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“No, of course not. I’m going to finish up and get back to work, but you’re going to lie down. Got it?”
He reached across and squeezed my forearm. “Yes, boss. But you promised you’d lie down with me.”
“I will after I get a few more things knocked out in the cabin.”
He smiled at me with bright eyes. “Okay, good.” Then he pressed the button to dial his brother.
The animated way he told Jacks about the opportunity confirmed what I’d already suspected. This was a dream opportunity for him, something he’d never had in the years he’d actively pursued an acting career in LA. If there was anything I could do to help him get this role, including letting him out of this project sooner, I would have to do it.
Because I wanted him to be happy. Whether that was in a life that included me or not.
I shoved my headphones in and got back to work.
20
Cooper
I was too excited to sleep, but I still took Nine’s advice and got into bed. Instead of napping, I continued editing the step stool tutorial until I had it ready to upload. It was a good way to keep my mind off the call from Hollywood.
When I heard the RV door open and the clomp of Nine’s heavy footfalls on the steps, I called out to Nine. “Hey, I have the stool tutorial ready, but I wanted to talk to you about the best way to use it to cross over your Nine fans with the Cooped fans. Since this is more like one of your Nine tutorials, I thought…”
The door slammed closed again and Nine was gone. I stared at the closed door. Only Nacho stood there drinking from his water bowl.
That wasn’t like him. He either hadn’t heard me, which was possible if he had his earbuds in, or he’d heard me and ignored me. I chose to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it still made me nervous.
I called my brother back even though I’d just spoken to him a little while ago about the call from my agent.
“Hey, miss me?” Jacks said with a smile when he answered.
“Never.” I took a breath. “Um, I need—”
“Uh-oh.”
“No, it’s fine. I just…” Suddenly, and without warning, my eyes felt tight. I flashed a glance toward the main part of the RV to make sure I was definitely alone. “I…” This wasn’t easy.
“It’s the guy.” His voice was full of sympathy which didn’t help my eye problem at all.
“It’s the guy,” I answered in a small voice.
“He doesn’t want you to get the job? Because if so, that’s a problem, Coop.”
“No, it’s not that. I mean, I don’t even know. But it doesn’t really matter because he’s not… I mean, it’s not… like, between the two of us, there really isn’t a future together that I can see working out anyway, so…”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Nacho leaped up onto the bed and settled next to me. I reached out a hand to stroke his long golden fur. I took a deep breath and plastered on a smile. “So it’s fine. I mean, it’s been fun, don’t get me wrong, but going back to LA with a cowboy in tow is hardly—”
“Don’t do that,” Jacks snapped. “This is me you’re talking to. Don’t bullshit me.”
I let out the breath and sank back down into the covers. “I don’t want to want him, and I damned sure don’t want to need him.”
Jackson’s laugh was familiar and comforting even though he was laughing at me. “You don’t need anyone, do you? Never have, never will.”
“Damned straight. I especially don’t need a man to make me happy. I’ve taken enough of Mom’s online quizzes to learn that.”
We shared a laugh even though it covered up a huge pile of horseshit.
When Jacks spoke again, his voice was more careful. “You deserve someone to take care of you. You may not need it, but you deserve it.”
“Pfft.” I knew better than to rely on someone else for my own happiness. I may have been joking about it before, but I really didn’t need anyone else in order to live a good life. I’d learned from watching my mother that relying on someone else was a recipe for a whole lot of hurt.
“Not every man is like Dad.”
Fucking mind-reading brothers.
“And how do you know that?” It wasn’t like Jacks had had any more luck in the relationship department than I had. The minute he’d started having health problems, his boyfriend had hit the road claiming he was “too young and free for this shit.” Yet another reason I’d learned not to rely on others. It had wrecked my brother.
I regretted my words but didn’t take them back.
“Because there hasn’t been a day in twenty years that Marchie Kagen hasn’t stood by me and made and supported me in every way.”
