My son’s comment had my heart pounding. The last thing I needed was to have my five-year-old out us.
I quickened my pace as I walked up to them. “Jasper,” I said, “Cole is busy. You shouldn’t bother him.” I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and pulled him to me.
Cole glanced up at me and shook his head. “He wasn’t bothering me.”
Jasper started wiggling in an effort to break free from my grasp. “Yeah, mommy,” he said. I loosened my grip and he slipped out. “I’m not bothering him.”
I glanced between the two of them and then chuckled. “Once he knows you’ll listen, he’ll never stop talking,” I said as I leaned closer to Cole.
He smiled. It was one of the first genuine expressions I’d seen from Cole Watkins. It made butterflies take flight in my stomach in an inexplicable way. I pulled back, startled by my reaction as I blinked a few times to get my head on straight.
“I think I can handle it.” He grabbed the dustpan and bent down to sweep a pile into it.
“We don’t actually live here,” I blurted out, realizing how ridiculous I sounded for even bringing it up. Was he going to see through me and discover the truth?
Cole looked up as he finished sweeping up the pile. “I know,” he said. He stood and walked over to one of the garbage bins that lined the far wall.
“We just spend so much time here that it feels like we live here,” I quickly added as if that made my outburst better.
Cole had the dustpan in one hand and the broom in the other. He was walking toward the cleaning closet but paused to look down at me. “I figured,” he said.
“Good,” I whispered.
Not sure where we were supposed to go from here, I ushered Jasper into my office and had him put his shoes on. We were going to leave with Cole, but once I was certain he was far enough away from the diner, we’d come back.
Thankfully, Cole didn’t linger much longer after he put away the broom. Jasper and I followed behind him as he made his way through the dark kitchen to the back door. We didn’t wait while Cole locked the door. Instead, we hurried over to our car and climbed inside.
I sat in my car with the engine running while I waited for Jasper to buckle. I wasn’t eager to leave before Cole.
Seconds ticked by before Cole appeared next to my car. He unlocked the driver’s door of his Jaguar and climbed inside. He gave me a quick wave before he pulled out of his parking spot. I did the same and lingered behind him as he waited to take a left and head out onto Main Street.
I drove the streets of Harmony for about ten minutes before I made my way back to the diner and pulled back into my spot. My engine idled as I sat there, staring out my windshield.
Was this going to be my life? Was I ever going to get ahead and save enough to provide a stable space for me and Jasper to call our own?
I glanced out my window and stared at the space where Cole had been parked.
One thing was for sure—this was a problem Mr. Moneybags was never going to understand. And it was one part of my life that I was determined to keep from him.
Cole Watkins could never find out.
19
ASHER
I wasgrateful that I had an action-packed day ahead of me when I woke up Friday morning. Keeping busy meant I wasn’t going to have time to think about Ella—and boy did my mind and body want to think about Ella.
She’d invaded my thoughts all day yesterday. She was there when I tried to fall asleep last night. She haunted my dreams while I slept. And she was the first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning.
Now that I was awake, showered, and dressed, I was determined to wrangle my thoughts into submission so that I could actually function as a human—or that was my hope.
My phone chimed, so I leaned over to my nightstand and grabbed it. It was a text from Mom, letting me know that she was boarding her flight and would be in Wilmington in an hour. I sent her a thumbs-up before setting my phone down next to me on the bed.
Mom was coming in for the wedding tomorrow, which felt strange to even think.
Tomorrow, I’m going to marry Coralie.
My stomach felt heavy as I thought those words.
