Love on the Line (Beaumont Legacy #2)

38. Cooper

Chapter thirty-eight

Cooper

P ractice ran later than Cooper would’ve liked, so he ran home to grab a sweatshirt and met Colton and Lucia at the beach as the sun set. When he found their secluded little area, a tray of cheese and crackers between them, Cooper set out his blanket and sat, taking in the lights of the city coming off the water.

“Hi, Coop.” Lucia smiled sleepily.

“Hey, Luc. Am I that late? I assumed y’all ran home after practice too.”

“Nah, Lucia’s just been extra sleepy recently,” Colton assured him, looking her over with a worried expression.

Small waves crashed against the rocks that kept this section of the beach off most people’s radar, the sound calming after a very hectic day. They’d had a lift, watched film, then done field work and more film. Cooper was still getting back into shape after the few months of offseason, and his body ached everywhere.

Or maybe he was just getting old. Being a professional athlete was one of the few careers where being twenty-eight meant you were ancient.

“How’s Maya?” Lucia wondered. “She hasn’t called yet this week. She must be busy.”

Cooper nodded. “She’s working on a potential expansion of the charity into more areas in Los Angeles.”

“Is she thinking about expanding anywhere else? Say, across the country into Charleston?” she asked, not so subtly.

“Nosy.” Colton nudged her.

“What! I’m just wondering how things are going with you guys.”

Cooper’s lips twisted as that piece of him that had been going through the motions of his life surfaced for air.

He missed her. There was no other way to say it. Cooper hadn’t seen her since her birthday two weeks ago, and it sucked. They still texted every day as their schedules allowed, even if just to check in, and they tried to call before bed, but he couldn’t help but feel there was just a sliver of separation that hadn’t been there before.

“Wait, are you guys okay?” Lucia sat up, eyes wide. “That was an awfully long silence.”

“Nosy,” Colton hissed again. Still, he leaned in a hair, like he too wanted to know what was going on .

“I miss her. Doing distance is fucking awful. And…”

“And what?” Colton asked quickly.

“Now who’s nosy?” Lucia grumbled.

“I asked her to move in with me for the season—or at least to move to Charleston—so we could be closer once things pick up since I can’t really get away much.”

When he looked over at his friends, he could see he had their undivided attention.

“She said she couldn’t. And I get that, because she has On the Line to run and your grandparents and cousins she’s just found again and Viola and all the kids. I just don’t really know how we’re going to bridge this distance ever. Colt, you and I talked about my offer from LA, and I volunteered to move there, but she shut that down because she doesn’t want me to give up being so close to you guys and the team and my family. But if neither of us can be uprooted, where does that leave us?”

Cooper heard the anguish in his own voice, and when he caught the couple looking between each other, he knew they’d heard it too.

“You love her,” Lucia stated quietly.

“Of course I do,” Cooper said without hesitation. The words slammed into Cooper’s chest like a hammer, and he let out a sharp exhale. He hadn’t voiced it before, but now that he had, it was like he’d been struggling for air without even knowing it, and now he could breathe again.

“Have you told her? ”

Cooper shook his head. “We don’t get to see each other much. So often when I want to say it, I’m about to leave and not see her again for at least a week. I don’t want to leave it on that note, and I don’t want to say it to her over the phone. Plus, I’m…” He sighed. “I’m scared. Because if we don’t work, I don’t see myself with anybody else. I wouldn’t even want to be with anyone else. I want this to work so badly, but more and more, I’m not sure how I see that happening if she can’t leave Los Angeles and I can’t leave here.”

“Well, I don’t know that you necessarily have to listen to her whole ‘you can’t leave here’ thing. If that’s what you want, then you guys should have that conversation.”

Colton shook his head. “Maya is very serious about that, I’m sure. If there’s one thing I know about my sister, it’s that she has constantly been made to feel like she has to do things on her own. After Mom died, she needed someone, and Landon and I didn’t do a good job of being there for her. I tried my best, but she needed a parental figure, and my dad made it clear from the beginning that he didn’t give two shits about her. She’d never forgive herself if you left everyone you know here to be with her there.”

Cooper had had a hard time piecing it all together when they’d talked about it on her birthday. She’d seemed resistant to move because she hadn’t paid back the starting costs, which hadn’t made sense to Cooper in the moment. But now, after Colton’s words, it all became a little clearer. Was she worried about being a burden if she moved in with him? And if so, how could he change that?

“So that still leaves the question—how do we get to the point where we can live together, or at the very least in the same place, sometime in the near future? I don’t know anybody who’s done long distance for their entire relationship.”

Lucia leaned into Colton almost subconsciously, and Cooper had to turn toward the water to stop the grip around his heart from squeezing too tightly.

She spoke softly. “Maybe you can find a way to split your time between the two places. She could expand On the Line to here, and since it would be local, I’m sure we could all find a way for the Sabertooths to help fund the new location. You could do seasons here and then during the offseason, you guys could be in Los Angeles with her family and friends. And she can always visit LA whenever she wants during the season.”

Cooper’s shoulders slumped. He knew Lucia was trying to help, but she’d basically come up with exactly what he had, and Maya had already nixed the idea, which put him right back at square one.

The waves continued to break against the rocky shore as the three sat in companionable silence, broken only by quiet small talk and Lucia’s request that they keep eating the cheese and crackers so she stopped eating them. Cooper kept thinking through his options, though they seemed bleaker and bleaker the more he considered them .

Almost an hour later, Lucia was stretching and pushing to a stand.

“Okay, I know this peaceful beach enjoyment situation was my idea, but I’m tired as hell so I’m ready to head out. We should do it more often though—it’s nice at night.”

Colton began picking up their things, sending an apologetic look to Cooper. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And I’m sorry we couldn’t be more helpful. She might be my sister, but women in general are enigmas to me.”

Lucia scoffed, setting a reassuring hand on Cooper’s shoulder. “Colton, that is entirely by choice. But I am also sorry, and I really do hope you guys get it figured out soon. I’ve been rooting for you two since the Thanksgiving before Colton and I were even together, and I know Jenna and some of the other girls agree.”

“Thank you.” Cooper stood and followed them toward where they’d all parked. With one last wave, he got into his car and dropped his head onto the wheel.

He wondered if he should call his mother. Or maybe his sisters. He’d never really gone to them for advice, especially not with women, but he was desperate for help. Plus, since the last time he was in Tennessee, his relationship with his mother had improved greatly. She’d stopped texting him about his duty or sending him the news articles about himself that he’d been sidestepping like the plague. His father too, though he seemed to just be ignoring him.

Cooper debated it as he pulled out onto the highway .

Maya had trouble taking up space in other people’s lives. So what did he have to do to convince her he wanted her to take up space in his life?

He needed to show up. Keep proving to her in his words and his actions that he was here for the long run and that he wanted her, needed her, in his life.

Cooper would tell her every day how much he cared for her, with his words and his actions. The next time he saw her, no matter how long they had to talk, he was going to tell her how he fully felt.

Colt and Lucia were right. He loved her, and if she didn’t even know that, how could she know he didn’t see all of this as some kind of obligation? He had years worth of trauma—created by others who made her feel that way—to undo, and the least he could do was tell her his feelings.

Maya had made him feel seen in a way no one else ever had. Rather than ignore his past or see him as a trophy or someone to use for financial gain, she saw it all, knew every piece of him and showed him how much she cared about him. All of him.

To the point that he’d stopped getting the urge to check the news about himself when he was with her, because she made him see how much what others saw didn’t matter.

Cooper continued down the highway, almost on autopilot. When Maya’s name flashed across the screen of his car’s dashboard, his heartbeat picked up.

It was earlier than she usually called, just past dinnertime for her .

He answered the call immediately, hearing blood rushing in his ears.

“Sweetheart, are you alright?”

In the shakiest voice he’d ever heard from her, she whispered, “Somebody’s in the house.”

All at once, his heart stopped.