Rhett
“Want to grab a burger?” Coop asks.
“Nope.”
“Pizza? I could go for a slice of Dewey’s.”
“Not hungry.”
“Come on,” he sighs, kicking my legs off his coffee table. “You’ve gotta get up and do something, brother.”
“I have. I went to physical therapy four times this week.”
“That’s all you’ve done.”
My phone rings from the table, but I don’t bother checking it. It’s probably Nikki, and she’s about the last person I want to talk to right now—right behind the Woman Who Shall Not Be Named.
“You gonna answer that?”
“Nope.”
I look at the phone when it stops ringing and see a missed call from Mo. It’s the first time she’s called. I should answer it, give her the chance to explain, but I don’t because I’m an asshole.
“That the first you’ve heard from her?”
“Yup.”
“You don’t want to hear what she has to say?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“We both know that isn’t true.” Coop grabs the remote from my lap and presses pause on the TV.
I exhale a sharp breath. “You really want to do this, Coop? Should we paint our toenails, have a pillow fight, and talk about our feelings?”
His lips twitch. “Sure, if it means getting your ass off this couch. You’re starting to stink.”
“Screw you.”
Duke stretches out next to me, rolls over, and farts.
“Your damn dog stinks too.” Coop groans, fanning the air in front of his face.
Duke lifts a lazy eye to see what all the commotion is about and then rolls back over. My fingers slip through his soft coat, rubbing at the sweet spot behind his ear. Coop pissed and moaned about getting the dogs from Mo, said I should let her keep them a few more days, but I needed to remove the temptation to see her.
“Don’t worry, we won’t be around much longer.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Come on, Coop. This isn’t permanent. I’m over a week into physical therapy, and my shoulder feels good.” There’s still a tight pain when I try to lift my arm, but it’s getting better by the day. “It’s been two weeks since the accident. I need to start focusing on my career and getting back on the bull.”
“You and that damn bull,” Coop says, shaking his head. “What about that photo shoot you were telling me about? I thought Nikki wanted to do that out at Dad’s.”
“I fired her.”
“Figured as much.”
I didn’t fire her that night at Dirty Dicks; she was way too drunk to understand what was going on. Coop and I put her up in a hotel, and I was there waiting for her in the morning when she woke up. I delivered the news and walked out—nothing she could’ve said was going to make a difference. Her breach of trust still takes my breath every time I think about it. Poor Mo. I mean, I have my own set of issues with Mo, but Nikki interfered in my life, manipulating my relationship to get what was best for her and her father without any thought about me as a person, and messed up my future in the process.
“Now what? Do you have another manager lined up?”
“Not yet, no. I contacted my lawyer. He’s drawing up paperwork to sever my contract with the Atwood Agency. I’ll wait until that goes through and then figure something out.”
My phone rings again. Coop and I look down at the same time to see Mo’s name flash across the screen.
“Must be pretty important if she’s calling back.”
“She doesn’t give a shit about me.”
Scowling, Coop stands up from the couch. “Is that really what you think?”
“You don’t know what she did, Coop. Trust me, if you knew, you would agree.”
“Maybe you’re right, maybe not, but you won’t tell me, so…” He looks at me meaningfully. “As things stand, I believe that woman cares about you.” Coop digs in his pocket, pulling out his phone.
He taps the screen a few times and drops it on my lap.
“What is this?” I ask, ignoring the pounding in my heart.
“Watch that and then tell me Mo doesn’t care about you.”
I drop my head, my eyes locked on Coop’s phone. The picture is shaky but clear as his face comes into view.
“Hey, brother.” He smiles into the camera before turning toward the bar. “Everyone is piled in at Dirty Dicks to watch the show. We’re all rooting for you. Everybody say hi,” he yells.
The camera scans the room, and there are several familiar faces. They all hoot and holler, each one fading out of the picture to make room for the next, and then the camera lands on Mo, and I stop breathing all together.
She glares at the camera before flipping it off, and then I’m left with another view of the room. The picture on the TV is faint, but I can make it out through the video. Everyone cheers as the announcers rattle off a series of statistics. Everything seems to happen much faster now that I’m watching it from Coop’s phone, and I gasp for air along with everyone in that room when I’m thrown from Lucifer. But what happens next nearly brings me to my knees.
Mo flings herself over the bar and rushes to the TV as though she wants to reach through it and be the one to help me. The camera on the phone shifts, the sound muffling, but I’m able to make out what Mo says.
“Why isn’t he moving?” She’s crying, and as morbid as it sounds, I’d give anything to see her face. “He should be moving, right? Dammit, Rhett,” she cries. “I need you to move. Fucking move already. He’s so still. Why aren’t they helping? They need to do something.”
Mo comes back on the video. The view is slanted to the side, and there’s too much white noise to hear what she says, but the wild, desperate look in her eyes tells me everything. I swallow hard, waiting to see what she’ll do next. There’s a pause, followed by her frantic cry for Cooper. “Coop!” After a loud thud, the video goes black.
I look up to find Coop. He’s standing in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, his hip propped against the frame.
“She was scared to death. We both were. I don’t know what happened between you two all those years ago—other than Nikki clearly helped make a mess of things—and frankly, I don’t need to know, but Mo cares about you. Probably even loves you, if I had to guess. She hasn’t dated anyone since you two broke up. Not once.”
Pressure builds behind my eyes. I’m not sure what to think about that. Why didn’t she date? Because of me? Was she hoping I’d come back? Because that’s pretty twisted after the lie she told.
I look away, taking a second to get a hold of my emotions, although I’m finding it difficult because they’re swirling all over the damn place.
“You’ve seemed happy since you’ve been back in Heaven, and I’d say it has something to do with seeing Mo. If there’s still something there, you owe it to yourself to figure out if you two can sort through the past. A girl like her won’t stay single forever.” Coop grabs his phone from my lap and slides it into his pocket. “I’ve gotta head down to the pub, check on a few things. When I get back, you better be off this couch, and for the love of God, take a damn shower.”
I stare at the front door for a long time after Coop leaves, wondering what in the world I’m supposed to do about Mo. I’m relieved that she didn’t cheat on me with Charlie Dixon, but I’m not sure I can get over her lie, mitigating circumstances or not. She’s had six years to come clean, and she never chose to do that until she had to.
I groan, and my head falls into my hands. Duke shoves his wet nose against the side of my face.
“I’m okay, bud,” I say, giving him a pat. “Just trying to figure out what to do about Mo.” His ears perk at the sound of her name, and I laugh. “She’s gotten to you too, huh?”
Sitting up, he lets out a deep bark.
“Now you sound like Coop.”
I glance at the sweats I’ve been wearing for two straight days. No woman is worth this. Surely it won’t kill me to talk to her, if that’s what she wants.
Mind made up, I take a quick shower and get dressed. I slip my feet into a pair of Nikes, grab my keys, yank open the front door, and plow straight into a body. Grabbing Mo’s arms, I make sure she’s steady.
She blinks up at me. Her puffy eyes are red, lips swollen. My stomach twists in knots. I get a whiff of her strawberry shampoo and without fail, I’m reminded of a blanket, a six-pack of beer, my favorite country song playing on the radio, and Mo’s soft moans as we made love under the stars. My heart flops around in my chest, and I have to take a step back. It’s too much, and without the cover of anger, I’m not ready to be this close to her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was hoping we could talk.” She bites her lower lip and glances at the keys in my hand. “I can come back if this is a bad time.”
“Mo—”
“Just so you know, I’m not going to let this go.”
“I know.” I rub the back of my neck. “I was actually coming to find you.”
She shifts on her feet, a nervous habit that she’s had for as long as I can remember. “You were?”
I nod. “I told you I wanted you to start from the beginning, and then I walked away before you could finish. That wasn’t fair to you, and I apologize.”
She looks down at her feet, and I follow her gaze. Mo’s toes peek out from the tips of her sandals. They’re painted a pale aqua color—odd choice if you ask me, but what do I know? The corners are chipped and worn—the way my heart has felt this past week. It’s time to move forward.
I clear my throat, catching Mo’s eye, and gesture over my shoulder. “Would you like to come in, or we can stay out here?”
“I don’t care where we go, Rhett, just somewhere quiet where we can talk.”
Coop lives off of Route 143. His closest neighbor sits a mile down the road, and the only sounds are birds chirping and the light rumble of thunder off in the distance. And, if we stay out here, the smell of the impending rainstorm will distract me from the smell of Mo.
I motion for her take the chair while I prop myself up on the banister of the front porch.
“Okay, Mo, you said you had more to tell me. I’m listening.”