Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Noelle
I don’t know when to shut up, do I?
A small smile plays on Cole's lips, but I have no idea what it means. Might even be nice. I’m such an idiot. He started it, though, by asking if it would be so bad. Hopefully he’ll think I was just matching his joke in my own silly Noelle kind of way.
“So we’re just going to stand here in silence for the next thirty minutes?”
I look up to find Cole’s icy blue eyes on me, waiting for an answer.
“We could play 20 questions? Maybe I’ll finally get to know you better,” I say. Maybe this will help convince him I was joking. “You go first.”
Cole thinks for a moment. “Alright, what is your proudest accomplishment?”
“Signing the lease agreement for the café and making it profitable, knowing I did it all by myself.” It’s an easy answer, but it’s true. I don’t have to guess to know his answer. Signing with the Vultures at eighteen is a pretty big accomplishment.
Cole seems to know this, as he says, “You come up with the next question.”
“What do you do when you really need to relax?” I lean backwards against the counter, our bodies close enough to feel his heat.
A boyish grin spreads on his face. “Talk to you.”
“Be so for real,” I laugh. I know for a fact that when he’s stressed, Cole goes to work out or watches one of those terrible reality TV shows he secretly loves. Talking to me is way down the list.
“I am! Who would have known that the little girl with two braids I met fifteen years ago would be my sole reason for peace all those years later?” He’s smiling, but there is something in his eyes that’s hard to pin down, a certain softness I’ve never seen directed towards me before.
I shake my head. “I can’t believe you. Next question.”
“What was your first impression of me?” Cole inches closer while he stirs the pot, his eyes not leaving mine for even a second.
Oh, god. “I thought you were a dork. Cute, much too ambitious for a seven year old. But part of me knew right then that we would never be apart for long, for I’d miss you too much.”
“You missed me?” Cole asks, and he’s not even joking, like he honestly didn’t know or expect it. What kind of world does this man live in?
“Of course I did. Every time you left,” I say. “Have you told your fancy new hockey friends about me?”
I met his old teammates, of course. But in the past two years the Vancouver Vultures made some big changes regarding the team, so I haven’t met all of them.
Just Jace and Aiden, who made sure their friends sat with me so I wouldn’t be alone when Cole worked.
Jamie and Alina were nice, but I’d much rather have spent more time with Cole and see what his life there was like.
I would have visited more had I still been in college, but with the café and everything I never found the right time. It’s one of my biggest regrets.
Cole laughs. A loud, unburdening kind of laugh that echoes deep inside my chest. “Oh, trust me. They know all about you. They wish I talked about you less, actually.”
“What are you telling these people?” I cock my head, trying to find the answers written on his face. But he’s unreadable.
“No, no. It’s my turn to ask a question.” He looks way too smug for my liking, but I guess he’s right. “Would you change anything about the way we met?”
The question catches me off guard, leaving me to stutter on my words. “No. Well, yes, actually. I wish we met earlier, so I’d have you to myself longer.”
“All to yourself, huh?” Cole winks. “I like the sound of that.”
There he goes again, saying something slightly suggestive that makes absolutely no sense in the context of our relationship. Maybe it’s me—I should take my time weighing my words.
Still, the stew isn’t done, and it’s my turn to ask a question. “What’s your biggest regret in life?”
The spoon in Cole’s hand clatters against the side of the pot as he drops it, his body nearly rigid as he inches closer, his eyes heavy with sadness. “Leaving you behind.”
I open my mouth to speak but he cuts me off, saying, “I shouldn’t have signed with the Vultures. I should have gone to college with you, do everything we said we’d do.”
That makes no sense. Why would he regret signing a contract that not only made his dreams come true, but made him a millionaire at eighteen? And to trade it in for a college degree, no less? College sucks. If I’d had any other choice to get me where I am now, I would have jumped at it.
“Nothing we talked about as kids was important enough to miss that chance. You know that,” I say.
He reaches out his hand, his gentle fingers brushing a stray lock of hair from my face. I lean into his touch and he stills, cupping my cheek in the palm of his hand. It’s warm and reassuring against my skin.
“No,” Cole says. “But you are.”
You are. So much for keeping my head straight this weekend. What am I supposed to think when he says stuff like that?
I bite my lip, racking my brain on what to say that could possibly not make me sound like a lovesick puppy. Cole watches me struggle, a spark flashing through his gaze.
“What’s the most romantic thing someone’s ever done for you?” he asks, and after all these years I know there is only one thing that could ever come close.
My voice is barely audible when I say, “Drive through a blizzard to save my life.”
“Good.” Cole’s smile falters only a hint, though he doesn’t dare tear his eyes away. “Because that’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever done, and I’d only do it for you.”
For a moment, my brain short-circuits. It’s the most romantic thing he’s ever done; does that mean it was actually romantic? Or am I reading into his words, finding meaning where there is none?
“Maybe you should ask yourself why that is,” I say. My heart is beating loud enough I think he might hear—if he does, he doesn’t say so. A long moment passes in silence, our gazes locked and breathing heavy.
Cole eases a breath. “I think we both know why that is.”
“Do we?” I ask, and my traitorous eyes flit to his lips. “Because I think you’re lying. To me or yourself, that’s the real question.”
A smile pulls at his lips. Small at first, slightly unsure, but eventually it grows big enough to make my heart skip a beat. “Oh, Honey. I’m not lying to anyone.”
Cole’s close enough for me to feel his breath on my cheek, and each one makes it a little harder to hold my walls in place.
Fuck it. Our friendship has had bigger problems. What’s a little pleasure between best friends?
I lean in closer, my heart beating loud enough to hear. Any second now I’ll find out what his lips will feel like on mine, and have the answer to a question I’ve had for a decade. A flutter passes through my chest at the thought.
And that’s when the kitchen timer goes off.
We pull away, a soft laugh rumbling through us. How silly it would have been to kiss.
How silly it is that I wished we did.
“Guess that’s done now,” Cole says softly. I don’t think he’s talking about the food.
I run a hand through my hair, a breathy laugh escaping my lips. There are so many more fun ways to release nerves. Why do I have to laugh?
“Guess so. But tonight, I’m the lucky girl being taken to dinner by the Cole Martin, so that counts for something,” I smile, hoping he hears the teasing note in my voice. Maybe we can still salvage this friendship. “We’ll see if the stories about your legendary dates are true.”
“Well, if you want the full experience I’ll give you just that. There’s a very nice dress for you in the closet upstairs,” Cole says, a smile of his own resting in the corner of his lips. “Why don’t you go try it on?”
“Why on earth would you have a dress for me here?” I raise my brows in question. It doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t even have the excuse of a big event coming up, being on medical leave and all. Why would he have a dress for me?
Cole gives a noncommittal shrug, an almost cheeky smirk tugging at his lips. “Just put it on.”