Chapter 15
Ana groaned the following morning when she opened her eyes and remembered she hadn’t done the most important thing she needed to do for the entire month—find a babysitter for Ben.
With getting ready for the gala opening, the disaster of Ben stealing the limo, and all the drama since, then Thanksgiving with her parents, she’d literally forgotten that this weekend was the weekend she was to fly to NYC with Quinley for her final dress fitting and bachelorette weekend.
She couldn’t miss it. But did she really want to drag Ben along? She couldn’t. He wouldn’t. But what was she going to do?
She couldn’t ask her parents. Maybe if yesterday hadn’t happened, she might have asked but now? No way. She would not leave Ben in that environment. Who knew what would happen between Ben and her father.
Sasha had no problem keeping an eye on Ben whenever he hung out at Coastal Couture, but Ana couldn’t ask a college student to keep Ben overnight. That was just weird. And unprofessional.
So her choices were take Ben with her to New York City where God only knew what kind of trouble he could find if he wanted to—or stay home. She voted for the latter, even though it meant hurting Quinley. But surely she’d understand?
Ana rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom, imagining she smelled bacon. Just more proof of how foggy things were, she mused as she trudged down the hallway to the kitchen.
Coffee. She needed coffee, and maybe then her brain could function enough to come up with a plan that didn’t involve a surly teenager or a pissed-off best friend.
She pressed both hands over her face and rubbed hard, groaning out her frustration. What made someone crave bacon so much they smelled it?
“Something bothering you, sweetheart?”
Ana stopped in her tracks and found Cole in her kitchen looking fresh as a daisy and good enough to eat.
Just like the bacon he fried in the pan on her stove.
“I like the view, baby girl.”
She gasped and lowered her hands to yank her open robe closed over her form-fitting tank top and shorts. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
“I let him in,” Ben said from behind her.
She turned and watched as Ben sidled through the narrow hallway past her. He’d already showered and dressed, making her feel like more of a slouch. “Why are you up? Why is he cooking? What’s going on?”
The boutique didn’t open until ten, and she was supposed to drop Ben off on the way. Normally she woke up before her alarm, but after Cole’s visit last night and the kiss— It had been hours before she’d gone to sleep, and when she had finally slept, she’d dreamed of him, just like he’d wanted her to. To say she felt muddled was the understatement of the year.
“Cole offered to pick me up.”
“And since neither of you have eaten…” Cole said, motioning toward the stove.
Cole’s gaze glittered with amusement as he stared at her, and Ana lifted a hand to her hair, feeling the rat’s nest at the back that undoubtedly left her looking a mess.
She finger brushed and flattened her hair as best she could while Cole’s attention refocused on the bacon.
“I made coffee,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice. “Want some?”
“Are you kidding? Mom lives on coffee,” Ben said, shoving one of his textbooks into his backpack.
Like he planned to study. When he didn’t have to.
She had to still be asleep. “Are you taking that with you?”
“Yeah, I told Cole about my big test, and he said I could study when it’s slow. I might even do some of the extra credit I never do and see if I can get my C to a B.”
Her gaze shot to Cole since Ben should be working during that time frame, but Cole simply winked at her and served up the bacon.
“Sit down, Ana. I got you.”
She watched, dumbfounded, as Cole removed a mug from the cabinet and poured it for her before snagging her creamer from the fridge. He sat both on the island for her and then swerved back to plate scrambled eggs, toast and the bacon. All of which looked edible.
Yeah, so still dreaming.
“Eat up,” Cole said when he set the plate next to the coffee.
Her legs trembled when she climbed atop the higher bar stool and watched while Ben and Cole divided the rest of the food between themselves. Ben took his to the couch to eat while Cole stood opposite her at the island and stared at her, munching on a piece of the crispy bacon.
“You have something to say, sweetheart?”
She doused her coffee with much-needed creamer and took several fortifying sips. Coffee tasted better in her dreams. Or maybe it was that Dream Cole made it stronger than her norm?
She took another large sip. The phone she’d habitually carried everywhere she went and had set on the counter beside her plate lit up with Quinley’s smiling face.
Ana groaned.
Cole chuckled and earned a quelling glare after she pressed the button to decline the call.
“Hey, so far I’ve heard mostly grunts and groans from you. It’s funny. I had no idea you were such a grump in the morning.”
“Not everyone wakes up energetic and ready to go,” she grumbled.
“I guess not. The military takes the choice away, though. Eat some protein. It’ll help.”
Her phone began buzzing again with another call—and a text message from Quinley ordering her to pick up.
“Your friend Quinley is pretty persistent.”
“Mom, isn’t this weekend her bachelorette thing? I remember her saying something the night of the gala about it being Thanksgiving weekend.”
Cole’s thick eyebrows lifted in question, and her appetite fled. Even though the bacon tasted divine. “Yes, but I forgot about it, and…I can’t go now. I just dread telling her.”
“Mom, you gotta go,” Ben said. “Quinley’ll lose it if you don’t.”
“Why the change of heart?” Cole asked.
“I forgot to make some arrangements is all,” she said.
“Do you mean me?” Ben asked, piping up from the couch. “Because I can stay by myself.”
“Not happening,” she said firmly.
Ben carried his now-empty plate to the sink, and she blinked. “Did you chew at all?”
Her son laughed and then shocked her to her core when he followed Cole’s orders to rinse it off before putting it in the dishwasher.
More proof she’d entered an alternate dimension sometime during the night. Studying, cleaning up after himself. Laughter— When was the last time she’d heard him laugh?
“You should go,” Cole said near her ear.
She turned her head and found him way too close. While she’d focused on Ben, Cole had rounded the island and whispered the words while he settled in next to her. “It’s until Sunday. I can’t.”
Cole stared at her intently for a long moment. “Ben, how about some guy time with me this weekend while your mom takes a break?”
“You cannot be serious,” she said.
“Sure. I’m game. You any good at video games?”
Her head swiveled between them like a tennis match. “No. No, this isn’t a good idea. Cole, no, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking.” Cole grinned and popped the last of a bacon bite into his mouth. “And you’re on, Ben.”
“I shouldn’t go anyway. It’s a holiday weekend, and the hotel will be busy. I should stay and give Sasha a hand. Besides, I feel bad taking a trip when I owe on the limo.”
“You’re going to make up the difference with the advertising stuff you and Quinley put together for me,” Cole said. “You don’t owe anything.”
“Yeah, Mom, and it’s free. Quinley’s rich boyfriend is paying for everything. You have to go. Besides, I’m not a little kid. I don’t even need a babysitter.”
She sooo wanted to comment on that seeing as how Cole came to be involved in their lives but didn’t want to start a fight. “You have no idea what you’re taking on,” she said to Cole.
“I think I can handle him for a weekend,” Cole said. “He’s scheduled to work anyway, so he’ll be with me or my brothers during the day. What’s a few more hours when most of it will be sleeping?”
“See, Mom? I’ll be fine. And this way Quinley won’t be mad at you.”
She stared at Ben, glanced at Cole and then back at Ben, not liking that they’d ganged up against her even though she knew Ben was right. It worked as a solution but— Her son would be staying with Cole, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that. “Ben, can you give me and Cole some time to discuss this?”
Ben looked like he wanted to argue, but she caught a subtle shake of Cole’s head, and surprisingly Ben paid attention. Again.
“I’ll go pick out some games for later.”
Once Ben left the kitchen and his bedroom door shut, Ana turned on her stool. “What are you doing?”
“I’m pitching in to help a friend.”
“Is that all?”
“So suspicious,” he said, lowering his voice and his gaze.
She fought the urge to flick her tongue over her suddenly dry lips when she noted him staring in that direction. “I don’t think this is a good idea. Ben is already talking about joining the military because of the time he’s spent with you.”
Cole’s entire body tensed.
“He hasn’t said anything to me.”
“Well, he announced it at the table yesterday in front of my parents which is partly why it became a shouting match.”
“I haven’t talked to him about enlisting, Ana.”
“Maybe not but you have said enough about it ‘making you a man’ and how you’re so well trained that Ben’s interested in it instead of college.”
“Okay. Noted. I’ll talk to him over the weekend.”
She glared at him. “That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say? It’s a viable option if he decides to join—once he’s older and knows more about it.”
His gaze narrowed on her, and she felt as though he tried to see into her brain.
“Unless you’re more like your parents than I thought.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Is the military not good enough for you? Was that part of why you broke things off back then?”
“You can’t be serious,” she said softly.
“It’s a simple question.”
“Well, wonder no more,” she said tightly. “I gave you my reasons for ending things. I wasn’t ready, and you planned to be career military which meant you needed a certain kind of wife, and I wasn’t it. We would’ve wound up divorced. Cole, my concern for Ben is that he’s lost and isolated, and I can tell he’s searching for his…tribe. For friends and security. I don’t want him to set his mind on something because he…romanticizes or glorifies it.”
“Okay. I get that,” Cole said, confirming his words with a nod. “I’ll talk to him.”
Her phone began buzzing again right as a text message came through from Quinley.
PICK UP OR ELSE!!!
Cole shifted and tapped the screen to answer the call, sneaking in a kiss atop her head in the process.
It was such a sweet, surprising and unexpected move after he’d questioned the past that she found herself staring at him, back in a daze of what’s happening?
“Finally! Are you ready for Neeeew Yorrrk,” Quinley sang, drawing out the words with perfect pitch.
Ana stared at Cole, unable to look away. “No. Not yet. Quin…I have a problem.” It wasn’t like she could admit to her best friend that she’d been caught up in her own life so much that she’d forgotten about Quin’s bachelorette trip.
Cole leaned over and gently placed his fingers and thumb under her chin, drawing her face up so that she stared into his. “You don’t. Go,” he said softly. “I’ve got Ben.”
“Problem? What problem?” Quinley demanded.
Ana stared into Cole’s gorgeous, compelling gaze and felt another protective wall crumble. Even though she had to stay strong for his sake and Ben’s and…hers. “Um…”
“Ana?” Quinley asked, her tone uncertain and very un-Quinley.
“She’ll be there,” Cole said in his deep male voice.
Ana’s mouth dropped at his audacity as Quinley’s throaty squeal and laughter filled the air.
“Is this Cole?”
“It is.”
“Oooh, someone has some explaining to do given you’re there with her so early in the morning. Wheel’s up in two hours, Ana. Don’t you dare be late!”