Rebels and Roses (Winslow Heights #2)

Chapter 4

4

J ane wasn’t sure what she expected the next time she saw Cooper. But she hadn’t expected him to walk into the bookstore with a nice-looking younger man with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. He was about the same height as Cooper but slighter in build. He had a boyish smile that he immediately used on Jane the minute he saw her. Clearly, he was the type who loved to flirt. She’d seen his type many times.

With a roll of his eyes, Cooper guided the unknown man to a table in the coffeeshop portion of the store, silently mouthing the word “later” as an explanation. Jane didn’t have a clue as to what was going on, but he hadn’t brought in his ex-wife Fiona for a latte and a slice of pie.

At least I was spared that.

“Who’s that with Cooper?” Lucy asked, a stack of books in her arms. She’d been in the back unpacking new merchandise.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him before.”

Lucy shrugged and went back to shelving books on an endcap display for a new thriller writer. Jane manned the register but was keeping one eye on the men who were now drinking coffee and eating from a plate of macaroons - courtesy of Piper this morning. She’d also brought a lemon loaf and some cinnamon rolls. One of the latter Jane had eaten for breakfast after she’d arrived.

After the first morning rush of customers, Jane’s practice was to go into the office area and work on the books for an hour or two. Lucy was glad not to have to do it herself, and she liked being with the customers more than she liked spreadsheets.

Jane, on the other hand, adored spreadsheets and pivot tables. That was one of the big reasons she’d gone into accounting and finance. Numbers were her friend. They always made sense even when her life didn’t.

“I brought you another coffee.”

Jane looked up from the computer to see Cooper standing in the doorway, holding a steaming mug. She couldn’t help thinking that he made a handsome as hell barista.

“Did Lucy see you come back here?”

“I made up a story about needing to talk to you about bookkeeping services for the theater. Which isn’t made up, to be honest. Zack and I were talking about it the other day, and we both want to hire you for that. We sure as hell don’t want to do it.”

Cooper entered the backroom, closing the door behind him before sitting down on another office chair next to hers. He held out the mug, and she accepted it gratefully. She’d brought a healthy glass of water with her, but she really needed the caffeine.

I’ll drink the water right after this cup.

“It wasn’t Fiona who sent me that text. It was her brother Tom.”

“Oh. But then why did you think it was her?”

“Because the idiot stole his sister’s phone. He didn’t think I’d answer a message from him.”

“Was he right?”

Cooper chuckled, a smile playing on his well-shaped lips.

“Probably.”

“So, he stole her phone, sent you a text, and you went to meet him last night. I assume that’s who you came in the store with?”

“It is. I let him sleep on my couch. He snores.”

“So do you.”

Not that she’d ever spent an entire night with him. She hadn’t, of course. But they’d napped, and Cooper was definitely a snorer.

“Not like this. He needs to see a doctor.”

Jane didn’t reply, waiting for Cooper to continue telling his story. But he didn’t say anything else.

This was so like him. She had to pull information out of him bit by bit on a regular basis. She was sure that he acted this way because he liked being difficult and ornery.

“What did Tom want?”

Clearly, you want to tell me. So…just tell me.

“Now that’s the strange part of this. He says he’s being watched and followed.”

“Why would he come to you for this? Shouldn’t he talk to the police?”

Cooper was a man who could get things done, but he wasn’t a cop or a detective. He just wrote about them.

“He has, and apparently, they haven’t taken him all that seriously. He doesn’t really have any evidence, just a feeling that he can’t shake. As for why he messaged me? He remembered that Fiona said that I’m friends with cops and detectives. He thought I could help him. He said he didn’t know where to turn. And yes, I’m as surprised he did as everyone else.”

“A feeling?” Jane echoed. “He has a feeling that he’s being followed?”

“He said his apartment was broken into. He thinks that’s proof, I guess.”

“You don’t seem to be taking his claims all that seriously.”

“He’s not making it easy for me,” Cooper replied defensively. “If he had a shred of proof… But he doesn’t. Just hunches and gut feelings. I can’t go to any of my contacts in law enforcement and tell them that my ex-brother-in-law thinks he’s being followed but can’t point to anything concrete. They’d tell me that he needs psychiatric intervention.”

“Does he?”

“No, he’s not crazy. At least, I don’t think he is. I’m not a mental health professional, though.”

“Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you,” Jane joked. “Maybe he’s right. Maybe someone is following him.”

“He might be.”

Cooper outlined how Tom was cheating on his girlfriend and soon-to-be fiancée Erica.

What a lowdown, dirty dog. Erica shouldn’t bother watching him. She should just throw the whole man away.

“In other words, he’s paranoid, and he should be.”

“Yes, and I’ve basically said that to him. Finn, too. He swears that Erica doesn’t know, but this morning he seems more open to the idea. To be honest, I’m not sure he gets it. His first question when we arrived was if there was coffee here. His second was about you.”

“At least he has his priorities in order,” Jane snorted. “What did he say about me?”

“He said you were extremely sexy, and he asked if you have a boyfriend.”

“What did you say?”

“I said that you were out of his league, which is the truth.”

Cooper’s simple statement had Jane laughing out loud. She’d never thought of herself as all that good-looking, although she knew she wasn’t ugly either. She was fine. Just okay.

Sometimes, when she and Cooper were together, and he was looking at her with his molten hot gaze…she did feel sexy and beautiful.

“I think he’s still going to try and flirt with you,” Cooper warned. “You don’t need to feel like you need to let him down easy. Let him have it with your usual no-nonsense charm.”

“I don’t coddle cheaters,” she shot back. “And that’s what he is.”

“That’s what I like about you. You don’t suffer fools.”

“Neither do you. You’re just more subtle about it.”

“Years of living in the Winslow household. Passive-aggressive was the name of the game. Speaking of my family, the private investigator that we hired is on the way here.”

Jane’s stomach tightened, as it did every time he mentioned his mother’s disappearance. Despite not living in this town her whole life, she’d have to have been blind not to see the toll it had taken on Cooper and his siblings. They were in a world of hurt not knowing what had happened to Lily Winslow.

All they wanted was the truth. Something that seemed in short supply in the Winslow household.

Courtesy of Joel Winslow. Try as she might, she simply hadn’t been able to find any redeeming qualities in the man. But surely, there was one? Did he like puppies and kittens?

“I’m glad. I hope they can find something for you.”

She didn’t want to raise his hopes too far. After all these years, it would be a miracle if they found anything. Perhaps Lily Winslow’s mystery was destined to never be solved.

“Maybe we’ll finally get some real answers,” Cooper replied, his lips a hard line, his gaze flinty cold.

He only looked that way when he was thinking about his father.

“Zack’s going out of town for a few days.”

Cooper’s abrupt change of subject had her playing his words over in her head before she understood his meaning.

The coast would be clear. Zack wouldn’t be hanging around the theater they were renovating. She could come and go without worry. Except for one thing…

“What about your brother-in-law?”

“Ex-brother-in-law. I’ve given him some help. I’m not sure why he would hang around. Small towns with no nightlife aren’t his cup of tea.”

“You sound very sure.”

“The Kemp family doesn’t do boring and quaint.”

His sentiment only made Jane’s thoughts go back to the ex-wife. It was a good thing it hadn’t been Fiona, of course. Cooper clearly hadn’t been happy to hear from his ex-spouse last night.

But Jane still couldn’t help but be curious. Just what did Fiona Kemp have that had somehow persuaded the biggest hound dog to become a one-woman man and commit to marriage?

She must be one amazing woman.

“I’m sending Tom back to the apartment to get out of my hair, and then heading to Tate’s for lunch with Lucy and Zack. Did you want to go?”

Cooper’s question dragged her back to the present. It was just as well since thinking about his ex probably wasn’t the most productive use of her time. It didn’t matter anyway. Fiona was long gone, according to him, living halfway around the world.

“I’ll have to check with Lucy. It’s hard for both of us to be out of the store at the same time.”

“Katie’s here.”

Katie was a part-time employee who also attended the university. She did fine on her own as long as none of the customers became upset. If someone yelled at her, she’d tell them to go fuck themselves.

It wasn’t the sentiment that Jane disagreed with…she’d wanted to do the same on multiple occasions. Working in customer service, however, requires a person to keep their temper even when they wanted to let it fly. Katie was aware she had a short fuse and was actively working on it, but they still didn’t like to leave her in the store by herself too often.

“I’ll talk to Lucy. In the meantime, you might want to get back out there with your brother-in-law. You don’t want him trying to steal Lucy from your big brother.”

Cooper grimaced but reluctantly levered from his chair.

“I need to get that kid on the next flight out of town.”

Jane didn’t know why, but she had a feeling that getting Tom to leave wasn’t going to be as simple as dropping him off at the Departures doors of the nearest airport. He’d come to Cooper for help. If he thought someone was following him, he had to be scared.

In her experience, frightened and paranoid people didn’t want to be alone. Tom Kemp might be hanging around far longer than Cooper thought he would be.

Getting both Lucy and Jane out the door of the bookstore at the same time took a bit of finagling, but with Zack’s help Cooper had been able to make it happen. To be fair, the part-time employee Katie looked jubilant to be put in charge, if only for an hour or so. Almost like when a teenager’s parents go out for the evening, and they get the house for themselves for a change.

Tom had agreeably headed back to the apartment, claiming he needed to call Erica, or she might worry. Cooper told him that he’d bring him some lunch from the tavern. Tom had asked for one of those gigantic cheeseburgers he’d heard about from Katie. He’d been flirting with the young woman while Cooper had talked with Jane in the back room.

Even though he’d said that he needed to phone his fiancée, he’d still been sitting in the coffee shop of the bookstore when they’d left.

“We can’t stay long,” Lucy said as they sat down at a large booth in the corner of Tate’s. “I don’t want to leave Katie on her own for too long.”

“Tom was keeping her company,” Jane replied. “I don’t think she’ll get lonely.”

“I need to talk to him,” Cooper ground out. “I think he does things without thinking it through, and then he panics when the consequences come knocking.”

“You just described a good chunk of the human population,” Zack laughed. “I could tell you some stories from my former workplace. And these were guys that were in charge of hundreds of millions of dollars. They were great at their jobs, but they didn’t have a drop of common sense. Not a bit.”

“What’s the story on Tom?” Tate asked, joining them at the table. “I don’t know what your relationship with him is like, but it’s a bit strange that he came to you for help. Doesn’t he have family or friends? Not that you’re not a great guy. You are. But…I’m not sure what he thinks you can do for him. Be his bodyguard?”

“No offense taken,” Cooper declared. “I agree with you, actually. I’m not sure what drove him to seek me out. Maybe I was more of a big brother figure to him when Fiona and I were married than I realized. He always seemed interested in my friends and the places I visited. Maybe I seem worldly or wise to him. Or maybe his friends have grown tired of him talking about being followed.”

“Wise?” Zack mocked, his smile wide. “Cooper Winslow…wise man. Um, it doesn’t have much of a ring to it.”

“The first step to being wise is knowing that you don’t know it all,” Cooper shot back with a grin. “And I do know that. Tom was really just a kid when Fiona and I were married. I guess he looked up to me, heaven help him.”

“What are you going to do about him?”

“I already did it. I took him for a chat with Finn.”

“And now what?” Lucy asked.

“He goes home,” Cooper replied. “He agrees that he can’t stay here, although he’s dragging his feet on booking a ticket home. There’s nothing more I can do for him unless it’s to step between him and a bullet. I like him and all, but that’s asking for a bit much since he and I aren’t even related anymore.”

“I hope no one tries to shoot him,” Jane said. “Do you believe that someone is truly following him?”

“I believe that he believes it.”

The subject of this conversation needed to be changed. He was already pissed off that Tom had come crashing back into his life without so much as a head’s up. The younger man had simply shown up here, assuming that Cooper would drop everything to help.

Sadly, he wasn’t shocked. The Kemp children had always thought they were the center of the universe. Other people’s needs weren’t high on their priority list.

Face it, you don’t like dwelling on the past.

Cooper had always been a live-in-the-present kind of guy. Not looking back and not looking too far forward.

Except when it came to his mother’s disappearance.

“Are you flying out this afternoon?” Cooper asked Zack. “Do you need a ride to the airport?”

“I was going to take him,” Lucy said.

“You have to work,” Zack objected. “I can’t take you away from the bookstore for that long.”

“It’s okay. It’s fine.” Lucy nudged Jane with her elbow. “Tell him it’s fine.”

“It’s fine.”

Jane repeated the words so robotically that everyone had to chuckle at her deadpan delivery. Cooper knew good and well that Jane could handle the store on her own without breaking a sweat. The woman was amazing.

“I can take an Uber,” Zack said with a roll of his eyes. “No one has to drive me. I’m a grown man, and I can get on an airplane all by myself.”

“I have the afternoon free,” Cooper replied. “Besides, I can drop Tom off at the same time. Two birds, one airport. Or something like that. Anyway, I can do it. It’s no trouble.”

“Fine,” Zack capitulated. “I’m saying yes, because if I don’t, you’ll drive me up a wall.”

“I guess I’m just chopped liver,” Lucy sniffed, pretending to be insulted but a smile played on her lips. “I’ll have to stay at work.”

The way Zack and Lucy looked at one another - their gooey love-soaked expressions - made Cooper want to gag out loud if only to give them a hard time. He was happy for his brother. They made a great couple. But he was also kicking himself now that he realized that Lucy had wanted to say a proper goodbye to Zack. New couples always wanted to kiss at the airport. He didn’t know why, but he’d seen it a dozen times with friends. Was there something primal about seeing off a loved one when they were taking a long trip that required an airplane?

Cooper had simply wanted to discuss the entire reason that Zack was even going on this business trip. He was meeting with an old friend from college who had opened a successful art movie theater on the East Coast. They wanted to get some tips and insight.

Lunch ended, and Cooper and Zack hung back near the table while Jane and Lucy visited the ladies’ room. Tate was already back behind the bar, flipping through a newly delivered stack of mail.

“Keep an eye on Lucy for me, okay?” Zack asked. “I know she’ll be fine, and I’m only going to be gone a day or two, but I worry. I know it’s silly, but I do.”

“Of course, I will. And it’s not silly at all.”

Cooper’s gaze landed on Jane as she and Lucy were coming back to join them. She looked gorgeous today as usual. Dressed casually in khaki pants and a white cotton blouse with her long, lush hair loose around her shoulders, she didn’t look like any accountant he’d ever met. Years ago, he’d hired some guy to handle the taxes and bookkeeping for S.S. Cooper, and not once had he studied the dude’s lips or the curve of his neck.

This was becoming a bad habit. He was staring at her far too often, letting his gaze linger far too long. At this rate, someone was sure to notice.

“Cooper, are you listening to me at all?”

No, I’m not. I’m lusting after a beautiful woman.

“I have a lot on my mind.”

It wasn’t a lie.

“You could ask her out. She might say yes.”

This. This is what he’d been afraid of. It was becoming too obvious.

What’s too obvious? Your feelings? You don’t have any, remember?

“It’s not like that.”

“Jane is an amazing woman. You could do worse, and she could do better.”

“Thanks, a lot,” Cooper groused. “But as I said…it’s not like that.”

“You’re just friends then?”

If friends like to do naked, sweaty things to one another then yes.

“Are you worried I’ll end up alone, hanging around your house with Lucy, scrounging dinner and sitting on your couch drinking beer and watching the game?”

“No, but I’ll admit that I’m trying to figure out your relationship with Jane. Sometimes, you two seem like you like each other, and other times you act like there’s nothing but disdain. Which is it?”

“Can’t it be both? Some things aren’t simple and straightforward.”

“I can see that I just need to drop the subject,” Zack said with a grin. “Now are you ready to take me to the airport? I just need to grab my bags at Lucy’s place.”

“And Tom. We need to get him, too.”

It was time for Tom - and the past that he represented - to go home. There wasn’t much that Cooper could do for him, and clearly, Tom needed to have some sort of honest discussion with Erica. The guy needed to get his life together and stop womanizing. Or if he wanted to play the field, he needed to be honest with the women involved. No playing games.

The sooner Tom returned to Denver, the sooner Cooper could go back to his own carefree and uncomplicated existence.

For some reason, that didn’t sound nearly as good as he’d assumed it would.