Chapter 28
Cooper
Thanks to Lizzypractically begging Trix every hour, on the hour, for the last week, Trix has agreed to go with us to the lake house for the summer family trip. I can tell she’s not thrilled about having to see Rob though. I’m not excited about having to worry about how he treats her while we’re there, not to mention having to pretend we’re just friends for everyone else’s sake is going to make it difficult. Though we’ve had plenty of practice with Lizzy being home from summer camp and having to retreat to our separate rooms every night she’s not at her mom’s.
Not having her curled up next to me at night or being able to walk up behind her and kiss my way down her neck when I get home from practice has been torture. But it’s been fun watching her and Lizzy play video games and dragging them both into the pool a couple of nights a week. Fuck, even just grocery shopping with the three of us has been an adventure. So while I’m wary about the circumstances, I’m still thrilled she’s coming.
A thing I grow to regret the first night we’re there, and Rob and his girlfriend arrive.
Rob’s eyes fall on Trix when he walks in the door. There’s a flash of panic in them before it’s erased by a schooled attempt to remain looking calm. Then I hear the sound of kids in the distance. I can’t tell whether they’re laughing or fighting by the sound, but a moment later, they’re tumbling in the door behind him. I watch them navigate the kitchen, running and jumping through the hall and into the living room. I can tell Trix is trying to do the math of how they fit here, and it’s quickly answered when their mom, his girlfriend, comes in.
“Bailey! Heather! Knock it off and take off your shoes!” she yells at them, and they come to a halt, one of them pouting at her before she complies with the order. Then she turns to Rob. “Babe, did you bring their bag in already? I didn’t see it in the back.”
“Yeah, I’ve got it right here.” He pats the duffel hanging over his shoulder, and I watch in real time as Trix comes to the conclusion this is his new girlfriend and he’s playing caretaker to her kids. She blinks and pulls her glass up to her lips, looking like she’s doing her best to fix her face.
My mom and dad hear the commotion and join us in the room. They’re busy greeting the kids and Rob’s girlfriend, Carly. Trix looks frozen, and I wish I could put my arm around her right now and claim her as mine because I can see Rob watching her and Carly trying to make sense of who she is and why she’s here. The tension in the room mounting the whole time.
Carly finally gives up wondering and reaches out a hand.
“Hi! I’m Carly. Rob’s girlfriend. Are you here with Cooper?” She flashes a grin to me before she turns it back on Trix. Before she can even answer, Rob interjects.
“Yeah. This is Beatrix. She’s a family friend.” Rob’s eyes meet Trix’s, and I can see her avoid them deftly and turn her smile back on Carly. I’ve dragged her into this mess and now he’s going to use it to belittle her.
Fuck that.All our careful plans go out the window because I’m not having Trix dismissed.
“We’re actually dating now.” The words come out before I can stop them.
Trix’s eyes flash to mine, and I see Lizzy look puzzled for a moment before an understanding grin spreads across her face. I get a smirk and a nose scrunch that tells me she knows what I’m doing. My parents both flash a look at us and my mom’s eyebrow raises in question but drops when I flash a bright smile.
Trix, on the other hand, has more trouble recovering. Rob’s eyes land hard on me, but I refuse to meet them. Ignoring him to watch her look flustered and recover with her own smile as she looks at Carly again.
“It’s nice to meet you.” Trix takes Carly’s hand and shakes it.
“Oh, I’m so excited Cooper brought a girlfriend. We’ll have so much fun!” Carly’s free hand waves in the air in excitement, and the ring on her finger sparkles in the light. The kind of blinding light that my mother doesn’t miss. Suddenly Trix and I aren’t the most interesting thing in the room anymore.
“Something to tell us?” my mom asks Carly, and she immediately looks guilty, pulling both her hands back and looking to Rob.
“We planned to tell you at dinner.” Rob looks awkward as fuck. He shifts on his feet and his brow furrows as he looks between our parents for their reaction. They won’t be thrilled with that development but they also won’t let it show if they can help it.
“I forgot to take it off before we got out of the car. The kids were so excited to get in, and I got distracted. I’m sorry,” Carly apologizes as much to Rob as anyone else in the room. Interesting that Rob wanted her to hide it.
“Don’t apologize.” My mom regains her usual inner calm. “But I do need to see the ring. It looks gorgeous.” She reaches her hand out and takes Carly’s in hers.
Trix takes a step backward and then several more in my direction. Her face is calm, with a serene smile, and her hands are clasped like she’s witnessing the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. But I can see in her eyes that it’s killing her. She loved my mom, and the two of them spent a lot of time in the kitchen together during holidays and the summer. My mom used to tell Trix that she was going to get her grandmother’s wedding band someday, and she couldn’t wait for her to have it. So I can imagine that this feels like a gut punch, even if she doesn’t want the marriage or the man anymore.
I reach out and grab her hand, squeezing it tight so she knows I’m here. At least my little verbal outburst claiming her meant I could do that much for her.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us!” My mom shoots Rob an admonishing look, and he looks sheepish.
“Should we tell them the rest?” Carly grins at him.
“Uh…” Rob’s eyes land on Trix and then hit the floor in quick succession before he looks back up at Carly and smiles. “Sure. Why not?”
I can tell in my gut that whatever is coming next is going to hurt Trix, even if I don’t know why.
“We’re pregnant!” Carly announces brightly.
My mom squeals with delight and even my dad lets out a little yelp of surprise, patting Rob on the back as my mom pulls Carly tight into a hug. Lizzy, meanwhile, looks like she might throw up. I give her a look, telling her to fix her face. A thing she does after briefly sticking her tongue out at me.
But then I feel Trix’s hand squeeze mine again, and when I look at her, she’s still smiling. The picture of serenity minus the tears forming in her eyes, and now I feel a punch in my gut. She blinks a moment later, clearing the sadness from them, and turns and smiles at me.
“I just, uh… I forgot something in the car. I’m going to run and get it. Probably a good time anyway since it’s a family moment.” She squeezes me again and then slinks around the kitchen counter toward the door.
I do my due diligence, congratulating my brother and the mother- and-bride-to-be before I go after Trix, motioning for Lizzy to stay when she starts to follow. Lizzy thinks this is all for show, but if I’m about to find out that Trix is still hung up on Rob, we’re both going to be distraught in a way that’ll be hard to cover up. And I don’t want Lizzy hurting for both of us.
When I catchup to her, she’s outside, past my truck and halfway down the hill to the lake, leaning on one of the old trees my brother and I used to climb when we were younger. I walk up slowly, trying to make sure that whatever questions I ask are thoughtful ones. Reminding myself that even if something’s there between us now, she had a whole life with him first.
“Trix?” I say her name softly when I walk up to her, touching her shoulder gently, but she still startles.
She blinks away tears that fall down her cheeks when she turns to look at me.
“Oh. Hey, Coop.” She brushes at them and forces a smile.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine. That was just… a lot. I’m sorry. This is ridiculous.” She swipes one last tear off the corner of her eye and wipes her hands on her dress.
“It’s okay to not be fine, Trix. I wasn’t expecting that either. It was a shock, and I didn’t even date him.” I try to force a smile myself for her sake.
She shifts uneasily on her feet, staring off at the lake.
“I probably shouldn’t have come out here with you guys. I just didn’t want to let Lizzy down, and I’ve gotten so used to being around you all the time. I didn’t think about how weird this would be. I mean, I did… but it was a fleeting thought, and then I said what the hell, you know? But it’s weird. He’s definitely weirded out. Your parents are probably wondering what the hell is going on that I dated one of their sons, and now I’m after the other one. And Lizzy. Oh god!” She puts her hand over her mouth and looks at me wide-eyed.
“Lizzy knows why I did it.”
“Why did you do it?”
“I’m not letting him dismiss you like you’re some random person who doesn’t matter to this family. Just because he didn’t want you in it, doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t miss having you.”
“You’re so sweet, Coop. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have someone like you in my corner.” Her eyes soften, and the tears threaten to return.
“You’re pretty great to have in a corner too.” I wrap my arms around her shoulders and pull her into a hug.
“I can’t stop crying, apparently.” She smiles up at me, laughing as she fidgets, blinking away another set of tears that grow fat and roll down her cheeks, staining a trail down them.
“I’d kiss them away if I could, but I don’t know if that makes sense anymore.”
She frowns. “What do you mean?”
“You seem like you’re pretty broken up over my brother right now. I’m not trying to make you feel bad; I’m just… trying to figure out where that leaves me.”
“Oh, god, Coop… no. It’s not that. Not at all.” She shakes her head violently and takes my hand, squeezing it. “I don’t miss Rob. Carly seems nice. I just… him lying about it, who I was, and then finding out he lied about a lot of other things. Just felt like a gut punch.”
“What else did he lie about?”
She takes a deep breath, staring out at the water for another beat before she looks back up at me.
“I can’t have children. I didn’t know for sure until early last year, and then they confirmed it. I was upset, but I rallied. I figured we could find a way to make it work. Maybe adopt or foster. But Rob was insistent that he didn’t want to. He said he didn’t want to raise another man’s kids. Didn’t have any interest in adoption. That it was a hard line for him. That he’d rather not have kids if that was the choice and wasn’t sure if he wanted them at all.
“I wasn’t ready to shut the door like that. I wanted him to at least consider adopting. Maybe take some classes and do research, but he got so pissed. I mean, you know we were always on and off. I went back to stay with Xander more times than I can count, especially when his team was doing badly. But that argument… That did us in. We’d been talking engagement rings and a future, and then he told me he couldn’t marry me.”
“And now he’s in my parents’ lake house with two future stepkids and one on the way.”
“That’s a pretty short timeline to change your mind on such a life-changing thing,” she says softly, her shoulders falling. “So it was just me he didn’t want kids with. I guess he thought I’d make a bad mother.”
“Trix. No fucking way. I’ve seen you with Lizzy enough to know you’d be a fucking fantastic mom. Don’t let this get in your head like that.”
“I’m just… embarrassed.” She sighs and stares out into the distance. “I can’t imagine what your parents are thinking. How awkward this all is. It’s obvious he doesn’t want me here, and now we have to keep up a whole lie about us dating.”
“It’s not entirely a lie. We’ve been on some dates.” I smile at her and tuck a piece of hair that’s drifted into her face back behind her ear. “We went to the fair. Did some stargazing. There was definitely a pinic in the woods where I had a fantastic fucking meal.” I’m hoping I can get her to smile at least.
“Oh my god.” Her cheeks heat, and she shakes her head, laughing despite herself. “I don’t think we should tell your parents about that one.”
“Yeah.” I cringe a little before I grin again. “Maybe we skip that one, but I’m more than happy to tell them about the others. Happy to fill Rob in on how much fun we’ve had this summer.”
“You’re evil.” She says it like an accusation, but the look in her eyes when she turns them to me makes my heart somersault in my chest. “But I appreciate you more than you know. The dates. This summer. What you did in there. All of it. I hope you know that.”
“I’m enjoying every second I get with you.”
“Me too. You’re a good one, Coop.” She studies my face, and I run my fingers down her jaw before I kiss her softly.
“You’re the good one. Thank you for coming here and putting up with all of this for Lizzy’s sake. I know she pressured you to come, and I’m sorry it means you have to deal with all of this.”
“It’s okay. I wanted to be here for her, and honestly, I—” she stops midsentence and looks up at me again and then shakes her head.
“Honestly, what?” I ask.
“I’ve gotten used to our little… routine, I guess? I think I would have missed you. That probably sounds silly.” She gives a little ground, and I feel my heart kick up in response.
“It doesn’t sound silly. I would have missed you too. I’m honestly secretly glad my kid twisted your arm.”
“Me too. And kind of glad you told everyone we’re dating so I can still kiss you.” She leans up on her tippy toes to kiss me again, and I wrap my arms around her, but her eyes suddenly flash with awareness. “Shit. What about Lizzy?”
“I’ll explain it to her later. I think she’s as suspicious of me and you as I am of her and Billy though, so I might be coming up on an inquisition soon anyway.”
“Well, I can’t say I envy you that.”
I kiss her one more time and then eye the door to the house when I see a figure moving in front of it. I can guess at least some of them have peered out to see what we’re doing down here.
“Think you’re ready to go back in?” I ask her softly after I kiss her one more time.
“Yes. I’m ready.” She holds out her hand for mine, and I take it, smiling at the fact that at least for a little while I get to pretend she’s mine in all the ways that count.