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“I was kidding. I know who Rowan and Tweetie are. I’m the sports reporter, remember?” Bryce acts offended, and I’m not sure if she’s doing it because she really is or if she’s still helping me by stalling.
“You reported on the Tundra, not the Falcons.” Cooper appears pissed since he’s talking to Bryce, but his eyes haven’t left mine yet.
“I’m aware, but now I report on the Grizzlies, and I feel like maybe an unflattering article about their quarterback is due.” She juts out her hip and stares him down.
“Can we talk at your place?” I ask him.
He sighs. “Rowan, this is Miles Cavanaugh’s wife, Bryce. She’s a reporter, so be careful. I’ll be in touch about move-in dates.” All three men shake hands, and Cooper wheels my suitcase out the other door into the back hall, where we can get to his apartment without having to go to the street.
He doesn’t say anything, asks me no questions on the way to his apartment, and once we’re behind the closed door, he wheels my suitcase to the side and goes into the kitchen. “Want something to drink?”
“Water would be great.”
He meets me by the couch and hands me the water.
“You’re back early,” he says.
If he’s offended that I didn’t call him to pick me up from the airport, he doesn’t mention it, but I had to talk to someone who wasn’t him. As much as he was the first person I wanted to call after the news, I needed to run it by someone else first.
“Yeah, it didn’t take as long as I thought, and I was able to fly standby on an earlier flight.”
“And how did it go?”
“It went really well.” I force a smile.
He puts on a smile himself, but I’m not stupid, it isn’t his genuine one. “That’s great. They give you everything you want?”
“They took me on a tour of the hospital, and although their emergency room is a tad smaller than Mercy’s and can’t handle the same triage we can there, it’s busy. The other doctors were nice and knew who I was, that I was the daughter of the new chief. I mean, they could have been being fake, but no one said anything. The salary is more than I make now, a lot more. And the hours are a little better. I’d be responsible for a lot of things, not just patients.”
“So…” He seems to hold his breath while he waits for me to answer.
“I accepted the job.” Now I hold mine.
“Oh.”
“My dad was pressing me for a decision, and he took me to the airport and was telling me how great it is to take this step so young. How I’ll beat his milestones by ten years if I take this job. And…”
I don’t want to tell him why I wanted to talk to Bryce. I don’t want him to think my dad isn’t behind us, although I got the gist today that maybe he’s not. I want us to keep this relationship going, I know we’re strong enough.
“Why did you call Bryce before me?” Hurt is all over his face—in the downturned angle of his lips, in the crease between his brows, and in the glisten of his eyes.
I stand, unable to sit any longer. “I just needed another opinion, one that wasn’t yours, and I say that out of my love for you. This is coming at a horrible time for us, and I don’t expect you to be happy about it.”
“But I am.” He stays seated on the chair. “I’m on your side here, Elle.”
“My dad thinks we should take a break.” I spit out what he told me right before I got out of the car at the airport.
“What?” He stands but doesn’t come over to me. Doesn’t reassure me, instead, he goes to the cabinet and grabs some whiskey, pouring himself a shot before downing it. I’ve never known Cooper to drink like that. “And what did you say? ‘Okay, Daddy?’”
His words slice through me like an arrow.
He pours another shot and slams it back.
“Cooper…”
“What? I just think that you listen to him a lot more than you do yourself. Or maybe it’s me who isn’t listening to what you’ve been saying.”
I shake my head, wondering how this has all gotten away from us. Days ago, he was telling me that he was on board, that we’d survive this.
