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“Lexy, sounds hot.”
“You have no idea. I almost missed my flight this morning.” I would have if she hadn’t refused a second round so I could make it to the airport. “She’s my Sophie.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned that name. Cooper grips the steering wheel tighter and takes a breath. “In that case, get the fuck out while you still can.”
I laugh. “Nah, I’m winning her over on the relationship front.” I reach to shake his shoulder. “Like you will Sophie.”
He doesn’t seem convinced.
Five minutes later, we pull up to Mom’s house.
Without knocking, we enter through the front door as if it hasn’t been over four years since we lived here. This place will always be my home. We walk straight through the living room into the kitchen, and Melissa turns around from her place in front of the oven when she hears us.
“My boys! Hi.” She skips right past Cooper to give me a hug. She feels like comfort and safety, something I’ll never take for granted.
“Oh yeah, your real kid is chopped liver over here,” Cooper jokes.
“Well, maybe if you came around more than just when Troy visits,” she sasses him back, and he ignores her.
It smells so fucking good in here. I glance around them to see the casserole dish on the stove. Melissa follows my gaze. “Made your favorite. Mac and cheese.”
Hell yes. She makes the best mac and cheese with a Ritz cracker crumble on top. It’s not just delicious, it was also the first home cooked meal I ever had. At ten, I didn’t realize you could even eat mac and cheese any other way than out of a box.
“Thanks, Mom.” I turn to Cooper. “Can I have your keys? I forgot my phone in the car.”
“Damn, you really like this girl, don’t you?” he jokes, tossing me his key fob.
Melissa’s attention is caught by those words, a smile lighting her face as if she knows things are better than the last time we talked about Lexy. She turns around without saying anything, grabbing the casserole dish with pot holders to carry it to the table.
As I hit unlock on the key fob, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn and see Sophie pacing back and forth in the space between her driveway and ours. I watch for a moment before she glances up and catches me. If it was solely based on looks, I’d say my best friend has good taste. Sophie has always been cute. She has soft waves in her dirty-blonde hair and big brown eyes. She’s almost always in a sundress, even when it’s cold. Like now, she’s wearing a light yellow dress with flowers all over it. She looks innocent, but she’s far from it. She’s a heartbreaker, at least when it comes to Cooper. She’s got it in her head they shouldn’t be together even though they’re clearly in love.
“Troy… hey. What are you doing here?”
“Just visiting.”
“That’s fun,” she says flatly.
“Yeah. What are you doing… here?”
“Umm, I still live here with my parents.” Sophie’s family has lived next door to Cooper’s their entire lives.
“I mean out here, pacing like you have bad news to deliver or something.”
“I saw Coop’s car. Was thinking about saying hi.”
“We’re about to have dinner. Do you want to join us?” Cooper might kill me for asking, but Melissa loves Sophie. She’s been rooting for them to get together since they were kids. She doesn’t know everything that’s gone down, though. Hell, even I don’t know what their issue currently is. Last I knew, Sophie refused to date him, and I actually thought Cooper was seeing someone else, but apparently I can’t keep up.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Her fingers pick at the hem of her dress.
“Come on. You won’t figure your shit out by staying away from each other.” Call me a sucker, but now that I have Lexy, I’m back on team relationship, and regardless of their problems, anyone with two eyes can see Cooper and Sophie are end game.
“Yeah, okay.”
She waits while I grab my phone out of the car and then follows me inside.
“Look who I found.” I walk past the table, grabbing an extra plate and bringing it to the empty place next to Melissa, leaving the seat next to Cooper open.
Sophie sits down hesitantly, off to the side of her seat like she’s worried about invading Cooper’s personal space.
