We all take our seats around the table and somehow I not-so-subtly end up in the only empty seat next to Cooper.Lucky me.Even if my lady bits think we are pretty fucking lucky.
The dinner is a loud boisterous night. After we spent an hour and a half eating at the table, I needed a break. A very quiet break. Sneaking out the kitchen door, I hide on the bench in the corner of the porch.
When the door opened again, I sat as still and quiet as I could, hoping that whoever it was would leave. But instead I watched a silhouetted figure stand at the edge of the steps, exhaling a slow breath.
“My family can be a lot,” Cooper says to the backyard without even turning to see who was out here.
“Um, yeah, they’re fine, it’s just me.” How the hell did he know I was here?
He laughs. “Don’t feel bad admitting it. I think they’re a lot too. Sometimes small doses of Keatons are better. Adjusting to being home has been more challenging than I thought. Not that I don’t love my family, it’s just…”
He moves to sit next to me on the bench. His muscular thigh brushing against mine.
“I get it. I love Aggie and Tommy. And I appreciate everything they’re doing for us, but sometimes I just want to sit in front of the fire. Sometimes I miss my quiet life where no one cared what I was doing. Including Jack.” If I could slap my own forehead right now, I would. Why do I keep admitting shit to him?
“I can see that. It must be hard coming from Montana to Maine. Did you have a big support system there like you do here? Because, just so you know, you’re now officially in the Keaton fold and they will fuss over you every chance they get.”
“Just my best friend, Sophia. I stayed home with Lily so I didn’t have many friends. I met Sophia by chance at Buckles and Brews, our coffee shop, when we got each other’s order. Safe to say she didn’t want the hot cocoa or the coffee with five espresso shots.” I shrug, a small smile playing at the corner of my lips.
“Five? I think the max I’ve ever survived was three on a flight back from Shanghai. Damn, girl.” He laughs, bumping my shoulder with his.
“Lily was going through a mental growth spurt. Sleep was not our friend for a couple of weeks. Sophia caught us on the tail end of it and I was forcing us out of the house so we didn’t take a nap on the couch, hoping to make sleep happen at night time again.”
“Well, that sounds like hell if you ask me.”
“Oh, it was. Thank goodness she sleeps now.”
Our time is interrupted when Anna Keaton pokes her head out the kitchen door. “Dessert is being served. Thought maybe you two might like some. Or not. Whatever you choose.” She smirks with a wink before going back inside.
“How about a brownie and a walk? I can show you the best spot for escaping if you promise to keep it a secret,” he asks me.
“Let me ask—”
“You don’t have to. I’ll tell Ma. She’ll watch her. Be right back.”
Before I can even agree he’s back inside to get us brownies and a babysitter. I don’t know what’s come over me to make me feel like I should tell him any of that. He’s easy to talk to, that has to be it. All through dinner he kept me laughing right along with Lily. Safe to say she is his new biggest fan.
“Okay, I got us four brownies before anyone came to chase me out of the dining room, so we should probably get a move on,” he says, running off the deck.
When he doesn’t stop to wait for me, I get up and run after him. He doesn’t stop until we’re at the edge of the tree line.
“That was close. Violet made the brownies. And they’ve got peanut butter frosting on them. Good thing she knows our crew and made three dozen.”
We fall into step next to each other. “Three dozen? That’s a lot of brownies.”
“No way. Not with my brothers. Those will be gone in five seconds. She’s used to us though. She’s been feeding us since she moved back to Balsam Cliffs a year ago and started working at the inn.”
“Oh, she’s not from here? I thought she owned Sweet Violets in town?”
He talks around a mouth full of sweet confection. “She came for summers to visit Margaret, her grandmother. When a pipe burst last winter during a storm she moved home to help, thenshe got sucked into Liam’s orbit and she hasn’t found a way out yet.”
Judging by the closeness between the two and the stolen kisses, I don’t think she wants to find a way out.
“What about you? Tommy says you travel a lot?” I feel a need to know more about him.
He stops standing at the edge of the cliffs, overlooking the vast ocean ahead of us. Gesturing with his hands, he invites me to look out at the view and enjoy his spot with him.
“I did. I still travel now, but not as much. I actually just opened my own travel blog, and I leave for my first trip tomorrow. I’m going to Hemlock Cove to feature them in my first article. But I did work as a photographer for a popular magazine, until I couldn’t do it anymore. I wanted a home base.”
