Page 40 of You Can Make Me

“Outside. I’ll holler when you can come in.” I kept my voice calm, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to find on the other side of the door.

Frank put his arm around Deb and Sam took her hand to lead her outside. When the door shut behind them, I sucked in a breath.

“Cooper, I need you to open this door or I’m going to remove it,” I said, my voice steady. I pressed my ear against it and heard him breathing heavy.“Please, baby. I need to see you.”

A moment later, the lock clicked, and I was able to open the door.

Cooper stood at the small sink looking in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips were red and puffy from crying. There was a hole in the wall, and he was running cold water over his right knuckles, which were bleeding.

I grabbed a towel and reached around him to turn off the water. I gently wrapped his hand, and met his gaze in the mirror.

“Come on out. Let’s see if anything’s broken.”

“Don’t look at me.”

“Come on, Cooper.” I guided him out of the tiny bathroom and back to the bench seat. He kept his head down as he sat, and I lay his hand on the table and opened the towel.

“Can you move your fingers? Make a fist?”

He did so and blew out a breath. The cuts weren’t too deep. I opened the tiny freezer and found an ice pack inside.

“Here, let’s get this on your knuckles.”

He let me manipulate his hand but refused to look at me. He was sniffling, so I handed him a tissue.

“I didn’t think… I’m sorry. I should have asked them to cover the mirror before we came in.”

“No,” he said, his voice sounding resigned. “I can’t hide forever. It was so nice seeing everyone, I let myself forget what they were looking at.”

I knelt beside him. “They were seeing their son and best friend, who they love very much.” I kept my voice gentle, afraid to send him on a tirade. I’d learned quickly after we came out here that raising my voice only made things worse.He did not respond well to drill sergeant mode.

He was quiet for a moment, and then he lifted his gaze to mine, pegging me with the most heart-wrenching expression I’d ever seen.

“I’m never going to have my life back. I’m hideous. I can’t show my face on television, my career is over! You should have let me?—”

My hand tightened on his good one, and I cut him off. “Don’t. Don’t finish that sentence.”

“But Dennis, you don’t understand?—”

“That you work in an industry with a bunch of shallow, catty people? Yeah, I do understand. People are going to talk, but so fucking what? You are now, and havealwaysbeen, better than that, Cooper Harris. To hell with anyone who makes themselvesfeel superior about their shitty lives by commenting on your scars. Fuck themandtheir pathetic selves. If they talk, then they don’t deserve to breathe the same air as you.”

His eyes went wide, and he let out a shaky breath. “Den?—”

“No, and let me tell you something. There are a lot of people who look up to you, who trusted you enough to share their own traumas with you. You’ve always treated them respectfully and told their stories with dignity and integrity. You are more than your face, Cooper. And it’s time you accept that. Youdoneed to get back to work, so you’re reminded how important you are and why you’re fucking sitting here right now.”

He studied me for a moment, then touched the scar on his lip.

“What happened? That night. How did you find me?”

I blinked once and let out a long breath. I sat on the floor with my back against the oven door. “You really want me to tell you?”

“I think I have to know.”

Ten

Cooper

My hand was throbbing from my juvenile tantrum, but it was my heart that hurt the worst, seeing the pain in Denny’s expression.