Chapter Thirty-Seven
Brinley
The scent of flowers hits me the second I step out of the bathroom. It takes me a second to place it.
Then I notice them.
A bouquet of white lilies sits on the nightstand, with a note tucked beside it.
I move toward the bed, tugging at the hem of Cooper’s shirt I pulled back on after washing my face and brushing my teeth. I sit on the edge before reaching for the note.
For my love.
Went to grab us some coffee. Be back soon.
— C
A smile tugs at my mouth before I can stop it. He must’ve come up here after breakfast.
I trace my thumb along the edge of the paper for a second before setting it back down beside the vase. The room is quiet, the boxers I put on after my bath last night still thrown on the floor.
I bend to pick them up, stepping into them before climbing back onto the bed.
My phone sits next to the note and the flowers.
I stare at it for a second before picking it up.
There’s a call I’ve been avoiding. Before I can talk myself out of it, I tap on “Mom” to dial her and hit the speaker button. It rings twice before she answers.
“Brinley?”
It’s been so long since I’ve heard her voice that tears fill my eyes.
“Hi, Mom.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line, almost like she couldn’t believe I’d actually call.
“I’ve been so worried about you,” she says.
“I’m sorry, I should’ve called sooner. I’m okay, though.”
There’s another pause.
“I read the article,” she adds carefully.
“Yeah,” I say. “I figured you probably did.”
We sit in silence, and I almost wonder if calling right now was a good idea.
“There’s something I need to tell you, and I have questions,” I say finally.
“Okay.”
“I went to talk to him a few weeks ago. He said he gave you money, that he paid you to basically make this all disappear.”
She doesn’t answer right away.
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” she says quietly. “This is never how I envisioned this going, Brinley. I just, I’m so sorry.”
I tug at the blanket beneath my fingers.
“I don’t understand,” I continue, wanting to get this out. “If he gave you money, why did we struggle so much growing up?”
Her breath comes through the phone. Her answer comes out slower this time.
“Because I never touched it.”
I blink.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I never spent it,” she says. “Not a single penny.”
I sit up a little straighter.
“You never spent it? What did you do with it then?”
“I put it in an account. For you.”
The words cause my mouth to drop open.
“Mom…”
“Every penny he ever gave me. It all went straight to that account. I don’t even know how much is in there now, if I’m being honest.”
I stare down at the comforter, tracing a seam with my finger.
“I didn’t want to build our life on his money,” she admits. “But I also didn’t want to throw it back in his face and tell him to fuck off, although there were times when I wanted to tell him where to go and how to get there.”
I smirk, but don’t say anything.
“That money was for you, though. For school, for a house, or whatever you wanted to do with your life.” Her voice softens now.
“I should’ve told you the truth about your father a long time ago.
I thought I was protecting you. I didn’t want you carrying around the pain of knowing the truth.
I thought I was saving you the heartache.
But I can see now that hiding it didn’t help either. ”
I nod even though she can’t see me.
“I’m sorry,” she says after a second.
I let the words settle between us.
“I thought you took it,” I admit quietly. “When he told me, I believed him.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line.
“I told myself it made sense… that maybe you just didn’t want to tell me. And I think part of me…” I swallow. “I think part of me blamed you for it. For everything feeling so hard all the time.”
My chest tightens.
“I feel like I resented the wrong person,” I add, my voice softer now. “And I didn’t even realize I was doing it.” Her breath catches softly through the phone. “Mom, I’m really sorry. I should’ve called you sooner too.”
“You don’t owe me an apology for that, sweetheart,” she says gently. “You were trying to make sense of something that didn’t make sense.”
Another quiet moment passes, then she clears her throat.
“The article mentioned something else.”
I already know where this is going, and a smile starts across my face without even trying.
“Is it true you’re dating one of his players?”
Right as she asks, the bedroom door opens. Cooper walks in holding two coffee cups.
He stops when he sees me holding the phone, and this time, I don’t hold back the smile at the sight of him.
“Yeah,” I say into the phone. “His name is Cooper.”
My mom lets out a small breath.
“Is it serious?”
Cooper crosses the room and sets one of the cups on the nightstand, his hand brushing my shoulder as he does.
“Yeah, it’s serious.” I glance up at him. “I think you’d really like him.”
“Well,” my mom says, “I think I would too—just from the way your voice changes when you talk about him. He must make you happy.”
“He does.”
We talk for a few more minutes before ending the call, promising to stay in touch. A second later, my phone buzzes with a message. She’s sent over the account details, including the login information she set up for it.
When I drop the phone onto the bed, Cooper is already watching me.
“That looked like it went okay,” he says, softer. “You seem better. And from what I caught, it sounded like it went well.”
“It did,” I admit. “Better than I expected.”
I lean forward and kiss him. He hums against my mouth, his hand coming up to cup my cheek.
“Thanks for the coffee,” I whisper when I pull away. “And for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”
He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me onto his lap.
“Not as beautiful as you, especially when you’re wearing my clothes.” He wags his brows.
My phone buzzes on the bed beside us. I glance down at the screen to see a text come through from Atlee.
Atlee: Lunch today? Or are you and my brother too busy being in love?
I laugh under my breath.
“What?” Cooper asks.
I turn the phone around to show him.
“Your sister.”
He groans. “Already? It’s not even ten.”
I shrug. “She wants to grab lunch.”
He shakes his head, taking another drink of his coffee. “Well, good luck with that. You can count me out.”
I tell him about the call with my mom while we finish our coffee. About how she never touched the money, and about the account she opened for me. He listens intently, nodding every now and then like he’s letting me work through it as I say it all out loud.
He sits on the bathroom counter while I do my hair and makes comments about how I shouldn’t bother with makeup as I put on some light foundation and mascara.
By the time we’re both dressed, it feels like something has settled between us, but rather all the jagged pieces are finally falling into place.
I swing by my place to change into a different set of clothes before I head to meet Atlee, promising Cooper I’ll text him afterward to meet me back there. We decided I’ll be staying at the hockey house with him for now.
My lease isn’t up until the spring. At least I know I have some money in savings now that I can put toward rent until the end of the semester.
Atlee glances up when I slide into the seat across from her. The smile on her face is one that says she knows something I don’t.
“What?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on her.
“Oh, nothing.” She drags it out. “Just wondering how long you were gonna make him suffer.”
“Excuse me?” I laugh.
She smirks. “You didn’t think I wasn’t harassing my brother the second you moved out, did you?”
I blink at her.
“He told me you two finally got your act together,” she continues. “And made it official.”
I cross my arms, trying not to smile. “Oh, so I have you to thank for that?”
She lifts her glass in a lazy little toast. “You’re welcome.”
We order and make small talk for a few minutes. I can feel her watching me, though, like she’s waiting for the right moment to say something.
“Hey,” she says after a second. “You doing okay? Since that article about you being Coach’s daughter went out?”
I shrug. “I’m fine.”
She studies me for a beat, like she’s deciding whether to push it, then lets it go.
“Okay,” she says. “Good.”
A few more minutes pass before she leans back in her chair again.
“Alright,” she says. “But seriously.”
“What?”
“I’ve never seen him like this.”
“Like what?”
She tilts her head slightly.
“Gone,” she says. “He’s like a lovesick fool. It’s honestly kind of gross.” She smirks.
I shake my head.
“I’m serious,” she continues. “He’s always been kind of intense. With hockey, protecting people, all of that. But this?” She gestures back and forth between us. “This is different. He’s different with you. In a good way.”
I glance down at my napkin.
“He talks about you all the time,” she adds. “He told me he was falling for you,” she says, quieter now. She’s practically beaming.
My chest warms, and I meet her eyes. “I love him too.”
She watches my face for a second, like she’s checking for hesitation, before a grin breaks out across her lips.
“Good,” she says. “Because I don’t think he’d survive pretending he doesn’t.”
I laugh under my breath.
For the longest time, everything in my life felt temporary. Like I was passing through but never actually found where I belonged.
Atlee reaches across the table and squeezes my hand.
“Anyway,” she says lightly. “Welcome to the chaos that is the Rowdys.” She laughs, but it’s cut off when her phone vibrates on the table.
She glances down and is distracted at first. Her whole expression changes.
“Oh shit.”
“What?” I ask, already reaching for my water.
“There’s a news article that just dropped,” she says, eyes scanning her screen. “Cooper’s coach… um, I mean, your father,” Atlee corrects herself. “It says he just… quit?”
My stomach bottoms out.
“Are you serious?”
She turns her phone toward me, showing me an ESPN article. “It’s all over the news. Pull it up.”