Chapter 18 Coco
Coco
I split my time between the office and the construction site, guiding Stone on the best material choices—researching whether they’re strong enough, tensile enough, and if they’ll work with ley lines.
Stone hired a dozen more men, and construction is at full speed to make up for the time lost from having to start again from scratch.
It’s all going great. Almost too great.
When Stone’s not helping the guys and deciding what to do next on the site, he’s playing with Hercules.
I have to admit, seeing those two warms my body all the way to my toes. As if to counter that warmth, Cristina asks daily if I’ve figured out what the lunaria bloom is.
I haven’t.
And to be honest, I haven’t tried.
Is that bad? It feels like it should be bad, like I should be thrown into some kind of purgatory, but every time even a twinge of guilt pinches me, I see Stone do something like pick up Hercules and laugh, and I remember how fragile this is.
How important it is.
Days slide by quickly, and Stone, Hercules, and I get into a rhythm in my tiny cottage.
Stone makes breakfast. I make dinner, which is usually sandwiches or some kind of chicken dish, which is all I know how to make.
He crashes on the couch and I sleep in my bedroom, relishing how quickly the project is taking shape.
The new limecrete set quickly, as if the earth itself helped us play catch-up.
Hopefully, the resort will be finished close to schedule. Fingers crossed. By the time Saturday rolls around, I’m exhausted. From intercepting the questioning looks the guys throw at Stone to tiptoeing around the fact that he has amnesia, there’s been a lot to stay on top of.
What do you mean Stone’s different? He seems the same to me. Oh? Why are we getting along now? We found a compromise. That’s all. Of course he seems like the same Stone.
So when my mom calls bright and early, I’m not thinking about anything other than sleeping in.
“Good morning,” she says cheerfully.
“Good morning,” I reply through a yawn.
“Is the potato salad ready?”
“What potato salad?”
“The one for the get-together today.” She now sounds terse. “You are bringing it, aren’t you?”
“Oh, crap. I mean, yes, I’m absolutely bringing it. The potatoes just finished boiling.” Do I even have potatoes? A quick mental check of all kitchen supplies confirms I do not. “What time do I need to be there?”
“By lunch. Brittany will be filming,” she says proudly.
I groan. Not filming. If Brittany’s doing that, it means she’ll wrangle us into some kind of stupid survival game. Great.
“What’s wrong with her filming?”
“Nothing,” I chirp. “It’s fabulous.”
“Of course it is. Do you know how many views her videos get?”
“Not offhand.”
“Hundreds of thousands. When you make videos with that many hits, then you can call the shots, Coco.”
And that makes me slink back into my shell and want to disappear. “I’ll see you soon,” is all I can muster.
“See you then.”
We hang up and I collapse back onto my bed. A knock comes from the door. “Come in.”
Stone peeks his head in. He’s just shaved and his face, without all that scruff, is shockingly handsome. Don’t get me wrong, he was handsome before he shaved, but he looked rugged. Now Stone looks like the CEO of a company—all chiseled jaw.
I realize I’m staring, so I pull my covers to my chin.
“I shaved,” he says proudly.
Behind him, Hercules bleats.
Stone glances back over his shoulder. “Just a minute, buddy. I said I was going to feed you. You’ve got to learn patience.”
“Baaaaaaaa.”
Hercules slides past him and heads toward my bed.
The lambicorn jumps onto the mattress, and I grab hold of him, pulling him down to cuddle.
In the past few days, I’ve learned Hercules is a great cuddler—when he lets me hold him for more than two seconds.
There’s nothing better than rubbing my chin against his baby-soft coat.
Hercules lets me hug him for a moment before he squirms out of my grasp and nibbles on the duvet. My eyes lift and I catch Stone watching me—his gaze unreadable but sharp, like he’s taking in more than just my bedhead and pajamas.
A weird little flutter jumps in my stomach. I pretend not to notice the way his eyes linger.
“You look good,” I say.
More handsome.
Stop it, Coco.
“You like?”
I close one of my eyes, pretending to inspect him. “Not sure. Where’s the Stone Maddox I know?”
He lifts his brows and nods solemnly. “Still hiding inside me somewhere.”
I cringe. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”
“It’s okay. I’ve had almost an entire week to get used to not remembering, and surprisingly, it offers a clarity that most people never have.”
“Does it?”
“I have no idea, but it sounds good.”
We laugh and our gazes catch for a breath. I look away first.
“However,” he continues, “if I don’t get into my computer soon, I’ll have to pay someone to break in. I’m sure it’s full of emails. But at the moment, they can wait.”
We eye each other for a second before he cocks his head toward the lambicorn. “Hercules is hungry, and I figured you might be, too. I made eggs and smoked salmon. Not together.”
“That sounds amazing, but I’ve got about ten pounds of potato salad to make and I’m out of potatoes.”
He pulls a face. “Ten pounds? Are you secretly a squirrel? Where can you hide that much potato salad in your tiny body?”
I toss a pillow at him and he catches it to his stomach. “It’s not all for me, dummy. There’s this thing at my parents’ house. A get-together for my sister. She’s been out of town for a while.”
He cocks a brow. “A get-together for your sister?”
“Yeah.” I pick at a loose thread in my duvet.
Silence engulfs us and I know he’s reading my disinterest.
“And does your family realize how amazing you are?”
My breath staggers. “That’s very nice of you to say.”
“It’s not nice at all. It’s the truth. Without you, I would’ve been lost this week.”
Also without me, none of this would have happened and you would have your memory and blackmail me.
I nod slowly.
“Say it,” he coaxes.
“I am amazing.”
“There. How did that feel?”
Dishonest, because he doesn’t know the deep parts of me, the truths I hide. “Pretty good,” I lie.
“Pretty good?” Stone scoffs. “You can do better than that, but I won’t push. Unless I also work part-time as a self-help coach, which is completely possible.”
I laugh. “I don’t think so.”
“Me neither.” Hercules jumps off the bed and trots toward Stone, who bends down and scratches the lambicorn behind the ear. Hercules closes his eyes and leans in to the scratch. For a second, this feels so easy.
So normal.
Too normal.
A tiny flicker of worry nudges the back of my mind, but I push it aside.
“So this get-together with your family,” he says, “is it big?”
Oh, God. He wants to come. Stone wants to meet my family. I’ve never gone to one of these things with a guy before, and definitely not with one who might remember he hates me at any moment.
“It is big. There are lots of cousins. But just so you know, my family is different.”
He crosses his arms and leans casually against the doorframe. “They’ve got three eyes? Tentacles? Don’t worry, unless they’ve got two heads, these people have nothing on me.”
I can’t help but laugh and fall back onto the bed. When I glance up, his eyes shine with mischief. “Physically, they’re normal. It’s just, they have this one tiny hobby—well, not a hobby. My parents have made a business from it.”
“And that is? It’s bowling, isn’t it? We’ll show up and everyone in your family will be wearing matching bowling shirts.”
“Stop it! I only have one pillow left to throw at you, and I need it for the back of my head.”
“And I was hoping to catch another one. Here. Take this one.” He tosses the other pillow onto the bed, where it lands at my feet. “Better?”
“Better.” I sigh. “If you help me make potato salad, you’re invited to come.”
“And here I thought I’d be spending a Saturday at the park, just me and Hercules.”
“After today, you might wish you had made that choice.”
He rolls his eyes. “My eggs are getting cold. You coming or not?”
“Yeah. Let me get dressed.”
I make a motion for him to shoo, and he grabs the doorknob and begins to close it. Before he completely disappears, Stone pops his head back through the crack.
“But seriously, your family can’t be that bad.”
I quirk a brow. “Just wait and see.”