Chapter 4
4
Cooper
THERE WAS A little extra pep in his step as he climbed behind the wheel of his cruiser. The sun wasn’t even up yet, and the air still carried a chill from the night before, but the day was supposed to be decently warm and his shift ended early enough he might even have a little time to enjoy it.
Maybe he’d go to Grady’s and check on the goats. Make sure they were all doing okay after getting their boosters the day before. Goats were robust animals, but shit happened. He didn’t want Isla having to deal with losing one of her beloved little friends. After seeing how she handled hoof trimming, he could only imagine how difficult it would be for her if one of them got sick.
So that wasn’t going to happen. Even if he had to drop by every day and check each one individually.
After starting up his mobile data terminal—the computer system integrated into his dash and console, also referred to as simply MDT—he pulled out of the gated lot behind the station and onto the road, ready to patrol the small town he called home. Early shifts were his favorite. They were generally quiet and he got to watch Moss Creek come alive as the sun rose.
He also got to be first in line when Dianna opened The Baking Rack.
Once upon a time he’d tried to convince the pretty bakery owner they’d be a good match. His attempt failed, but it was hard to be mad about it. Not when Dianna was happily married to someone who seemed to appreciate her, and now had the cutest little girl he’d ever seen.
Plus she gave him free coffee and breakfast as a consolation prize.
He parked on the street, leaving his cruiser running as he went inside the sweet-smelling shop for a cup of grog and a ham and cheese Danish. Taking both back to his car, he took a few minutes to enjoy the flaky pastry then pulled out onto the road. The lights were on at The Wooden Spoon as they geared up for the morning breakfast rush, but the rest of the shops were quiet. Traffic was minimal as he moved through the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.
As the sun came up, he stopped to help an older couple change a flat tire then took a call from the small motel at the edge of his jurisdiction about an unruly customer.
Unsurprisingly, it was one of the ranch hands in town to help with the fall herd rotations causing problems. The idiot was still drunk from the night before and couldn’t remember what room he was in. Or whose name was on the room. Or which ranch he was working at.
Hiring on extra hands was an occasional necessity for just about every ranch in Moss Creek, and not everyone had the space to house them. That left the small motel packed, sometimes with six or eight temporary residents in a single room.
“You want to take him in or you want me to?” Leland, one of his fellow officers, had taken the same call. They decided the best plan of action was to take the guy in and let him sleep it off.
“I’ll take him in.” He gave his friend a grin. “Then you can deal with these guys the next time we get called to The Creekery.”
Leland took just about any call that came from The Creekery, and it wasn’t hard to guess why. Even if he hadn’t known Leland since they were kids, it was easy to see his friend was fully in love with Paige, the bar’s owner. Had been for just about forever.
And he couldn’t blame him. Paige was smart, hardworking, and strong—even if she was a little oblivious. Hopefully one day she’d pop her head out of her ass and see what had been standing right in front of her for years.
Cooper loaded the misbehaving ranch hand into the back of his car and aimed for the station. After taking him in and finishing up the repetitive paperwork involved, he was back out on the road. The sun was well above the horizon, but morning was far from over. This was usually the least eventful portion of the day. Everyone was where they woke up early to go to, and it wasn't quite time for lunch yet.
Deciding to take the opportunity to patrol the stretch of two-lane highway leading to the next town over, he headed that direction, following the path to the edge of his jurisdiction before turning to circle back. It was as he circled back that he came up behind another car. One that was traveling ten miles an hour under the posted speed limit. If it had been at night, he would assume the driver was drunk, but there was no swerving or variation in speed to indicate inebriation was the issue. If anything, there was almost too little fluctuation. The car held the exact same space between the lines and never inched above or below the pace it was going.
Something was going on. It wasn’t exactly illegal to drive that slowly, but it was one hundred percent suspicious.
When they came to a curve, the car's brake lights illuminated, showing one of them was out. He took full advantage of the opportunity and flipped on his lights. Whoever was driving was having some sort of an issue—possibly medical—and it needed to be checked out.
He called in the stop, reading off the license plate to dispatch as he searched it in the system. The name the sedan was registered to made him pause and do a double take. After checking everything to make sure it was correct, he stepped out of the car, moving a little faster than normal. Going straight to the driver's side window, he leaned down, expecting to find Evelyn's grandmother—possibly having a stroke—behind the wheel.
Instead a pair of wide dark eyes met his.
"Isla?" He leaned to peek around her, finding Gram-Gram in the passenger’s seat, sipping from an insulated paper cup.
The unexpected development had him so thrown off, he forgot what the fuck he was even standing there for until Isla lifted a piece of paper between them.
"I guess you probably want to see this." She turned to Griselda. "Do you have your registration and proof of insurance?"
Cooper blinked, his mind finally coming back online. "It's fine. Don't worry about it." He rested one arm against the top of the car and leaned down, taking in the sight of Isla. "I thought you didn't have your license."
She wiggled the paper he hadn't reviewed. "I just got my learner’s permit."
That explained... Some of what he was seeing.
"I'm a little surprised you didn't ask Grady or Evelyn to take you." He'd heard enough about Evelyn's grandmother to know that while Griselda wasn't a bad person, she wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. Definitely not the kind of person he thought should be teaching someone as sweet and shy as Evelyn how to drive. Not that it looked like Gram-Gram was doing much instructing.
"Well..." Isla's dark eyes darted to the woman beside her before coming back to his face. "Griselda suggested that we go this morning."
One of Griselda’s brows lifted. "That's not how I remember that conversation going."
He tried to read the older woman's expression, hoping to suss out what she was trying to say, but she had one hell of a poker face. And considering he made a living figuring out all the shit people didn't say, not being able to get a read on her was pretty impressive.
"A woman should never be beholden to a man." Griselda finally looked his way, her eyes sharp when they met his. "She should always have a way to get where she needs to go, so I told Isla I would take her to get her permit this morning."
Griselda might have a good poker face, but she offered up a huge amount of information in a small number of words.
Her concern that Isla not be ‘beholden to a man’ wasn't about Grady driving Isla to and from work, he knew that much for sure. Gram-Gram was chilly, but she had a soft spot for Grady. That meant there was another reason she was worried about Isla. Either from personal experience—maybe Gram-Gram’s life of wealth had its dark spots…
Or because she knew something about Isla’s past.
Thinking the sweet woman blinking up at him from behind the wheel may have been treated badly by some asshole had his hackles up. He’d seen shit like that happen more times than he could count. Showed up at too many calls to find a woman’s soft nature being exploited and taken advantage of by a man who wasn’t worth the skin he was printed on.
Women like Camille Shepard—now Camille Pace.
“She’s right.” Cooper could give Griselda that much. “But I’m not sure Gram-Gram’s the best one to help you get comfortable driving.” From the looks of it, Griselda was just sitting there, sipping her coffee, while Isla raw-dogged her first behind-the-wheel experience. “I can take you out next time.”
Isla’s eyes widened. “Oh.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. I’m sure you’ve got way more important things to do than?—”
He wasn’t going to let her finish that thought. “No. I don’t.” If it was Isla’s own past that pushed Griselda to bring her out, there was no fucking way he’d let her think for a second she wasn’t important enough for him to find a little time in his schedule.
Isla’s mouth dropped open, but she looked more surprised by the offer than put off. “That would be…” Her cheeks barely pinked up from the chill seeping through the open window. “Good then.” She glanced at the clock on the dash. “Um. Do you need to give me a ticket? I’m supposed to be at Grady and Evelyn’s soon.”
He chuckled. “No. I don’t need to give you a ticket.” Leaning down so he could see Griselda better, he gave the older woman his main reason for the stop. “You’ve got a taillight out. You need to get that fixed.”
“Ugh.” Griselda scowled. “I’ll have Bernard handle it when he gets here.”
Her immediate reliance on Bernard—a man—solidified his belief that it was Isla with the asshole past. And that made him even more determined to help her out. Do what he could to support her as she moved forward.
Turning back to Isla, he lifted his brows. “What time do you usually go over to Grady’s?”
“It sort of depends on his schedule. When he’s off work he comes to get me at around six.” She glanced at the clock. “When he works an early shift he picks me up when things are slow.”
That sounded like a huge pain in everyone’s ass. “So you just sit around waiting for him to have time to get you?”
“It’s really not a big deal.” Her lips curved in a smile that seemed a little sad. “Not like I have a lot going on.”
“That’s why she needs her license.” Gram-Gram piped up. “So she can run her own life.” There was a hint of venom in her words and a sharpness to her expression.
Some prick had definitely taken advantage of Isla’s sweetness.
“Then I’ll pick you up tomorrow at six and we’ll get some driving in before taking you to Grady’s place.” It was a good plan. One that would help her out and occupy a little of the empty time he had on his hands.
He hadn’t realized how different things would be once his parents moved to Florida. Hadn’t known his expectations would fall short when he purchased the house he grew up in thinking it would only be a matter of time before he filled it with a family of his own.
Isla’s dark brows pinched together. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Positive.” He straightened, giving her a grin. “Plus, it’ll save me time in the long run since I won’t have to pull you over every day for driving like Gram-Gram.”
“I heard that.” Griselda piped up from her seat.
“Good.” Cooper gave Isla a conspiratorial wink. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
She nodded, her cheeks fully pink now from the cold. “Okay.”
Going back to his car, he sat for a minute, giving her time to pull away and get far enough ahead he wouldn’t end up right behind her, and risk making Isla any more nervous than she already was.
But he didn’t want to be too far behind, either. So before she was fully out of sight, he eased onto the road, keeping pace with her as he followed her to Grady and Evelyn’s. Leaving her with only Gram-Gram’s skinny butt keeping an eye on her didn’t sit right, and it would bother him all day if he didn’t know for sure she made it to Grady’s safely.
The process was slow and painful, but eventually Isla pulled into Grady’s driveway. He let out a sigh of relief as he made a U-turn, leaving before she could see he’d been behind her.
The rest of his shift was relatively uneventful. Could maybe even be called boring, but technically that was a good thing. Boring for him meant nothing bad was happening for anyone else.
And he was getting used to being bored. That was pretty much the story of his life now.
After parking his cruiser in the back lot, he went inside to kill a little more time before heading out for the day. He chatted with a couple other officers, checked on the status of the ranch hand he’d brought in earlier, and made double sure all his paperwork was done. The sun was going down and the house he’d bought almost five years ago was dark when he pulled into the driveway. Gram-Gram’s tail light must not have been the only bulb that had recently gone out.
The darkness of his porch wasn’t really a big deal. He didn’t enter through that door and wasn’t expecting any visitors, but it still bothered him. Still dug into the empty hole he’d genuinely believed would be easy to fill.
That’s what growing up in a happy family with parents who loved the shit out of each other did to you. It made you think something like that was easy. Easy to find. Easy to have. Easy to keep.
Boy was that fucking wrong. And it only got wronger the more years that passed by. He was sitting on the downhill side of thirty-five, watching as everyone around him found what he’d assumed would fall into place.
At some point he’d have to accept it might not happen for him. His parents obviously had when they decided not to stick around hoping for grandkids, and packed up for the warmer weather of the south.
But damned if he could get used to the idea of spending his life alone. Coming home to a dark house every day. Spending his nights in an empty bed. Never knowing what it was like to hold a life he’d helped create or care for the woman who brought that life into the world.
The possibility was unimaginable and had that ache in his chest spreading. Clawing at him like he was the one responsible for its existence. And maybe he was. Maybe no matter how hard he tried, those things would never be his.
Maybe he’d spend the rest of his life coming home to a dark house and an empty bed.