My One and Only (Ardent Springs Book 3) (6 page)

Cooper whistled an upbeat tune as he perused the Mamacita’s menu.

“Someone has his happy panties on today,” Spencer said over his menu. “What’s up with the whistling?”

“Nothing,” Cooper said. “Can’t a guy whistle when he wants to?”

“Not when he’s whistling a show tune.”

Cooper’s mother had conned him into watching
Oklahoma
with her the week before, and the surrey with the fringe on top song had been stuck in his head ever since. “How do you know it’s a show tune?” he asked his friend.

“Everybody knows the surrey with the fringe on top song,” Caleb McGraw said, drawing the attention of both his lunch mates. “What can I say?” He shrugged. “The McGraws are big supporters of the arts.”

The McGraws were one of the richest families in Louisiana, owners of a giant media conglomerate that would one day belong solely to Caleb. Which made the fact that the heir to a fortune held down a steady gig selling ads for their local paper, the
Ardent Advocate
, even more bizarre. Cooper hadn’t known the younger man for long, seeing as he’d only arrived in town the previous winter.

Caleb was married to Snow of the Curiosity Shop, though exactly how they’d gotten together remained a mystery to Cooper. The guy had just shown up one day, claiming to have been in a long-distance relationship with Snow, and on New Year’s Eve, the pair tied the knot.

Though not a mechanic, Caleb shared Cooper’s appreciation for old cars, and the two had become fast friends from the first time they met, haggling over a ’56 Ford pickup at an auction.

“Can we get on with ordering lunch before you two burst into song?” Spencer asked.

“Sure,” Caleb said, giving Cooper a sideways look. The melody started again, this time as a chipper hum.

Seconds later, Spencer joined in. They’d just finished describing the fancy ride when the waitress approached and they all cut the tune.

The young girl with the swinging black ponytail looked perplexed. “Were you guys singing?”

Spencer shook his head. “No. No singing going on here.”

By sheer willpower, Cooper and Caleb kept straight faces as she took their orders and disappeared into the kitchen.

“You two are a bad influence,” Spencer said. And just like that, the revival ended. “How’s the fundraiser looking?”

In just over four weeks the first classic car rally fundraiser benefiting the Ruby Restoration Committee, a citizen group trying to save the local theater, would kick off in the Ruby Theater parking lot. A few months back, Cooper agreed to plan the event, even though at the time he wasn’t on the committee.

“Good.” Cooper nodded. “The Cars for Sale slots, which as you know are the higher moneymakers, are selling steadily. We picked up two from Clarksville last week. Lorelei has a handle on the food vendors, and Kickin’ 96.5 will be on site from noon to two doing live broadcasts from the event.” Bringing in the local country station had been his best idea by far, and Cooper mentally patted himself on the back for the rare stroke of genius. “The block at the Ridgetop Inn is going quick, so I’m looking at the Deerfield on Highway 11 as a lodging backup.”

Conversation paused as the waitress returned with two bowls of nachos. “Your food should be up any second,” she said.

“Much appreciated,” Cooper replied with a wink. The waitress blushed and nearly tripped over another server as she backed away from the table.

Caleb shook his head. “Snow’s right. You could flirt with a tree stump.”

“I think he dated one once,” Spencer said, dipping a chip into salsa. “She left him for a squirrel with bigger nuts.”

“You’re just jealous that your nuts are about to be in a sling till death do you part.”

“That’s right,” Caleb said. “I hear you’ve got six months left to live.”

Cooper remembered his promise to Lorelei and cringed. So much for acting surprised. Evidently, she’d told Snow the good news as well. Who’d passed the secret on to her husband.

“Is there anyone that woman hasn’t told yet?” Spencer asked on a sigh. “Did she take out an ad in the
Advocate
?”

“I directed her to Brenda Jo, who handles the public announcements.” That Caleb managed to say this with a straight face amazed Cooper.

Spencer threw his hands up, but the smile gave him away. No matter what she did, and Lorelei had done some bone-headed things, her intended groom would always forgive her. The thought made Cooper think of Haleigh. Half the town considered Lorelei Pratchett irredeemable, when she hid a heart of gold. At the same time, Haleigh Rae was looked upon as a shining example of all that was good, while condemning herself for being a terrible person.

He still couldn’t believe she’d said that. So her motives weren’t always selfless. That didn’t make her a bad person any more than going to church every week made someone a good person. Actions were what mattered.

“So what do you say?” Spencer said, jerking Cooper from his wayward thoughts. “You up for playing best man?”

“Hell yeah,” Cooper said, proud to be asked for the second time around. “Tux me up. I’m ready.”

The groom turned his attention to Caleb. “Lor says I have to drag two guys up there with me. You willing to be my number two?”

Dark brows shot up Caleb’s forehead. “You serious?”

“Sure.”

“Well, then count me in,” Caleb replied. “I’d be honored.”

“Good,” Spencer exhaled. “That means my part of the planning is done.”

As the waitress returned with their food, Cooper raised his beer bottle for a toast. “Here’s to many years of wedded bliss.”

His plate hit the table in front of him with a thud. “You’re engaged?” the young girl cried.

“Not me,” Cooper said and pointed the bottle at Spencer. “Him.”

“Oh.” Dark lashes fluttered as the other two plates landed in front of their owners. “That’s good,” she said, dropping the large tray to her side. “You let me know if you need anything else.” With a long look at Cooper, she added, “Anything at all.”

Once the girl was out of earshot, Spencer burst out laughing. “Anything at all, big boy,” he feigned in a girlish voice.

Cooper had no intention of taking the pretty little thing up on her offer, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t goad his friend. “It isn’t my fault I’m the only one left to handle all the pretty girls.”

“Right,” Spencer answered. “If by
handle
you mean date until they start talking commitment and then running like hell. We both know that you’re holding out for one particular woman.”

“About that.” Cooper rested his elbows on the edge of the table. “Looks like Lorelei isn’t the only one who has trouble keeping secrets around here.”

“Are we talking about that OB doctor?” Caleb asked, earning the attention of his table mates.

“Who told you?” Cooper asked.

Caleb sliced into his enchilada. “Carrie.”

Spencer’s ex-wife. Odd how all sources led back to one person.

Cooper zeroed in on the groom. “And how would she know, Spencer?”

“Dude, you can blame me all you want, but every thought you have shows up on that ugly mug of yours. You haven’t fooled anyone about your feelings for Haleigh Rae since middle school.” If Spencer was right, then how had Haleigh managed not to notice? “She’s back now,” Spencer continued. “You need to make your move, buddy.”

He’d been toying with the idea since Haleigh left his house the night before. She was definitely attracted to him, so he had an advantage there. If he’d known buffing up would do the trick, Cooper would have spent his teen years lifting weights instead of tearing apart carburetors. But he wanted something more than physical from Haleigh, and short of a drastic career change on his part, didn’t see how they could ever match up on any other level.

She dealt with life and death. He dealt with nuts and bolts. She was educated and refined. He was countrified and clumsy. Ironically enough, the only thing Cooper really had going for him was a total lack of resemblance to the guys she typically dated.

“I know what you’re doing,” Cooper said, preferring to keep his thoughts on Haleigh to himself. “Married guys trying to recruit one more into the fold.” He tucked his napkin into his shirt collar. “You’re not getting me, buddy. Go hunt up some other poor sucker.”

Spencer gave Caleb a bored look. “Twenty bucks says he’s married within a year.”

With a nod, Caleb said, “I give him six months.” He grinned. “The big ones always fall the hardest.”

“Keep it up, fellas.” Cooper picked up a taco. “I’ll prove you both wrong.”

Chapter 6

Haleigh needed coffee, and she needed it now.

After her conscience-cleansing visit with Cooper she’d returned home exhausted and ready to sleep for possibly the first time in days. Too bad the universe had other ideas. A late-night call pulled her back to the hospital shortly after two for a difficult delivery that ended with a C-section at four in the morning.

Though she was home by six, adrenaline had kept her going for another forty-five minutes before she’d crashed just as the sun peeked through her curtains. But her peaceful sleep had been invaded by a very vivid dream. One in which a bare-chested mechanic with devastating green eyes and a mouthwatering body put Haleigh through a highly pleasurable workout.

The sensations had been so real that she’d awoken with a gasp, sweaty, aching, and wanting more.

“My brain hates me,” she mumbled, shoving tangled waves away from her face. “Stupid libido.”

Ten minutes later, she used the kitchen counter for support while waiting for Abby’s Keurig machine to do its magic. The smell of caffeine helped open her eyes, but it was the piercing cry that brought Haleigh to full alert.

“What the—”

Rounding the corner into the hallway, she met Jessi coming out of her room with Emma in her arms. “I don’t know what’s wrong,” she said. “I’ve changed her and tried to feed her, but she won’t latch on. She did it great before we left the hospital, but now it’s like she can’t figure it out.” Wide brown eyes bored into Haleigh as if she had all the answers. “I’m doing it wrong, aren’t I? I’m doing something wrong!”

Nursing wasn’t really Haleigh’s territory and, oddly enough considering her line of work, neither were babies. That’s what nurses and pediatricians were for. Haleigh dealt with the mothers, got the babies out, and then handed them off to a person qualified to handle them.

“We can figure this out,” she said, hoping beyond reason that she could find a solution despite her brain feeling like mush. “The hospital sent home bottles, right? Those little premade ones they give to newborns?”

Jessi vigorously shook her head. “The nurse was adamant that I breastfeed. It’s the best thing for her.”

“Not feeding her at all would be worse.” Haleigh charged into the baby’s room, half looking for bottles and half trying to outrun the headache-inducing screams. “Here we go,” she said, finding the bottles in a box beneath the changing table. “Try this.”

The young mother hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Haleigh answered. “I’m a doctor.”

Not a pediatrician, but Jessi didn’t need to think about that.

“Right. But don’t we need to warm it up? Do that test on the wrist thing?”

If Jessi already knew so much, why was she asking Haleigh? Taking the bottle back, she said, “Let’s run it under hot water. In the meantime, have you tried a pacifier?”

“Of course I have,” Jessi snapped. So Haleigh wasn’t the only person who needed a nap.

Without another word, Haleigh marched into the kitchen with Jessi close behind—heaven forbid she spare anyone else’s eardrums—and flipped on the hot water. “How long should it take?” she asked.

Jessi stopped her shushing long enough to say, “You’re the doctor. Shouldn’t you know?”

“My experience with babies happens while they’re still
inside
their mothers. Warming bottles doesn’t come up much at that point in the process.”

“You’re more clueless than I am,” Jessi accused. “Here.” She rolled Emma into Haleigh’s arms. “Let me do it.”

Shocked to find the angry bundle in her care, Haleigh followed her instincts and began swaying from side to side. Desperate to stop the screaming, she slid a knuckle between the baby’s quivering lips. Emma quieted instantly.

“How did you do that?” Jessi asked.

An excellent question. “I don’t know.”

Emma continued to nuzzle for several seconds before showing signs of a returning fit. “I can’t fool her much longer,” Haleigh said.

“Almost there.” Jessi drizzled three drops on her wrist, then looked to Haleigh. “I think it’s good.”

“Here.” Haleigh extended her free arm. “Let me check.” The formula felt more room temperature than warm, but at least it wasn’t cold. “Feels okay to me.”

“Take your knuckle out and let’s see.”

Haleigh did as ordered, and Jessi dipped the small nipple into the baby’s mouth. The hungry little thing began eating like a champ.

“It’s working,” Jessi said, doing a happy dance on her toes. “She’s taking it.”

“She is.” Chubby cheeks sucked in and out as a little hand wrapped around Haleigh’s thumb. The newborn might as well have thrown a lasso around Haleigh’s heart and tugged it out of her chest. “So precious,” she whispered.

“I should probably take her back now,” the mother said, reminding Haleigh that they were standing nose to nose in the middle of the kitchen.

“Of course,” she said, fighting the urge to keep the child close. It wasn’t as if Haleigh didn’t hold babies every day. They were just usually bright red and covered in bodily fluids.

Jessi mimicked the swaying motion Haleigh had used to calm the child and smiled at the doctor. “Thank you for helping. I panicked for a minute there.”

“I’m sure every new mother panics at first.” Haleigh certainly would if she were in Jessi’s position. And then she remembered that she almost
had
been in Jessi’s position. Somehow the memory didn’t feel as raw today. She took that as a positive sign. “There’s a learning curve, but you’ll figure things out.”

“We didn’t keep you up last night, did we?” Jessi asked. “You look like you haven’t had much sleep.”

Ah, the honesty of youth.

“I spent most of the night at the hospital. Which is why, as you point out, I look like roadkill this morning.”

“I didn’t say that,” Jessi corrected. “I’m probably the one who looks like roadkill.” She punctuated the assertion with a yawn. “Maybe she’ll sleep after this bottle and I can pass out.”

A pushy voice niggled at the back of Haleigh’s brain, and it sounded an awful lot like Cooper.

You’re a good person, Hal. You know you want to help the girl out and let her get some sleep.

She
could
volunteer to babysit. For once, she had the day off and wasn’t on call again until after midnight.

“Where is this angel I’ve heard so much about?” echoed a high-pitched voice from the front hall. Abby and Cooper’s mother blew into the kitchen, heading straight for Jessi.

“Hello, Mrs. Ridgeway,” Haleigh said, stepping between the older woman and the retreating teen to give her second—and possibly favorite—mom a hug. “Linda Ridgeway, this is Jessi and baby Emma. I’m afraid the new little angel kept her mother up last night, so Jessi and I were working on getting her to sleep.”

“You poor thing.” Linda gave Jessi a sympathetic frown. “Though it’s been decades, of course, I still remember those first days of having them home.”

“She slept a little,” Jessi said, defending her baby’s behavior. “An hour here and there.”

“You must be exhausted.” The newcomer cupped Jessi’s cheek. “No need to worry now. I’m here.”

Brown eyes caught Haleigh’s over a puff of gray curls. “You are?”

Haleigh mouthed the words
Go with it
then said, “I’m sure Jessi doesn’t want to put you out, Mrs. Ridgeway.”

“Don’t be silly,” the woman said, taking the bait as Haleigh knew she would. “You need your strength to take care of a baby. Especially in the beginning. Don’t fret one minute more. I’ll take care of the little one while you crawl right back into bed. And then, when you wake up, I’ll make you something to eat.”

“Um,” Jessi hesitated. “Okay?” She passed Emma into Linda’s impatient arms, eliciting a loud belch from the baby.

“Very good, little one,” Linda said, shooing the other two women out of the room. “Go on now. I have everything under control.”

“If you’re sure,” Haleigh said, pushing Jessi out of the kitchen from behind. Linda didn’t answer but continued to hum to the bundle in her arms.

“Am I dreaming?” Jessi asked, standing outside her bedroom.

“Linda has been hoping for a grandchild for nearly a decade. Emma is in capable hands, and if you’re smart, you’ll sleep as long as she’ll let you.”

“I don’t know. It feels kind of weird to hand my baby over to a total stranger.”

“You’re living with strangers, Jessi. How much weirder could it get?” Haleigh blamed that zinger on lack of sleep. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ve known Abby and Cooper’s mom my whole life. I promise that Emma will be fine.”

Jessi tugged on the hem of her faded black T-shirt. “I
am
really tired.”

“You and me both,” Haleigh said, and disappeared into her own room with a casual wave. As her head hit the pillow, she sent her brain a cease and desist order on dreams about Cooper Ridgeway. Unfortunately, her brain had other ideas. All of them X-rated.

Within an hour, she gave up and faced the day.

Lunch had ended and the three men were lingering outside Mamacita’s when Cooper remembered to ask about Jessi’s father. “Spencer, do you remember anyone in town going by the initials J.T.?”

“Doesn’t sound familiar. Why?”

“That girl I found in my storage building the other night is looking for her biological father, and all she knows is that he’s supposedly from here and gave her mother the initials J.T.”

“Did her mother meet him here?” Caleb asked.

“No. Up in Bowling Green,” Cooper answered. “Her mom was eighteen at the time and recently told Jessi that the man was older and already had a family.”

“Sounds like an upstanding guy,” Spencer observed. “Why is she looking for him now? Not that I don’t get wanting to meet your father, but does she have a reason?”

Spencer grew up not knowing so much as his father’s name, and only learned the facts last year, shortly after the man had passed away.

“I’m not sure.” Cooper hadn’t thought to ask what Jessi intended to do if she found this mystery man. Was she going to hit him up for money? Break up his family? Expect to move in with him? Or did she simply want to get to know him?

“Gerald would know,” Caleb said.

“Gerald Nichols?” Spencer asked.

“Yeah. He’s lived here all his life except for a few years spent in Korea during the war. If someone named J.T. lived in Ardent Springs, he’d be the man to ask.”

“I should have thought of old Mr. Nichols,” Cooper said. “He might be the last of his generation around here. Could you ask him for me?”

Caleb grimaced. “I would, but he and his wife are over in Napa Valley for the rest of the month. The poor man thought retirement would give him a chance to sit still, but Dolly’s kept him on the road since a week after his goodbye party. Says she’s waited their entire marriage for it to be her turn and she’s taking it.”

“Can’t blame her for that, I guess.” So much for solving the mystery on the first try. Jessi’s one- to two-week stay with Abby was starting to look like a month, at least. “I’ll keep asking around, and if we don’t find an answer before he gets back, I’d appreciate it if you could see what Nichols knows.”

“Consider it done,” Caleb said. “Are we all still on for Brubaker’s after the meeting on Friday?”

Spencer pressed the key fob to unlock his truck. “Lorelei has reminded me twice, so I’m guessing yes.” Turning to Cooper, he pressed his hand to his forehead to block the sun. “You should bring Haleigh Rae.”

Not back to this again. “I don’t think so.” If he convinced Haleigh to go out on a date, Cooper wasn’t going to drag her to the loudest, most obnoxious place in town.

“I admit,” Spencer said, “your terrible dancing could run her off before you make the first move, but maybe she’ll feel bad and take pity on you.”

“I’m not bringing Haleigh to Brubaker’s,” Cooper argued. “She’s too good for that place.”

Caleb and Spencer both looked offended.

“We take our women there all the time,” Spencer said. “What are you trying to say?”

“Come on, guys. You know what I mean.”

“I don’t think we do,” Caleb said, crossing his arms as he squared his stance. “Explain it to us.”

Shit fire. Cooper hadn’t meant to insult Lorelei and Snow. And he sure didn’t mean to piss off their other halves.

“I’m not saying that Haleigh is better than Snow or Lorelei. She’s just . . . different.” The tick in Spencer’s jaw proved Cooper was digging himself a deeper hole. “Forget the too-good-for stuff,” he said. “If I take Haleigh out on a date, I want to be able to talk to her without yelling over loud music, okay?”

The explanation seemed to do the trick as each man visibly relaxed.

Caleb turned to Spencer. “Should we let him off the hook?”

Spencer grinned. “I don’t know. I like seeing him squirm.”

Cooper flipped them off as he turned toward his truck an aisle over. “You guys suck,” he said, ignoring the laughter behind him.

“Come on, buddy,” Spencer yelled after him. “You make it so easy.”

This was the crap he got for being a nice guy. “Screw you!” he hollered back. “I’ve got work to do.”