Chapter 27
COOPER
I’m not happy at all.
I got home from the meeting, put on dry clothes, then quickly went downstairs to sit on the back deck. It has a full view of where Stephanie will park when she comes back to my mom’s house, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss her.
I’m aware that my days with Stephanie are limited. Unless we can build some kind of a friendship before she goes back to Boston and I to Chicago, I won’t have any reason to contact her once we’ve gone our separate ways. So I can hear the clock ticking.
I want to take things slow and simply be around each other.
But considering how long she’s seen me from a less-than-accurate vantage point, I do need time—and as much of it as I can scrape together—for her to get to know the real me.
Or, at least, the me I’m willing to show her (my mother’s terrible advice runs through my mind again).
That’s why I wanted to catch her right when she got back. I was hoping I could convince her to do something with me: grab some lunch, go to a park, or even sit around and talk. I don’t really care what we do; I only know that I want time with her now that (I think) I’m in her good graces.
Lunch came and went.
The afternoon stretched on.
Dinner time is fast approaching, and Stephanie hasn’t come back since our morning meeting—which ended at ten o’clock this morning. Hence why I’m not very happy right now.
My phone vibrates, and I look down, see my sister’s name, and answer. “Hey, Kaylee.”
“Cooper! Thank goodness you answered. My car is dead. If I wait for AAA, I’ll be here an hour. I’m only about five miles away, so can you come give me a jump?”
I look over at the empty parking space for Stephanie’s car—I really don’t want to miss her.
She must sense my hesitation. “But if you’re busy, it’s okay. I can wait for AAA to get here.”
I run my hand through my hair in frustration. “No, it’s fine. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”
Twenty-five minutes later, Kaylee’s Honda Accord is back up and running, and I’m putting my jumper cables back in the trunk of my car.
“You’re my favorite little brother.” She wraps her arms around my middle and squeezes.
“I’m your only little brother.” I roll my eyes at her.
“Still makes you my favorite.” She goes up on her tiptoes and gives me a peck on the cheek. “It’s dinner time. Wanna get something to eat?”
I look at my watch and weigh my options. I don’t get to see Kaylee as much as I like, but after my time with Stephanie in Austin is over, I don’t know how much I’ll see her again. I don’t want to waste?—
“It’s okay if you want to try and have dinner with Stephanie instead. I wouldn’t blame you.” Once again, she reads my mind.
“Can I ask for some Stephanie-related advice?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” She lets go of me and leans back on her car.
“When we get back to mom’s, if Stephanie’s car is there but she’s not in the main house, does it make me a creeper if I knock on her door to see if she wants to do something with me?”
“Only if you act weird while you’re doing it. Are you going to act like a grown-up man or some little boy from junior high with acne?” The look on her face is so Kaylee. Only she can make snarky, sassy, and sincere work together.
“The correct answer is grown-up man, right?”
She smiles. “Yeah, but the junior-high boy with acne is still cute.” She pulls out her phone and starts scrolling. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.” She pushes a button on her phone and raises it to her ear.
Kaylee is standing close enough that I can hear the person on the other end of the line answer. “Hello.”
“Hey Stephanie,” she gifts me an impish smile, “it’s Kaylee. Have you already had dinner?”
I smack Kay in the arm and mouth the words, “You called her?” She smiles and wags her arched eyebrows.
“Kaylee!” Stephanie sounds genuinely happy to hear from my sister. That’s good, right? “I had dinner downtown. Sunset is in about an hour, so I’m headed over to Congress Avenue Bridge. Are you close? Do you wanna join me?”
Congress Avenue Bridge is on Lady Bird Lake and home to the largest urban bat colony in North America—with around two million bats. Between March and November, the bats come out right after sunset, and it’s quite the spectacle.
“I’d love to! I’m about thirty minutes away. When you find a good spot, drop me a pin and I’ll find you.”
I silently mouth another question to Kaylee. “How did you get her number?”
Kaylee holds a finger to her lips to silence me.
“So glad you called! See you when you get here.”
Kaylee hangs up and then very dramatically points to her cheek, where she’s obviously expecting a kiss of gratitude from her brother.
“You sneaky little devil.” I lean down and give her the peck she’s waiting for. “How do you have her number? I don’t even have that.”
“You probably never asked for it, unlike me. I got it last night after dinner.” She points at me. “You get in my car, and I’ll drive. On the way, we’ll devise a plan to have her fall madly in love with you by the end of the night.”
I shake my head, smiling, as we slide into her car. I can’t help but admire her efforts on my behalf. “I don’t deserve you.”
She slides her sunglasses on. “No. You really don’t.”
She drives, and contrary to Kaylee’s grand proclamation, no plan is being made. Kaylee’s driving and I’m staring out the window, trying to sort through what seems like several week’s worth of events—but in reality is less than twenty-four hours’ worth.
“Cooper.”
I look over at Kaylee. From her tone of voice, I can tell she’s said my name more than once. “Sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?”
“I asked how you are doing. I mean, last night was,” she grins, “pretty crazy.” She looks over with raised eyebrows, waiting for my response. “You saw her this morning at that meeting, right? How did it go?”
“It was . . . fine?”
“Cryptic. What’s the story there?”
“The meeting itself was okay, but I still can’t figure out what happened afterward.
” I shift in my seat to face Kaylee. “I had an incident with a drinking fountain,” I flinch at the memory, “and arrived at my car soaking wet. Stephanie’s car was parked close to mine, and when she saw me, she .
. .” I take a moment, trying to decide how to explain it.
“She got all weird and told me to ask her if her parents were healthy, so I did. Then she got in her car and drove away. It was the strangest thing.”
Kaylee looks as confused as I feel. “She asked if mom was healthy?”
”No. I was supposed to ask her if her parents were healthy. She was very specific about what words I was supposed to say, too. She even corrected me a time or two.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Say the whole thing again from the top.”
“I walked up, soaking wet; she saw me and froze—or panicked, or something—then demanded I ask her if her parents’ health was good. Then she looked at me like she could burn a hole right through me and left. That’s it.”
“Wait! Were you supposed to ask, ‘Are your parents in good health’?”
“Yes! That was it!”
Kaylee dissolves. Not in a slightly amused way, either—she’s loud and completely out of control. “AND YOU WERE WET?”
Kay’s reaction might have me more baffled than I was to begin with. “Yes.” It comes out sounding more like a question than an answer.
“What were you wearing?” She looks like she’s about to burst. “If it was a white shirt and dark suit, I’m gonna die!”
I’m actually a little afraid to answer her now, and I let my words out with the same caution I would use if I were bathing a cat. “That’s exactly what I was wearing, but when she saw me, I wasn’t wearing my jacket—it was draped over my arm.”
Her reaction is that of an atomic bomb going off in the car.
“THAT’S EVEN BETTER!” She can’t pull herself together.
Meanwhile, I simply remain silent; I have nothing to add or ask, because I have absolutely no clue what is going on.
She finally calms down enough to get out, “And tell me exactly how she reacted.”
“She stared at me intensely, said someone could suck an egg, and stormed off.” Kaylee loses it all over again.
“Oh, little brother,” Kaylee is wiping away tears at this point, “all I will say is that you would understand if you’d ever accepted one of our invitations to watch the Pride and Prejudice miniseries with us.”
“What does that even mean?” I’m begging for answers at this point.
She reaches up to her lips and mimes zipping them shut.
“You’re not going to explain anything to me?”
“Cooper, trust me. It’s a good thing.” She looks like she’s won the lottery, but she stays mute on the subject.
A few minutes later, she pulls over and parks. We are close enough to the Congress Avenue Bridge that we can walk from here.
“Let’s go get her!” There’s a glint in Kaylee’s eye. I don’t know if I should be excited or terrified.