70. Hawk
This time, when I knocked on the door, it flew open so fast, I thought it might come right off the hinges.
Cooper stared up at me, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed, grinning like mad.
“Come in!” she shouted, grabbing me by the wrist and dragging me into the house. “Come meet my friend, Jillian. She’s sleeping over tonight. We’re gonna watch movies and eat the junk she doesn’t get at home, right, Jill?”
My attention moved to the other girl, sitting on the couch, her posture rigid and her eyes wide as she nodded. She looked like a little doll, with her head full of blond curls and big blue eyes that blinked at me in shock. She was almost the exact opposite to Cooper in every way, from her coloring to her demeanor. Where Cooper was in a pair of cutoff shorts and a threadbare t-shirt, Jillian wore a floral dress that looked like it was intended for a woman in her sixties.
Poor kid.
“Nice to meet you, Jillian.”
“You too, sir,” Jillian responded, her face heating and her eyes darting away from me.
“Jill’s shy, but Mom says that I do enough talking for us both, so it all works out.”
I had no doubt that was true.
“Are those flowers for my mom?” Cooper asked, leaping to another topic as she jerked her chin at the large bundle of blooms in my hand. “They’re real nice.”
“They are for your mom, but I got some for you girls, too.” Holding up the flowers, I separated them, pulling the two smaller bouquets apart from the larger one and holding them out. “My mom said to always bring a lady flowers when you show up.”
In fact, my mother had had quite a lot to say when I told her I was taking Wren out on a date. She’d run through a long list of dos and don’ts, things like pulling out her chair and opening doors. She seemed more invested in this date than Wren probably was, and that worried me a bit. With Wren being skittish and my mom diving in with both feet, I was feeling the pressure, that was fucking for sure.
“Holy shit,” Cooper breathed, then cringed. “I mean, holy smokes. For me? Really?”
“Of course,” I said, holding out the small bundle of brightly colored daisies which she took and then cradled like a baby. My heart clenched at the way she smiled down at them, like they were the best thing she’d ever seen.
Made me feel ten fuckin’ feet tall.
“And these are for you, Jillian, if you’d like them.”
Darting a look at Cooper before she stood, Jillian slowly made her way over to me, stopping just close enough to be able to reach the flowers before she scurried back to the couch like a little mouse.
“Thank you, sir,” she offered, her voice so soft I could barely hear her.
“Jillian, let’s put these in water.” Cooper darted to the kitchen, opening cupboards and pulling out several vases of all shapes and colors. “Mom will be out in a minute,” she added, looking at me over her shoulder with a conspiratorial smile. “She’s just finishing getting ready.”
Taking the seat on the couch that Jillian had just vacated, I pulled out my phone while I waited, idly thumbing through the band group chat and listening to Cooper talk endlessly, with only the occasional quiet response from Jillian. The sound was so new, so different from anything I had ever experienced, that I couldn’t help but smile. It was something so simple, but the pure joy it sparked in my chest was extraordinary, and I never wanted it to end.
I was still sitting there, listening to the girls and watching Alex and Mick annoying each other over text message, when Wren entered the room and I forgot how to fucking breathe.
She was stunning.
There was simply no other word to describe her. Honey blonde hair hanging down her back in soft waves, Wren looked like an angel brought to earth. She absolutely shone, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.
“Hi,” she said, her mouth curving up on one side in a hesitant smile. “Sorry I’m late. You wouldn’t tell me where we were going, so I wasn’t sure what to wear.” She gestured down her body to her dress, a flowing number in a deep red wine color that hung just above her knees. It had wide straps that looked like they wrapped around the back of her neck, and when she moved, the fabric shimmered in the light. “I hope this is alright.”
“Perfect, Bird,” I said, and her smile bloomed.
“Are those for me?”
“Oh, uh. Yeah.” I had completely forgotten about the flowers in my hand, my entire world narrowed to Wren and how incredible she looked standing before me.
Stepping forward, Wren reached for the flowers, holding them up to her nose and inhaling, her eyes closed and a soft smile on her face.
“Thank you,” she said, her hazel eyes bright as she looked at me. “No one’s ever gotten me flowers before.”
Seriously? What the fuck was wrong with the men in this town?
“Well, I don’t mean to come off like an asshole, but I’m glad.” Letting my gaze roam over her, I watched as a light shiver stole over her body before I looked back into her eyes. “Means that I’m setting the bar high for all the other guys who are gonna come sniffing around when I take you out in that dress tonight.”
She rolled her eyes, spots of color appearing high on her cheeks as she shook her head.
“I assure you, you are in no danger of facing any competition tonight.”
“Yeah? What about your boss? He’s not gonna be a little sour that you’ll be on my arm instead of his?”
Wren shook her head, but I knew she was just being modest. I’d seen the way he’d looked at her that day in the office. How he’d grit his teeth and smiled at me when I insinuated that Wren and I were more than just old friends.
He wanted her. I had no doubt.
But his fancy lawyer ass was gonna be mighty disappointed.
Wren was mine.
They both were.
“Just let me say goodbye to Cooper and Jillian, and then we can go.”
“Hang on. I gotta get my surprise for the girls.”
After I retrieved the iPad I’d prepared from the Escalade, I headed back into the house where all three girls were in the kitchen, arranging their flowers. The smile on Wren’s face was soft, while Cooper’s was practically glowing, her absolute joy shining from the inside out. Even Jillian looked happy, although her happiness was more subdued, almost as though she was afraid to let anyone see it.
“Look!” Cooper called when she noticed me standing in the doorway, watching them. She gestured to the bouquets, now out of their wrapping and sitting in two mismatched vases on the kitchen counter. “What do you think?”
“I think they look great.” I honestly had no idea. I had never bought flowers for anyone other than my mother, but if they were happy with them, then that was all I needed. “I have one more thing for you, then your mom and I are heading out.”
“You girls will be okay here tonight, right?” Wren asked, setting her flowers—now in a large glass vase of their own—on the kitchen table, turning them this way and that until she found the side she thought was best. “Jillian, your father only agreed to let you sleep over if you promised to go to bed on time.” Jillian may not have noticed Wren’s eye roll, but I did. “And remember the rules. Lock all the doors and don’t answer for anyone. The vegetarian lasagna is just about done. Are you alright to take it out of the oven?”
Cooper and Jillian both nodded, but I grimaced, remembering the way Wren burned herself with the shitty oven mitt the other day.
Taking a breath, I reminded myself to take things slowly. I couldn’t just waltz into town and steamroll Wren’s life.
But I would do my best to take care of them, even if it meant I had to buy a pair of oven mitts and sneak them into the house like a high school kid sneaking liquor into a school dance.
“Just go, Mom,” Cooper groaned. “We’ve got this covered. Besides, if you don’t ever leave, how will Jill and I be able to get high and watch porn?”
“Cooper!” Jillian cried, scandalized, her face turning red as she covered her mouth with both hands while Cooper cackled with glee. “I promise, Miss Blackburn, we would never do...that!”
“I trust you implicitly, Jillian. Cooper?” Wren made a face at Cooper, which only had her laughing harder. “Maybe not so much.” Tossing her keys into her purse, Wren faced me, still shaking her head. “Let’s get out of here before these two give me even more gray hair.”
“Hang on. Cooper? Can I show you something?”
Cooper abandoned her flowers, bounding across the kitchen to stand in front of me, an eager smile on her face.
“What’s up?”
“I, uh, have something for you,” I started, suddenly awkward. When the idea had come to me last night, I’d been really excited about it. A couple of phone calls later, and I had exactly what I was hoping for, sitting in my inbox. But now that it was time to show Cooper, I was suddenly nervous. Was this too much? Too soon? What the hell was I even thinking, flashing my celebrity around so brazenly?
But it was too late now, because she was staring at me with wide, eager eyes, like I was offering her the Hope diamond.
Not wanting to drag it out any more, I held up the iPad, tapped the necessary buttons to navigate to my email, and started the video I’d been sent, my heart in my throat as I waited.
“Hey there, Cooper,” came the voice, sounding strange through the speaker on the device, but recognizable none the less.
“Holy shi- uh, smokes! That’s Remington Ford!” She looked at me, mouth hanging open and her face a concerning shade of gray. “Remington Ford just said my name.”
“Remi here. Just wanted to send you a quick shoutout. Seems you know a friend of mine, Hawk. He reached out and said that you and your friend Jillian are fans of The Gun Show. Me and the guys just wanted to thank you for your support. We love making music for you all and we’d love to see you out at a show one of these days. Tell Hawk to hit me up for tickets, alright? Take care, Cooper, and I hope to see you real soon.”
“Oh, my God! Oh, my freaking God!” Cooper squealed, the sound something I hadn’t heard outside of a concert setting in a really long time. “Jillian! Did you see that? Remington Ford just said our names! Ahhhh!”
She squealed again, this time jumping around the kitchen with Jillian, the two of them chattering back and forth far too fast for me to follow.
“How?” Cooper finally asked when she’d calmed down enough to take a breath. “How did you do that? How did you know?”
“I saw the posters in your room the other day,” I offered, watching her as she practically vibrated. “I’ve met Remi and the guys a couple times, so I called him up. I asked, and he answered. Simple.”
“You called him up?” She placed her hand to her forehead, her whole body sort of rocking back and forth, and I wondered if I’d have to catch her. “You just happened to have the number for the greatest rock star in the world in your pocket?”
“Hey, now,” I said, more than a little offended, but the next words she said wiped away any resentment I might have felt toward Remi in an instant.
“This is the greatest day of my life!”
Yeah. I did that.