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“I know. It’s worked out really well. Let’s go on back, and I’ll get everything started. I was just out here because Tiffany—” I paused just as the hallway door opened.
“Is here!” Tiffany announced with a flourish as she smiled at Mae and me. “I was running late because I forgot that Ross started basketball today after school. I had to drive back to the house and get his clothes for practice. I’m late, but I’m here now. You all just go on back.” She literally shooed me out from behind her desk.
I glanced over at Mae and winked. “Tiffany’s kind of territorial about her desk,” I whispered loudly with a grin.
Mae snorted. “Understood.”
“Thanks for covering,” Tiffany called as we walked through the doorway into the hall.
I prepared the shots for when Alice came in to perform Sassafras’s annual exam. “How are things going?” I asked as I worked.
Mae stroked her hand between Sassafras’s ears through the now open door to the carrier. “Pretty good. I heard you have a new neighbor.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“I do. Shocker, he’s a hotshot firefighter,” I said dryly. “There’s a surplus in town.”
“No kidding. I meet more firefighters here than I’ve met anywhere. Cooper is nice,” she added.
Oh, the questions I had about Cooper! I was trying my damnedest not to dwell on him, but it was an utter failure. He lived across the hall, and he’d kissed me. I’d come all over his fingers. He crowded my thoughts, bumping everything else out of the way.
Me, cynical me, was thinking, maybe I should have some sort of, maybe not a fling, but anarrangementof sorts with him. Yet I knew that was a laughably bad idea. Because Cooper made me want things I’dneverwanted, and that was treacherous for my heart and most certainly my sanity.
“Farrah?” Mae prompted as my thoughts so easily detoured back to all things Cooper.
“He seems nice,” I agreed, glad I had something to focus on as I drew up another shot. “I think Sassafras is due for her rabies shot,” I murmured to myself as I scanned her chart on the computer screen.
“I think so,” Mae said. “Rowan is hoping Cooper stays in Alaska now that he’s here.” To my chagrin, she shifted the topic right back to Cooper.
I glanced over at her. “Oh?” I aimed to keep my tone casual.
“Rowan is from North Carolina too, you know?”
I nodded. “Uh-huh.”
I’d met Rowan, so I knew he had a Southern accent, but I hadn’t put two and two together. “Cooper’s from Stolen Hearts Valley too?”
“Yep. Remy let him know about the opening here. His ex screwed around with his best friend.” Mae shook her head, closing her eyes before letting out a huff. “There’s cheating, and then there’s that.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed. “That is awful.”
Mae nodded vigorously. “Seriously. Even worse, his dad recently died, and I guess they were really close. Her excuse was that Cooper wasn’t emotionally available for her because he was grieving too much after his dad died.”
“Karma will catch up. Sometimes it takes forever.”
Mae shrugged. “If she lived here, we would shun her.”
My heart ached for Cooper. Maybe I didn’t know him that well yet, but I knew, without a doubt, that he was a decent and good man, a good friend, and definitely loyal. Before I could ask further questions, which was probably for the best, Alice popped into the room.
“Hey there!” She leaned down by the table to greet Sassafras in the carrier.
I was relieved for the interruption. I wanted to be nosy about Cooper and askallthe questions, but if I got too inquisitive, it might reveal that Itotallyhad a thing for him.
Later that evening, I once again dropped my groceries on the floor in the hallway. This time, Cooper didn’t appear. I ignored my disappointment. A little while later, there was a light knock on my door. I eyed it curiously. I didn’t usually get drop-in visits.
When I opened the door, my pulse lunged. Cooper stood with an envelope in one hand. His eyes were warm when I smiled up at him. My hormones were downright gleeful at his appearance with my belly spinning in flips and heat blazing through me.
“I got your mail,” he said simply.
“Oh,” I managed.
