Chapter Twenty-Eight - Coop
Back at the house after the funeral, Coop grabbed Rick’s hand and pulled him upstairs to his old bedroom, where they’d gotten ready.
It was so one hundred percent Rick’s room with all the posters on the wall of military crap.
Planes and paratroopers. He might not have known it when he first met the man, but they shared a very similar personality trait.
Coop went with motorcycles. He could race anything on two wheels, the faster the better, while Rick went up.
Way up. Jumping out of perfectly good aircraft.
Because there were more than a few helicopters on these walls.
But at the moment, none of that mattered. What mattered was the gooey mess that was churning inside of Rick. Coop pulled him into his arms the second he closed the door behind them. “I’ve got you, babe.”
“I know…” he spoke into Coop’s neck, making Coop hold him a little tighter. Coop felt Rick’s body shake. His neck felt wet with Rick’s hot tears.
“That’s it. Let it out. It’s only you and me, Rick.
” He kissed the side of Rick’s head. “And I’ve got you.
I mean it.” He knew what it was like to lose family.
He wasn’t as close to his parents as Rick was to his mother, but his grandfather was a different story, and the pain of that loss was still there after all these years, and Coop wanted nothing more than to help ease Rick through his grief.
After a while, Rick hummed and sighed, pulling out of Coop’s arms but holding his hands and squeezing them. “Thank you.” His voice was rough with tears and his eyes beyond bloodshot.
“Nope. No thanks. This is what we do. I love you.” He trailed his thumb down the tracks along Rick’s cheek. “How about you wash your face, and we go down and talk to everyone for a little while? And I promise, if I see you’re struggling too much, I’ll drag you back up here.”
Rick nodded. “Okay.”
As he was going out the door to the bathroom, Coop called out, “And use Visine.”