As traitorous as that cat was, he deserved the blame!
“Yeah, I’ll bet he did it...”
“Have fun at your party?”
Wish I hadn’t had quite so much fun at mine.
“Yeah, but Kara and Finleigh kept calling boys, and the boy I wanted to talk to was at his grandparents’ and couldn’t talk. I wish I knew if he liked me.”
“What boy?” Since when had her baby girl even known boys existed?
“His name’s Damon. He’s in sixth grade, and his eyes are all dreamy, but I don’t want him using them to look at any other girls.”
Back up the truck.
Though Millie would like nothing more than to dissect every possible meaning behind what’d transpired after she and Cooper had—well, fornicated, for lack of a better word—it sounded like her daughter needed her more.
“Honey...” She used a spatula to transfer the cookies from the sheet to a plate. “Don’t you think you’re a little young for boys?”
“No. God, Mom, Kara’s had a boyfriend for like three months.”
“Okay, first—when you say boyfriend, what exactly are we talking? Like you just talk at recess? And second—do Kara’s parents know about this guy?”
LeeAnn rolled her eyes. “You’re so lame.”
“And you’re a little too mouthy. And way too young to be even thinking about boys.”
“What do you know about them? It’s not like you ever date.”
Touché. “How about you take a nice, long time-out up in your room.”
“I have to work on my volcano.”
“Write on the research paper that goes along with it.”
As luck would have it, Cooper chose that moment to stroll through the back door. He wore faded work jeans, boots, an old, red flannel shirt and his raggedy straw hat. Despite all of that, he looked so handsome, Millie dropped a cookie on the floor. And then her mind’s eye recalled what’d happened right there on the kitchen table, and she wanted to dissolve into a confused puddle.
LeeAnn shot her uncle a preteen stony glare then stomped off toward the hall.
Cheetah shot out from under the table, dragging the cookie to the utility porch. Weird, traitorous cat who apparently thought he was a dog.
“What’s she in a snit about?” Peg asked on her way into the kitchen from doing Clint’s physical therapy.
“Can you believe it? Boys.” Millie glanced up to catch Cooper’s mossy-green gaze. Just thinking about what they’d done made her nipples harden. It’d been filthy! But then afterward, he’d been so sweet, and then strangely distant—as if nothing had even happened.
“She’s too young for that.”
“Exactly.” To avoid looking at Cooper, Millie focused on spooning dough onto the cookie sheet.
“Mom!” J.J. called from the living room, where they were watching a movie. “When are the cookies gonna be done? Me and Cayden are starving!”
“Just a minute!” Why, on the one morning when she really needed private time with Cooper to dissect what’d transpired between them was all hell-a-poppin’ in the Hansen home?
Chapter Fourteen
“Pretty day, isn’t it?”
“Yep.” Cooper kept right on hammering. He didn’t pause to admire how well Millie filled out her jeans, or how the sun glinted off the few red streaks in her hair. When he’d been in the kitchen—the scene of his crime—with her that morning, he couldn’t escape fast enough.
Millie hung clothes on the line.
If not for the jet overhead bound for Denver International, they could have been in another century. Part of him wished they were. Lord knew, things would be less complicated. But then would they? All things being relative, nothing would change. He’d still have carried a wagonload of emotional baggage, and she’d still be his brother’s widow.
“Looks like you’re making good progress on the coop.” She hung up a pint-size pair of jeans.
“Yep.” He kept right on framing by fitting in a 2x4.
“You planning on avoiding me forever?”
Yep.
“There’s not much to say other than it shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have let it.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I’m half of this equation and wanted it to happen?”
He sighed. “Yeah, well, you shouldn’t have. I’m no good, and you’re like a saint. Raising two great kids, looking after my dad and the ranch. You’re my brother’s
wife.
”
“Correction...” She hung a tiny T-shirt. And another and another until her motions looked frantic. “I
was
Jim’s wife, but he left me. He was stupid—so stupid, to die like he did. It was a useless, senseless death that still makes me furious.” Now she was crying, and the racking sobs shredded Cooper’s heart. “How could he be so careless with his life?”
He set down his hammer and went to her—not caring who saw.
“I’m sorry.” He kissed the crown of her head.
She pushed him away. “No. I don’t want pity. I want you to view me not as Jim’s wife, your sister-in-law, but as me—
Millie.
The girl who watched you at rodeos and thought you were the wildest thing I’d ever seen. Jim was wonderfully safe, he was my rock, but you were—are...”
Her teary smile rocked his world.
“
Amazing.
And I don’t just mean—you know. I’m talking about how you’ve swept in here and made everything better. I could’ve maintained the status quo, but by you taking the ranch duties off my hands, I feel like I can breathe again. I can’t thank you enough for that.”
He tucked his hands in his pockets. “You’re welcome, but about last night... It can’t happen again.”
“Because you’re not attracted to me?” The tears streaming down her cheeks glistened in the sun. And that felt wrong. No one should be crying on such a gift of a February day—especially not a woman as gorgeous as Millie.
“Seriously?” He drew her back into his arms for a kiss, then tucked flyaway strands of her hair behind her ears. “Never doubt your beauty. You’re stunning.”
“No, I’m not. My nails are a mess and my hair’s never done. I saw the girls you dated in high school, and I would never have been one of them.”
“Are we in high school?” He brushed his thumb over her full lower lip then leaned in for a nibble. “I sure as hell hope not, because then I wouldn’t be able to do this...” He kissed her nice and slow, knowing the whole while he shouldn’t, but what kind of man would he be to let a woman as perfect as she was spend one more moment crying?
Her breathy mew made him hard as hell. “Thought we weren’t doing this anymore?”
“We’re not. This really is the last time, okay?”
She returned his kiss, this time with a bad-girl hint of tongue. “Yes. That’s probably best.”
“No more insecurities, okay?” He tucked his hand under her chin, directing her gaze to his. “Promise?”
She nodded.
“Good girl.” He kissed her forehead. The tip of her nose. He wanted to journey farther, but held strong in his resolve to keep his roving hands to himself. Their table
tango
never should’ve happened. She deserved better than that, than him.
*
S
UNDAY
AFTERNOON
, M
ILLIE
stood alongside Peg’s compact car while she rearranged the contents of her overstuffed trunk in an attempt to close it. “Why don’t you take out your toiletry case and put it in the backseat?”
“Because I’ve got all my quilting gear there. I finished a whole section while you and my brother were off partying.”
“Whoa—don’t you mean your brother and Stacie?” Because it was the God’s honest truth that Millie hadn’t enjoyed a lick of what’d gone on down at Mack’s. And after? There went the annoying heat in her cheeks. Well, after had been a whole other story.
“Cut the act. I saw you two kissing out back today.”
“You were spying on us?”
“I was washing dishes and happened to look out the window behind the sink. What if it’d been LeeAnn or J.J. who saw? Spill it. What’s going on between you two?”
“We kissed, but it was no big deal. We both agreed it was a mistake. End of story.”
“I don’t think so. Do you feel something special for him? If so, when did you know? Is he quitting the Navy to stay here or still leaving, because I can’t imagine you and the kids following him.”
“Peg, stop.” Millie looked over her shoulder to make sure they were still alone. “Even if I knew the answers to all of those questions, I don’t think I’d tell you. Whatever’s going on is complicated and—I’m sure in the grand scheme of things—nothing important. Just two lonely people sharing a moment.”
“You two don’t just have shared moments, Mill, but a long history. Think about it. You crushed on Cooper long before realizing Jim was the more stable of the two Hansen boys.”
“Ha!” Millie hugged herself in twilight’s growing chill. “What a crock that turned out to be. Hopefully, even Cooper’s not stupid enough to stand up on a moving four-wheeler while shooting.”
Peg sighed. “You ever going to forgive him?”
Millie crossed her arms. “Nope.”
“Okay, well, for the record, I think you could do worse in men than Cooper. I’m beyond thrilled to see him and Dad getting along. Would it really be so awful for you to end up with another Hansen man?”
“Okay, wait—we shared a kiss, and already you’re marrying us off?”
“Think about it. He’s a ready-made dad and ranch hand. You could—and have—gone years without meeting another candidate as suitable as him.” Peg tossed the toiletry bag on top of her quilting gear then slammed the trunk closed. “Just sayin’.”
*
T
HURSDAY
AFTERNOON
WHILE
cutting trash bags to protect LeeAnn’s volcano from the light snow, Millie still couldn’t get Peg’s words out of her head.
Last week at this time, if someone had told her she’d have used a man for his body, she’d have laughed them out of the county, but in hindsight, had that essentially been what happened between her and Cooper? If Peg knew the whole truth, she’d freak.
Every time Millie relived what she and Cooper had done on this very table, her stomach flipped—only in a good way—wishing she had the courage to do it again.
“Mom?” LeeAnn asked. “Have you seen my report?”
“It’s in your blue folder on top of the printer.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I have ice cream for dinner?” J.J. asked from in front of the freezer.
“No. Once we help your sister set up her project, we might have time to go out for dinner during the judging. We’ll have to play it by ear.”
“But I thought the science fair was tomorrow?”
“It is, but judges go through tonight to decide who won. Then tomorrow, all the people visiting the fair will be able to see the winners.”
J.J. cocked his head. “I don’t get it.”
“Me, neither, bud.” Cooper sauntered in from Clint’s room, where he’d been helping his father eat.
No matter how many times Millie told herself she was over him, his striking profile never failed to send her pulse into a gallop.
Cooper grabbed a banana from the counter fruit bowl, snapped it in half, and gave part to her son. He then took a piece of bologna from the fridge, ate three-quarters and fed the rest to Cheetah, who rubbed against his ankles. Maybe that’s how he got the cat to like him. Bribes! “How about we let your mom and LeeAnn just tell us where we need to be and when?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” J.J. looked to Cooper in awe.
“If I’m in charge—” Millie duct-taped the last trash bag in place “—then how about you two put on clean shirts? And one of you probably needs to wash your face.”
“Oops, that’s me,” Cooper teased.
Even if it was meant for her son, Millie couldn’t get enough of her brother-in-law’s smile. Since their talk in the backyard, though she wouldn’t even try denying the sexual tension, there’d also been a lightness between them she found irresistible. He was also getting along great with J.J. and Clint. LeeAnn, however, still merely tolerated him—even after he’d printed his Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii pictures for her and helped with her project’s eruption.
What if Peg was right? That Cooper truly was the guy she was meant to rebuild her life with? Only her insecurities and doubts caused them to miss their opportunity?
The question haunted her while loading everyone and LeeAnn’s volcano into the truck, and more still while thanking Lynette for watching Clint while they’d be gone.
By the time Cooper had driven them to town, her mind felt messy. Once they’d all made two treks from the truck into the school through heavy snow with the various parts of LeeAnn’s project, while J.J. ran around with found friends, Millie led Cooper to a seat on the gym’s bleachers.
“Shouldn’t we be helping her assemble everything?” he asked.
“Nope. She’d be disqualified.”
“What if she doesn’t remember where to put all the tubing?”
Millie cast him a sideways smile. “Relax. And welcome to being an uncle.”
“Thanks.” After returning her smile, he nudged her shoulder with his. He’d no doubt meant the gesture as friendly, so why did her whole body tingle? “All the uncle manuals skip this part—about wanting your niece to beat the crap out of every other kid in a purely scientific manner.”
“Oh, of course.” She laughed and nodded.
Other parents joined them in the stands until the school principal herded them all into the cafeteria to await the announcement of the winners.
“You know,” Cooper said between bites of the chocolate cake the PTA moms had provided—turned out there hadn’t been time for dinner, “though I saw a few other volcanoes, Lee clearly had the most complex.”
“Absolutely.”
Was it wrong that she found so much joy in once again coparenting? Cooper might technically only be her children’s uncle, but she remembered Jim being every bit as competitive when it came to their kids’ winning.
Even better? Not standing around alone while groups of moms and dads gathered. She’d grown weary of always being on her own. Before his stroke, Clint had tagged along whenever he could, but it’d never been the same.
Forty minutes and three pieces of cake later, Cooper asked, “How long does it take to determine Lee’s the winner?”
“In my experience, whether you’re waiting for a riding lesson to end or tutoring or Little League, it always takes around ten minutes longer than you feel you can stand waiting without a mental breakdown.”
“Good to know,” he said with a nod. “I’m damn near there.”
Twenty minutes later, winners were finally named.
When LeeAnn came in third in her age group to a robot that dunked cookies in milk and a tsunami machine, Cooper was outraged.
“What the hell?” he asked under his breath. “There’s no way that scrawny kid made that robotic arm all on his own. Look at the way his dad’s beaming—clear case of cheating to me. That guy probably works for NASA.”
Millie grimaced. “Maybe, but another
uncling
tip for you is that despite how much you want to pitch a fit about any number of injustices toward one’s child, we must always be gracious and follow the adage of catching more flies with honey than vinegar.”
“That’s bullshit.”
She elbowed him. “Another rule? Even though you’re a grown-up, you still can’t cuss at school.”
Sighing, he shook his head. “No wonder I was glad to get out of this place. Too damned many rules.”
He got it again with her elbow. “I’m starving. Let’s find the kids and get out of here.”
“Yes, ma’am. Want to divide and conquer? I’ll grab the munchkin and you find Lee?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Yet another benefit of coparenting—not having to track down both kids by herself.
Watching Cooper’s broad shoulders easily part through the crowd, Millie fully realized just how weary she’d grown of being a single parent. But that realization was a long way from promoting Cooper from uncle to dad.
*
J.J.
STILL
SLEPT
with a night-light, so Cooper couldn’t help but wonder why he’d ventured so far down a dark school hall.
A metallic clang, then giggle, came from about fifty feet in front of Cooper’s current location, and he was guessing by the sounds’ slight diffusion, down another hall to the left. Sure enough, he soon had to make another turn into a new addition that hadn’t been here when he’d attended this school.
He heard another giggle.
Saw a couple kissing in the faint light eking in from the snow-covered parking lot.
Cooper cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Either one of you seen— Are you freakin’ kidding me?” His eyes narrowed. “LeeAnn?”
“Don’t tell Mom.”
“You—” Cooper pointed to the boy “—get the hell away from my niece.”
The kid took one look at the same game face Cooper used when taking down terrorists and shot off toward the cafeteria.
“God—” LeeAnn straightened her long pigtails “—did you have to be so scary?”
“You’re both lucky I didn’t do worse. Your mom, on the other hand, is going to blow bigger than your volcano.”
“
Please,
don’t tell her.”
Arms crossed, he asked, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”
“With Grandpa Clint’s stroke and all the bills she’s always worrying about, I don’t want her worrying about me. I promise, I’ll never kiss Damon again.”