Chapter 37 #2
Well this is officially weird. I was at the game of my ex-boyfriend-boss’s estranged brother, having a weird stand-off with said brother whom I’d never actually met, and someone’s grandpa had elected to give me the play-by-play of his every look in my direction.
He was actually having a grand ol’ time, giving that wheezy, old man laugh over my every look of visible discomfort.
Thankfully, the old man left before the final out, volunteering his explanation to me on his way out. “Gotta beat the crowd. Good luck with twenty-four,” he said, clapping my shoulder before he walked off.
I said goodbye to him and admittedly heaved a huge sigh of relief once he was gone, because it was easier to finish watching the game alone.
Without a witness, I could go back to pretending Cole didn’t notice me staring, and wasn’t looking back as a way to basically tell me he could sense something fishy about me.
See? You’re good. It’s all good, I told myself once the game was over. The Wolves had won 5-2 and my client hadn’t gotten the win, but that was okay, because everyone was starting to leave. The players were giving high fives on the field and I was on my feet, getting ready to go.
But I had one foot on the steps when I heard a whispery hush fall over the chatty women across the aisle from me. And when I looked at them, I saw them whispering furiously to each other while gawking at the field.
Ah… shit.
I turned around, both surprised and not when I saw Cole standing there at the edge of the field, those blue eyes locked unapologetically on me. His face was stoic, but I was sure I didn’t imagine the amusement in his eye as he got an up-close view of my not-fully-disguised awkwardness.
“Hi,” he finally said.
I noted that his voice didn’t sound like Adam’s. It was similarly low, but not as smooth.
“Hi,” I said. My eyes shifted awkwardly as I turned fully around, because I was unsure exactly what Cole was doing here, and I didn’t want to presume that he wanted to talk to me, especially with how thoroughly blank and disinterested his expression was right now.
But he was here. And he wasn’t moving.
So…
I headed over to the railing, glad that the stands were emptying despite the handsome third baseman standing right there. Maybe it was the fact that he was from the other team. Or the fact that he was chewing his gum and eyeing anyone trying to rubberneck with casual looks of disgust.
Okay... I can see how he and Knox would get along, I thought with amusement.
Even the whispering girls left after awhile—or at least they gave what Cole deemed enough space to start talking.
“You were mad-dogging me the whole game, so figured I’d come say hi,” he said, so completely deadpan that I thought he was serious for a second. But then came that glimmer in his eye that I knew well.
“I was not mad-dogging you,” I snorted.
“You were staring into the dugout before the game even started.”
Okay. Didn’t realize he saw that.
When my mouth opened and closed a few times without a sentence happening, he smirked.
“I know you’re Adam’s assistant.”
I didn’t try to contain my surprise. “How… did you know that?”
He snapped his gum then looked at some goings-on down the field before returning his attention to me. “I’ve Googled him,” he said.
I lifted my eyebrows. Well, well, well. Look who actually does give a shit. Even if it’s the tiniest one.
I must’ve looked too visibly pleased, because Cole hit me with a look that was a cross between vaguely annoyed and amused.
“Adam send you here?” he asked, prompting that twisting in my chest again. Please not now, I asked my heart politely as I shook my head no.
“I was here to watch my client pitch. I’m an agent at Ace now. I left Engelman in March.”
Cole didn’t react. “Lover’s quarrel?”
I frowned. What? “No. I just left for another agency. There was nothing—”
Going on between me and Adam.
I was going to finish that sentence, but it seemed pointless. Cole didn’t know or care about Adam’s life. At least that was what I thought till he made a sound that I was pretty sure was a snort.
“Yeah, I still talk to my mom,” he said.
It took me a second to understand what he meant by that.
Okay…
Was he saying… he knew about me and Adam? Being together? Had Heidi told him about us? It felt like a lot of presumption and I didn’t want to ask, but Cole clearly wasn’t the type to say more than he cared to, so I just went for it.
“She talked to you about Adam?” I asked.
His sharp features were unmoving, unreadable as he answered. “Sometimes.”
My pulse picked up.
Okay, relax, I told myself, trying not to get excited, because there was something depressing about getting excited over this.
It felt like an impossible push and pull.
I’d made this decision to start my career as an agent in New York, not LA.
At this point, I wasn’t going to leave my job at Ace to return to Engelman, so it was pointless to stir up all these emotions I had on Adam’s behalf.
That was what I told myself.
Of course, it was virtually impossible not to care, especially as I looked directly at this reflection of Adam—this hardened, grown-up version of the adorable little boy Adam had described in such detail during that trip in Arizona.
How before he’d been forced to grow up fast, Cole had been a slightly mischievous but mostly sensitive little boy.
He got nervous when his mom spoke to strangers, and ran to hide behind Adam whenever he was afraid or unsure.
I wished Cole could know all of this.
How Adam still cared. Still hung on so tight to his memory.
“You know, he thinks about you all the time.”
The words had been out for a few seconds before I realized they’d come from my own mouth.
Meddler, I scolded myself. But I’d already said what I’d said, and I couldn’t take it back, so I decided to own it, an unabashed look on my face as I watched his eyebrows move a little. But he didn’t say anything.
So I did.
“He’s never going to stop being your brother. He just wants to look out for you,” I said, trying not to let the utterly unfazed look on Cole’s face discourage me. “He wasn’t just off living the life. He never stopped thinking about you.”
Cole’s blue eyes studied me now. Before they were just looking at me, but now they were searching.
“If he’s such a good guy, why are you here instead of LA?”
My throat contracted for a second. “I had a better opportunity here,” I said. “Doesn’t change a word of what I said about Adam. You’ve been on his mind since the day he left. Everything he does, he does for you and your mom.”
I thought I saw a sneer curl Cole’s lips, so I braced myself for impact. Cutting words of some kind. But I didn’t get that.
“I know,” he said, his voice sounding suddenly different.
Slightly thawed.
Or did I imagine that? It didn’t matter. I pounced.
“You know he sits with Rocky every morning at breakfast,” I said, referring to the chihuahua-pug Cole grew up with.
He snorted.
“Yeah, I never liked that little freakshow.”
“Wow. I don’t even know you that well, but that was definitely a lie,” I said as Cole cracked the absolute faintest of reluctant smiles. “I’ve seen that dog. He might look like an alien, but he’s adorable.”
The rest of Cole’s smile spread on his lips, but he looked over at home plate till it was gone. “He fully blind yet?” he asked, eyes back on me.
“No. But almost. You should see him before he can’t, you know… see you.”
Cole’s eyebrows lifted as he chewed his gum. “Poetic,” he said wryly.
I controlled the urge to roll my eyes. “I wasn’t trying to be, but thanks.”
We exchanged a few more lines about the dogs. About Gizzy’s. Then we parted ways, but just as I headed up the stairs, he said, “Hey.”
I turned again, and when I cocked my head, he gave an upward nod. “You were with him for what, five years?”
I took a second to realize we were talking about Adam again. “Yeah,” I answered.
He nodded. “That’s almost as long as I knew him,” he said. And for some reason the thought of that stunned me quiet for a little.
Cole broke the silence.
“You miss him more than I do though.”
I managed a laugh. “It’s that obvious?”
“From the way you’re going to bat for him? Yeah.”
Now it was my turn to just nod for a little. “So… was there an end to this thought? Or was that it?”
A smirk glinted in his blue eyes for a second but then he looked serious.
“Just saying. I know I haven’t seen him in awhile, but if there’s one thing I know about Adam, it’s that when he loves someone, he never forgets them,” Cole said, holding his gaze on me. “Even after they’ve forgotten about him.”
My heart ripped right in half as I let the words sink in. Everything inside me was still unraveling as I watched Cole turn around, but as he headed off, I said, “Hey!”
He turned around again, still walking backward as he lifted an eyebrow that said what?
“You got an agent?” I called out.
He laughed. “Yeah,” he said, cracking his gum as he swiped his thumb across his nose. He took another few backward steps before saying, “But he’s shit, so I could probably use a new one.”
I broke into a grin.
“Good to know,” I said, but he didn’t hear. He was already jogging down the field.