPER
Keen for a break?
I’m hungry and could do with some fresh air.
Smiling, I grabbed my purse and headed out onto the floor, any thoughts of surviving on the half packet of mint slice biscuits quickly discarded.
It was crazy to think about how easily we’d slipped into a new rhythm without even trying.
Seeing each other at work felt natural, our interactions as easy as they’d always been.
On days where he started super early, we drove separately, others we would carpool.
My favourites though were when I was his personal backpack on the bike.
Those mornings and afternoons allowed for an opportunity to bask in his comforting warmth and should-be-illegal scent - but they also left me feeling heated and needy.
The old connection, the one we had as kids, came rushing back without much effort. Over the last couple of weeks, we’d combine lunch breaks, or I’d sip tea while we talked, before drifting back to my tasks as if we were still teenagers conversing in between my homework sessions.
I told him how I’d worked odd jobs in cafes after finishing school, undertaken some reception work and even tried my hand in retail before finally deciding to study.
I also confessed that nothing I’d done seemed to fulfil me, not really anyway.
Pausing, before I accidentally overshared that was until now.
Until this job. I was finally working with something I loved.
Something which kept my brain active and engaged - in the same way equations and numbers always had.
In response, he shared how hard it had been in the beginning after he decided to fully commit himself to the distillery.
How some days felt too heavy, too much. The backend work of the business proving to be much denser than he ever planned.
How he’d very nearly quit and taken a job behind one of the bars he knew my brother would eventually own.
Not only because he and Seb always, in his words, spent more time bantering and mocking than working, but because it was easier. Not so stressful.
But his pride in what he accomplished was obvious when he was here, and I was a lucky quiet observer to how hard he worked.
The unrelenting hours he spent with his employees, checking on his stock, wandering the aisles with a clipboard and a pen tucked behind his ear - often with no shirt on - as if discovering he was not only everything I remembered, but had grown into something so much more than that.
Our conversations were wide-ranging, but we never touched those small, intimate moments we’d shared.
Never mentioned what it would look like when we had to slip into the roles of smitten kittens for an audience.
If someone at work came near, he’d instinctively shift closer to me, never too obvious, never crossing a line.
Just a brush of fingers, or a palm at the small of my back. A quiet kind of closeness.
And it was only on one occasion when he’d unexpectedly laughed at something I said and pulled me into a bare-chested hug when we were on the floor of the distillery, that I caught myself focusing on the heat of his skin.
Basking in how ridiculously good his chest smelled, just a trace of sweat clinging to it.
I eventually shoved him away with a playful grin, trying to shake it off, and he teased me quietly with a comment about how obvious it was I wanted him to stay shirtless all the time.
The banter was easy - too easy. But beneath it, it felt dangerous.
Banter laced with truth. At least, on my end.
When he saw me walking through the aisles towards him, his face lit with that boyish grin, like he couldn’t believe I was really here, and my stomach swirled.
“What?” I asked with a narrowed gaze.
This was our dance. Always asking each other to share our thoughts, as if we wouldn’t be brave enough otherwise.
“I never hear you coming when you’re wearing your Docs,” he replied, pointing to my favourite shoes.
“That’s the point. They’re stealthy and lethal if needed. Just like me,” I joked, my smile lifting when his laugh bellowed out.
“Do you boys want anything?” He asked the team he’d just been chatting with and when they all declined, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and walked me outside.
His easy grin remained, as did his arm, until we were out of sight of anyone at work.
The distillery was in an industrial area, but there was a laneway of restaurants close by which people travelled for and were always being promoted on social media as the places to be.
The variety and quality were second to none and some days the choices were so plentiful I couldn’t decide.
Thankfully, today I didn’t have to as Cooper clearly knew what he felt like, leading me into one which made delicious pastries.
It was packed, one tiny table for two left in the corner which I pointed at.
“Want to grab the table and I’ll get your usual?
” I asked, already knowing he would want the steak and potato pie.
Handing me his wallet, he headed over to the table and I noticed at least three sets of eyes following him as he sauntered over looking all Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise.
All those admirers were likely thinking the same thing I was as a little jealousy flared in my bones - get in line, ladies, he’s also funny and thoughtful.
Huffing a sigh, I tapped his wallet against my palm looking at the display. It was cute he always handed me his money like I was going to use it. He was already paying me a premium and wouldn’t let me contribute financially at home so lunch was the least I could do.
After scrolling my phone while I waited for our order, I headed back to the table with our tray, surprised to see Jack and Win parked across from Cooper.
I quickened my pace, excited to see them, before realising this was not actually ideal.
These were our friends, and they believed we were a freshly engaged, absolutely smitten couple. A test I had not studied for. Shit.
“Hey, guys,” I greeted, realising with Win sitting on Jack’s lap in what should have been my chair, there was nowhere else for me to sit. And Coop’s knowing grin told me he also knew where this was going.
“Evs!” Win said as she stood and waited for me to place the tray on the table before she reached for my hand. “Where’s the ring?”
“Oh, it’s being uh - cleaned,” I lied, with a quick help me face at a still smiling Cooper.
“Already?” Win said confused, before retreating to bury herself back onto Jack’s lap.
“Hey, Evs, congratulations and sorry we interrupted your lunch.” Jack said and I waved a hand dismissively.
“Thank you. And don’t be silly, we always love to see you guys.” I deflected, standing awkwardly at Coop’s side wondering how the hell I was going to get out of this and how swiftly we’d turned into an us.
“What do you feel like?” Jack asked Win, both looking towards the counter while I shot my fiancé a scowl.
Thank God it wasn’t Arna or Felicity; they were bloodhounds and my ring being cleaned would not have gone over so smoothly.
At least Winter wouldn’t pepper me with too many questions because Jack was only just back from an away game so she would be too focused on him.
“Where am I going to sit?” I asked discreetly, while our unexpected guests were still busy deciding on food.
Rather than answering, Coop pulled me down onto his lap in a surprisingly gentle move considering the speed with which he manoeuvred me.
Holy fudge cakes!
He slipped an arm around my waist and drew me closer, whispering into my hair.
“Is this okay?”
“No,” I said over my shoulder, and I felt him chuckle behind me.
“You need to relax,” he said, bringing his other hand around to tap my thigh. “We are in love, remember?”
I could hear the grin in his words, and I desperately wanted to loosen up. To appear as carefree and at ease as Win was with Jack, despite how different our circumstances were.
“How could I forget?” I mumbled, just as Win stood, letting Jack out to order.
“So, how’s the internship?” She asked the second she sat back down, and I reached for my pastry to keep my hands busy.
Part of me wondered if it was better or worse I hadn’t been prepared for this spontaneous pretend you and your boss are in love acting session, considering I was entirely rigid and still hadn’t answered her question because of how distracted I was at the way his thumb was grazing my thigh.
“Really good,” I answered before clearing my throat to buy myself more time. “Although, sometimes this guy can be quite distracting.” I tipped my head back and felt Coop’s arm around me tighten and his chest press closer to my back as he sat up a little taller.
“I’m a distraction?” He teased, “You weren’t complaining in your office the other week.”
My cheeks flamed and Winter threw her head back laughing. Thoughts of our almost kiss flashed through my mind as I shot Cooper a narrow-eyed glare.
“I can’t believe I was shocked,” Win said, preventing me from physically hurting my still smirking boss. “You guys are perfect.”
“Who’s perfect?” Jack asked, placing their food down.
“These two.” Standing she waited for Jack to sit before again mirroring how I was currently sitting on Cooper’s lap.
“I was saying how I was shocked when you first told me they were dating, but I shouldn’t have been.
They’re perfect together.” Sighing, she leaned back into Jack who pressed a kiss to her shoulder.
“See, Evy, we’re perfect together,” Coop said, and I didn’t have to turn around to know he was grinning. He was loving this.
“Yes, yes,” I tapped his arm while rolling my eyes at Win. “You’re the best.”
They both laughed.
“Only with you, Evy.” He leaned closer, speaking so softly into my ear that no one else even noticed and I felt myself unravel.
Felt the goosebumps spread across my skin and suppressed the shiver desperate to roll through me at the feel of his breath on my ear.
Being with him awakened every cell in my body while simultaneously feeling so natural that by the time I stood to say goodbye to Jack and Win, I realised almost with surprise, that I’d been resting in his arms. At some point my hands had settled gently over his, like we weren’t pretending at all.
It was discomforting to end lunch today.
To leave the pretence and move back to reality where we were only required to pretend on the odd moment.
I was clearly overthinking it and it was with a playful shove on our way back that he broke the ice, teasing me about my improv skills needing work, and I laughed.
A belly laugh full of relief and unexpected happiness.
His teasing was almost as nice as the warmth of his arms around me, fleeting as it was.
And I spent the rest of the afternoon incredibly distracted, finalising about one percent of the work I’d planned as I thought about how dangerously enjoyable that little lunch really was.