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Grabbing a plate, Cooper pulls a few steaks from the fridge and some potatoes from a wire bowl on the counter. “I can grill a mean steak. Not exactly cook a four-course dinner. But you need to eat something.”
He rounds the corner and drops a kiss on my lips. “There’s stuff for a salad in there too. Emerson ordered everything. She said she can’t go another day without eating something green.”
My eyes stay glued to his ass as he walks out onto the back deck and fires up the grill. Rook brings his empty glass and the pretzel bowl into the kitchen, adding them to the dishwasher, and then turns toward me. I see a question practically on the tip of his tongue, but he’s not saying anything.
“What kinds of deep thoughts are you working through over there, soldier?” I move to the other side of the island and lay a few ingredients for a salad on the counter.
“Has he talked to you?” Rook looks toward the door, then back at me.
“About what?” I dump the lettuce in the wooden bowl and start cutting up the tomatoes.
Rook grabs one out of my pile, popping it into his mouth. “Anything? His memory loss? Losing Linc? How fucked up everything is with Axel? He’s not talking about it.”
“Are you?” I fire back, defensive of Cooper. “Are you guys even allowed to talk about any of that?”
“I’m worried about him, Carys. I talked to my older brother when I first got back to the states. He’s always been the one we go to, not that any of us would ever admit it. And if you repeat it, I’ll deny every word. But I think Coop needs to talk about it. This shit... This life... It messes with you. It fucks you up in ways that have nothing to do with the physical. I think, in some ways, Sinclair’s using the need to protect you and Em as a reason not to deal with the rest of it.” He hands me a cucumber, once I’ve added the tomatoes to the salad. “I’m worried about the fucker.”
I dice the rest of the salad quietly, thinking about everything Rook just laid out before turning around. “I’ll work on it. I don’t know if he’ll listen to me, but I can try.”
Emerson walks into the room with Elodie tucked in her arms. “What do I smell?”
“Coop’s grilling steaks.” I push the salad away and grab four plates from the cabinet.
“Good. My evil plan worked.” Her smile stretches a mile wide. “I figured if I ordered enough meat, one of the two men who’ve decided to live in my house wouldn’t be able to help themselves, and you and I would have a dinner we didn’t have to make ourselves.”
“You’re a genius.” I kiss the baby’s head before I set the table.
“What’s that look for, Rook?”
Em points at his face as the man mutters something sounding an awful lot like, “Evil genius.”
After I set the table, I pull my phone out and shoot off a text.
Carys:Soooo... Something big happened.
Chloe:Well, after today’s game, we know Cooper didn’t break Murphy.
Daphne:Do we though?
Maddie:Umm, excuse me. Why are we assuming it had to be Cooper who hurt Murphy? Why couldn’t Carys have done it herself?
Carys:Thank you, Maddie. Little sisters unite!
Carys:And why are we assuming anyone was maimed here, people? Is it that hard to believe it was a civilized dinner?
Chloe:Civilized and your brother are not two words we put together, Carys.
Carys:Point taken. BUT. But, but, but... you’re missing MY point.
Daphne:Do you actually have a point?
Carys: We made up.
Maddie: Made what up?
Daphne: OMG, Mads. WTF. You are not that blonde.
Maddie: Oh... OH. YAY! That’s awesome.
