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It really was a turn around for the record books. I’d had so much trouble trusting men because of what happened with my dad. Destitution could happen to anyone, but it really had been his own fault. Particularly when he had gone to prison for all the embezzlement he had been doing. The downside was it left mom and me with nothing. In addition to setting me on the righteous path, I had more or less sworn off men, or love in general. Just in case I ever met a creep like my dad.
Cooper was nothing like my dad. Hard-working, dedicated, a little odd, and overprotective of his sister, I knew it was all from a good place. Even when Sarah told me about his propensity for getting into fights, he would then lose and lose badly. Had he been a mindless brawler or a vindictive ass, I wouldn’t have given him the time of day. Though to hear his sister tell it, it was quite the opposite. Cooper didn’t get his ass kicked because he deserved it so much as that he had more conviction than sense and a sense of morality that outweighed his self-preservation.
I was overreacting about the couple thing. Even if we did get labeled as a couple, what did it matter? Besides which, I was pushing thirty and ready to have a real relationship with a good man. Even if I was insanely busy with work. Camilla didn’t exactly have an easy job either. Always to first into the office and often the last to leave, and still, she had found a good guy in Aden and had a baby. It certainly helped that they worked in the same office. Though even so, it did show that it was possible. I wasn’t sure where this was going to go, but I was more than willing to buy the ticket and take the ride.
We were well into pudding when it happened. The four of us seated around the lovely table, separated naturally into two clear couples. Even if we didn’t all recognize it at the time.
“I have an announcement,” Camilla said, after lightly tapping the side of her glass of ice water, getting our attention. “We are going to have another baby. Two actually. My beautiful man has knocked me up with twins!”
“We were going to wait until after dessert, but apparently she just could hold on,” Aden said, shooting his beaming wife a meaningful but playful look.
I was in shock. Happy, of course, thrilled that Camilla and Aden were going to be having more kids. I knew that she always wanted to be a mom and could only imagine how happy she was that it was finally happening. I also felt a little pang of envy. I didn’t hear my biological clock by any means. I knew I still had plenty of time, not even being thirty yet. Mainly when the new research was indicating that women in good health can safely wait until their early forties to have a baby. It had more to do with me and what having a baby would mean. Mostly that I was finally secure enough with someone to make that kind of commitment.
“Would you like to come back to my apartment?” Cooper asked later, helping me into my coat.
No. I knew I should say no. It wasn’t right. The first time had been a fluke. We had been drinking, there were all kinds of excitement, and I was really, really horny, and it just happened. I should really get to know him better before we thought about having sex again. Even if I did defiantly want to date him. It was clear what I was supposed to say.
“Yes.”
Chapter Eight
Cooper
It was definitely a new experience. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a woman over to my place—if I ever had. It seemed like such an intimate thing to let someone else into my living space. Mom and Camilla had been there, of course. But we went way back the three of us.
So, thought my internal analyst, what does that say about Sarah? That I so readily invited her to my place after what really only amounted to two dates? Both of which were about to end in sex. Could the myths about there being a perfect match for every person be true? Though I hadn’t actually seen evidence of it, there was a lot to consider.
I pulled up to the curb and waited for Sarah’s ghost of a Mustang to thump up behind me. The very fact of the car, a once beautiful classic reduced to decrepitude, made what Camilla said about Sarah not being rich speaking clear and valid. Even if her way of speaking was different, attesting to several years of private education. It was clear something had happened. Something terrible that Sarah didn’t like to talk about: I could relate.
