“Is anyone else coming?” Cooper asked, and for a split second, I wondered if he’d already found out Juliette was going to be there, but then he added, “Like is Jade going to be in town?”
My brow furrowed, and I shook my head. “I don’t think she has plans to visit any time soon with her work schedule. You should give her a call sometime. You two talked on the phone all the damn time while we were in college.”
Cooper’s jaw clenched, and his whole body looked tense. He ran his hand along the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, that was then. This is now.”
I raised a brow.Okay, then.I wasn’t sure where that came from, but it was true they spoke way less often these days—if ever. Things seemed fine with them when Jade was in college, but did something happen before she went off to California? I parted my lips to ask, but decided not to pry. If he wanted to talk about it, I was here.
“Anyways, I’m going to head out. Early day tomorrow, and I need my beauty rest,” he said, his grin returning, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes.
I shook my head with a chuckle. “You and your damn beauty rest,” I muttered. “Yeah, rain check on the game of pool, then? I still have some shit to do before wrapping up.”
My phone screen lit up with an incoming text.
“Who’re you texting? You hate texting,” he said, craning his neck to see whose name flashed on the screen.
“No one. I was just?—”
In a couple of quick, long strides, Cooper crossed the distance from my door to the desk, swiping the phone before I had a chance to grab it. What were we? Five years old?
“Oh, interesting,” he drawled, a smirk on his lips as he passed the phone back to me. “Didn’t realize you were a damn liar.”
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes.
“So, you and Jules are on texting terms, which is great timing, actually. I wanted to give her the list of trails we’d talked about at dinner. You wouldn’t mind giving me her number, would you?”
I sat up straight in my chair, looking between my phone and Cooper. I couldn’t tell if he was messing with me or not—or if it even mattered.
“Don’t mind at all,” I clipped, my cheek twitching as I picked up my phone. Yes, I fucking minded. Juliette was already everywhere—I didn’t need her texting and falling for Cooper.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Why do you think I’d care?”
He shrugged, his smirk turning into a full-on grin as he tipped his chin toward my hand. “Maybe because of the death grip you have on your phone.”
I swore under my breath as I tapped on Juliette’s contact info, seeing the two photos she’d sent moments earlier. One of the café and the other of the cat room with the new furniture and existing furniture rearranged. It looked great. The changes Juliette made fit the space and Lily’s vision.
I copied her number and pasted it into my texts with Cooper, my thumb hesitating over the send button before tapping it.
Cooper fished his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans, seeing if the text came through. “Thanks, man. Get home at a reasonable hour.” He gave me a nod before walking away.
The rest of the night, even as I made the short drive back to my place, the only thing on my mind was if Cooper had texted her and what the fuck they were talking about.
19
JULIETTE
Cooper
Hey, it’s Cooper. Hope you’re settling in okay. Wanted to do good on my promise of sending you over a few trails. Let me know if you want more info.
Me
Perfect, thank you!!!
Cooper
I’d offer to show you around myself, but the season has been busier than expected. I bet Wes would take you, though.
