Chapter Three

Mallory

I got up early, even though it's Saturday, because I wanted to be ready in plenty of time. It's just as well, too, because it took me ages to decide what to wear. Obviously, anything too smart was out of the question, but I debated between jeans and cut-off denim shorts for quite a while. My shorts aren't that short, so it wasn't a question of wanting to tempt Cooper. It was more a question of how hot I was likely to get. The last thing I needed was to end up red-faced and sweaty in his presence. So, while my jeans are super-comfy, I decided on the shorts, and put them together with a simple gray t-shirt. Sneakers seem like the best idea for my feet, although Saffron holds me up, playing with the laces while I'm trying to tie them.

"You need to stop that." I shoo her away, although she's not easily dissuaded and comes right back, making me smile. "Heaven knows when I'll be home," I say, even though she doesn't understand a word, and is far more interested in pawing at my shoes. "I've left you some extra food, so don't eat it all at once. Okay?" She's ignoring me, which isn't at all unusual, and I get to my feet, grabbing my phone and keys, and heading out the door.

I know Cooper said he'd come up to fetch me, but I can't see the harm in waiting for him, and I stand outside his door, checking the weather on my phone. It looks like it's going to be a hot day, and I'm relieved I went with the shorts now, and am just returning my phone to my back pocket when his door opens and he stops in his tracks, smiling down at me.

"I was just coming upstairs to find you."

"I saved you the trouble," I say, pushing myself off of the wall, and trying not to make it too obvious that I think he looks utterly gorgeous in his stonewashed jeans and a white t-shirt that clings to absolutely every muscle.

"You're never any trouble." His reply makes me smile, and every inch of my skin is tingling with need for him… not that he notices. Instead, he just closes the door and leads the way down the stairs, letting me go ahead of him through the door at the bottom and then locking it behind me.

He does the same with the front door of the dental clinic, and once we're on the sidewalk, we turn to our right, both of us knowing where we're going. Our cars are parked at the rear of the property, in two designated spaces, which are accessed via a track that leads out onto Maple Street. It's a bit of a walk, but as there's no rear access to the clinic, there's no option.

"I'm gonna have to look at putting a door into the back of the building… somehow," he says, looking down at me. "I don't know how, though. Not without getting rid of the storeroom."

"Where would you put all your supplies if you did that?"

"I honestly don't know. Which could be why none of my predecessors have ever tried it. Besides, Greta loves the storeroom. Tidying it is a hobby of hers."

"I'm not surprised. Greta's very organized."

"Don't I know it," he says, rolling his eyes. "But it's still a pain in the ass having to walk around here every time you wanna go somewhere in the car."

"It's far worse when you've been to the grocery store and need to unload everything," I say, looking up, and he nods his head.

"Yeah. Especially if there's nowhere to park out front."

"That's why I've taken to going on Sundays. At least I can park here more easily than I can on a Saturday."

He nods his head as we turn into Maple Street, and take an immediate right behind Dawson's Bar, by-passing the parking lot, and making our way behind the neighboring shops until we reach our destination.

I smile, just like I always do, at how small my hatchback looks beside Cooper's SUV… not that I don't like my Honda. But it is tiny by comparison. His car is fairly new, black and shiny, reflecting the early morning sun as he opens the door and waits for me to climb in.

"Thanks," I say, looking up at him, and he smiles, closing the door again.

He comes around to the driver's side, getting in beside me while I sit and admire the interior. It's impressive, even if I don't understand what everything does. There's no key to start it, but a button, which he presses, the engine firing to life.

"Comfortable?" he says and I nod my head, fastening my safety belt. He does the same, although the space between us is so wide, there's no danger of our hands touching… worst luck.

I know I shouldn't think like that, but I can't help myself… not when he's so close, the scent of his body wash is driving me crazy.

He reverses out of the parking bay with ease, then drives slowly down the track, coming out onto Main Street and turning left at the end.

"Where are we going?" I ask, twisting slightly in my seat so I can look at him in all his perfection.

"Laurel's place to start with." He told me that last night, but I'm none the wiser.

"And where's that?"

"Not far. It's just outside the town."

I nod my head, even though he's focused on driving, a slow-moving truck taking up most of the road in front of us. Not that Cooper seems in any rush to pass it. "You said your friends were moving two houses into one?" I say, to keep the conversation flowing. I like the sound of his voice, even if we're not talking about anything special.

"Yeah. Laurel was married before… to Mitch Bradshaw."

There's something about the way he says that name that makes me shiver slightly, and I wonder if I've heard it before. "Should I know him?"

"That depends. Are you interested in pro-football?"

"Not particularly."

"In that case, as you're not from these parts, you probably won't have heard of him, but Mitch played professional football… that is, when he wasn't being a professional asshole." I laugh, unable to stop myself. I've never heard Cooper say anything like that before and he glances at me, his lips twisting upward into a perfect smile. "Sorry. I probably shouldn't have said that, but there's a story behind all this, which I know, but not many other people do."

"Why do you know it, if it's such a secret?"

"Because Brady told me after it happened. Only Laurel didn't want the entire town knowing intimate details about her private life… at least, not all of it."

"I see," I say, nodding my head again, while trying to think of something else to talk about. Secrets are secrets and I don't expect him to share.

"Mitch cheated on Laurel," he says, surprising me… not because of what he's just said, but that he said it at all.

It feels good that he did, though. For some reason, it makes me feel close to him. "Did they split up?" I ask, concentrating on his face, and noticing the way his features seem to have hardened.

"No. Mitch was driving out of town with his pregnant girlfriend when he crashed his car, killing both of them and their unborn baby." I can't contain my gasp, and he glances over again, his face softening as he looks at me. "As the sheriff, Brady had to tell Laurel about Mitch's death, but he kept the rest of it a secret."

"You mean, he didn't tell her what her husband was doing… about his girlfriend, or the pregnancy?"

"No."

"Because he loved her?" I ask, hazarding a guess at his friend's motives.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"I didn't, but I remember you saying Brady had been pining for Laurel, and I can't see why else he'd have done that."

"No, although it nearly backfired on him when she found out for herself."

"Obviously it didn't, though… not if they're moving in together."

"Oh, they've already done that. They've been living at Laurel's place since the summer."

"The place she shared with Mitch?" I ask and he nods his head. "That must have been difficult, given the history."

"It has been, I think."

"Then why didn't they move into Brady's place?" I ask.

"Because Laurel and Mitch had a daughter. Addy's five now, and Laurel wanted her to have some continuity in her life."

"How does Addy get along with Brady?" I ask, trying to take this all in and wondering what kind of atmosphere I'll be walking into.

"Like a house on fire," he says, smiling as the truck pulls off down a track, and we can speed up at last. "It's kinda cute, really. Brady's adopting her."

"That's lovely."

"Yeah, it is." He turns the car off the main road, onto a narrow driveway.

The property is enormous… much bigger than I'd expected, and when the house itself comes into view, I can't help but whisper the word, "Wow," which makes Cooper chuckle. The style of the place is Colonial, painted in pale gray, with white window frames… of which there are plenty. "I guess Mitch Bradshaw made a lot of money playing football," I whisper.

"Yeah, and then he bought this place."

"He didn't build it?"

"No, but rumor has it, he screwed the interior designer who fixed it up for him."

I turn to face Cooper. "Did he sleep with every woman he met?"

He laughs. "Probably, knowing Mitch."

He parks his car in front of a double garage, behind a silver Lexus, and waves to Brady, who's stacking furniture into the back of a truck that's parked over by the house itself.

"I guess we'd better go help," I say, unfastening my safety belt, but he grabs my arm and I gasp. Not that he seems aware of my response. He's too busy biting on his bottom lip and looking worried.

"Before we do, I need to say, can you keep all of that to yourself?"

"All of what?"

"Everything I just told you… about Laurel and Mitch. Like I say, most people here don't know the details of what happened. I've never spoken to anyone else about it."

"Not even Meredith?"

He looks at me like that's about the dumbest suggestion he's ever heard. "No. It's not the kind of thing we'd discuss, but either way, I don't think Brady and Laurel would want it spread around the town."

I pull back slightly, feeling a little hurt. "I'm not a gossip, Cooper." He frowns, shaking his head. "I'd have thought you'd know that about me by now."

"Yeah… sorry." He looks so contrite, I have to smile, and he smiles back. "Are we okay?" he asks.

We? He can't mean what I hope he means by that, can he? Of course not. He's just checking he hasn't offended me… so there's no need to over-react, or over-interpret.

I nod my head. "We're fine, Cooper. We're just fine."

He doesn't reply but gets out of the car, and rather than wait for him to come around to my side, I open the door and climb out myself. I'm more than capable, and besides, he's busy checking his phone, which he puts back in the car before joining me.

"Is everything all right?" I ask.

"Yeah." He nods his head and, without touching me, leads me toward Brady, who's standing at the back of the truck now, his eyebrows raised as he looks down at me. "This is Mallory," Cooper says, and Brady nods, offering his hand, which I take in a firm shake. "She offered to come help today."

Brady smiles, glancing at Cooper, although his eyes soon drop to me again. "That's kind," he says. "Especially as you don't know us."

I'm about to say that I don't mind in the slightest when a woman appears at the door of the house. She's tall, slim, and wearing jeans and a pale pink blouse, her blonde hair tied up in a ponytail behind her head. At her side is the most adorable little girl, who has slightly blonder hair, and is clutching a teddy bear, like her life depends on it. I guess this must be Laurel and Addy, and as they step out, coming toward us, Addy notices me and tries to hide behind her mom, clearly feeling shy.

"This is Mallory," Brady says, talking to Laurel more than Addy, I think. "She's come to help."

"Oh?" Laurel looks from me to Cooper, smiling, before she turns her attention back to me again. "Do you wanna come inside? I'm still trying to finish packing things in the kitchen, and I'll take any help I can get."

"No problem."

I follow her into the house, and while I'd love to tell her how beautiful it is, I decide against it. Considering the history, and that they're leaving to start afresh, it wouldn't be the most subtle thing to say.

"I'm sure Cooper and Brady will find plenty to do outside," she says, turning to face me as we enter a vast kitchen with an island unit in the center, although it's covered with boxes. In fact, the entire room seems to be a mass of packing cases and Laurel turns to me, one hand resting on her hip, while she rests the other on her daughter's head. "It feels like we should be ready… and yet there still seems to be so much left to do."

"Just give me a box and point me at something to put into it," I say and she smiles, stepping forward and handing me one of the boxes from the top of the island unit.

"If you could deal with the cabinets in the corner," she says, pointing. "They're mostly full of things we're not gonna keep, but it all has to be packed away, I'm afraid."

"That's fine. I can cope with that."

I take the box, heading for the corner of the kitchen, while she crouches in front of Addy. "Are you gonna sit up at the island unit and do some coloring while Mommy finishes up?" she says. I don't hear a reply, but I guess Addy must have nodded her head, because when I turn around, she's sitting on one of the chairs, and her mom has cleared a space and laid out a coloring book and some crayons for her. She seems quite happy, and Laurel comes a little closer, fetching some pasta bowls from one of the cabinets beside me. "I wanna keep these," she says, clutching them against her and smiling at me before she turns away.

She busies herself on the other side of the kitchen for a while, and I've got more than enough to keep myself occupied, loading the box with the contents of the cabinets. Once it's full, I turn around, coughing to get Laurel's attention.

"Do you want me to seal this up?" I ask.

"Oh… yes, please. And if you could label it, too. There's a marker pen around here somewhere." She scouts around on the countertop and finds it, handing it to me, along with a roll of packing tape. "So… how do you know Cooper?" she asks, as I take them from her.

"I'm his receptionist," I say. "I started working for him about three months ago."

"Oh, yes. I remember Brady said something about your predecessor leaving."

"I don't think she was there for very long."

"Not compared to the one before her. She'd been there since before I was born, I think." Laurel smiles, although I'm a little confused by the slight frown that crosses her face. "So… so there's nothing going on?" she says.

"Going on?"

"Between you and Cooper?"

"No." I shake my head, feeling the blush creep up my cheeks.

"Can I take it you'd like there to be?" she asks in the gentlest of voices, and I suck in a breath.

"He's with Meredith, so…"

"But you wish he wasn't?"

I look up and she smiles, her eyes so full of understanding, I don't mind saying, "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes, it is. Sorry."

I shrug my shoulders, unsure why she's apologizing. Is it because she feels sorry for me…because she knows there's no hope?

I don't want to think about that, so I turn away, closing the box I've just packed.

"Where are you from?" Laurel asks, moving back to the other side of the room.

"Southern California."

"Do you know anyone here?" she says. "Is that why you came to Hart's Creek?"

"No. I chose this place by sticking a pin in a map."

There's a second's silence, and then she giggles. I join in and we turn to face each other, Addy glancing from me to her mom, looking confused by our mirth, although she's not interested enough to pay us too much attention and quickly gets back to her coloring.

"Do you regret it?" Laurel asks once we've both calmed down.

"No. Not at all. I've landed on my feet with my job, and I've got somewhere to live. I've adopted a cat, and…"

"And you've fallen for your boss," Laurel says.

"No comment."

She comes over, getting close enough that she can lower her voice and whisper, "Does he know?"

"No, he doesn't. So please don't tell him."

She nods her head, although she looks kinda sad, and then she smiles and says, "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me."