AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were awfully quiet on the ride home,” Coop states evenly as he removes his winter coat and flings it onto the back of the living room sofa. “Anything on your mind?”
“Just not in a talkative mood, I guess,” I answer him matter-of-factly. “Which is surprising since I should be ecstatic right now. I should be giddy with excitement and on the phone with my parents, giving them the happy news of my so-called wedding engagement,” I add sarcastically, pulling my heels off while fighting the urge to throw them at his head. “I wonder why that is?”
“Oh, you’re still pissed about that?” Coop has the nerve to chuckle.
“Yes, Coop, I am! What the hell were you thinking telling everyone we were engaged?” I ask, perching my hands on my hips.
“I don’t know. Just came to me. It always feels weird when you introduce me as your boyfriend when we’ve been going outfor so long,” he justifies, adding quotation marks on the word boyfriend as if it were a made-up word.
“But that’s exactly who you are. Just my boyfriend. An actual proposal has to be made first—preferably with a ring and a genuine desire for us to get married—before you can claim me as your fiancé. Not that it even matters, though. As far as I see it, we are light years away from either of us wanting to take such a huge leap in our relationship.”
“You can’t be serious?” he rebukes, with a deep-rooted scowl edged to his lips.
“I am serious. Dead serious.” I frown, crossing my arms over my chest to prove my point.
“Babe, I think you must have drunk too much wine at the party tonight. You’re not making any sense.” He waves me off as if being angry with him was not only completely unjustified but also ridiculous.
“I’m the one not making sense?!” I shout, throwing my arms in the air in utter frustration for him not taking me seriously. “You just bold-faced lied to a bunch of people, some of whom have been friends with us since we were kids, that we are engaged?! And I’m the one not making any sense?!”
“You’re sounding like we’re not?” he counters with such a straight face that I’m not sure what is more troublesome—his delusion or that he actually believes his own bullshit.
“Because we aren’t!” I shout at the top of my lungs since nothing else seems to be getting through to him.
“And that’s my fault?” he yells back. “If you had moved to Manhattan with me when I asked you to, then we’d be married already, rather than engaged.”
“That’s not fair. We both agreed that we would focus on our jobs first before making such a decision.”
“God, aren’t you tired of always coloring within the lines, Charlotte? Where is that girl who lived for adventure? Who wasspontaneous and wild? I liked that girl a whole lot better than the one standing in front of me.”
“That girl grew up, Cooper,” I retort, using his full name since he made it a point to use mine. “That girl worked her ass off to get to where she is now. And honestly, it’s insulting to have to stand here and listen to you lecture me about how much I’ve changed when you’ve changed just as much. The boy I fell in love with was sweet and considerate. And he would never dream of lying to our friends about something as serious as marriage. But now… now… that job has turned you into someone I don’t even recognize anymore.”
“If that’s truly how you feel, then why are we even together anymore?” he shouts, nostrils flaring.
“Honestly? I’m not sure we should be anymore,” I admit, my anger losing its steam to give way to clarity.
“You have got to be joking?” he counters, stunned that I’d say such a thing to his face.
“I’m not. I mean… do you even love me, Cooper?”
“What kind of fucking question is that?!”
“An honest one. Do you?”
“Of course I do. Why? Don’t you love me?”
When I go silent, his eyes turn wild.
“It’s that fucking hockey player putting things in your head! He’s the motherfucker who’s making you question our relationship! Admit it?!”
Well, that kiss sure didn’t help matters.
“Client, my ass,” he adds before I have time to defend myself.
Not that I have a leg to stand on. Not when it comes to Nate, anyway.
“I saw the way you were looking at him. And I damn well saw how he gobbled you up with his eyes too!”
“It’s not him, Coop. I’ve been feeling this way for a while now,” I explain, trying to steer the conversation back to us instead of fixating on Nate or what he means to me.
