The Rivals of Copper County (Copper County #2)

Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

JASPER

After that pivotal day, I put Martin’s visit into a mental box and closed the lid. I definitely wasn’t going to take his offer, so it wasn’t worth thinking about.

Besides, I had Watt to think about, as well as my temporary but glorious life in Copper County to enjoy.

As the days flew by and cold, drenching rains came to strip the leaves from the trees and turn them into a brightly colored carpet lining the roads around Copper Lake, I fell into a joyful and unexpectedly busy routine.

I went to school every morning, and practice every evening, and had Watt to fill my nights and weekends.

In between getting my house organized and watching four seasons of John Ruffian , Watt finally allowed me to take a look at the spreadsheets he’d been keeping (and breaking) for the orchard. I was not only able to get his current inventory tracking numbers updated, but I also set him up with brand-new harvest tracking and labor management spreadsheets and showed him how to use them.

He took to my lessons about as well as I took to ice-skating—which was to say low-key not-well—but I found his frowny concentration face and muttering at the keyboard about as adorable as he found my flailing on the ice—which was to say highly adorable—which made doing admin a little bit like foreplay.

And I had the best sex of my life.

The best.

Bar. None.

Midterm exams passed (and so did all my students).

The Fighting Marmots beat Fairport by a wide margin. The Utica scout Kayla predicted hadn’t come, so Watt had reached out to their coaches to set up a visit, and he (and Derry) seemed hopeful.

Watt casually mentioned us spending Thanksgiving together since Derry would be at his mom’s and Watt’s sister, Iris, and her family weren’t coming for the holiday this year.

I got invited to the Bartletts’ for Thursday Pasta Night… and after Derry sent a video of me and Watt bantering over garlic bread to the team chat, he and Zach had come up with the idea for a Co-Coach Cookoff at Watt’s place last Sunday, which the whole team and a few of our Copper County friends, including Watt’s buddies Oliver, Chris, and Brewer had attended.

I’d won, which wasn’t a surprise. As I’d told the crowd in my humble victory speech, I was basically a culinary Energizer battery—when it came to food, I just kept going and going—so Watt really needed to stop betting against me. For some reason, this speech had Oliver rolling on the floor with laughter, but Watt had distracted me with a blowjob that night when I’d asked him to explain.

Then, three days later, my happy bubble popped… in the most predictable and expected way.

I woke up on Wednesday—the first day of Thanksgiving break—to a message from Martin, which was never the best way to start a day.

Martin

Alright, sweetness. I’ve given you time, and now I’m calling your bluff. Call me today, or I’m going in a totally different direction with this campaign. And it will definitely be your loss.

I ignored it, obviously, and the day improved after that.

Later in the morning, Lucas sent a message to a group chat he’d called “The Uncles” saying that Tam had gone into labor and baby Tierney had arrived at 12:23 a.m.

The attached video showed Tam looking exhausted but enraptured and the baby looking… well, if I was being honest, Tierney looked like a scrunched-up, pissed-off sweet potato with really good hair, but I wasn’t judging. Girlfriend had been fighting a tough battle last night. I’d probably squall, too.

Congratulations, Monroe Fam! heart-eye emoji

Delaney

She’s so cute! Congrats, Tam and Lucas!

Unknown Number 1

Seriously cute. Just like her Uncle Wells.

Unknown Number 2

Totally! So cute! Just like her Uncle LAW!

Delaney, are babies supposed to look like that? I don’t wanna worry Tam, but she’s VERY wrinkly. Have you seen Benjamin Button?

Tam

Lawson, you asshole!! My baby is not Benjamin Button!!

Delaney

Lawson, you’re still messaging the group chat, dumbass.

Wells

Ignore him, Tam. He’s been hit by too many pucks. Tell Tierney her Uncle Wells, Aunt Heather, and her cousins can’t wait to meet her. I’ll bring her a jersey with my number on it at Christmas.

Lawson

Shit!! My bad. We played last night and I got to Copper County really late. I’m still half asleep. And back off, Wells. You have your own kids to wear your jerseys. Tierney’s mine.

I snickered.

So, Delaney, who won your family betting pool?

Delaney

Ugh. Lawson did. Lawson and Wells, meet Jasper. He’s an unofficial Monroe now. Tam and I have adopted him.

Wells

Welcome, Jasper!

Lawson

Oh! The hockey padawan Tam’s been Yoda-ing. Excellent! Welcome to the fam. Wanna drive your local bros to the bar for drinks later? My treat. Gotta celebrate little Benjamin’s arrival.

Tam

I swear to god, Lawson.

I laughed out loud. Tam and Delaney’s brother was hilarious, and I thought I might really enjoy being adopted.

I floated around most of the day working on an improved pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving dessert, tweaking some accounting sheets I’d been playing around with for the orchard, and texting with Watt, who was busy working with his friend Constantine over in O’Leary to build a trampoline for Con’s kids.

Watt

Going out with Delaney, huh? Does he know you and I are FWB?

Of course not! You weren’t ready and I respect that.

Watt

He needs to know you’re not on the market.

I felt nerves jangle in my stomach.

I’m not?

Watt

And that if he wants to flirt with someone, to look Ollie up.

I poked my tongue into my cheek, grinning at my phone like an idiot. I’d always thought jealousy was wildly immature, but I found I liked it a lot… with Watt.

What about Lawson? You know, the hot hockey player? He’s going to be there. We’re probs gonna have an intimate chat about stick handling and our favorite… pucks.

It took Watt a long time to answer, but when he did, it was well worth the wait.

Watt

Compare notes all you like. But Jasper… you’d better let them know that when you get home tonight, the only one handling your stick will be me.

“Game on, Watt Bartlett,” I whispered to my empty house, grinning so much it made my cheeks ache. “Game on.”

I realized pretty quickly after picking up Delaney and Lawson that I’d made a slight miscalculation. There would be no intimate chats about anything because the O’Leary Bar and Grill was packed to the rafters with O’Learians and Coppertians enjoying pre-Thanksgiving revelry.

Fortunately, we got there just before the rush and managed to get a booth near the back of the bar. Lawson immediately sprawled across most of one seat, his baseball hat pulled down low on his handsome face, while I slid into the other.

It surprised me when Delaney crammed himself in next to Lawson, but I understood the reason quickly enough.

Everyone in town seemed to have heard about Tam’s baby, and every one of them decided to stop by our table with a congratulatory round of drinks for Lawson and Delaney while I stuck to sparkling apple cider mocktails.

Most folks were polite and left after saying hello, but quite a few recognized Lawson and wanted to hear allllll about last season’s injury. A few more wanted autographs or—in a couple of cases—to give him their phone numbers. The longer these conversations went on, the more forced Lawson’s smile became and the faster his leg jiggled under the table.

Whenever this happened, Delaney would straighten in his seat, becoming a physical and conversational brick wall in front of his much larger brother until the person sighed and walked away.

It was the kind of brotherly thoughtfulness that made me wish I had a sibling.

A few drinks in, Lawson’s discomfort faded. By the time we’d been in the bar an hour, Lawson’s presence had become old news, and Lawson himself was red-cheeked and adorably tipsy.

Meanwhile, Delaney had scowled harder with every neighborly visitor who stopped by.

“This town is weird,” he pronounced. “No human beings are this friendly. I’m not sure what kind of cult they’re peddling, but I refuse to join.”

I laughed. “You’re ridiculous. They’re kind . And… yeah, okay, a little up in your business, but it’s sweet. You’re going to be one of them soon, remember?” I wiggled my eyebrows. “How’s the house thing coming, by the by?”

Delaney raised an eyebrow. “We don’t talk about the house, Jasper. Besides, I’m only establishing a home base here because I love Tam, and I like Lucas, and I want to be close to Tierney?— ”

“And because of what happened with that guy in Providence,” Lawson piped up helpfully.

Delaney whacked his arm. “We don’t talk about him, either. The point is, I’m not drinking the Kool-Aid. I might be living in Copper County, but I’m not becoming a Copper-person.”

“The word is Coppertian,” I informed him. “And I don’t see what’s wrong with being one. You seemed to know and like everyone at the Hive the other night. And you like Theo and Bennett—” I pointed at the couple who was sitting at the bar, chatting with Jamie and Parker, the O’Learians who owned the place. “You said it was really generous of Bennett to open up the Observatory House to kids for science field trips.”

Delaney sipped his martini. “It is,” he muttered.

“And that older guy over there? Hen Lattimer from the hardware store?” I gestured with my drink—the one Parker had gifted me when he’d heard I was the designated driver tonight. “He’s showing that other couple pictures of his great-grand-dogs in their Halloween costumes. That’s adorable. Admit it.”

“Adorably weird ,” Delaney grumbled.

“And that lady over there in the pink? That’s Kayla Milley. She’s… well, I wouldn’t say we’re friends…”

“More like frenemies,” Delaney declared. “Isn’t she the one who tried to convince you that you were a shitty hockey coach?” He downed half his drink. “This ought to be good. How’s she adorable or weird or nice?”

“Well… she’s organizing this fun-run fundraiser thing Friday to save the kids’ summer hockey camp. And she has great taste in men. And she’s got genuine enthusiasm and… and determination. I appreciate that.” I watched Kayla acro ss the room as she and a couple of other parents demonstrated the Marmot Cheer for the crowd. “Also, she made up a whole cheer routine for our hockey team that really gets the crowd on their feet.”

Lawson grinned. “Aw. That’s kind of cute.”

“It is. You know it’s a nice town when even your frenemy has redeeming qualities,” I informed Delaney.

“I suppose,” he grudgingly admitted.

“And… oh, you know Brew Barnum, the builder guy, right?” I pointed to the man sitting at a table with Brian and Dare Turner. “I met him the other day, and he seemed lovely. Isn’t he helping you fix up your new, uh… thing we’re not supposed to talk about?”

Brew had told me at the cookoff that he’d be happy to give me an estimate to repair my saggy front porch steps, too. I’d told him there was no rush, though, since I wouldn’t be listing the house for a while yet.

“Yes,” Delaney bit out. “I know Mr. Barnum.”

Lawson and I exchanged a look. His eyes widened comically, and he mouthed, “ Mr. Barnum, ” before hiding his smile behind his hand.

“And that’s one of my coworkers.” I exchanged a friendly wave with Arlene across the crowded room. She was sitting in a booth with Ash James, Reed Sunday, and the local librarian. “She’s starting free dance lessons in February to make sure people don’t feel too cooped up during the winter. I told her I’d be there to get my salsa on.” I pressed one bent arm to my stomach and lifted the other like I was holding an invisible partner while swaying to an imaginary beat.

“There’s more to do here than I expected,” Delaney allowed. “The Hive is really cool. And this bar has great cocktails, but it’s…” He wrinkled his nose at the television set, where a bunch of commentators appeared to be discussing college football. “Not entirely my scene.”

“It’s too low-brow for Delaney. He likes dark jazz clubs where people wail heartfelt songs about single-use plastics.” Lawson chuckled at his own joke.

Delaney blushed. “That was one time. And anyway…” He turned back to me. “Easy for you to say it’s great to be a Coppertian when you’re a short-timer, Jasper.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“A short-timer. Temporary. A… what do they call it around here? A Copper-plate? You’re moving back to LA,” Delaney explained when I only stared at him. “You kept talking about it the other night. You insisted that Los Angeles was where you belonged and that you had a plan to start a modeling agency as soon as Tam’s maternity leave was over. You said it nearly as often as you talked about your friend Watt.”

“Ah, dude! An Angeleno.” Lawson held his fist above the table for a bump. “I’ve played there. Great weather. Shit traffic.”

“I… I guess.” I bumped his fist half-heartedly.

“Countdown’s started now, huh?” Lawson covered his mouth to hide a burp. “Tamsquatch has popped her bambino, so you’ll be leaving in… what, a couple months?”

Delaney nodded. “Twelve weeks. Tam was super clear. She was bored out of her skull on bed rest and can’t wait to get back.”

Twelve weeks.

My mouth opened, but I couldn’t make it form words.

Because, yes, obviously , I was heading back to LA. I had a whole plan… or, like, seventy-five percent of a plan .

Definitely at least fifty percent, with an outline for the rest.

But for some reason, the thought of leaving made me feel vaguely nauseous.

Twelve weeks.

When I’d first come back, I’d told myself to focus on the immediate challenges: sorting through the twin messes of Mabel’s treasures and my friendship with Watt, deciding which pieces of each to keep and which to let go. Learning to teach and to coach and to skate. Refining my business plan and networking with people in LA had felt way less urgent. There’d been plenty of time.

Twelve weeks.

At some point, I’d gotten comfortable. I’d made a routine and reveled in it. I’d made a friendship with benefits and reveled in that . I’d started calling Mabel’s place my house.

But the reminder that Tam would be coming back to her job soon—in twelve fucking weeks— had started a timer in my brain, and I could practically hear the seconds ticking away.

How many more days could I justify spending here? Would I be around for the Marmots’ hockey playoffs? Would I get to take those salsa lessons? How many more nights would I get to spend watching John Ruffian with Watt’s strong arms around me? How many more times would I have him in my bed? Who would make him laugh and stop taking life so seriously when I was gone?

And why was I even thinking of this like an ending when it was supposed to be a beginning?

“Whoa. Y’okay, man?” Lawson demanded, peering over the table at me. “You look like you got bodychecked. ”

“Huh? N-no.” I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’m… I’m great.”

“Uh-oh.” Delaney’s eyes narrowed. “You did it, didn’t you? You drank the Copper County Kool-Aid.”

“Me? Pfft. No! No way. I just had a moment of… of pause . That’s all.” I took one shallow breath and then another.

I really wished Watt was here to ground me.

Delaney rolled his eyes. “My keen investigative reporting senses suggest that’s not all.” His eyes flicked down to my hand. “You’re rubbing at your chest.” He leaned closer. “And you’re literally sweating.”

“It’s warm in here!” I lied. “That’s all. I am going back to LA. I… I definitely am.” Hearing myself say the words out loud should have helped them feel true, but it didn’t. “My career is there. M-my life is there. I… I’d regret it if I didn’t go.”

Lawson cocked his head. With the insightfulness of the inebriated, he asked, “Would you regret it… if you left?”

I stared at him in panic.

“Ooooh.” Delaney sat back in the booth and regarded me with pursed lips. He elbowed his brother. “You know what he needs, Law?”

Lawson frowned, then brightened. “Ohhhh. Yup. Yuuuup. Our new bro needs a yaysnnays.”

“I’ll get the supplies,” Delaney said. “Be back.”

“A what?” I demanded, but Delaney had already pushed himself out of the booth and headed for the bar. “He’d better not be going to get me alcohol,” I warned.

Though… shit, I might need some.

“I really do have to go back to LA,” I babbled. “I mean… I won’t have a job once Tam’s back. And last time I checked, th ere weren’t a lot of other job openings here that I’m qualified for.”

“Uh-huh.” Lawson had taken out his phone the second Delaney left the table and didn’t look up from whatever he was scrolling.

“And I’ve been running a modeling agency behind the scenes for years.” I blurted out a brief recap of my career history, ending with Martin’s betrayal and how it had essentially left me penniless before I came back to Copper County. “That’s my career.”

“Yup.” Lawson didn’t appear to have heard a word I said. He had his tongue stuck between his teeth while he messaged someone.

Delaney returned carrying a stack of napkins and caught sight of Lawson’s phone screen from behind as he slid into the booth.

“Lawson Harvie Monroe! You stop that right now!” he gasped. “You’re not allowed to use Grindr, especially not while drinking!”

Lawson pressed his phone to his chest and blinked drunkenly around the bar. “I’m not? Who says? I’m a grown man! Aren’t I?” he added uncertainly.

“No, you’re a very large toddler. And Tam says.” Delaney grabbed Lawson’s phone, clicked it off, and set it on the table. “She gave me a whole speech about how this town is her home, and she’d really rather not have her brother’s one-night stands knocking on her door, and blah blah. She said she’ll consider removing the restriction once I officially own property here.”

Lawson sulked back into his seat. “She didn’t give me the speech.”

“Because she was busy pushing a nineteen-inch human out of her body when you arrived. But if she gave it to me, you know she would’ve given it to you… Player .”

Law stuck out his tongue. “ Misfit ,” he shot back, repeating a word I’d heard Delaney’s siblings used to tease their non-sporty brother.

Delaney ignored him. “Anyway, we have a higher calling than getting our dicks sucked right now,” he said loftily. “We’re helping Jasper.”

He set the stack of napkins in the center of the table.

“I, uh… I don’t know if that’s a higher calling, per se.” I eyed the napkins dubiously. “And I don’t think napkin origami—or whatever a yay-yay is—is necessary. I know what I need to do?—”

Lawson sat up, his good humor immediately restored. “But you don’t need-dah do anything . That’s the wrong way to look at life, Jasper.”

Delaney nodded. “Our mom was big into self-determination. So when we’d say, ‘ But I need to drink and do drugs, or I’ll be a loser ,’ or whatever, she wouldn’t lecture us about the evils of peer pressure. She’d say, ‘ Tell me more about why you need to do that. Let’s think this through .’”

“She had us make a pros and cons list. A ‘Yays and Nays.’” Lawson grinned. “Or as Delaney put it when he was little, yaysnnays. How old were you when you figured out that wasn’t an actual word? Twenty-five?”

Delaney ground his teeth together. “The point is, it’s a great way of making decisions.”

He took two pens out of his pocket and uncapped them, then grabbed a couple of napkins from the stack. Across the top of one, he wrote, YAY FOR LA! before passing the napkin and the pen to Lawson.

On the second, he wrote, YAY FOR COPPER COUNTY !

He looked up at me expectantly. “Whatcha got for us?”

“Well, uh… I’ve been planning to move back all along.” I nodded for Lawson to write that down on the LA list, but he didn’t.

Lawson wrinkled his nose. “Your top reason to move back to LA is ‘I planned to’?”

“No!” I frowned. “Not the top reason. But I mean, it’s a reason. You’re supposed to have goals and plans and then to achieve them. If you don’t achieve your goals, you’ve failed.”

“You can, like, change the goal,” Lawson began.

Delaney nudged him. “That’s rich, coming from you, Mr. Give Me Hockey or Give Me Death. Besides, you’re not supposed to give your opinion. Write.”

“M’kay.” Lawson sighed and scratched Has cunning plan under LA . “ What else?”

I shrugged, not really sure what to say. There were a lot of things I liked about LA. Was I supposed to list them all? I traced the wood grain of the tabletop and considered.

“Well, there’s this BBQ place in Koreatown that makes killer short ribs and a place in Brentwood with great matcha scones. Watt says my version’s really good, but it’s not as good as theirs.” I glanced up uncertainly. “Is this the kind of thing you mean?”

“Sure.” Lawson obediently wrote Unique food.

Delaney scratched something down on his list also, but he covered his napkin with his hand so I couldn’t see.

“Oh! And there’s this beach,” I offered, “called Malibu Lagoon. I’d go there sometimes to think because it reminded me of Copper Lake. I mean, the lagoon doesn’t have a dock, and it’s not as secluded, and there are seagulls instead of loons, but I was telling Watt the other morning that if you squint hard, it’s close enough. And he said that if he squinted hard, I look like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo , and then I tickled him—which, yes, was a rule violation, but honestly, he deserved it.”

I noticed Delaney and Lawson exchanging a glance. “What?”

“Uh. I’m just not sure if that’s for my list or his.” Lawson nodded at Delaney.

The poor guy had to be even drunker than he looked. “Yours,” I said. Obviously.

“Right.” Lawson scribbled Beach like Copper Lake .

“What about some other things?” Delaney prompted. “Like… what are the best things about your job?”

“That’s easy.” I waved a hand. “I love fostering relationships with people and helping them reach their potential.”

I thought of the ways I’d helped the models I’d worked with—making sure their calendars were updated and that they got paid, that their contracts were fair and that they understood them, that their taxes were done and that their social media stats were strong.

“I might not have been someone they thought of as their closest friend or mentor—” That had been Martin, with his charming smile and his marketing contacts. “—but I made a difference in their futures. I’d been just like them once, and I knew that unscrupulous people like to take advantage of the naive and uneducated. I gave them information so they could feel empowered. And I was good at it,” I added. I waved a hand at Lawson. “Write down competent .”

Lawson nudged Delaney with one meaty elbow. “He’s talking to you, D. Write it down.”

Delaney nodded. “I’m writing. Teaching, helping, empowering. Purpose and meaning. Competent . Got it.” He flashed me a grin. “And there you were the other night, telling me that those who study history are doomed to repeat it… but not when they have you as a teacher, huh?”

“Wait, no.” I looked back and forth between them, wondering if I was the drunk one. “I was talking about my actual career. As a modeling agent. Being a teacher is totally different. I mean…” I frowned as I tried to think of the reasons why it was different. I hadn’t thought the Venn diagram of teacher and modeling agent would have much overlap, but it turned out they did.

“Why don’t you talk about your friends,” Delaney suggested. “Who are you excited to see? Who’s been blowing up your phone like, ‘ Yeah, man, I can’t wait for you to get back so we can… insert thing here .’ Who are your business associates, even? Do not say Martin.” To Lawson, he added, “Martin is his evil ex who cheated him out of their company and left him broke?—”

“Yeah, Jasper told me all about it when you were…” Lawson waved a hand at the bar. “Doing the napkins.”

When he saw me gaping at him, Lawson looked offended. “What? I was listening! I’m not just hot abs and a… a killer slapshot, Jasper. I’ve got a brain. I’ve got feelings .” The word was punctuated by a killer pout.

“No, I know, of course you do. I’m sorry. I—” I began.

But Lawson burst into raucous laughter. “Nah, dude, I’m messing with you. I’m all abs and slapshot. Zero smarticle particles.” He tapped his temple a little too hard. “At least I’ve never gotten romantically involved with my agent, though.”

“Only because you don’t get ‘romantically’ involved with anyone,” Delaney muttered.

I winced. “Look, I recognize now that it seems a… a little strange, but at the time, it felt normal. Martin had been in my life for a long time. He was more likely to… to be a good partner to me than some random guy, right?”

“I don’t know about that. I do know it’s easy to be manipulated when someone gets their hooks in you young,” Delaney said flatly.

Lawson nodded vehemently.

I stared at them for a long moment. Watt had said something similar, but I’d dismissed it. Obviously Watt was on my side because he was always on my side, even when he’d been pissed at me. Hearing the same thing from people I’d only met recently hit differently.

“Martin came to see me last week,” I confessed. “He offered me a job, but I told him no.” I filled them in on Martin’s indecent proposal.

“Hold up. Fifty thousand?” Lawson repeated. “Now, that is a reason, broseph, especially under the circumstances. If you’re goin’ back anyway, why wouldn’t you take that job, too?” On the top of the LA list, he wrote Fifty thousand dollars is A LOT of money .

Then he underlined it five times. And circled it.

Delaney scowled. “Fifty thousand is peanuts if it means selling your soul and working with your asshole ex,” he said passionately.

Lawson winced. “Thought we weren’t giving opinions, D.”

Delaney darted a guilty look at me, and his shoulders slumped. “Fine. Continue. Other, non-Martin people you’re dying to see?”

“Dying? No,” I said slowly. “Most of our friends were industry friends, and Martin got custody of them in the divorce. My mom is there. We’re not close, but she’s a patron of a lot of fashion designers, and she’d like showing me off and helping me build a new wardrobe.”

“That could be good.” Lawson wrote Mom . Nice clothes.

I made a face. I wouldn’t say nice . I was gonna need a moment of silence for my comfy coaching tights and teacher khakis.

I took a sip of my drink and thought harder. “I also have a photographer friend, Javier. He’s selling his downtown loft, and he might offer me a good deal. The space could double as a living and office situation.”

“Fun.” Lawson wrote Fancy apartment (Javier) .

“Yeah. I’ll just, um, have to sell my house here… Mabel’s house… to afford it,” I said quietly.

I stubbornly ignored the voice in my head telling me that even then, I’d have to take out a mortgage. That this hadn’t actually been a plan; it had been a dream. One that didn’t even feel like mine anymore.

“If there’s one thing I know after being traded a bunch…” Lawson pressed a hand to his chest with slightly inebriated sincerity. “…it’s that you can make friends anywhere if you’re a fun guy and you… you have fun. As long as no one’s asking you intrusive questions about your freaking injuries, dude.” He added that last part into his glass as he took another slug of beer.

I nodded. “Well, yeah. I mean, I’ve already made a bunch of good friends just since I’ve been back here. Tam, and you guys, and Arlene, and Chris at the cheese shop, who gave me a discount because I mentioned that I liked the John Ruffian sticker on his laptop. Besides, I already have a best friend, and Watt’s still going to be in my life, no question.”

“Sure,” Lawson agreed with a nod.

“I mean, it won’t be the same,” I hurried to add. “Like, he won’t be able to teach me to ice-skate from LA. A-and we won’t be able to hold hands and run off the dock into the water like we used to in the summers as kids, which is the most freeing feeling in the universe, let me just tell you. And we won’t be able to sit on the porch on chilly evenings and talk like we did this week. And there won’t be any sweet little happy hello kisses, or deep, passionate kisses, or the kind of kisses where you feel like you’ve been owned on a fundamental level, or my personal favorite, the kind of little carelessly affectionate kisses you give each other when you come into the room because the person is just standing there and you love them.”

I stopped for a sip of liquid when another thought occurred to me. “Oh, and did I tell you that the other night when Martin came to visit, he tried to be all smarmy-charmy, and Watt totally didn’t buy it.” I sighed dreamily. “And I got really upset afterward because… seriously, how did I ever marry that guy? But Watt…” My face broke into what was probably a dopey smile. “He held me all night long afterward. He made me feel so much better. And then in the morning we, uh…” I broke off with a cough. “Never mind. Not relevant.”

“Jasper.” Delaney’s eyes were wide. “You just said a lot of things. Do you realize…?”

“Don’t worry. Watt said I could tell you about us.” I leaned over the table and looked around, but nobody was paying attention. The crowd had thinned out a bit, and most folks appeared to be watching Kayla demonstrate her cheer routine. She’d even climbed on a chair so more people could see her marmot hiss.

“Watt and I might have crossed into friends-with-benefits territory at one point,” I whispered. “And, then, um… kept crossing into it at various other points. And now we’re firmly in benefits territory.”

“Friends with benefits?” Delaney repeated. He frowned. “But you just said…”

Lawson nudged him. “Jasper, keep going. Tell us what else you like about Copper County.”

“Oh. Well. There’s the house. Mabel’s house. I love the dormers that look out over the campground and the lake.” I smiled. “And over the Bartletts’ property next door. I used to leave a light on in the window when I wanted Watt to sneak out when we were kids,” I told Lawson.

Delaney propped his chin in his hand. “Go on.”

“Well, uh, there’s the campground and the lake, too. The campground used to be super popular, but now it just breaks even financially, which is a shame because Copper County is probably the most gorgeous place ever. I think now that the campground is renovated, someone should advertise it. Explain what makes it so special.”

Lawson’s phone buzzed on the table, and he gave Delaney a guilty look as he stuffed it in his hoodie pocket. “Er. Tell us more about… about that,” he said quickly.

I laughed, but as I stared at the ceiling over Lawson’s head, I considered. “It’s… it’s not just the way the place looks. It’s not the way the sunshine looks on Copper Lake, or the fog in the morning before the clouds burn off, or the way the loons call. Copper County has this… this magic about it, this crazy positivity. It’s like all the people who’ve lived there over the ages have loved the place so much, and loved each other so much, that the land soaked it up. There’s love in every leaf and tree branch, in every drop of water in the lake. You don’t need to drink the Kool-Aid because the happiness and steadfastness soak right into your pores. You can’t help but feel like you’re loved when you’re here. Like there’s no task you could accomplish that’s too impossible for you to handle, no mistake you could make that’s too big to be forgiven, no misunderstanding so complex you can’t straighten it out. It feels like… home.”

I broke off, realizing I’d been rambling and that Delaney and Lawson were staring at me slack-jawed. “Wow.” I picked up my glass and peered down into it. “They did say this was nonalcoholic, right? ’Cause I went way off topic. Sorry. Back to the list?”

“Jasper—” Delaney cleared his throat. “Remind me again why you need to go to LA when you so clearly want to be here? You can be a substitute teacher for a while or manage someone’s business from afar… You can set something up here way more easily than in Los Angeles.”

“I… I mean…” I shook my head. “It doesn’t make sense to stay…”

“Honey, it makes no sense to go.” Delaney flipped both lists to face me.

Lawson’s short list contained food items I liked, an apartment I didn’t want, clothes I’d hate, $50K I’d have to sell my soul to get, and a plan that was not a plan.

Delaney’s list was two napkins long, and it mostly contained…

“Holy shit,” I whispered. “W-why is Watt’s name on here twenty times?”

“I wrote it once for every time you mentioned him,” Delaney said. “Watt’s friendship.” He tapped the list with his pen. “Watt teasing you, Watt liking your scones.” Tap, tap . “Watt holding you, you loving Watt…”

My eyes filled as the truth hit me. “I… I did say that, didn’t I? Oh, shit. Oh, shit . You guys…” I looked at Lawson and Delaney with wide eyes. “I’m in love with Watt Bartlett.”

Delaney and Lawson looked at each other .

Lawson shrugged. “Sure seems like it. Bummer about the $50K, though.”

I laughed, then grabbed the LA list, tore it into scraps, then tossed the scraps in the air like confetti. “I don’t want $50K. I want…”

“Watt,” Delaney said.

“Yeah.” I bit my lip. I still couldn’t believe I’d been so blind. “He’s just… he’s the best person in the universe. And… and maybe he’s not down for a relationship right now, but I think he will be. Probably. Eventually. And if he only wants to keep doing what we’ve been doing forever, I’ll still be happier than I’ve ever been because…”

“ Watt ,” Delaney insisted, his eyes wide.

“ Exactly .” I scrubbed both hands through my hair. “That’s what I’m saying. And I can’t thank you guys enough for helping me with this yaysnnays. You’re both brilliant. Now I need to go find?—”

“Watt!” Delaney said as a figure appeared beside me. “How are you?”

I glanced up to find the man I’d been thinking about standing right beside me. “Oh my God! Hi! I had no idea you were here!”

“You might have, ” Delaney muttered under his breath. “If you ever learned to take a warning.”

Watt smiled, and instantly, the whole world calmed and settled. My future slid into place with a click .

“Hey, yourself.” He glanced from me to Delaney and Lawson and then to the napkin scraps on the table. “Having fun?”

“Oh.” I grabbed the Copper County list and jammed it in my pocket. I wanted to show it to him later, when we were alone. “Yeah. It’s… it’s been a heck of a night.” I moved ov er so he could sit beside me and collected the torn napkin shreds in a pile. “You know Delaney and Lawson, right?”

Watt exchanged greetings with the men.

“When did you get here?” I asked.

“About five minutes ago.” Watt’s arm rubbed against mine as he glanced around the bar, and it sent a shiver through me. “Ollie and I were out, but he got a call from one of his PT patients who wasn’t feeling well, so he abandoned me.”

“That’s too bad,” I said, though my wide smile probably told a different tale. “But I’m really glad you came to hang with us.” Beneath the table, I set my hand on his thigh.

“Except we’re nearly done here,” Delaney piped up. He made an exaggerated sad face.

“No we’re not.” Lawson shook his nearly empty drink glass. “I was just going to get…” His body jolted, and he shot Delaney a look. “I, ah… I was just going to get going after I finish my drink… is what I was going to say.”

Delaney nodded. “Yup. Same. Besides…” He gave me an intent look. “I feel like you and Watt have a lot to talk about, Jasper.”

“Do we?” Watt looked at me curiously. “Like what?”

“Oh, this and that.” I gave him a big smile. One might even say a loving smile. “I just need to use the bathroom, and then we can go. I need to drop Lawson at the B&B and Delaney at Tam’s?—”

“No, no, don’t worry about us,” Delaney said. “I’m perfectly sober, and we’re gonna go meet some new friends. Really get into the Copper County vibe, like you were suggesting.”

“We are?” Lawson’s body jolted again, and this time, he glared at his brother. “I mean, we are. Yep.” In a lower voice, he added, “You’re lucky that’s my good leg. ”

“It’s not luck, dumbass,” Delaney shot back.

I stifled a laugh behind my hand. I liked both of these guys so much.

Watt squeezed my hand as he stood to let me out of the booth. “Don’t take long,” he said so softly only I could hear.

“I won’t,” I promised.

I was feeling confident and happy.

I had a new plan in mind, and I was done wasting time.

But by the time I got back from the men’s room, all hell had broken loose.