Chapter 3
3
Cooper
“Thanks, dude. Take it easy and we’ll see you next Monday.” Handing over the clipboard with the invoice, our alcohol distributer makes his way out the back door with his dolly in hand. My younger brother, Axel, and I took the beer order, while our youngest brother, Joey, is in the kitchen with the cooking staff going over the menu changes for the season.
When we opened this bar, our original design was for it to be a small place where you could go after work to have a couple drinks, and we only offered bar food. But in the last three years, we have renovated and expanded it. We now have an open area on the left-hand side with a platform stage for local artists to play music, with a dance floor in front for people to let loose. We have a full kitchen staff, offering everything from appetizers to full meals, and we keep it stocked with only the best liquor on our shelves and local beers on tap, with plenty of the typical beers stocked out back in our cooler.
Behind the bar, we have three large black and white photos of our mom, Ruby, and every time I look at them, they make me smile, while also causing pain to lance my heart. We lost her to breast cancer when I was a junior in high school. She was stage four before she even got a chance to accept the diagnosis. She chose to fight, but the cancer had already ravaged her body so much there wasn’t anything to be done.
Losing her left a permanent scar on all of us, but especially my father. They were married for almost twenty years, and he still hasn’t found someone new to share his life with. My brothers and I are his entire world, and we love him just as much.
He has since retired, leaving his construction business to both Joey and Axel. I spend my off shifts from the station here, while Joey and Axel switch off shifts behind the bar when I’m not here. Axel and I head into the cooler to get everything organized, and I make sure to prop the door open when I do.
“So has she called you?” Axel questions, and I shake my head as I lift three twelve packs into the cooler.
“Nope. I didn’t get the feeling she would, but I had to try, right?”
“Yeah, man. Plus, it’s her loss if she doesn’t give you a chance.”
Rolling my eyes, I smack him in the shoulder. “Dude, you’re a co-owner of the bar. Stop trying to suck up. It’s not comely.”
“It isn’t comely? Have you been playing Words with Friends again?”
“I don’t even know what that is,” I laugh.
Axels runs his hand through his wavy dark blond hair, then reaches into his pocket for an elastic to tie it back into a messy knot. All three of us brothers look almost identical, our father’s genes strong as hell, but we all have our mom’s bright blue eyes. Axel wears his hair long, while Joey and I keep our locks tamed shorter. My hair is a darker blond than brown, whereas they’re both taller despite me being the oldest.
“Well, whatever. Stop using those fancy words and help me get the damn boxes in here.”
“Sir, yes sir,” I joke, flipping him off as we get back to work. Once we have the cooler in decent order, we step into the hallway to find Joey waiting for us, a tray of drinks in his hand.
“Come up with a new cocktail?” I ask, reaching for one of the glasses.
“Nah, just wanted to use up the last of the grenadine we had before I opened a new bottle.”
“Tequila sunrise?” Axel asks, and Joey nods before taking one of the glasses. “It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?”
“Always.”
We clink our drinks together, and then take a few minutes to shoot the shit before we get back to work. I’m on shift tomorrow, and then we have a weekend of booked gigs here, so I’m okay taking a minute to just breath and relax.
“Hey, Marchy, there’s someone here to see you on the apparatus floor!”
Looking up from where I was making a list of groceries for the station, I see Asher Hayes standing in the doorway of the common room, hands in his pockets.
“Who is it?” I ask, and he just shrugs.
“No clue.”
With a lift of my brow, I set the notebook and pen down before standing from my seat. As I walk out of the room, I clap Hayes on the shoulder and make my way out to the apparatus. I’ve barely set foot out there when I’m almost knocked onto my ass at what I find.
A certain redhead and her sweet little boy.
Well, fuck me sideways.
“Haley,” I greet, walking right over to them.
“Hey, Cooper.”
Her pretty red hair is pulled back in a long braid, and she has on not a stitch of makeup. Roman is settled on her hip, in jeans shorts, a blue tee, and the cutest little pair of white Nikes. In her free hand, she’s holding a paper shopping bag, and I motion towards it.
“What’s in the bag?” I ask, and the biggest smile comes across her face.
“Well, Roman and I got bored today after breakfast, so we decided to make you something.” Haley hands over the bag, and I take it with a grin. Peering inside, I find a large Tupperware container filled with what looks like chocolate chip cookies and another tray filled with brownies.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I begin, but she cuts me off with a wave of her hand.
“Yes, I did. You took time out of your day to help my son, and I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. We’re only been in Nashville for a few months, and in all transparency, it’s been rough. So, you helping find something that soothes him? Yes, I did have to do this.”
Haley bounces Roman on her hip, and he reaches out towards me. Setting the bag of goodies down, I reach out to brush my hand over his head.
“Hey, buddy. Did you help your momma make those treats for us?”
“Mama!”
Chuckling, I flick the tip of his nose with my finger and then step back. “Well, while you’re here, would you guys like a tour? I’m sure this little guy would love to see the inside of a firetruck.”
“Twuck!”
Haley laughs before nodding her head. “Well, you heard the man.”
“May I?” I ask, gesturing towards Roman. Her eyes hold mine for a second, almost as if she’s mulling over whether she can trust me. Then with a slight nod, she holds Roman out toward me. I grab him by the waist and settle him on my shoulders, wincing when he immediately grabs hold of my hair in both of his chubby little fists.
“Easy there, little dude. I don’t want to go bald quite yet.”
Jostling us up and down, I make work of walking around the floor, showing them the engine, the truck, and then finally, the squad. I would have Jamie come out and put up the ladder if I didn’t worry about us getting a call while we were doing so.
“How’s he been feeling?” I ask Haley as I climb down out of the engine with Roman. She tucks away her phone after she took some photos, and sets her purse down on the work table behind us.
“Not too bad. I can’t wait till he finally cuts those teeth so he can get some relief. Nights are the worst. Because he’s so used to his routine, when he wakes up sore it takes everything I have to get him back to sleep.”
“Poor kid. And his father doesn’t help with that when he has him?” Yeah, I went there. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable and ask things I shouldn’t, because she was already upfront about not wanting a relationship. Can’t blame me for asking a simple question, though.
Haley lets out a forced laugh, and her eyes darken. In anger, if I’m not mistaken. “He doesn’t have a relationship with his father. It’s just us,” she states, and she pulls him from my arms.
“Oh. I’m sorry to presume?—”
“It’s fine,” she interrupts. “Anyway, we need to get home. It’s almost his nap time. Enjoy the cookies, Cooper. And thank you for showing Rome around the trucks. That was sweet of you.”
“Haley…”
Grabbing her purse, she’s gone just as fast as she blew in, and I’m left standing here trying to figure out what the fuck just happened. I mean, yeah. Maybe it was a dick move to try and get her to open up to me about something personal, but I also was just asking her a question. She said she had room in her life for friends, and isn’t that what friends do?
Talk. Get to know each other. Help out.
“Is that her?” Turning, I find Rhett standing behind me, a cup of coffee in his hands.
“Yeah.” Letting out a sigh, I grab the paper bag of treats and carry them into the kitchen. Setting them down on the giant island, I lean back against the counter and hang my head.
“I like her, man. And I barely know her, but fuck, I can just tell that she’s struggling. And I just want to help.”
“You and I both know you can’t help someone who doesn’t want it. Full transparency? I heard most of your conversation with her. She looks scared. Of what, I have no idea.”
“I haven’t done anything to scare her, Hollywood.”
Rhett holds his hands up, shaking his head. “That isn’t what I mean.”
“What did you mean?”
“Just that she seems afraid to trust you, maybe. Haley is her name, right? Well, Haley spent the whole time looking as if she was happy to be here but also ready to run. Trust issues, for sure. I can just tell.”
“So, what do I do?” I ask my best friend, and he takes a sip of coffee.
“Be patient. Be her friend. And accept that you may never get anything but that.”
“That’s shitty advice, dude.”
Rhett laughs. “Nah, man. I’m right and you know it. But the way her kid looks at you, maybe he’ll be the key to unlocking her coldness.”
“She’s not fucking cold, Ferguson,” I seethe, and the smile on his face gets even bigger.
“Tell me when it’s time to get my best man speech ready. I’m shit at writing.”
Rolling my eyes, I busy myself with setting the cookies and brownies out, laughing when all the guys start digging into the goodies. I snap a photo of everyone stuffing their faces with the intention of sending it to Haley, but I hold off, unsure of if it would be welcome.
If she really is struggling with trusting me, I don’t want to do anything else to put her off. Because the truth is, she’s working her way under my skin. And I know deep down I’m helpless to stop it. Part of what makes me such a good firefighter is my ability to connect with people, and the ease with which I make friendships and relationships with people.
My parents instilled such a good set of morals in me, that it’s always been hard to not help someone, or to not do everything in my ability to make them happy. I’ve only got a small number of past relationships that always failed, either because of my job or because I wasn’t looking for a just tonight situation like they were.
Even at twenty years old, I craved finding a girl I could spend the rest of my life with. My parents were high school sweethearts, and they had me in their early twenties. Us boys made fun of them all the time for how sickly in love they were, but deep down, it was a really amazing thing to witness.
I want to be a father, and I want to see my brothers be the best uncles imaginable. And my father? He is going to make the most incredible grandfather one day. He wants that more than anything, if his hints at one of us settling down are any indication.
He always told us that he knew Mom was the one for him after three dates. Our grandparents thought he was nuts at sixteen to say he’d found his wife, but what did they know? If cancer hadn’t stolen her from us, they’d no doubt be just as in love as the day we said goodbye to her. Hell, he’s still in love with her.
There’s a reason he’s never even attempted to move on in over ten years.
Shaking my thoughts from my head, I turn around and reach for a cookie, groaning when it practically melts in my mouth.
“Who made these?” Hawk asks around a mouthful of brownie.
“Marchy’s future wife,” Rhett announces, and I don’t even bother arguing with him.
“Yeah, gonna need you to elaborate on that, brother,” Hawk laughs, and I just hurry to shove more food in my mouth.
“Swry, can twk,” I mumble, and rush from the room. I find the silence of the bunk room welcoming, and I drop down onto my bed, swallowing the rest of the cookie.
Future wife. I know nothing about her, and yet, the idea of that sets my heart racing.