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Weaving in and around party-goers, it took them another few minutes to get to her.
Darn crowd.
“Do you have any water?” Dotty asked when they reached her. She’d removed her big, white denim coat and had set it on a nearby chair. “All this dancing in this heat…I’m parched.” She fanned herself with her hand.
“You scratched yourself.” Vivi rushed in, wetting her thumb with her mouth and then wiping away the thin streak of blood on Dotty’s cheek. “I told you that ring was dangerous. Where is it?”
“In my jacket pocket.” Dotty waved a hand in the direction of her coat. “Along with my cell phone and that twenty. I’m parched. Flag down a passing waiter, will you?”
Not wanting Dotty to receive a spiked drink and needing a few minutes to frame his explanation for hiding his true identity, Coop volunteered to get the old girl a glass of water.
When he returned to the gazebo several minutes later, Simon and Kelcie had joined Vivi and Dotty. Coop’s gut clenched. The music was too loud, and he was too panicked to have rehearsed what to say to Vivi about his true identity.
“Coop.” Simon clapped him on the back, making Coop spill some of Dotty’s water.
“That’s twice he’s called you that.” Vivi crossed her arms over her chest. There was an accusation and vulnerability in her eyes. She didn’t like to be disappointed or lied to. He wouldn’t have either. “I knew you weren’t aChuck.”
“I can explain,” Coop said, handing Dotty her water. He drew Vivi a few steps away from the others.
“I want to hear, too.” Dotty followed, drinking from her water glass. “He’s my favorite limo driver.”
“Limo driver?” Simon nudged his way in the circle between Vivi and Coop. “He’s the most eligible bachelor in the south. He might be more famous than I am. Plus, he comes from Texas oil money. The real deal. He doesn’t need to work a day in his life.”
“I can explain,” Coop repeated.
“Not work?” Dotty laughed. “Chuck’s been driving us around for days.”
“And he was crushed when Beeswax Farm fired him,” Vivi said, looking dubiously at Coop. “Is it true? Are you wealthy? And…and a celebrity of sorts?”
“Yes and no.” Coop could tell she was worried about his reputation marring her chances for tenure at Harvard. He reached for Vivi, trying to draw her closer. “Can we talk somewhere in private?”
Vivi moved away, out of reach. “We don’t need privacy. We need honesty. And that’s something you should have no problem letting everyone hear.”
“I don’t get it.” Kelcie glanced up at Simon. “Did Chuck change his name?”
“He has many names,” Simon said with a suddenly sympathetic glance at Coop. “He has many names, just like I do. Let’s give them a minute.” He led the fitness instructor a few feet away, coming around behind the gazebo and the chair where Dotty had left her coat, earning Coop’s forgiveness for spilling the beans about who he was in the first place.
Heartened because Vivi hadn’t left him, Coop chose his words carefully. “I told you about my father, Vivi. About what he told me to do.”
“He wanted you to find something to do other than…” Vivi gestured toward the crowded house and pool. She took a few steps out of the gazebo. “Oil? I thought he owned a garage or a local jewelry store or something. I thought he sent you, his hardworking son, out to find himself. Not—”
“I’ve been on my own for two months. Working any job I could find. And trying to figure out my future.” Coop followed her. “And for the record, Chuck is a nickname for Charles, my first name. My Texas friends know me as Coop, short for my middle name—Cooper.”
“You lied to me. Oil… You being famous…” Her fingers hovered over her lips. “I have no idea who I was…with.”
“I didn’t lie,” he hurried to say. “I am ChuckandCoop. Just like you’re Violet and Vi and Vivi.”
“I amnotVivi.” Brown eyes blazing, her hands landed on her hips. “And to think I was falling for you. Nothing about you is real.”
“I’m real,” he stated in a calm voice. “And what you feel for me is real, whether you call me Chuck or Coop or Shakespeare.”
“I’m not going to call you anything!” Vivi’s eyes teared up.
His heart sank, but he refused to leave her side and shy away from her disappointed stare.
Someone shouted unintelligible words.
“Did you hear that? They’re calling for dancers.” Dotty glanced about, not that there was much to see beyond the packed party-goers. “Where did Kelcie disappear to?”
