3. Skye

3

SKYE

I hadn't expected I'd ever find an upside to my newfound inability to sleep well at night, but I was wrong. Apparently, there was a bright side to it, after all. And it was Cooper who had pushed me to realize it yesterday afternoon.

I'd been going about my workday like normal, stocking a few new books to the shelves following the last of three interviews I'd scheduled for the week, when Joan walked up and said, "There's someone on the phone for you, Skye."

"Oh. Any idea who it is?" I asked.

She shook her head. "He didn't say. I can ask if you'd like."

I shook my head. "No, that's not necessary. Would you mind taking over for me here while I take that call?"

"Not at all."

"Perfect. Thanks."

I held the four books in my hands out to Joan, and once she had them, I crossed the store to pick up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Skye. It's Cooper."

Something instantly squeezed in my belly. This was the second time I'd spoken to him on the phone. He'd called me the day after the whole incident happened earlier this week and told me that replacing the glass in my current door would result in his temporary solution lasting eight weeks. While I'd assured him I didn't mind the wait—I was grateful he was being diligent about fixing it—Cooper insisted that was unacceptable and wanted to fix it sooner for me.

So, he gave me a few options to choose from that would only take a matter of days to get, and after I'd made my selection, he promised to call back to set up a time to do the repair. I presumed that was the purpose of this call, but since he still made me nervous, even over the phone, I said, "Cooper. Hi. Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine. I just got all the stuff I need to fix your door, and I wanted to see if tomorrow would be okay to come in to get it taken care of for you," he replied.

"Tomorrow works for me."

There was a momentary pause before he said, "I know it's a Saturday and typically busier in downtown Landing than during the week. I don't know what that means for your store, but if you'd prefer, I'm more than happy to come before you open, so I can get a head start on the repair. I probably won't have it completed by the time you open, but at least I won't be there all day long."

Right.

It was the weekend. I could imagine how thrilled Cooper was to have to spend that time working instead of doing whatever it is he would have normally done.

Despite desperately wanting to have my door fixed, I didn't want Cooper to have to be inconvenienced. "I'm okay to wait until Monday, if you'd prefer not to interrupt your weekend with this."

"I appreciate that, but I'd rather get this taken care of as soon as possible," he informed me. "I just don't want to create a problem for you or your customers, so I figured the earlier I start, the sooner I can be out of your hair."

Truth be told, I hadn't been in a big rush for him to finish fixing the door. Though I'd been slightly terrified when that glass had initially shattered and Cooper walked in, and ignoring the aesthetic issue it presented, I hadn't had much excitement in my life in the last five months. At least I now had a story to share with some of my regular customers.

"Oh, okay. Well, I mean, early would be fine for me, but I don't want you to think it's necessary," I replied.

Cooper didn't hesitate to respond. "I'm up early, so it's not a problem for me."

"In that case, I'm happy to meet you here before normal business hours. I open at ten on Saturday mornings, so would eight o'clock be a good time for you?"

"That works for me. I'll see you tomorrow morning at eight, then."

"Perfect," I replied quietly.

"Goodbye, Skye."

I still hadn't gotten used to the way it made me feel to hear that smooth voice saying my name, so it took me a moment to gather my bearings and respond. "Goodbye, Cooper."

I disconnected the call, went in search of Joan, and filled her in on what was happening tomorrow. She wasn't scheduled to come in until noon, so depending on how long the installation of the new door was going to take, it was possible she'd arrive after Cooper had already left.

And now, I was taking advantage of another restless night by getting my day started earlier than usual.

Evidently, I wasn't going to have any time to prepare myself for seeing Cooper, because he was a punctual man. As I walked up to the front door of my store, Cooper must have spotted me and exited the truck that was parked along the side street.

He waved as he moved toward the bed of the truck, and I decided it would be rude to just walk inside. So, even though it was slightly unnerving, I walked in his direction and came to a stop at the back of his truck. Instantly, I was reminded of just how much of a presence Cooper was. I was standing on the curb, he was in the street, and I still had to tip my chin up to look at him.

"Good morning, Cooper."

His eyes roamed over my face, something I couldn't read moving through his features. "Good morning, Skye."

Ignoring his unexplained assessment, feeling a flush hit my cheeks, I tipped my head slightly to the side, glanced toward his truck, and explained, "I thought I'd come to see if you needed my help with carrying anything."

Cooper's eyes roamed over me in a way that indicated he didn't think I'd be able to offer him much help, which likely had a lot to do with the fact that both of my arms were already full, carrying my travel cup, my purse, my laptop, and a book. He shook his head and replied, "No, that's okay. I've got it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. But it would be good to have that front door unlocked," he noted.

I hesitated awkwardly for a moment, simply staring at him and wondering if a guy like him knew anything about loyalty. He seemed so honest and genuine. I didn't think it was possible for him to be the kind of guy who'd cheat on his girlfriend, especially not with her best friend.

But whether he was a loyal guy or not didn't matter.

Because I couldn't bear to go down that road again and risk it.

Plus, if my assessment of him was accurate, Cooper was the kind of guy that likely already had a girlfriend. I mean, he was handsome, hardworking, confident, and honest. He didn't need to walk into my store and claim that wood as his own, but he did. And he'd followed through with everything he said he was going to do to rectify the situation.

A man like that wasn't easy to come by. I just hoped that the woman he chose to be with realized just how lucky she was to have such a decent man in her life.

"Skye? Is everything okay?"

His voice startled me, forcing my body to jump back slightly in response. I shook my head as though needing to physically remove the thoughts of Cooper from my mind. If I couldn't get a grip, I was going to embarrass myself in front of this breathtaking man. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll get the door opened."

As quickly as I could, I spun around on my heels and all but sprinted to the door to unlock it. Once inside, I held the door open, so Cooper could get in without having to set anything down outside. He exited the store again, clearly needing to get a few more things from his truck, so I stepped away from the door to set my things down and try to pull myself together.

By the time I'd done that and gone through a few of my normal opening activities, I returned to the front to find Cooper was already at work. When he saw me approach, he stopped what he was doing and said, "So, I'm going to just dive right in. I've got some things still in the truck, but I need to work on removing what's here first. It's probably going to be a bit loud initially, but I'm hoping to have the brunt of that kind of work done before you're open."

Nodding, I said, "That's not a problem at all. I don't know anything about what you're doing, but if there's something you need my help with, I am good at following instructions."

For the first time since I met him, Cooper let out a laugh and smiled at me. There was no denying he was a good-looking guy. But that smile transformed him. Gosh, he was handsome. "I'll keep that in mind."

Not wanting things to get awkward, I decided it was best to leave him to work in peace. I'd done all I could do, and frankly, even though I'd offered to help, I was hoping he didn't need it, because I really didn't consider myself to be very handy and would likely wind up embarrassing myself more than anything else.

Now that I'd seen him smile, I wasn't sure it would be wise for me to be in such close proximity to him. So, I scurried off and got myself to work. Knowing that I planned to come in early this morning, Joan and I left almost immediately after we closed last night instead of handling our normal closing duties. I told her I'd take care of them this morning, and that's precisely what I did.

For the next two hours, I focused on my work while Cooper worked on fixing my door. If it hadn't been for the noise he was making, I wouldn't have known he was there, because he never came over to talk or ask me any questions.

Sure enough, about ten minutes before my normal opening hours, things had quieted down in the shop. I glanced over and was impressed to see how much work Cooper had gotten done. It looked wonderful, even better than what had been there before.

I loved it.

But the good vibes I'd been feeling about the new entrance to my bookstore flew out that door approximately two and a half minutes after I opened.

Because a woman walked in and was watching Cooper work on the door as she continued to move in my direction.

Deciding it was best to make it easy on the both of us, I closed that distance and seethed, "What are you doing here?"

Maria spun around, her eyes landing on mine for the first time in more than five months. She sent an apologetic look my way, but there was something else lingering there that looked a lot like longing. "Skye, please let me say something," she begged.

I might have been able to listen to whatever she intended to say next if my eyes hadn't dropped down from her face to her rounded belly. "Are you pregnant?"

Maria's hands went to her stomach, and she nodded. Tears filled her eyes.

"Get out," I ordered, my voice louder than I had intended for it to be.

"We need to talk," she said.

Shaking my head, I insisted, "There's nothing to say now, Maria. What could you possibly believe we have to discuss with one another?"

"We should talk about this," she suggested. "I realize you needed time, and I've been trying to give that to you, but we need to clear the air."

"Are you insane?" I fired back, my tone indicating my annoyance and getting louder. "Do you honestly believe that? Do you think there is any way possible for us to move beyond what you did? What you both did?"

A look of defeat washed over her. "I know we hurt you. I get it. But you're my best friend."

I was convinced my head was going to explode. "Correction, Maria. I was your best friend. Until you went behind my back and betrayed me. There is no true best friend on the face of this planet who would do what you did. You slept with my boyfriend. Not only that, but you started a full-blown relationship with him. I had to find out from an email. Do you know how humiliating that is? All that time, I didn't know any of it was happening. And now, five months after I learned the truth, you think it's okay to walk in here, very clearly pregnant with a baby I can only assume is my ex's, and you think I should just forget what you did?"

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I never meant to hurt you."

"Well, it's too late for that," I told her.

I could see her emotions getting the best of her. "Please don't say that. Simon and I really want you to be back in our lives. We miss you. And we want you to be in our baby's life."

Maybe the lack of sleep was causing me to imagine things. Maybe I was hallucinating. Nobody who did to me what Maria had done could actually believe what she was suggesting would ever be possible.

"That's never going to happen."

"So, what are you saying? We're never going to speak to each other again? I couldn't help it, Skye. I fell in love with him, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to fix this between us."

I shrugged my shoulders, shot her a look of indifference, and said, "Well, I'm not."

"How do you think that's going to work? What about the charity benefit for literacy coming up in two weeks? We've all been going to that for years. Are we supposed to just pretend we don't know one another when we're there?"

The charity benefit had been one of the things I'd decided I needed to let go of when everything happened. I wasn't going to subject myself to being in the presence of two people who betrayed me the way Simon and Maria had.

Simon worked at the local public school as the librarian and Maria had been just as much of a book addict as I was, so we'd always attended the event together.

"This will be my first time since I started going to that benefit with my grandmother that I won't be going, so you won't have to worry about seeing me there," I told her.

Disappointment washed over her. She parted her lips to respond to me, but before she could, a masculine voice broke into the conversation.

"Sweetheart, why didn't you tell me you had a charity benefit you attended every year?"

My eyes widened as my head snapped to the side. Cooper was standing there, looking at me with something I couldn't quite read in his expression.

Had he just called me sweetheart?

"What?" I rasped.

Cooper moved closer, wrapped his arm around my back to my opposite shoulder, and gave me a reassuring squeeze. He let go of my shoulder, sifted his hand into the mass of hair at the back of my head, and massaged my scalp.

My heart pounded harder at the intimate touch and the proximity to Cooper. Between his masculine scent and strong presence, I was a bundle of nerves. Cooper moved his hand through my hair with such ease, like he'd been doing it for months.

In any other situation, I might have loved the way that felt and succumbed to the gloriousness of it. I had a feeling Cooper was trying to get me to relax, but I was growing more and more tense with each passing second.

Not once taking his eyes off me, he said, "You should have told me about the benefit. What day is it?"

I swallowed hard. "June 30th."

A smile broke out across his face. "That's the day before my birthday celebration. We can do both that weekend."

What was happening here?

I licked my lips, feeling so unsure of what to do or say. Finally, I decided it might be best to play along, doing it while making sure neither one of us made any commitments we weren't going to follow through on.

"I… I just thought it would be too much, so I decided against going to the benefit," I explained with a shrug.

Cooper's hand that had been massaging my scalp finally stilled just above my neck. Or, well, every part of it except his thumb. His thumb stroked back and forth on the bare skin at the back of my neck, sending a shiver down my spine.

He shook his head. "But you've been doing it for years, sweetheart. We're not missing it."

"Cooper, I… we really don't have to go," I told him.

"I insist. We'll have a great time. I promise."

It seemed he refused to let me decline, and since I was trying to deal with how I felt with his hand in my hair, his thumb stroking the skin on my neck, and the scent of him this close while his big body was cocooning mine, I couldn't seem to speak.

Maria, unfortunately, had no problem finding any words to say. "You've moved on."

For the first time since Cooper had approached and joined in the conversation, I tore my attention away from him and looked at my former best friend. "Is that a problem?"

Her lips had parted in shock, and she slowly shook her head. "No. No, I just… I didn't expect you would move on so soon."

"That's the problem with expectations. Sometimes, you learn you were wrong to believe anything," I informed her, my voice cold.

"If you've moved on and you're happy, why can't we take the time to fix this?" she pressed.

My eyes narrowed slightly. "My happiness no longer has anything to do with you, Maria. What I'm doing in my life, and who I have in it, is no longer your business. Now, I'm going to ask you nicely one last time to leave and never come back."

A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek as she stroked her hand tenderly over her rounded belly. "I'm sorry, Skye. I'm so sorry for what I did to you. But I'm happy to see you've moved on. And I'm relieved to know you've got somebody in your life."

I didn't respond.

Part of that was probably because I didn't really have anything I wanted to say to Maria, but the bigger part of that was because I couldn't stop focusing on how good it felt to have Cooper touching me.

Maria recognized I had no intention of continuing the conversation. So, she took two steps backward while keeping her eyes on me. Then she said, "Take care of yourself, Skye."

"I'm doing that for her," Cooper declared.

My belly flipped.

And a moment later, Maria walked out through my brand-new entrance while I struggled to hold back the tears threatening to fall.