“This is why you’re the light of my life,” he said. “Without you, I would wither into nothingness.” He grabbed my shoulder and met my gaze. “Which is whyyou’re going to text me the minute you get your new work schedule so we can plan my visit. Maybe around my birthday, if not sooner?”
“Please remove your hand,” I said seriously. “The sexual tension isn’t good for my health.”
He patted my cheek. “Okay, sweetie.”
I really was going to miss him, but that was about the only thing I was going to miss about Georgia this summer. I was more than ready for the change of pace and scenery.
We caught up as we loaded the Jeep, but I kept answers to questions about my doctor’s visit vague and the ones about Pops the opposite. When I finished telling him about the new medicines Pops was taking and therapies he was doing, I moved onto describing Live Oak and all the people I’d met, Miss Sewell included, for the hundredth time.
Cole looked ready to pack his bag and go with me once we finished the last load.
“I never thought I’d say that a retirement community sounds awesome… but it kind of does. I thought you were exaggerating when you first told me about it, but damn, your tune hasn’t changed.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and refilled my canteen from the water pitcher in the fridge.
“Think you’ll be able to find out the name of your mystery woman?” Cole asked as he pulled his blond hair back with a hair tie, gray eyes keen.
“We’ll see,” I said vaguely.
It would’ve been easy to ask Jillie for her name during our countless phone calls about Pops, who was back to dodging my calls.
But I didn’t want that. I wanted to find it out for myself.
“When’s Gary moving in?” I asked as he locked the apartment door.
“Gary,” he scoffed at the name like it’d offended him.
“I thought you liked Gary?”
He raked his hand through his hair, then his shoulders slumped dramatically. “He won’t take care of me like you do.”
I pressed my lips together to hold back a smile. Cole was a very capable man. A middle school counselor, volunteer firefighter, and man of many hobbies. He just liked to pretend he wasn’t. “I am so glad our neighbors don’t hear the things you say to me.”
He drew a heart in the air with his pointer fingers. “You complete me.”
“And now Gary can complete you,” I deadpanned.
He scrunched his nose. “Nasty.”
I sighed and opened my arms. “Give me a goodbye hug.”
Cole lit up like a puppy and lifted me off the ground as we embraced. “Just promise me the waves and sand won’t seduce you and you’ll come back when summer’s over.”
Fitness was one of his top hobbies, one that he’d dragged me into in high school. I hadn’t realized how much I missed our daily workouts until this moment.
A car door slammed nearby, and I patted his shoulder. “You’re gonna have to put me down, buddy.”
He relented and placed me with unnecessary gentleness back on the ground, and as if reading my earlier thoughts, he said, “Try to find somewhere to exercise when you get there. I bet they have a nice gym. Send me pics of their equipment, and I’ll send you a plan for things you can do with only one functioning foot.”
“Will do.”
“You’ll send me pictures of the ocean that I can cry over while I’m at work?” he asked.
“Yes. But it’ll be the Gulf, not the ocean.”
He shrugged. “Works for me.”
I met his gaze and guilt creeped in. “Thanks for the help loading up, and I’m so?—”
