Page 52

Cooper was holding that woman’s hands when I drove by. I went slowly and blinked a few times as if it would clear the image out of my vision, but it didn’t go away. It didn’t change. He was holding her hands, and they were talking, and I idled for a beat as I debated whether to step in and blow that up as I claimed Cooper as mine or if I should just stay out of it.

Tears burned behind my eyes as I opted to stay out of it.

I can’t claim Cooper as mine because he isn’t mine to claim.

I peeled off to meet my dad rather than stopping home first for a quick change of clothes before dinner like I’d planned.

Once I was off my dad’s street, I pulled off to the side of the road and cried.

I get it. I’m throwing another man in his face, making him think Justin and I are a thing, and he’s taking that as his signal to move on.

But I don’t want him to move on. I want him to be with me.

He didn’t throw this woman in my face. Instead, he’s meeting her when he thinks I won’t be around. I ducked out of the office a little early to stop home, and I caught them when I wasn’t meant to.

My chest feels heavy as I drive toward the restaurant, but what can I do?

He’s made it clear we can’t be together. How do I keep fighting for him and playing these games when I’m just going to lose? It takes two people to want a relationship, and I’m flying solo here. I can’t force him to be with me.

I arrive a little early, and I don’t see my dad’s car just yet.

I take the opportunity to finally run a search on Cooper Noah.

And sure enough, a few pictures in, I spot her. The woman he was talking to just now was his ex.

Did he invite her here to get back together with her? He said he never would, but he also made me feel like he’d never break my heart, so clearly he’s a man who changes his tune on a whim.

I nearly drop my phone when I hear a knock at the window, and I spot my dad standing on the other side.

I cut the engine and open the door, praying he didn’t see what I was just looking at. “You scared me!” I say, clutching my heart not because of the fear but because it hurts from seeing Cooper with another woman.

He chuckles a little. “Sorry. That wasn’t my intent.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders and squeezes me in a side hug, and we walk together into the restaurant.

It’s not crowded yet at this early hour, but my dad is a busy man, and if an early dinner is when I can have his undivided attention, then so be it.

We’re seated, and he orders a tumbler of gin. I make a face as I order a glass of wine, and he chuckles.

We glance through the menu and place our orders before he cuts to the chase. “What’s been going on with you, Gabriella?” he asks by way of starting the conversation.

As I’d rather not discuss my current heartbreak with his star player, I throw the question back to him. “Not much. How about you, Father?”

He chuckles. “Just running businesses and assembling an all-star baseball team.”

Running businesses.

Does he mean that sex club?

Is now the time to ask? Or does that fall under the category of things we don’t want to know about our parents ?

“And spending time with your girlfriend?” I ask.

His lips thin into a flat line. “Not my best kept secret, is it?”

I laugh as I shake my head, and then I reach over and squeeze his forearm. “I’m happy for you, Dad. I want you to be happy. I want you to find love, and if it’s Joanie, then that’s great. I love her, and I love her for you. But I’m finding myself growing closer to her because of this job, and I don’t want to get caught in the middle if it isn’t what I think it is. Do you know what I mean?”

He nods and blinks, his eyes moving down to the table. “It’s going to last.” His eyes move back to mine. “We have an unusual relationship, but one thing is for certain. It will last. We’re not ready to take it public in large part because of our work situation, but there are other factors at play.”

“What are they?” I press.

He glances around. “I’d rather not discuss them here.”

I can’t help but wonder if it has to do with the club Cooper insinuated he owns. I don’t know how to research that since it seems like the kind of place that would be off the grid, and I also don’t really want to ask him about it.

I let him leave it at that.

“So this thing between you and Joanie…it’s pretty serious?” I ask.

He nods. “We’ve been together almost a year, and I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s a hard worker, the kind that goes above and beyond for her job, and so she gets that I need to be that way, too. We just have an understanding between us that I’ve never found with another woman.”

“Are you going to marry her?”

He presses his lips together again. “I plan to someday,” he answers honestly. “But it’s complicated.”

“All relationships are,” I murmur.

“Ain’t that the damn truth?”

I laugh, and we clink our glasses together in a toast of understanding.

While I feel like I got some answers about my dad’s love life, I’m left with even more questions after his vague responses. At least he confirmed they’re together, and he loves her, and it’s long-term. Beyond that, I’m not sure if it’s necessary for me to know more.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not as curious as a cat to find out the answers.

He clears his throat. “What’s complicated about yours?”

My cheeks flush, and he smirks.

“You think you can get away with asking about me and not get the same sort of grilling?”

I wrinkle my nose. “I was kind of hoping I could.”

He shakes his head. “No such luck, my girl. Is it Justin?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “What if it was? How would you feel about me dating someone I’m working with?” It’s my way of fishing for whether he’d be okay with a Gabriella-Cooper connection…because if he is okay with it and green lights it, then maybe we actually could be together. Maybe we wouldn’t have to lie about it the way Cooper seems convinced we would.

He lifts a shoulder. “It’d be a little hypocritical of me to say you couldn’t when I just admitted I’m doing that very thing, don’t you think?”

“Good point. But we’re both interns. What if I wanted to date a player?”

His eyes dart to mine, and there’s a little something close to anger there. “Terrible idea. Ballplayers are assholes, and they’re gone eight months out of the year. You deserve better.”

My face must fall because he adds more.

“Why? You got a crush on Danny Brewer or something?”

I grunt out a laugh. Not exactly.

“What if I did?” I tinker with the stem on my wineglass.

He shakes his head as he palms his tumbler of gin. “That would be a hard no. I’ve seen the way Brewer gets around. Besides, he’s way too old for you.”

“How old is he?” It’s a test that has way more to do with Cooper than with Danny Brewer.

“Twenty-six.”

Noted. Twenty-six is way too old for me.

I wonder how he’d feel about almost thirty-three.

Which reminds me…Cooper’s birthday is tomorrow. And that’s when it hits me.

That’s why his ex is here. She’s giving him a birthday treat—the kind I was planning to give him for his birthday.

“You look positively despondent I said no to Brewer.”

I obviously can’t say it has nothing to do with Danny Brewer and everything to do with whatever Cooper is doing with his ex, so I just shrug.

This entire conversation gave me plenty of insight about how my father really feels about me potentially dating one of his players. It’s a hard no from him, which means maybe Cooper was right all along.

With the combination of this conversation with my dad and what I saw in front of the house earlier, what little hope I was holding onto that somehow we’d fix this evaporates. The hope we’d figure it out and make it right and end up together is blown to bits all in a matter of a half hour.

I don’t really know where to go after dinner, but I know I can’t go back home. Not with this new realization. Not with knowing he’s in the room right beside me…maybe with another woman.

It’s too much to bear.

I get in the truck and call Mia.

“What’s up girl?” she answers, and I very nearly burst into tears but somehow manage to hold them off.

“Can we have a girls’ night?” I beg.

“I’m getting ready for a night out with Dylan,” she says. “I’m so sorry. Tomorrow night?”

And that’s when very nearly turns into the ugly cries I’ve managed to keep at bay all night.

“Oh shit,” she murmurs. “Come over right now.”

I heave in a few deep breaths before I make my way over to Mia’s apartment.

She pulls me into a hug the minute I’m in her doorway, and I notice immediately that she’s definitely date night ready.

“Oh, God. I’m so sorry,” I say as I look her up and down. “You look gorgeous. I’ll just go. I’m okay.”

“Don’t be silly. Hoes before bros, right?” She slings an arm around my neck and forces me into her apartment.

I let out a soft giggle.

“What happened?”

“A variety of events crashed together in a way that forced me to realize it’s really over with Cooper. I was holding out hope this whole time that there was still a chance for us, and then I saw him with another woman. Right after that, I met my dad for dinner, and he made it clear he’d never be okay with me dating a baseball player, and add those two things together and it just feels like a shitty night.” I’m rambling, and she sets a hand on my arm.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “How can I make it better?”

“Alcohol?” I pad over to her couch and collapse. “I don’t really know. I don’t think I’ll ever feel better about losing the best thing that ever happened to me. We came so close, and we had a good run. My only option now is to move on, but I don’t know how to do that.”

“Alcohol,” she says.

“I might be able to help,” Dylan says, appearing as if from out of nowhere.

I glance over at him then cover my eyes in mortification. “I didn’t know you were here. Sorry for ruining your date night.”

“You didn’t. You just made it a double date instead.”

I move my hands from my eyes, which I narrow at Dylan. “What are you talking about?”

Mia laughs. “He invited Hansen over.”

I let out a sound that sort of resembles a strangled grunt. “Hansen? Are you serious? Is this because of the internship? Are you punishing me?”

Dylan chuckles. “No. It has nothing to do with that, but by the way, I’m a finalist for the final spot. Hanson has always had a thing for you.” His words are flippant, as if we all already knew this fact.

“He has not!” I practically screech.

“Oh yes, he has,” Mia says.

Dylan sits on the loveseat and Mia perches on his lap as if there’s nowhere else to sit in the room. Mia and Dylan met when she went to a party at his off-campus house. One of his roommates is Greg Hansen, and while he’s nice enough and decidedly cute, he’s not my type. For one thing, he’s a year younger than me, and I think I’ve established pretty clearly that I prefer older guys.

Aside from that, though…since age supposedly doesn’t matter to me, he’s super into gaming and wants to find a girl who will game with him twenty-four-seven.

That girl is not me.

“I’m happy to inform you he’s on his way over right now,” Dylan says with a little too much triumph in his tone.

“He’s gonna make me play Minecraft, isn’t he?”

Dylan laughs. “No, he’s not gonna do that. At least I told him not to.”

“I’m going to need some tequila for this,” I tell Mia.

She gets up and moves over toward the kitchen, returning a moment later with my wish granted.

Shortly thereafter, the rest of the night gets a little blurry.