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I want…I wanna go home.”
“Okay.” Em smoothed her hand over Jo Ellen’s hair. “Okay. We’ll do that right now. It’s our last day here anyway.”
“What’s going on?” Cooper cut in, increasingly afraid the answer was going to mortally wound him.
His friend glanced at him, her eyes suspiciously moist as she tucked Jo Ellen protectively close. “We have to leave. Joey and I. We’re leaving town. We’re going to Reno to stay with our aunt for the rest of the school year.”
“What?” Oxygen vacated him, leaving him dizzy and cold. “Why?”
Emma Leigh sent a quick, worried look at her twin before cringing. “Just…just because. B-because Daddy said so.”
Frowning, Coop glanced at Jo Ellen. None of this made sense. It obviously had something to do with Jo Ellen, and Emma Leigh couldn’t talk about it, not even to Cooper. But what had happened?
Guilt gnawed at him. Was this his fault? Had Mr. Rawlings discovered what he’d done to her? How he kissed her and let her touch his—
No, that couldn’t be it. No one had approached him or said anything to make him think—
“And Untermeyer, that lousy asshole, broke up with her,” Emma Leigh went on, making Coop perk to attention. “He said he couldn’t handle everything. He couldn’t do a long-distance relationship, couldn’t deal with our mess.”
Swallowing, Cooper tried to digest everything. Jo Ellen was leaving. But she wasn’t dating Untermeyer anymore. Hope and sadness combined and twisted inside him while worry about what exactly their mess entailed morphed into one huge ball of confusion. He didn’t want her to go anywhere. But honestly…
He could handle a long-distance relationship.
The first bell of the day rang. The twins jumped and Coop glanced back at the school before he returned his attention to Emma Leigh. “What do you need me to do?” Set and determined to skip first hour if not the entire day, he was going to help the girls in any way he could.
Emma Leigh nestled her weeping sister close and steered her in the direction of the parking lot. “I’m taking her home. I already have all my stuff gathered, but can you finish cleaning out her locker for me and turning in all her textbooks?”
He nodded, a little disappointed that was all she wanted from him. “Anything else?”
“Yeah. Get back inside before you’re late to class.”
* * * *
Dusk filled the air as Cooper pulled his old rattletrap into the Rawlings’ drive that evening. In the passenger seat sat a paper plate full of his mother’s home-baked chocolate chip cookies covered with a thick layer of Saran Wrap plus Jo Ellen’s book bag filled with all her possessions from her locker.
He would’ve come straight here after school, but he’d needed time to think. There was something very fishy behind Emma Leigh’s announcement. Why would the Rawlings so suddenly decide to send both girls away during their senior year? Something big, enormous, must’ve happened to prompt this decree. Cooper concluded it had to be something to do with Untermeyer. Em had faulted him with ‘everything’ at school.
Maybe her parents had found out Jo Ellen and Untermeyer were sexually active. Cooper shuddered, and told himself he wasn’t going to think about that ever again. Besides, she and Pretty Boy were over. It was time for him to step in.
Cleaned up and wearing the second best outfit he owned, Cooper parked and killed the engine. He stole a minute to panic. How in the hell he was going to manage this, he had no idea. But he was going to try for Jo Ellen tonight if it killed him. This just might be the last chance he ever had.
Wiping his sweaty palms on his thighs, he gathered up the things he’d brought and slipped from the truck. His heartbeat seemed to echo after each footfall he made as he moved closer and closer to the front door. It felt like the walk of doom, and he wasn’t sure why. But he kept going anyway.
The door opened as soon as he stepped onto the covered front porch. When Jo Ellen appeared, his insides brightened. Anticipation built.
“I think I got everything,” he said, lifting her bag, humiliated by how breathless he sounded.
She wouldn’t meet his gaze as she reached for the strap. “Thank you so much, Cooper. I really appreciate this.”
He nodded. “And Mama made y’all a plate of cookies when she heard you and Em were leaving.” He tilted them for her to see.
Jo Ellen gathered her book bag close, holding it tight to her chest as if she felt she needed an extra layer of protection from him. Still keeping her eyes lowered, she reached for the cookies with a soft smile. “Sounds like your mama. She’s such a sweetheart.”
Coop’s grin was quick. “Yeah,” he agreed, his heart singing. Jo Ellen liked his mama. Since he had a soft spot for Loren Gerhardt himself, her affection pleased him. “Thinks she can solve all the problems in the world with a hearty, home-cooked meal.”
Jo Ellen didn’t respond, and the silence became uncomfortable. But she continued to linger outside, which seemed promising.
He cleared his throat. “Jo Ellen, I think we need to talk about—”
