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"Well, I don't want to worry you, but your father has been having some health issues, and we decided it would be best to spend some time resting in the city," my mother says with an air of casualty I know is fake. This must be a bigger deal than she's making it out to be for them to take time off and stay in the city.
"What kind of health issues? Is everything okay?"
"Oh yes, darling, your father's having some stomach pains, and the doctors say the stress is making it worse."
"Do I need to come to the city? Is he going to be okay?"
"You're always welcome to come to the flat, dear, but he will be fine. He just needs rest is all. We have done plenty of tests, and it’s nothing serious."
"Okay, well, please keep me updated," I tell her. I wish she would've told me sooner, but I shouldn't be surprised. It's pretty typical for them to update me only after something major has happened.
"How is Sonoma?" my mother asks with a hint of disdain. My grandparents moved here after my mom went to college, and she has only visited a handful of times. Small town living was not her idea of a fulfilling life.
"It's really great, Mom. I've made a few friends and am settled into the house. I'm happy." I definitely will not be telling her about Cooper. She was not happy with my decision to move here in the first place, believing I was throwing my life away. Telling her about Cooper will let her know I'm serious about staying a good long while, and that's not a fight I want to have right now.
"Are you going to start practicing again? I'm sure they could use a good lawyer down there," she says haughtily as if the people here are all criminals. I sigh into the phone, knowing no matter my answer, she won't be happy with it.
"Not right now, Mom," I say, trying to placate her. I have no desire to practice here at all, but I will not be sharing that additional detail either.
"Well, you're going to have to do something, Quinn Elizabeth. You can't live like a bum forever," she says, scolding what she considers my lack of drive. Little does she know, I talked to Trish, and she wants to sell both my paintings and photographs in her store.
But, “painting is not a career, it's a hobby” as my mother has always said, so it's not like that would make her feel better.
"I know, Mother, and I will. Look, I have to go. Please keep me updated on how Dad is doing." Preferably before you make any other decisions as drastic as moving back to New York.
"Yes, yes, I will." She sighs.
"Goodbye, Mom," I say, hanging up after she responds.
I take a deep, cleansing breath and start my car. I decided it would be safer to stay parked while talking with my mother, knowing it would take every ounce of concentration so I wouldn’t slip up and tell her something she didn’t need to know about.
I pull out of Megan and Todd's driveway and head home. Working to dispel my morose mood, I think about Cooper and our date tomorrow. I can't wait to see him. After hearing how big of a heart Cooper has, I make myself a vow to do everything in my power to protect it with all that I have. It's the least I can do to show him how much I care.
16
COOPER
“What do we know about the B and Es?” my dad asks, breaking the silence with his gruff voice. We’ve been banished to the back deck while mom finishes up dinner. She refuses to let us help her and has always hated us being underfoot while she cooked.
“Honestly, not a whole lot. We can’t get any evidence from the crime scenes and there doesn’t seem to be much of a pattern to them either. We’re at a total loss, and we haven’t been able to catch a break.” I feel Piper nosing my hand, begging for attention. I picked her up when I got back from the highway accident, knowing I wasn’t going to be home at a decent hour.
“Man, Westlake is getting hit one after the other. I’m glad Roberts has let you guys in though. He’s a tough old bastard, but he’s damn good at his job,” my dad says.
He was the police chief before me and has been someone I’ve looked up to since I was little. He’s always been my sounding board, even when I was a teenager, and now that I’ve taken over as chief, he’s become pivotal in my success.
I knew I could bring a problem to my dad and he would be able to help me work it out. Most of the time, he didn’t even need to say anything. Once I laid it all out there, I could figure out the solution on my own.
Unfortunately, the problem with the B and Es seems to elude both of us, which is concerning and really uncommon.
Eventually, Mom pokes her head out of the door, telling us we can come back inside. We dutifully follow her and set the table for dinner. It’s been this way since Levi and I were little. Mom would cook—usually kicking the boys out of the kitchen—and then Levi, Dad, and I would clean up afterward.
“Where’s Levi at tonight?” I ask after we get everything on the table and we’re all sitting down. The wooden table has been laid out with a light blue runner and some sort of pillared centerpiece Dad and I moved to the end, out of the way.
The table is big enough to hold six, so Mom and I are facing each other on opposite sides with Dad at the head of the table. Our plates are laid out in front of us, and the serving dishes are arranged in the middle.
“He is working late because some disaster happened. You know how he gets. He said he’d come over if it wasn’t too late when he finished,” Mom says, rolling her eyes.
Levi works with Max building and renovating houses. Max is the architect and designs the houses, Levi is the contractor and makes the designs happen. Usually, when Levi says there’s been a disaster, it’s an exaggeration, but he can’t let it go, so he ends up working insane hours. It’s paid off though because their business has taken off in the last few years.
