Chasing Dreams (Devil's Bend) (10 page)

Going
back to his motel room was certainly Cooper’s original plan, however, when
Tessa took a right turn out of the parking lot of
The Rusty Nail
, rather
than a left that would lead her back to her house, he decided to follow.

He
had a feeling she was going to stop for breakfast or a unusually late dinner
because she had mentioned that to Eric earlier in the evening. Considering
Cooper had kept her at the bar longer than usual, he figured it would only be
fair for him to pay for her meal. Not to mention, he’d get the opportunity for
a pseudo-date without having to ask her.

Since
Tessa seemed completely against dating him, although she had relented to the
bet they had made, Cooper was willing to take his chances whenever the
opportunity presented itself. Like tonight – or rather this morning.

Fifteen
minutes later, his suspicions were confirmed when she pulled into the parking
lot of IHOP just off of the interstate in the neighboring town. Since Devil’s
Bend didn’t have any options that were open that late, her choice made sense to
him.

Parking
directly beside her truck, Cooper climbed out at the same time she did.

“Are
you stalking me, cowboy?” she asked sweetly as she made her way to the sidewalk
that surrounded the building.

“I
was just wondering the same thing about you,” he said seriously.

The
confusion that passed over Tessa’s face briefly almost made him smile. “You’re
the one following me if I do recall.”

Well,
she had him there.

“Since
we’re both here, we might as well eat, don’t ya think?” Taking Tessa’s hand,
Cooper led her to the front doors of the restaurant and then held one open for
her. Once she was inside, he followed and then instructed the hostess they
needed a table for two.

When
they were seated with their menus in front of them, Cooper smiled, waiting for
her to look at him, which she managed to avoid for a painfully long time.

“You’re
relentless,” she told him as she glanced down at her menu, smiling.

“That’s
me,” he replied as he skimmed the menu, thrilled to know she still sensed him
there even when she pretended to not be paying attention.

“So,
are you a regular here as well? Are they going to bring something out before
you ever order it?”

Cooper
laughed, enjoying the way she liked to tease him. It had been quite some time
since he had been on a real date with a woman. One who wasn’t more curious
about his music career or the people he knew than who he really was.

“Nope.
But if you’d like to join me for breakfast every morning, we can change that.”

Tessa’s
face flushed, and she looked down at her menu again. He heard her mumble
something along the lines of “Cowboy, you can’t handle me every morning”, but
he didn’t say anything. He could show her just how much he could handle if she
wished to dare him.

The
waiter arrived to take their order, and they rattled off what they wanted. A
few minutes later, they were sitting quietly while Tessa fussed with her
coffee, adding cream and sugar. Cooper took his black, so he remained silent,
waiting patiently until she was finished.

“Do
you go out to breakfast a lot after work?” he asked just to make conversation.

“Every
now and then Eric and I will stop somewhere. On some nights that Miranda works
at the bar, we’ll stop afterward, especially if things were hectic. Just some
time to unwind.”

“So
why tonight? Alone?”

“I
knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep,” she said, and her honesty had that
strange sensation surging through him. Cooper liked how open she was with him,
although sometimes he didn’t think she meant to be.

“You
weren’t gonna be the only one,” he admitted as he watched for her reaction.

There
was a minute or two of silence and then Cooper realized she wasn’t going to
talk if she didn’t have to. Considering there was so much he wanted to know
about her, he figured he’d start tonight.

“Does
your mom ever stop by
The Rusty Nail
?”

Ok,
so jumping in with both feet might not have been the way to go based on Tessa’s
horrified expression, but Cooper decided he would let the question hang until
she answered with something.

“I
don’t want to talk about me,” she finally said when the silence was almost
suffocating.

“I
didn’t ask about you. I was asking about your mother,” he explained.

“Same
difference,” she retorted.

“Not
really, no.”

Another
round of silence sat heavily between them until, finally, Cooper saw the moment
Tessa surrendered.

“My
mother rarely leaves the house,” she said softly, her hands wrapped tightly
around the coffee mug in front of her. “She’s been that way since I was a
child.”

“She
doesn’t work?”

“Not
now she doesn’t. When I was younger, before she met my stepfather she did.”

“What
did she do?” Cooper knew he had to keep the dialogue going, or Tessa was going
to shut down on him, and he truly wanted to get to know her.

“She
was a secretary for a law firm. For a while after she met Michael, Jack’s dad,
she continued to work. It wasn’t until after they got married that she decided
to quit.”

“Are
you close with her?” Because the question was a little more personal, Cooper
didn’t expect her to answer.

“No.”
There was a long pause before Tessa continued. “My mother was diagnosed with
depression many years ago. After she met Michael. Up until that point, we had
no idea what was wrong with her. My dad left when Adam and I were kids, and for
the longest time, that’s what I thought was wrong with her. But then she met
Michael and she seemed happy. For a while. And then it was like a vicious
cycle. Happy. Sad. Happy. Sad. Over and over and we didn’t know how to fix it
for her.

“Finally,
Michael took her to the doctor. Since he’s quite a bit older than my mother, he
was worried that she regretted marrying him even after she assured him that
wasn’t the case. Jack was in high school before we found out she had
depression. So, needless to say, she and I lost a lot of years in between.”

That
explained a lot. Cooper knew that Adam wasn’t close to his mother either, and
truthfully, he hadn’t expected such an in-depth answer from Tessa. “Is she
better now?”

“When
she takes her medicine she is.” Tessa looked so lost and so sad, Cooper wanted
to rip her out of her seat and wrap his arms around her.

“See,
and that’s why I don’t like talking about me,” Tessa added. “My life story’s
not all that interesting and I don’t want your pity.”

Cooper
grabbed Tessa’s arm when she would’ve jumped out of her seat and walked out on
him.

“Sit
down,” he demanded, keeping his voice low.

Tessa
lowered herself back down in her seat and stared at him as though he’d lost his
mind. He was beginning to think he had.

“I’m
sorry. I want to get to know you and I haven’t yet learned what the banned
topics are yet.”

Tessa
seemed to relax as she resettled herself in the booth, but she didn’t say
anything.

“I’m
not trying to pry, Tessa. I think this is how this is supposed to work.”

“How
what
is supposed to work?” she asked.

“You
know, the whole dating thing. Aren’t we supposed to get to know each other?”

“We’re
not dating,” she said abruptly.

Cooper
couldn’t suppress the grin. He loved how feisty she was. “No need to get
defensive,” he teased. “We’re just having breakfast.”

He
was saved from any rebuttal from Tessa because the waiter decided to bring
their food out. Cooper was grateful for the interruption. The fire seemed to be
smoldering in Tessa’s eyes, but he knew she needed a minute or two.

But
then, he was pretty sure he was going to be in for it.

♥
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Tessa
hated talking about herself. Hated talking about her mother and their issues.
And above all else, she hated dating. Well, the last part wasn’t necessarily an
issue because until Cooper, she hadn’t been on a real date in… well, forever.

Not
that they were dating. Nor would this be classified as a date, if, in fact, the
two meant different things.

Tessa
occupied herself by staring at her food, moving the eggs around her plate with
her fork until Cooper cleared his throat and she glanced up at him.

“Eat.”

She
wanted to tell him to make her, but then she realized how childish that sounded
even in her own mind. And that made her smile, which in turn made Cooper smile.
As her appetite slowly returned, Tessa tried to come up with some questions for
him since he obviously now knew more about her than she did him.

“What
about your parents?” she asked when he put his fork down to take a sip of his
coffee.

“What
about them?” He didn’t seem fazed by her question as he watched her like a hawk
watches its prey.

“Are
you close to them?”

“Yeah,
we’re close,” he said, his answer hesitant.

Tessa
wasn’t proud of the fact that she wasn’t close to her mother, but she never
held it against anyone else. Izzy’s parents were still married, and they doted
on their daughter as much as Izzy would let them. And of course, there were
Richie’s parents, who were still together, but had moved out of Devil’s Bend
shortly after Richie died. They still called to check on Tessa frequently, but
as time passed, she had stopped answering their calls. It was too hard to talk
to them because they were a vivid reminder of what she had lost. She often
wondered if it was a relief for them that she’d all but disappeared from their
lives. She knew they wouldn’t say as much, but she still had to wonder.

Wanting
to get away from the depressing thoughts, Tessa shoveled a forkful of eggs in
her mouth as she pondered her next question.

“Do
you see them often?”

“At
least once a month, sometimes more depending on my tour schedule.”

Tour
schedule
.
For the past couple of weeks, things had been so normal with Cooper around, she
actually forgot what he did for a living. Somewhere along the way, she’d gotten
used to him being at the bar and the reminder that he wasn’t a permanent
fixture in town was like a punch to the throat.

“Do
they come to your shows?” she asked, suddenly wanting to get off of this
subject. Off of any subject really. Tessa was scared to get to know Cooper
better, scared that she would like him even more than she already did and that
would make it more difficult to keep herself distanced from him.

Which
she definitely had to do.

“When
they can they do.”

Cooper
must’ve sensed her discomfort because he leaned forward and placed his hand on
her arm. Tessa just stared at the place where he touched her for what felt like
a long time.

“I
didn’t mean to upset you,” he said softly. “I just want to get to know you.”
Cooper paused, and Tessa dared to look up, her eyes meeting his and holding.
“You’re a lot like your brother, you know that?”

“Which
one?” Tessa knew exactly which one, but the question just came out.

“Adam.
He doesn’t share much with anyone.”

“Adam
has his reasons,” Tessa said abruptly. She didn’t know all of what Adam kept
inside, but she absolutely understood his need to keep his feelings and
experiences to himself. “And I’ve got my reasons.”

“I
get it,” Cooper said softly. “It still makes me crazy. When we were in college,
getting information from him was like pulling teeth. Kinda like with you.”

Cooper
laughed, and the sound eased some of her tension, causing her to laugh too. She
knew he was right about Adam because she had thought the same thing in the
past. Not that she felt it was a bad thing that they didn’t share their life
stories with everyone. Tessa knew how easy it was for someone to hurt you if
they knew you. Trust didn’t come easy and, unfortunately, she and Adam had
learned that early on with their father.

“I’m
sorry. I’m sure it’s easy for you because you’re in the spotlight all the time
so you’re used to sharing your deepest, darkest secrets, but I’m not.”

“See,
that’s where you’re wrong,” Cooper said gruffly, the warmth of his hand disappearing
from her arm and leaving her chilled all of a sudden. The look in his eyes
matched the temperature as it plummeted due to the cold chill that ran down her
spine.

“Being
in the spotlight makes it difficult to keep anything private. The things people
learn about me don’t usually come from me or from anyone who knows me.”

Tessa
suddenly wanted to do anything to erase the anger off of Cooper’s face. She
didn’t want to see him upset or mad, and she knew that her own defensiveness
had resulted in this night going so terribly wrong. With a small smile, she
reached over and touched his arm. “This not-really-a-date isn’t going all that
well, is it?”