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Maybe it was best to let old memories stay in the past.
So much of his life was up in the air. He had to hold on tight to the good things today.
Like Vivi.
Chapter Six
“Nobody told me boot camp was thirty minutes earlier than hip hop cardio,” Vivi muttered as she came slowly down the front steps the next morning, bleary-eyed and with her hair in a familiar, messy ponytail.
Coop smiled at her, handing over a small paper cup with a double shot of espresso and taking time to compare her face to that of the girl he’d kissed all those years ago. He couldn’t see more than a shadow of similarity.
Truth be told, he’d been a little worried last night thinking about what Vivi had told him of the choice she’d made between love and her career. His family was prominent in Texas. And there was the article that had come out last holiday season about Coop being one of the most eligible and elusive bachelors in the southern states. He wanted to be a man Vivi could be proud of, someone who wouldn’t be cause for her to lose out on tenure.
“I’m looking forward to the squash party,” Dotty said, dancing her way into the car.
After a late night of driving vacationers, Coop envied the old girl her energy.
“Not squash.Squat. It’s a squatparty.” Vivi threw back the two shots of caffeine he’d provided like it was a tequila shot. She left the empty cup on the bottom step of the front porch. “No one looks forward to squat parties, least of all me. Thanks for the espresso, Shakespeare.”
“My pleasure.” He held the door open for her to get in. “Did you sleep well last night?”
“Don’t push your luck,” she muttered, narrowing her eyes.
“I slept like a log,” Dotty piped up from the back seat. “Exercise will do that for you, along with an empty house.”
“Do you know what else happens in an empty house?” Vivi muttered, dropping into the seat next to her grandmother. “Sound. Any little sound. It travels through an empty house like the roar of saws working through thick logs.”
“Are you saying I snore?” Dotty lost some of her perpetual good humor, enough so that Coop leaned in the open door in case he needed to referee.
“You? Snore? Grandma Dotty, no one ever says you snore.” Vivi pushed Coop out and pulled her door shut but not before flashing a sarcastic expression his way.
Oh, Dotty snores, all right.
Coop hurried around the car and got in, not wanting to miss any of their conversation.
“I popped right up when my alarm went off,” Dotty was saying. “I’m fresh as a daisy.”
“Let’s see how you feel after this squash party.” Vivi leaned her head against the window and sighed.
“I take it someone isn’t a morning person,” Coop ventured, putting the car into gear.
“As a professor, I keep banker hours.” Vivi shoved on a pair of dark glasses. “And I walk for exercise while listening to podcasts. I don’t usually get up at the crack of dawn or exercise with music blaring and someone shouting at me to shake it to the left.”
“New experiences keep you young,” Dotty sing-songed as if she’d told Vivi this before.
Coop drove them to the small park where Kelcie held her boot camps. “I don’t suppose Shakespeare’s quote about wearing your heart on your sleeve could pertain to bad moods.”
“It pertains.” Vivi didn’t look as if the idea made her happy though.
“I believe that cowboy of yours read Othello.” Dotty caught Coop’s eye in the rear view mirror and grinned. “No man’s ever read Shakespeare for you, Vi.”
“He didn’t read it. His father has a habit of dropping quotes.”
“I read it in high school.” And again in college. Not that the deeper meanings had stuck with him.
Vivi scrubbed her forehead. “Apologies to everyone in the car. Apparently, no one should talk to me or listen to me before seven a.m. and a full cup of coffee.”
“Your espresso should kick in soon,” Coop said kindly as he pulled up to the curb. “And moving your body should loosen up any sore muscles from yesterday.”
