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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
NORA
The door flew open and Kristin ran out to the truck. “You’re here.” She unbuckled Cooper and took his hand. “We are going to have so much fun.” Kristin was a child herself most of the time. It was the reason she related to Cooper so well.
“Auntie Kristin, what's for supper?” Cooper skipped along, holding her hand.
“Well, I was going to get pizza, but then I thought of mac and cheese with hot dogs cut up in it. How does that sound?” She smiled down at him.
“That’s great, it’s my favorite. Since Mom’s been cooking at the ranch I never get it, because the guys want something better. Or that’s what Mom says.” Kristin looked over her shoulder and smiled at me.
Cooper chattered on most of the evening and passed out on the couch before his first movie was over. “You’re staying here tonight. I’ve made up the room for him down the hall and you and I are having an old-fashioned sleepover, so take him to bed and I’ll get the wine,” she demanded, leaping off the couch and running into the kitchen. Gently lifting Cooper, I went and put him to bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I brushed his hair out of his face and just stared at him. We’d moved so much, he’d never known a home and as much as the Flying Diamond 5 had been a home it was someone else’s. Going back to Texas would be our home. It would be where we put down roots, where our life would really begin.
Kissing him on the forehead, I left his room and almost ran into Kristin. “Here.” She handed me a glass of wine and I followed her back to the living room. “Okay, I picked out the movie. Here’s your blanket, we can share the popcorn and let’s get watching.” She pulled her blanket up and I did the same.
“So what’s up first?” I asked, taking a sip of wine.
“Hope Floats.” She reached for the remote and I slammed my hand down on it.
“Nope. No it’s not.” I shook my head, there was no way I was ever watching that movie again.
“What? It’s a great movie.”
“It was a great movie when I watched it with Kipp, mostly because we didn’t watch it. Nope, I can’t do that tonight.” I drank my entire glass of wine and Kristin filled it again.
“Kipp doesn’t seem like a Hope Floats kind of guy, more like a shoot ‘em up western type.”
“Well, I’m sure he wasn’t normally a romantic movie guy, but he never complained.” Taking a sip of my wine, I smirked, remembering all the movies we’d started and never finished.
“Probably because you’d make out through the entire thing.” She smirked while taking a drink. I grabbed a pillow and tossed it at her. Her laughter rang through the house. I let my head fall back onto the couch.
“I should have left a note telling him where I was going. It was wrong just leaving like I did.” Sighing, I looked over at my best friend and she looked guilty. “What did you do?”
“Well, I might have told Linc you were coming over tonight.” She ran her finger around the rim of her glass as she winced.
“I thought you weren’t talking to him?” I grabbed a pillow and leaned on it, waiting for her to tell me what was happening.
“We were supposed to have a date tonight, then I saw you at the coffee shop and knew you needed this more than I needed another date with Linc.” She smiled and shrugged. There would never be any way to tell her how much I appreciated her friendship.
“Oh my God, I can’t keep up with you two.”
“Have you ever just known someone’s your person? Like no matter what you deal with, as long as they are in your life you know things are going to be alright?” she asked, filling our wine glasses again. Not that they were low but they were topped up now. “That’s Lincoln for me. He’s always there no matter what I need. We can be seething mad at one another and if I call he drops everything and shows up.” The smile on her face said it all. She was in love and it was just a matter of being the right time for those two.
“I didn’t know until this spring,” I whispered as the ache grew in my chest. “Life was just me, and Cooper. I didn’t need anyone… until Kipp.” My voice trailed off. I took a deep breath and looked at her again. “It wasn’t just Kipp. It was the rest of the guys, Julie, you, and maybe even Fred.” I reached you for her hand. “I didn’t let people in because every time I did I got hurt, so I closed myself off. I didn’t want Cooper to feel the same rejection, so I kept it just him and me. Over the past seven months, my world has completely changed.”
“Well, that’s it, I won’t allow you to leave. You’ll get this figured out with Kipp. I can’t let my best friend and her son leave.” She said it so matter of fact I believed her. Maybe she was right, maybe I could stay here.
“Wait, if you had to cancel a date with Lincoln you would have told him why,” I said, pointing at her. “Did you tell him I was why you were ditching him?” The pieces were all coming together, and this felt more like a set up than a girls night.
“Yes, I did, but I have no idea if he passed on that information.” Kristin arched her brow and looked rather happy with herself over this entire thing.
“Oh, he passed it on. I know those men too well. They don’t keep anything from one another.” Shaking my head, I couldn't even be mad. In fact, I wondered if he would actually still come after me.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
KIPP
Finding her the next morning was simple. Fred was nothing without her and it would’ve been easy for her to just walk in and declare she was working. She wouldn’t have even had to beg. The town was buzzing about her being back and I sat down the block, watching the coffee shop, waiting for a lull. What I wanted to do didn’t require a bunch of eyes on us.
