Page 32 of This Time Around
Twelve
Cooper
“She okay?”I asked Jordan when he returned to the kitchen.
While we waited for Rebecca, he’d done the man thing, where he’d stared at me, not saying much and trying to intimidate me with his silence.
I’d first explained to him why I was here, that Max sent me here in order to get out of California for a few months until my divorce was settled so I didn’t have to deal with paparazzi.
He’d grunted a few times and gone back to his phone.
I’d ignored him, focused on a game on my phone after I started a fresh pot of coffee.
The ease with which I moved around the kitchen didn’t pass Jordan’s attention either.I didn’t bother explaining.He was there to check me out and for the most part, I was surprised he didn’t jump right in after Rebecca disappeared upstairs.
Apparently he was going with the slow-drip torture technique.
Whatever.
“Not really.”
I waited for more, and finally, he gave it.
“She’s stubborn as the day is long.She’s hurting and no, she’s not really okay but she mostly does a helluva job of faking it.But, if you mean if she’ll be down soon, then yeah, she’s okay.”
It was the most he’d spoken and apparently he decided to flood the gates because he kept talking.“I’m not an idiot.I have approximately thirty waitresses at the restaurant I run.I have an assistant who, when she’s not scheduling my appointments and trying to find me a new manager for the golf course maintenance shed, is scrolling through Instagram or checking out celebrity gossip sites.”
I set down my cup of coffee on the counter and settled my ass against it.“So you’ve heard about Camilla.”
“I know she went on a show the other night and bawled her eyes out saying how much she loves you and wants you back, yeah.”
Damn woman.I’d throttle her if I wasn’t half a country away from her.There were excuses I could give Jordan, explanations for everything, and frankly, it was none of his damn business.But he was a straight shooter and I suspected he’d appreciate the same.
“Loved her,” I said.“I loved my wife, not going to lie to you.Met her at a party, never looked back, and I had no clue she was jacking me around for the last five years.It hurt.It also pisses me off to know I wasted so much time wanting a family with her, not seeing any sign that she’d been cheating on me ever since she took my ring.Not going to lie, that shit burns too, but I’ve also had months to clear my head about her.If you’re asking me if I’m even considering taking her back, the answer is no.No way in hell.”
“Actually, what I’m wondering is if you came out here to clear your head, ignore all that bullshit, and you needed some space to do it, and you’ve now done it, then why the hell are you still here?”
I’d had the same thought yesterday when I talked to Max.I could go home.I could fight Camilla face to face and be a man and suck it all up and move the hell on with my life.
I knew why I didn’t want to leave.I just wasn’t going to admit it.Not to him.Not yet.
“My sister is strong,” Jordan said before I could come up with a lame excuse.“She’s so damn strong, but this bullshit about needing help is just that.She could pick up the phone and have a half-dozen men here helping.It’s what farmers and ranchers do.She could call me, and I’ve told her to, and I’ve showed up without that call only to get frozen out.She needs the help and doesn’t want it because she wants to do it on her own.So it makes me wonder why in the hell she agreed to let you come.”
“It’s a favor to Max.”
“Bullshit.Max cares about Rebecca.He might love her like a daughter but he’s not sending an actor to help her out to get space from his life without an agenda.You know Max at all, you know that.”
It hadn’t been the first time I thought that too.“It’s not like that with us,” I said, my jaw tightening and my muscles bunching.
Jordan had no problems laying it all out there but he had to be wrong.Max wouldn’t try to screw us both like this.
Jordan pushed off from his chair and headed toward me, moving to the coffeepot and lowered his voice.“You might not think it’s like that, but it is, at least in Max’s head.He’s playing both of you, and I’m warning you now, be careful.She’s just lost her husband, a man she loved more than her breath.She doesn’t need you fucking with her head or her heart, or other parts of her, and taking off.”
If I hadn’t heard footsteps pounding down the stairway I would have punched him.My hands were already balled into fists, ready to strike.Forcing that anger out of me, I stepped back, put space between us and shook my head.“If that’s Max’s agenda, I can guarantee you he’s the only one getting screwed here.I wouldn’t do that to her.”
“You wouldn’t try to hurt her.That I believe.”
Shit.
