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“Panties incoming.”
Jo Ellen stepped forward and caught the wad of cloth sailing over the bathroom stall. She grimaced when her fingers encountered wetness. But determined to be a supportive cousin-in-law, she trooped dutifully toward the dryer.
“Please don’t tell him, Em,” Lex had resorted to begging. “This is downright humiliating.”
Thinking the two needed their attention diverted, Jo Ellen cleared her throat and decided now was as good a time as any to announce, “So, I ran into Travis the other day.”
Mission accomplished, she watched Emma Leigh gasp and swivel toward her. Eyes wide with shock, she opened her mouth to demand answers. Jo Ellen pushed the dryer on, successfully drowning out her twin’s question.
“Where? What happened? What’d he say?” Emma demanded as soon as the loud rush of air stopped venting through the machine.
After drawing in a huge breath, Jo Ellen explained how she’d encountered him at Mr. Sheffield’s house party while she patted Lexi’s underwear to see they were still a bit damp.
Eww.
“Did you spit in his face?”
Jo Ellen frowned. “Of course not. Why would I spit in his face?” Without waiting for Em’s certain rebuttal, she pushed the dryer back on.
“Why!?” Emma Leigh repeated as soon as the dryer died down again. “Because the creep dumped you after knocking you up…when you were eighteen. Oh my God, Joey. The asshole left you high and dry to deal with a major problem all by yourself. If I were you, I would’ve racked him between the legs right before giving him a bloody nose.”
Jo Ellen smiled. “Well, I’m sure Travis appreciates that I’m not you then.”
“I cannot believe you're getting back together with that piece of slime.”
Jo Ellen scowled. “I never said I was getting back together with him.”
“But you plan to meet him?”
“Yes, I told you I want to tie up—”
“And you gave him your cell phone number?”
“Yes, but—”
“Oh my God, you're getting back together with him.”
“Good Lord, Emma Leigh. Will you just listen to me?”
“He knocked you up when you were eighteen,” Em repeated, “then dumped you, leaving you to deal with the fallout. How can you be so stupid as to even talk to him again?”
“There are unresolved issues. I want this settled. I want—”
“How can you waste your time on settling anything with him? There are so many better men out there who'd take you in a heartbeat. Hell, Coop just outside this door is one of them.”
Abruptly forgetting all the different arguments brewing inside her, Jo Ellen blinked. “Cooper?”
“Yes!” Emma Leigh set hands on her hips with an exasperated huff. “He had a raging thing for you all through high school. God, maybe before that.”
A strange tingle blanketed Jo Ellen's skin. Cooper Gerhardt? A thing? For her? No. It couldn't be. Still, the idea of that handsome man out in the bar truly being interested in her made her shiver, the good kind of shiver. A hot chill burned up the length of her spine, only increasing the shudder.
“No, he didn't,” she insisted on a laugh, a very stiff, uncertain laugh. “Em, don't be ridiculous.”
“I'm not being anything but honest,” Emma Leigh charged. “The boy was freaking crazy about you. Every time he saw me, he’d always—always—send this quick glance around me to check out who I was with. Took me a couple years to figure out he was looking for you. Whenever you were with me, his eyes would spark and his nostrils would flare before he zipped his gaze away. Then he'd make sure not to set eyes on you again while you were around. And when you weren’t with me, he’d keep searching, waiting for you to appear.”
Jo Ellen shook her head. “Emma Leigh, that’s…well, it’s outrageous.” But even as she denied it, a heavy ball of nerves plopped into the base of her stomach.
Cooper Gerhardt.
