Chapter 23
An hour later, Cooper comes home.
He’s been gone for two hours total, which is quite a long time for a fast-food run.
Fast food is fast—it’s in the name. He walks through the front door, clutching a bag of french fries that have stained the brown paper with their grease.
The smell is intoxicating, but I don’t have much of an appetite.
Cooper has been gone most of the evening, and I don’t know where he’s been. Not only that, but it’s not the first time he’s disappeared like that. Always with an excuse.
And he always turns off his location sharing.
I rise from the sofa to confront him. “Where have you been?”
“I told you, I grabbed some dinner.” His eyes avoid mine. “Then I was just…you know, driving around a bit. I had to clear my head.”
“I see…”
“Sorry.” He holds out the bag of fries, and I obligingly take it from him. “If I thought you needed me home sooner, I wouldn’t have stayed out.”
Except that’s another lie.
“I was worried,” I say. “I tried to see where you were, but Findly didn’t show your location.”
“Sorry… I was on some back roads. Probably going in and out of dead zones.”
And another.
I bring the bag of french fries to the kitchen, and Cooper follows behind. I pour each of us a cup of diet cola and pass his across the kitchen table, where he drops into one of the seats. He stares down at the drink, eventually taking a sip, but he doesn’t reach for the fries. Neither do I.
“Cooper,” I say.
“There’s something I need to tell you, Debbie.” He takes a shaky breath. “I…”
I brace myself for whatever is coming. Whatever he has to say isn’t going to be something I want to hear. He’s not going to tell me, Hey, Debbie, I just won the lottery. Let’s go buy a mansion. He drops his eyes, staring down at his hands.
“I quit,” he says.
“What?”
“When Ken told me I didn’t get the promotion.” He’s still looking down at his hands, unable to meet my eyes. “I threatened to quit, and he didn’t budge. So…I did it. I quit.”
That was the last thing I expected him to say.
I knew that speaking to Ken Bryant could put Cooper’s future with the company in danger, but this is not the outcome I anticipated.
Cooper isn’t the sort of impulsive man who quits when he doesn’t get his way.
That buzzing in the back of my head starts up again, and I feel my hands clench into fists.
“It sucks,” Cooper acknowledges. “But…I’m sure I’ll find something else.”
“Did he say why he wouldn’t promote you?” My voice is louder than it should be for this hour of the night. “He must have given you a reason!”
He flashes me a wry smile. “He said I’m not management material. And that he doesn’t need me.”
“Is he out of his mind?” I know what Cooper does at that company, and they’ll be lost without him. “Why would he say that?”
“I don’t know, but he made it clear I would never be a partner.”
This time, I snatch up a few of the fries from the bag. They’ve been sitting in the bag too long and have gone cold. I wonder how long Cooper was driving around with them.
“This is absolutely ridiculous!” I say. “You can’t let him get away with this!”
“I just want to move past it,” he says, “and find something else. This… It could be a blessing. I was never going to become a partner there, so maybe I can find something better.”
He could be right. Cooper deserves better than that job, but all I can think about is how we’re going to pay the mortgage.
“Anyway,” he adds, “we’ve got your salary from Dear Debbie to tide us over until I find something new.”
Oh right, I never told Cooper that I got fired. Today was not a great day for the Mullen family.
I open my mouth to share this little revelation, but I can’t make myself do it. Cooper looks miserable enough, and I can’t bring myself to drop one more thing on him right now.
He’ll look for a job, and I’ll look for a job. Between the two of us, we’ll find something. We’ll be okay.
“Ken made a huge mistake.” I reach to take both of his hands in mine. “You’re his best employee.”
Cooper just shrugs sadly. “Maybe.”
“You are,” I insist. “Trust me, Ken Bryant is going to regret letting you go. Deeply.”
Cooper seems a bit skeptical, but I know what I’m talking about. Sooner than he thinks, Ken is going to be sorry for what he’s done.