Rebels and Roses (Winslow Heights #2)

Chapter 9

9

“ C an I ask what was going on last night?”

It was the next morning at the bookstore, Jane and Lucy were getting the store ready for opening. It was just the two of them, and Jane had felt the weight of her best friend’s gaze the entire time they were working.

“Last night? What do you mean?”

Jane would simply play dumb. She’d act like she didn’t have a clue as to what Lucy was referring to.

Sure, that will work.

Except that they were like sisters and could practically read each other’s mind. Lucy had been watching Jane and Cooper during dinner. No one else had a clue, but Lucy? She wasn’t dumb, and she was damn observant. She wasn’t going to be fobbed off easily.

“Last night,” Lucy repeated. “There was something in the air, something going on. I don’t suppose you want to tell me what it is? And no, I’m not talking about Fiona and Tom.”

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Lucy’s lips turned down, shaking her head. She didn’t look angry at all. Just sad and disappointed. Jane’s heart hurt simply looking at her friend.

“Okay, I’m not going to push. I’m here if you need to talk.”

Lucy turned and walked into the backroom, leaving Jane standing in the coffee shop area feeling like shit. She’d been keeping this huge secret. She wanted to tell someone. She needed to tell someone.

She and Lucy told each other everything. Until now.

This was big, too. This wasn’t some namby-pamby secret she was holding on to here. Lucy was going to be shocked.

Jane’s own emotions had been swirling when it came to Cooper even before Fiona had hit town. She knew good and well he wasn’t the man for the long haul. She’d be crazy to try and get any sort of commitment out of him.

She’d thought she didn’t want one anyway. She was content with the status quo. But in the last week or so, she wasn’t sure. She liked Cooper. She liked spending time with him. He was good company - funny and intelligent. He didn’t pull any of that man crap that she couldn’t stand. He was nice to be around. There might not be a future, but there was right now.

See? This is why I need to talk to someone. I’m confused as hell.

She made her mind up in the next minute, striding into the backroom where Lucy was opening boxes of new books.

“I’m sleeping with Cooper. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before.”

There. She’d said it. There was no going back now. That’s why she’d simply jumped off the ledge. No second guessing how wise this move was. It was done.

Lucy almost dropped the box she was carrying, but she carefully placed it on the desk before replying. Her eyes were wide, but it was clear she was trying not to scream or act surprised.

“Well, that’s…news. I didn’t expect that. Like, at all. Cooper, huh? I had no clue. Just how long has this been going on? A few days? Weeks?”

“Months,” Jane said, her voice soft. “Lucy, I’m so sorry. He and I agreed we’d keep it quiet. We didn’t want anyone to talk about us. We kept it from you and Zack. I know it was a shitty thing to do.”

Mea culpa. She’d kept a huge secret from her best friend, and she didn’t feel happy about it.

“We knew you and Zack wouldn’t have told anyone, but we just thought it would be easier if no one else knew. Frankly, I don’t think either one of us believed we would still be doing this all this time later. I sure didn’t. It’s surprising to me, too. Did I say I was sorry? Because I really am. I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you. I’ve wanted to. I really have.”

It all came tumbling out, words she could no longer hold back. She’d been dying to tell Lucy for so long, and now she had. It felt good to tell the truth, but awful that she’d kept such a secret from her best friend.

“I think you could be good together,” Lucy finally replied. “I think that you make a nice couple, actually.”

Wait…what?

“Aren’t you mad at me?”

“Yes, but I’ll get over it,” Lucy sighed. “I see why you didn’t tell me at first. You didn’t think it would last. Then it did. But you were stuck because you hadn’t said anything before.”

“Exactly. Cooper and I agreed that we wouldn’t say anything. Neither of us wanted the town gossips talking about us.”

“I can’t blame you there. They love to talk about Cooper and all his conquests. In fact, they’ve been noticing that he’s been alone lately. But he hasn’t been at all. He’s been with you. How did you do it, by the way? How did you keep it a secret for so long?”

It hadn’t been easy.

“We mostly met at his place. I’d sneak up the back stairs. When he came to my place, he’d come after dark. We pretended not to like each other, too.”

“That didn’t work,” Lucy laughed. “I could see that you two had a friendship. A strange one, but it worked for you both. I could tell that Cooper respected you.”

“I respect him.”

There was more. Lucy didn’t know he was S.S. Cooper. But that wasn’t her secret to tell. That was Cooper’s. As much as she wanted to tell Lucy, she wasn’t going to. She’d talk to Cooper about revealing his identity to his family and friends. Now that Jane knew, there wasn’t much reason to keep it all under wraps.

“You need to be careful. You could get hurt. Cooper isn’t known for staying with one woman for too long.”

Lucy’s warning was the exact same one Jane had been telling herself for months.

“I know. We’re casual. We’re not seeing anyone else, but we’re not looking to make a big commitment or anything. We’re not looking to fall in love. We’re keeping our hearts out of this.”

Lucy gave Jane a shrewd look.

“My friend, you are one of the biggest romantics I’ve ever met in my life. If not the biggest. Did you truly agree to keep emotion out of your relationship? That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“It’s fine,” Jane replied dismissively. “It’s all good. We don’t have a future. I’m living in the moment.”

“Living in the moment? It’s just sex? I hope it’s good sex.”

Unbelievably amazing. Incredible. Fireworks and all that stuff.

“It is.”

What an understatement. The things Cooper did to her ought to be illegal. Or at the very least, come with a warning label.

“With his reputation, I’m thinking it’s better than good.” Lucy held up her hands. “But I don’t need the details. Spare me those. I think I’ll just assume your non-stop good mood is from him.”

“He does piss me off from time to time.”

“Then you must be in a real relationship. If you weren’t, then there wouldn’t be any reason to be mad.”

“Dating Cooper would be…difficult,” Jane admitted. “He’s a complex man.”

“And you’re a complex woman. A woman he’s been with for several months. That might be a record for Cooper, if you don’t count his marriage to Fiona. Maybe you’re different than the other women he’s gone out with. Maybe he feels something for you.”

“I’m not going to think that way. I don’t want to set myself up for failure, especially as it’s clear that Fiona wants him back. At least that’s how it looked to me last night.”

“Maybe,” Lucy replied, tapping her chin. “She was acting strangely.”

“She was drunk.”

“That, too.”

“There will always be women running after Cooper. I don’t want to be one of a crowd.”

“If he only wants you, then there is no crowd,” Lucy pointed out. “He didn’t look like he wanted a trip down memory lane with Fiona last night. If anything, it looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than with her and her brother. Seriously, you two would make a nice couple. You mesh well.”

“You don’t think he’s anything like Peter?”

“Absolutely not,” Lucy said with a visible shudder. “Cooper has far too much integrity to be that kind of asshole. He’s a good man. Kind of lost as to what he wants to be when he grows up, but his heart is real. He’s a good person. We need more like that.”

Cooper knew exactly what he was, but Lucy didn’t know that. And she still thought Jane should be with him.

“It has to be something that he wants. I’m not going to chase him.”

“Then you do like him. You do want more than a secret fling.”

“I’m open to it,” Jane admitted. “That’s probably just the romantic in me. But I’m not looking to reform a bad boy, Lucy. Been there, done that.”

“You’re scared to put yourself out there,” Lucy said. “You don’t want to get your heart broken.”

“Of course, I don’t. No one wants that.”

“Sometimes you have to take a chance. I took one with Zack. It worked out.”

“Just because it worked out for you, doesn’t mean it will for me. Cooper isn’t Zack.”

The brothers had many things in common, but Zack had come into town looking for a home and permanence. For all Jane knew, Cooper would simply grab his backpack and go off on more travels at a moment’s notice. She’d just wake up one day, and he’d be gone. It wasn’t his fault; it was just who he was. A man who didn’t like staying in one place too long. She was shocked he’d been in Winslow Heights this long.

“I have the distinct feeling that Cooper isn’t the man he was. Look at how he acted last night. He didn’t want to be there. He’s moved on. Fiona hasn’t.”

There were too many questions and very few answers.

Did Cooper want more than a casual roll in the hay with Jane? And if he did, was she willing to take that sort of chance with him?

And more importantly, what was Fiona doing in Winslow Heights? Jane didn’t buy that the woman had come after her phone. Her handbag alone was worth about several dozen phones. She wouldn’t hop an airplane chasing after it. It didn’t make sense.

Just why was Fiona here? Did she want Cooper back?

And what was Jane willing to do if that was the case?