“What happened yesterday?” He presses.
“Nothing. Just business.”
“Parker. It’s me.” He rounds the desk and levels me with a look. A serious one.
“She’s doing my PT for the next six weeks. Have a home health agreement with the doctor.”
His brows lift in surprise. “And I’m assuming Laiken is thrilled.”
“I wouldn’t use the word thrilled.”
Pissed.
Angry.
Furious.
“You ever going to tell me what went down with you two?” he asks.
I shift in my boots. “Not a lot to tell.” I pause, finally giving a portion of the truth. “I hurt her, Coop. I’ve spent seven years trying to forgive myself.”
Understanding flashes in his eyes. “And now you need her to forgive you.”
“That’s the goal.”
Cooper reaches out to squeeze my uninjured shoulder. “I know you, Parker. You’d never intentionally hurt anyone. But it’s complicated now. She has Trace.”
Trace. Her son. My chest pinches. Again. The fact she had a child with someone else. Someone that isn’t me.
“Make it right.” He steps away from me. “But if you aren’t all in, don’t waste her time. She deserves better than two weeks of your attention when you’re passing through.”
His words hurt.
Only because they’re true.
She deserves the fucking world. And I am here to give it to her. Trace too.
I dip my chin. “I’m all in.”
Now I just have to convince her to give me a chance to prove it.
Chapter six
Laiken
“Please tell me this is a joke,” I whisper.
Mainly to myself. Not to the man across from me, who practically bathes me with pity.
The day has been going well. I spent most of the morning unpacking what little we brought along with us in the move after the girls left. Trace’s room is officially set up, and even though all I have is a mattress on the floor and a dresser I bought from Penelope in my room, it was coming along.
Until now.
Until two hours ago, when I heard a commotion downstairs and stumbled into an absolute disaster.
Water. Everywhere.
Luckily, Micky Mack, a guy I went to high school with and who now works for his family’s plumbing company in Mayson Ridge, was able to get over here in record time.
