My One and Only (Ardent Springs Book 3) (3 page)

“It’ll be good for you to have someone else to focus on.”

Giving him the evil eye, his sister said, “Now you sound like Mama. Did she put you up to this?”

“Abbs, this all happened in the last hour,” Cooper said. “I haven’t had time to talk to Mama.”

“Right. Sorry.” After a brief hesitation, she asked, “Is the baby cute?”

“She’s beautiful. And I think Jessi has a good heart. She was staring at little Emma as if she were the eighth wonder of the world.”

His sister shook her head. “Why can’t you stick to saving lost dogs and random barnyard animals?”

Repeating Haleigh’s words, he slung an arm over Abby’s shoulders. “Where would be the fun in that?”

Chapter 3

“So how long have you and Cooper been a thing?”

Haleigh looked up from Jessi’s chart. “Excuse me?”

“Is no one supposed to know?” the youngster asked. “Are y’all just having an affair or something?”

For a kid reluctant to share her own personal details, Jessi sure didn’t mind prying into other people’s lives. Flipping the chart closed, Haleigh hugged it to her chest. “Cooper and I went to high school together, and his twin sister is my best friend. What makes you think we’re having an affair, as you put it?”

Pencil-line brows shot up a wrinkle-free forehead. “I’m not stupid. You look at him like I used to look at Bobby. Like you want to rip his clothes off and take a ride on the Cooper train.”

That was absurd. He may be big, but Cooper was a man not a locomotive. Though he did have a nice caboose. And a man who worked out probably had impressive endurance.

“See?” Jessi said. “That look is what got me Emma.”

Glancing down at Emma’s cherubic face, Haleigh couldn’t help but wonder what a little version of Cooper would look like. Dark hair most likely. Happy and long-limbed.

Haleigh gave herself a mental shake. Had someone laced her coffee with extra estrogen or something?

Anxious to change the subject, Haleigh said, “Dottie should be in with your room assignment any minute, and then we’ll get you both settled upstairs for the night.”

Refusing to cooperate, Jessi said, “So where did lover-boy go?”

Offering a counterstrike, Haleigh asked, “So why won’t you call your mother?”

Blue eyes narrowed, conveying a clear eff-you, but she didn’t hurl the insult. “I don’t know where she is, okay?”

“You said she told you about your father. How could she do that if you don’t know where she is?”

With a nonchalant shrug that did little to hide her true feelings, Jessi replied, “A week after sharing the biggest news of my life, she picked up a trucker and skipped town. Her cell stopped working a few days later.”

Haleigh’s heart ached for this young girl fighting to be strong while her world spiraled out of control. Who could abandon her daughter like that? Especially when that daughter was about to have a child of her own? The violent urge to find Jessi’s mother and shake some sense into her vibrated down Haleigh’s spine.

“What about grandparents?”

“Don’t you think if there was anyone to call, I’d do it?” Jessi asked, showing a sudden burst of anger. Something she had every right to feel. “I’m not stupid. Emma deserves a home and a family.”

“So do you,” Haleigh pointed out. She was all for selfless parenting, but this girl needed a dose of self-preservation.

“I have Emma now.” Her stubborn chin jutted forward. “She’s all the family I need.”

“And yet you’re here looking for your father.”

The fight went out of the teenager, and she stayed quiet long enough that Haleigh considered apologizing for prying into something that wasn’t any of her business.

Breaking her silence, Jessi asked, “Do you have a good mom?”

Talk about a loaded question. The word
no
nearly escaped before Haleigh chose a more diplomatic answer. “My mother and I don’t always agree on how I should live my life. She has high standards and expects me to live up to them. But she loves me.”
In her own way,
she added, keeping the disloyal sentiment to herself.

“What about your dad?”

A slightly less chilly feeling filled her chest. “Daddy was different. Where Mother pushed, he encouraged. He offered unflinching support instead of constant judgment.”

“That sounds nice,” Jessi said with wistful longing.

Haleigh took a mournful breath. “He died when I was sixteen. A truck driver fell asleep at the wheel. Daddy never saw it coming.”

“Wow,” Jessi whispered. “That sucks.”

“Yeah,” Haleigh agreed. “Big time.”

Lost in her memories, Haleigh startled when the door to Jessi’s room swung open. A tall brunette followed Cooper into the room, and his newfound solution became instantly clear.

“You cannot be serious,” Haleigh said, cutting off the introduction Cooper was about to make.

“Relax, Haleigh Rae,” the newcomer said. “I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

In her youth, Haleigh had gone by both her first and middle names, but dropped the Rae during college. Unfortunately, few people in her past ever adapted to the change.

“Who is
she
?” Jessi asked, the rebel teen back in full force. “Are you my new nurse or something?”

“Or something,” Abigail said. “I’m Cooper’s sister. You can call me Abby.”

“Why would I call you anything?”

Gesturing toward the patient, Abby turned on Cooper. “This is the child you want me to take home?”

“What?” Jessi bristled. “I am
not
a child.”

Cooper ignored the outburst. “Abby has a big house with plenty of room for you and Emma.”

“But I don’t even know her.”

“You don’t know me, either,” Cooper pointed out.

Haleigh couldn’t believe that Cooper would ask this of his sister. The woman was still mourning her husband. Still reeling from having her entire future pulled out from under her. Didn’t he understand how badly Abby wanted a baby? Having Emma around would be a constant reminder of what she’d lost.

Abigail Ridgeway and Haleigh had been best friends since the first day of third grade when Abby had saved a scared little blonde girl from the clutches of Constance Beauregard, the class bully. From her father’s death to Haleigh’s downward spiral in her college years, Abby had been her rock. Watching her grieve for Kyle these last six months had been heartbreaking, made even more frustrating by the fact there was nothing Haleigh could do to help.

And now Cooper wanted to make things worse.

“Do you have a family of your own?” Jessi asked, making Haleigh want to slap everyone in the room, especially Cooper.

A shadow fell over Abby’s face. “No, I don’t.”

“Back in the hall!” Haleigh barked, stomping toward the door.

“What?” Abby asked.

“This is their thing,” Jessi said. “Every time the doc needs a Cooper fix, she drags him into the hall.”

Abby snorted. “A Cooper fix? What have I been missing?”

Haleigh didn’t stop to correct the teenager or explain to Abby. Instead, she grabbed Cooper by the arm and said, “We’ll be back.”

Haleigh spun on him the moment the door clicked shut. “How could you do this to your sister?”

“Do what?” Cooper asked. “Jessi needs a place to go. Abby has plenty of room, a doctor in the house, being you, obviously, and it’s only temporary anyway. This is the perfect solution.”

“For you, maybe,” she hissed. “You know what Abby has been through.”

“It’s been seven months, Hal, and she’s been stuck ever since. Having Jessi and the baby around is exactly what she needs to get unstuck.”

“Wrong,” Haleigh snapped. “Having a baby around will be a constant reminder of what she lost.”

Abby didn’t lose a baby, she lost a husband. “What are you talking about?”

“Their plan was to get pregnant during Kyle’s next leave. That would have been mere weeks after he was killed. Which means that right now your sister should be preparing for her own baby, not some stranger’s.” Haleigh motioned to the narrow window in the exam room door. “Look at her, Cooper. She’s practically crying just looking at Emma.”

He’d had no idea. It wasn’t as if his sister talked to him about this stuff. Abby had been a mess after Kyle died, but any woman would be. If he’d known about the baby plans . . .

“She never told me,” he said. Cooper would rather take a tire iron to the knee than hurt his sister. “I didn’t know.”

Haleigh continued the guilt trip. “What’s going to happen when she gets attached to Emma, and then Jessi takes her away?”

“What do you want me to say?” Cooper asked, throwing his hands in the air. “I said I didn’t know, but there isn’t much I can do about it now. I mean, what other choice do we have? There’s nowhere to put them at my place, and you live with Abby.”

With a frustrated sigh, Haleigh pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know, I know.” She glanced through the small window. “Maybe it won’t be so bad. She’s been so obsessed with Kyle’s death that a new life in the house might not be such a bad thing. But we need to find this girl’s father or prove he isn’t around before Abby gets too attached.”

The collective
we
caught his attention. “I’ll start asking around tomorrow. Might as well start with our moms. One of them might remember the guy, if he really did live here.”

“It’s a place to start.” Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Haleigh gave him a weak smile. “I need to finish up some paperwork. Tell Abby I’ll see her later, okay?”

“Will do.”

Before turning to leave, she said, “You really came through for that girl tonight, Cooper. Not many guys would have done that. Especially for a stranger.”

“I didn’t do anything special,” he replied. “You and Jessi handled the hard part.”

“You always did sell yourself short. Face it, Cooper, you’re a good guy.”

Without awaiting a response, Haleigh left him staring after her. “And good guys never get the girl,” he mumbled.

Insomnia was a bitch.

Haleigh couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this tired, yet her brain wouldn’t shut down. And every time she closed her eyes, she saw Cooper’s flirtatious grin and those inviting green eyes. She’d never considered anything about Cooper to be inviting before. He’d always been sweet and funny, and good for forgotten lunch money or an oil change, but there had never been any attraction between them.

That had certainly changed tonight.

Since returning to town six months ago, Haleigh had practically lived at the hospital, while using a room at Abby’s house to store her meager belongings and catch the occasional nap. She had her own reasons for avoiding social interactions, especially in places that served alcohol. The only interactions she couldn’t avoid were the mandatory dinners with her mother. Not that Meredith Mitchner ever used the word
mandatory
, but she’d presented the weekly meal idea as more of an edict than an invite.

In truth, Haleigh’s mother was an intimidating figure who rarely took no for an answer. Especially not from her daughter.

Preferring images of Cooper to those of her disapproving parent, Haleigh let her mind wander back a few hours. Though she would never admit as much aloud, that sleepover suggestion had merit. A casual romp would do her body good, and she could replace the image of fourteen-year-old Cooper in tighty-whities with the new and improved version.

But, alas, that was a no-trespassing zone. Haleigh had a less-than-stellar history with men and would not add Cooper Ridgeway to her long list of failures. He deserved better, for one, and for two, Abby would never forgive her for breaking her brother’s heart.

The subtle chirp of the cell phone on her nightstand snapped Haleigh from her thoughts. The clock read 12:30 a.m. Who would call so late? Checking the screen, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Marcus Appleton—plastic surgeon with delusions of grandeur and Haleigh’s ex-fiancé.

Speaking of her long list of failures.

She considered ignoring the call, but since she hadn’t heard from him in months, curiosity won out. “Hello?”

“Hey there, beautiful.”

Why had she ever thought that greeting romantic? Sadly, he’d picked her up in a bar with that line. A bar she never should have been in considering her proclivities. But sadly, she couldn’t even use being drunk as an excuse for talking to the arrogant doctor, since she’d been nursing nothing more than a glass of water that night.

“What do you want, Marcus?”

“Try not to sound so happy to hear my voice.”

“It’s after midnight,” she pointed out. As if she’d been sleeping like a normal person would be.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot about the time difference. It’s barely after ten out here on the coast.”

He didn’t forget. He was too stuck in his own world to consider that the rest of the planet didn’t operate on his schedule.

“Why are you calling?” she asked.

“Because I miss you, baby.”