Chapter 6
6
Cooper
“WOULD YOU RATHER Gram-Gram teach her how to drive?” Cooper motioned in the direction Isla just left to go start her day inside the house. “Because I can tell you firsthand, you don’t fucking want Gram-Gram teaching her how to drive.”
“It’s not about the driving.” Grady scrubbed one hand down his face. “This is about everything else.” He tipped his head back, staring at the ceiling of the barn a second before leveling his eyes on Cooper’s. “Isla’s not ready to be chased.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not chasing her.” He held his ground. “We’re just friends, and I’m not going to leave her with Griselda as a driving instructor.”
Grady’s expression turned skeptical. “You and Isla are friends.” It wasn’t a question. More a statement. One Grady clearly didn’t believe.
“We’re friend ly .” The concession didn’t sit right.
Why couldn’t they be friends? Was there a fucking time limit on how long you needed to know a person before deciding they were someone you enjoyed being around?
“We’re friendly and you’ve never picked me up in the goat pasture.” Grady’s skepticism was starting to chafe.
Like he didn’t believe Isla would want to be friends with him.
“If you’re jealous, then you should have just said so.” Cooper stepped toward Grady, a little too eager to give his buddy a faceful of goat tongue.
Grady backed up, putting a hand between them. “Don’t you fucking dare. I’ll kick your ass.” He scowled. “I should probably kick your ass anyway for the shit you’re pulling with Isla.”
“The shit I’m pulling?” He scoffed. “How many times do I have to tell you, it’s not like that? I’m capable of being friends with a woman, dick.” Cooper straightened, finally voicing the truth neither of them had put out there. “She’s too young for me anyway.”
It was something he’d avoided even thinking about. Not because he was planning to pursue Isla, but because he was getting fucking old. Life was passing him by, taking opportunities from him as it went. Forty was closing in fast, and with every year that went by, his chances of finding what he wanted got slimmer and slimmer.
“Shut the fuck up.” Grady rolled his eyes. “You act like you’re halfway to the grave.” It was the same response he gave anytime Cooper touched the subject. It was easy for Grady to say when he had a wife and a son, but the reality was, a woman Isla’s age was looking for a man in his prime. One who didn’t have gray creeping in at his temples and pain in his knees.
“I’m just being realistic.” Cooper shrugged. “If it hasn’t happened for me by now, maybe that’s because it’s just never going to happen.” He crossed his arms, trying to put pressure on the ache forming in his chest at the thought. “Taking her out to drive gave me something to do besides sit around my house. So fucking sue me for taking advantage of the opportunity to help her and myself at the same time.”
Grady stared at him a second before letting out a long sigh. “Fine. Help her out if you want.” He propped both hands on his hips. “And for your information, I was as worried about you as I was about her.” His lips twitched. “I know you’re still broken up about me stealing Evelyn from you.”
“For fuck’s sake.” He laughed, relaxing a little now that Grady was back to giving him shit. “You didn’t steal her from me. I never fucking had her.” And likely wouldn’t have tried to. Had he been interested in getting to know her? Sure. But now that he knew Evelyn, he could say with one hundred percent certainty, nothing would have come of it. She and Grady were a perfect match, so it was impossible to imagine her as anyone’s wife but his.
“And thank God for that or I would have been shit out of luck.” Grady slapped him on the back. “Evelyn would have taken one look at that house of yours and fallen in love.”
“My house is nicer than yours.” He grinned, knowing full well it wasn’t true. Grady’s house was plenty nice. Just a little more dated. He’d taken it over when his mom passed away but hadn’t had the free time to take on the sort of renovations Cooper had. Not when he had a yoga studio to build and a baby to care for.
Honestly, he’d have given up his expanded floor plan and new appliances for a wife and baby in a heartbeat. The beige ceramic tiled bathrooms and speckled shag carpet would have suited him just fine.
Updating the house had been mostly about killing time while he waited for Miss Right to walk into his life. Then she never showed up and he was left sitting alone in a home built for a family, staring at the newly painted walls.
“Your house is nice as hell.” Grady’s expression softened. “And soon you’ll find someone to live in it with you. Then you can have a bunch of kids to fuck it all up.”
“Your faith in me is astounding.” Cooper walked with Grady across the yard, heading for where Isla parked his truck. “And I’ve decided it’s time to find a way to be okay with being alone.”
“If you feel too alone, I’ll send you some goats to keep you company.” Grady shook his head. “I can’t believe people pay to let the little bastards walk all over them.”
Cooper opened the driver’s door and climbed behind the wheel. “Not to be an ass, but you pay their bills and they walk all over you.”
“Ha-ha.” Grady smiled in spite of his sarcasm. “You’re so fucking funny.”
“I try my best.” He closed the door and started the engine, rolling down the window. “You gonna kick my ass if I take Isla out driving again?” She’d done better than what he’d seen the day before, but was still a long way from passing her test. Grady and Evelyn had enough on their plate with Evelyn’s business and baby Husdon to take care of. They didn’t need to try to find time to act as driving instructors. And Griselda sure as hell shouldn’t be taking her out.
It only made sense that he take on the task. He had the time, the patience, and the skill set.
Grady studied him a second before caving. “Fine. I’d rather you do it than Gram-Gram. That woman shouldn’t teach anyone how to drive.”
“I don’t disagree.”
He glanced toward the house as movement on the other side of the kitchen window caught his attention. His eyes locked with Isla’s. She froze in place, cheeks still pink from their time outside. Her lips slowly curved as she raised one hand in a wave.
Grady gave the side of his truck a little slap, drawing his attention back. “I’ll let you get to it.”
“Yup.” Cooper gave his friend a tip of his head then closed the window against the cold. Before backing out, he took one more look at the house. Isla was gone from the window, making it seem oddly empty.
Shaking off the strange hit of disappointment, he took himself home to get ready for his mid-shift.
It wasn’t until he was driving past Isla’s apartment that he realized she had no way to get in touch with him to set up another round of driving. Not unless she wanted to ask Grady for his number. And after his friend’s little tantrum that morning, she’d probably be hesitant.
Stopping in the lot behind The Wooden Spoon, he slid one of his business cards into the mailbox for her unit, a note on the back explaining that he’d take her out driving whenever she wanted.
Hopefully she took him up on that. The last thing he wanted was Grady thinking he was lonely and dropping a whole herd of goats in one of his pastures.
* * *
The buzz of his personal cell caught him by surprise. His shift winding down, he was sitting at the edge of town, doing some paperwork on the MDT and counting down the minutes until he could head back to the station to clock out. The incoming message came at the perfect time.
He woke up his phone, thumbing across the screen to open the text from an unknown number.
Hey. This is Isla.
The bubble indicating she was typing popped up, bouncing around a few seconds before disappearing again.
Then it was back, lingering a few seconds before once again disappearing.
He chuckled at her indecision and tapped out his own response.
Isla? Never heard of her.
This time her bubble ended in a text.
You sure? She almost killed you by running your truck off the road this morning.
He laughed louder at that.
Ohhhh. THAT Isla. I might remember her.
A car sped by him, moving way too fast and driving way too erratically for him to let it go.
Gimme a minute. Gotta pull someone over.
Unfortunately, the traffic stop ended up being an arrest. By the time he had the intoxicated driver booked and the required forms filled out, it was late enough he hesitated to message Isla back.
But he couldn’t leave her hanging, right?
Sorry. DUI stop. Took longer than I expected.
He sent the message then started his truck, figuring he wouldn’t hear back until the next day. He was used to keeping strange hours, but most people weren’t.
But he was barely out of town when his phone buzzed again, the Bluetooth connection allowing it to read the incoming text out loud.
That stinks. Did you have to stay late because of it?
He wasn’t used to having someone to talk to about his day and it made him glad he’d gone to the trouble of setting things up so he could easily respond using talk-to-text. “A little, but I don’t mind. I’m glad I caught him before he could hurt anyone.”
He waited as his phone transcribed and sent the message, pushing the gas a little harder to get him home faster so he could give their conversation his full attention.
Isla’s response came through right away.
I don’t see why anyone would feel like they could drive while they’re drunk. It’s hard enough to do it sober.
The mechanical voice reading her words was flat and emotionless. So different from the soft, sweet way she would really say them. It was aggravating and made him change things up a little.
This time, he sent his response as a voice recording.
“People think they can do all kinds of things when they’re drunk. You’d be shocked at the shit I’ve seen them attempt.”
He was almost home when Isla’s response popped up, also as a voice recording.
“Like what?”
It was only two words, but the familiar tone had him relaxing. So much better than that stupid robot voice.
“Once, I had to catch a naked ranch hand who thought he was invisible and decided to run down Main Street in the dead of winter.”
He took a second to recall the moment, before continuing.
“I’m gonna guess he was on more than tequila that night, but still.”
He pulled into his driveway just as Isla’s response came through, so he shut off his truck and pressed the phone to his ear to listen.
“You’re kidding.” She laughed, the sound a little husky. “Did he make any excuses about shrinkage?”
That last bit made him pause. There’d been a few times while they were out driving that morning that he could have made a joke that toed the line, but he’d held back, unsure how it would land. Unsure if sweet, soft Isla would be flustered by something like that. Or offended.
Obviously not. And that had him grinning. Maybe this woman—his friend—had a couple surprises up her sleeve.
“He was pretty focused on figuring out how we were able to see him since he was invisible, but the cold was definitely doing some things that worked against him.” He paused, before adding, “Hopefully. Otherwise he was dealt a pretty bad hand.”
After unlocking the entry door to the garage, he let himself into the house, dropping his keys onto the counter and heading upstairs as he waited to see if Isla would respond.
She did. Right away.
The message started with a sigh and what almost sounded like the splashing of water. “ Well, in my experience, those are the kind of guys who are oblivious enough to think they’ve been graced by the girth gods. ”
That had his feet stalling out, socks sliding a little against the smooth hardwood of the upstairs hall.
“Did you just say girth gods?”
Maybe sweet and soft Isla had more than a couple surprises up her sleeve.
He was peeling away his uniform and tossing it into the laundry when she responded.
“I couldn’t think of anything to use with length. Maybe length lords? No. That doesn’t sound right. I like girth gods better. We’re sticking with that.”
His grin was wide as he chucked the rest of his clothes into the basket and headed for the shower.
“Either way. Neither of them blessed this guy, so hopefully he had a great personality.”
Switching on the water, he adjusted the knob before leaving it to warm up as he collected some pajama pants and listened to Isla’s next message.
“I doubt it. He was probably a tool who thought he deserved to be with a supermodel.”
Cooper paused, pressing the little triangle to listen to the message again. There was something in the way she said it that added an extra piece to the Isla puzzle he was putting together. It wasn’t difficult to assume whatever tool she’d dealt with was the same one she’d imagined under the tires of his truck.
And probably also had a little—or a lot—to do with her cross-country move.
He took a second, knowing whatever he said next would carry more weight than everything that came before it. She’d just offered him a tiny peek at the cards she held so close and he wanted to be sure Isla knew he could be trusted with them.
He was her friend after all.
“You’re right. He was a fucking tool.” He rocked his head from one side to the other, trying to work out the tension tightening his neck over the thought of some asshat making Isla feel like she wasn’t enough. “And now he’s a tool with four fewer toes thanks to frostbite.”
He set his phone on the counter, thinking he could leave it there while he showered, but the second it buzzed he was reaching for it, angling his body to keep it as dry as possible as he listened to Isla’s voice echo out of the speaker and throughout his home
“That makes me feel a little better.” She sighed again, the sound hitting differently now that he was naked. “I should probably let you go. I have to get up early. Grady’s coming to get me at six. But maybe we can plan a time to go driving again?”
One hand went to shove at his dick, which had picked an awkward fucking time to join the conversation, as the other tapped the record button.
“I’ll take you driving anytime you want me to, Isla. Just tell me when.” He hesitated before adding on, “Sweet dreams.”