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Cole looked as if he thought his world was going to cave in on him. Hope could see he was extremely concerned and that made her feel so validated and not alone.
He shook his head. “Is Mia okay to walk to the car?”
“Yes. She’ll be okay.”
“Listen, let me take you two to the emergency room. You can get her checked out by a doctor just to be on the safe side.”
“Actually, she should be fine now. She’s settled, so it’s okay. The puffers worked. I can manage from here, thanks,” Hope said.
She assured him that because this hadn’t happened in such a long time and she followed proper protocol, it wasn’t necessary to see a doctor as long as she closely monitored her little one. She had also been educated on the triggers that could incite an attack, like extremely cold air, for instance. It seemed as if the temperature did a serious nosedive since they’d left the church.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you home?”
“Really, Cole…it’s okay.” She really didn’t want to put him out. He’d been helpful already. She was sure he must have had other things to do. He’d always been an overbooked busy guy from as long as she’d known him. “Besides, Mia’s car seat is in my car with all her stuff. We live just around the corner from here. It’s only five minutes to our place.”
“I’ll drive your car then,” he offered with kindness in his eyes that made Hope’s heart flutter.
“Okay, thank you, but what about your SUV?” Hope noted he’d driven the same luxury custom-made SUV he’d gotten almost four years ago.
“I’ll take care of that.”
“Really? How?”
“Since you’re just around the corner, I’ll walk back here. It’ll probably take me five or ten minutes, right?”
“Thank you so much, Cole. I really appreciate it.” Hope had to be honest with herself, she really appreciated his quick thinking and resourcefulness. Her mind was mush right now with Mia’s emergency and so much on her brain. She was glad to have bumped into Cole—even though a food bank was the last place she would have liked to have bumped into him.
Cole scooped up Mia in his arms in such a fatherly way and walked to Hope’s vehicle. She was relieved he was going to take her home. But she was sure there must be a burning question that he had to ask.
The question was, after what just transpired, how was she going to tell him tactfully that the child he was carrying in his arms was his own flesh and blood?
Chapter 4
Cole swept into a supportive role with ease, Hope observed surreptitiously with a sense of relief. She hugged Mia closely to her chest, as Cole turned on the ignition to her car in the dark parking lot. The vehicle took a while to start up. Not surprising with Canada’s famous wind chill. The snow seemed to fall harder as they pulled out.
“When was the last time you had a tune-up?” he asked with concern.
“I’m due to have it done soon.” If I don’t turn my vehicle back in, Hope thought to herself with a little guilt. She was already stretched with her credit and had bought the vehicle from a used car dealership when she returned to Belmont. But she had other things to think about right now. Her tiny little girl in her arms, exhausted after her bout of asthma. Hope couldn’t explain the way she was feeling, but relief was an understatement. Cole showed up at the right time. Or did he? It was as if they’d never parted ways three and a half years ago. To a third-party observer, it would appear that they were a happy family. Only they weren’t. At least two of the three didn’t know they were a family unit. Whatever “family unit” meant.
As Hope sat stroking Mia’s forehead in the backseat of her compact car she could not help but glance up as if by instinct only to see Cole glancing back at her by way of the rearview mirror. Hope felt a tingly shiver slither up her spine. This was going to be a long night. There was so much between them that had to be settled.
After a five-minute drive, they pulled up to a large house with an oversized double garage. Cole helped Hope and Mia out of the vehicle after reversing it into the driveway.
“Is it the front door or side entrance?” he asked Hope.
She hesitated for a moment. “Um…well, it’s neither.”
“Neither?” he asked incredulously.
“Right. It’s um…the garage side entrance door.”
Cole’s jaw fell open. “You’re not serious, are you?”
She sighed heavily while turning the key in the lock at the side door of the garage. She opened the door and they both walked inside with Mia.
“It’s pretty tough out there when you don’t have a J.O.B.,” she said, placing her keys on the side table by the door before switching on the light. The garage was fully furnished and had wall dividers for sections of the apartment.
“I’m in between jobs right now since moving back to Canada,” she continued, “and there isn’t a residential building in sight that would rent to a tenant who couldn’t provide a job reference.”
“Hey, I’m not judging you, Hope. But you should know you can always come back to work at the Belmont. Why didn’t you reach out to me for help?”
“Pride’s a bitch, Cole.” She didn’t mean to sound so direct. “I walked out on you, remember? I just didn’t feel right at the time. I wanted to do things on my own.” There were a lot of things she didn’t feel right about. That was only the half of it.
“But this isn’t very safe, is it?” he said, observing the lock on the garage side door entrance. There was a small window to let in light adjacent to the door and another small window across the apartment on the other side. But not much sunlight could come in, he figured. There was a kitchenette with a two-plate cooker and a compact fridge in the corner.
“I was only planning on staying here until I get another agency job or permanent placement. Then my plan was to move into a regular building or something. This is only meant to be temporary. God, I hate it, but sometimes getting ahead means taking a step backwards to take two steps forward.”
“I’ve always admired your guts, Hope. You’ve always been an independent woman and resourceful person, but…”
“I know. I have a little girl now and I shouldn’t be staying in a place like this, right?”
Just then Cole’s cell phone vibrated, which he ignored. After placing the sleepy Mia down on the bed, behind a wall divider, he left the sleeping area so that Hope could get Mia ready for bed. He went into the living room. He thought the place must be about five-hundred square feet, a large garage, but no place for a mother to raise a kid. Anger toward the landlord surged through his body. He was sure that Belmont had a new bylaw against renting out a garage as a living space, especially considering children were living there. He was going to research it sooner than later.
Cole looked around the garage apartment and noticed Hope was living fairly modestly with a makeshift kitchen and island. A creamy colored three-piece sofa set appeared to be recipient of crayon artwork from a child, no doubt. It still had some stains although washed out. There were a few pictures on the wall, mostly of Mia. His heart was aching for Hope and for Mia having to live under these conditions. But he was also burning to confirm something. As he glanced at the picture on the wall—he noticed Mia resembled him at…that age.
“So where’s Mia’s father?” he asked casually when Hope came into the living room. Too casually for Hope’s liking, he noticed. She shifted uncomfortably.
Again, his cell phone buzzed to be answered. And he ignored it.
“Aren’t you going to answer that? It looks like someone’s trying desperately to get a hold of you,” Hope interjected, probably hoping that she could figure out a good way to break the news to him.
Cole wasn’t usually the type to ignore his cell phone but this time he felt compelled to smooth over what could be a rocky situation with Hope. He would rather tackle this situation head-on and get down to the truth, but he felt she was right this time.
“Hello?” he answered the phone distracted, his eyes still riveted on his beautiful and talented former assistant, Hope.
“Cole, it’s Leo. What took you so long to answer?”
“Hey, Leo. I’m in the middle of something. What do you need?” he answered, not taking his eyes off Hope for a minute.
She sipped on a bottle of water that was on her table and fumbled for the remote to turn on the TV to help fill the void, probably so that it would not seem so obvious that she was desperate to know with whom he was speaking and what they were saying.
“Well, you’d better get back over here. Trouble’s brewing,” Leo replied.
“Trouble? What do you mean by that?” Cole asked with obvious concern.
“Dad’s trying to see all his acquaintances to make amends. Well, guess who he invited to the home?”
“Who?”
“Ernest Jackson, the second.”
“What?” Cole was torn. He couldn’t believe his old man would do that. And never in a million years would he have believed that something else could possibly be more urgent than that. Yet he had to discuss his future with Hope and the little three-year-old surprise guest she brought with her to the food bank.
