Chapter 41
STEPHANIE
How did this happen?
Last week I was fighting my attraction to Cooper.
But today I’m disappointed because we got interrupted when Cooper was “laying all his cards on the table.” What were the cards?
I want to know! They seemed like they were going to be good cards! Were his lips going to be involved in these cards? I was really hoping they would be.
I have too many questions and a frustrating lack of answers.
My heart pounds out an erratic rhythm inside my chest, and I take a deep inhale, trying to calm myself while Cooper heads to the love seat and puts his shirt back on.
He gives me a small smile. Is that a shadow of disappointment on his face? Is he thinking about the cards too? “Want to go inside with the others?”
NO! I want them all to go away and to learn all about your cards! “Sure.” I go inside, bracing myself for more ribbing, but there’s none. Pam, Melodie, and Kaylee act like coming upon me and a shirtless Cooper standing on the porch was completely normal.
We help Pam put away the groceries, and then we spend the next several hours hanging out, talking, laughing, and playing games—it’s one of the most relaxed and enjoyable afternoons I’ve had in a really long time (other than the fact that I’m still thinking about the cards).
Never once do any of them make me feel uncomfortable or like they’re anything less than thrilled that I am there.
Around four o’clock, we freshen up and leave for dinner at Frank’s.
Frank’s house (can it be called a house when there are more garages than my parents’ house has rooms?) is a sprawling ranch outside of Austin on several thousand acres.
The spacious home is made of limestone and has deep overhangs, massive wraparound porches covered in porch swings and rocking chairs, a swimming pool that belongs at a resort, and expansive grounds that are immaculately kept.
The inside boasts large, exposed wood beams high in the soaring ceilings, deep leather furniture, carved doors, and fireplaces the size of cars—and everything screams deep Texas money.
I’m so perplexed, because even though Frank could host a gathering with hundreds of people here with ease, there’s something about it that’s intimate and says family and home.
I usually hate being around this kind of money—it brings back too many bad memories—but instead, something about Frank’s place puts me at ease.
We’ve finished eating an absurd amount of food, and I’m on the expansive deck, gently rocking in a hammock chair and watching everyone but Cooper stroll down the hill toward the swimming pool.
Cooper is with me on the deck, sitting nearby in a lounge chair with his eyes closed.
I wonder (for what might be the hundredth time in the last few hours) about his mysterious cards.
“What are you thinking about?” Cooper’s voice startles me, and I freeze, as if I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t.
“Nothing.” My answer comes out rushed and breathless, and he smiles, eyes still closed.
“You’re thinking nothing very loudly.” He slowly sits up, swings his feet to the ground, placing his elbows on his knees, and turns to face me.
When I don’t answer him, he stands and nods toward Frank’s property.
“Want to go on a stroll? There are some great walking trails around here. I was thinking we could finish our conversation from earlier.” The cards? !
A loud voice explodes across the lawn. “COOPER!”
My head snaps up to see a woman in her mid-twenties with long, platinum-blonde hair kick off her high-heeled shoes, drop her purse, and start running toward us. The bangles and baubles around her wrists and neck jingle and jangle with her every stride.
Cooper fixes me with a quick, worried glance before turning to the woman.
She leaps into his outstretched arms and lets her legs hang in the air, ankles crossed and knees bent.
This woman’s fingernails match her fire-engine-red lips, and the colorful, feminine sundress clinging to her well-shaped body is short enough to show off her long, gorgeously tanned and toned legs.
What the spam email is going on here?
I take a moment to remind myself that a couple of days ago I was repulsed when I saw Woman #3 do this exact same thing—and that Woman #3 ended up being Kaylee.
I also remind myself that jumping to conclusions hasn’t done me any favors with this man, and so I attempt to sit still and stop wishing that I was the woman being held in Cooper’s arms. Wait.
What? Have my Mallory-proof walls completely crumbled?
Who am I kidding? They are dust.
“Adie!” He’s genuinely happy to see her. He turns to me, Adeline still hanging from his neck, and mouths, “I’m sorry.”
“Cooper, aren’t you going to ask?” Her voice drips with so much sickly sweet affection, as she continues to hang from his neck like a Christmas ornament, that I’m sure I just got a cavity.
He sends me another apologetic look before returning his attention to her. “Adie, will you finally agree to marry me?”
Cooper sets her down, and she lets out a long, artificial sigh, complete with a pouting face. “You know Daddy won’t let me, even though your bank account would keep me very happy.”
“Adeline, you’re not good enough for that boy.” Frank’s voice booms from the swimming pool, where he’s getting up and heading our way.
The Christmas Ornament turns toward Frank’s voice and notices me for the first time. Her entire body freezes. She takes me in. Then, shock still on her face, her head snaps to Cooper, and his eyes widen with panic. She ignores him and looks at me again.
“It is you! You’re Stephanie! Cooper”—she turns to him with delight—“you didn’t tell me you were bringing her here!
” She rushes to me and takes my hand between hers.
“I’d recognize you anywhere. You look exactly like your pictures, except you’re even more beautiful in person.
I’m Adeline, Frank’s favorite daughter. And please don’t worry about that.
” She gestures to where Cooper was standing for his proposal of marriage.
“I’ve made him propose to me every time I’ve seen him since I was ten.
” She drops her voice in a conspiratorial way.
“We all know that he’s only had eyes for you for a while now.
It’s always Stephanie this and Stephanie that,” she starts slowly dragging me toward where Frank is coming up the hill, “and now that I see you, I can understand why.” She turns to Cooper.
“She’s gorgeous, Coop.” She puts the full force of her attention back on me.
“Your sense of style is perfect, your hair is impeccable, and your skin is flawless. And if Cooper is to be believed—which he always is—I do believe you have a heart of gold. Cooper adores you,” at this declaration, she stops and places a hand on her chest, “so I do too.” I have no words.
Cooper’s still standing about twenty feet away, where Adeline and I left him. “Too much, Adie.” His expression is one of long-suffering amusement.
There’s no regret on Adeline’s face. “Sorry. I’ve been told I have the energy of a category-five hurricane, and I can keep a secret about as well as a toothpick fence can hold back one of Daddy’s prize bulls. But isn’t Cooper wonderful?” Then she wraps me in an embrace.
“Hello, pumpkin.” Frank finally reaches us and extends his arms to greet his daughter. She lets go of me, gives her dad a hug, and covers his face in kisses.
“Daddy, Stephanie is here!” She’s positively giddy.
“I know. And lucky for Cooper, I’m not thirty years younger, or he’d have some competition.” Frank kisses the top of Adeline’s head. “Tell me about the meeting. How did it go?”
“They didn’t give into my demands as much as I wanted, but there was headway in the negotiations.
I want the school to be big enough for all the children, but they insist that the extra funds required would be wasted, since not all the children will attend.
” She puts both her hands on her hips and takes an authoritative stance.
“I won’t bend. I need every single one of those children to know that there is a place for them.
” She relaxes and loops her arm around Frank’s.
“I’m planning on lowering the hammer at the next meeting.
And if they don’t cave, I might need more of my inheritance up front so that I can jump over all those stuffed suits and get it done myself! ”
Frank’s face is pure sunshine as he watches his daughter.
It’s as if her every word provides the oxygen he breathes.
“I can’t think of a better way to spend it.
” They stroll arm in arm toward the pool.
“Let’s chat numbers tomorrow, and you can show me any changes you’ve made since the last time we talked.
You might want to skip over those stuffed suits anyway.
” He wraps his arm around her, kisses her head, and their conversation fades.
Here’s Frank, a man who—based on the size of this estate—could buy and sell my father a dozen times over, and he seems like he would give it all away to make his baby girl happy. Does Adeline understand how lucky she is?
“You okay?” Cooper appears beside me.