Chapter Ten
Cooper double checked the living room of the three-bedroom apartment he shared with his brothers. It wasn’t bad. The guys didn’t have a whole lot of decoration so it was pretty simple. There was a long brown corduroy wrap-around couch, coffee table, and large flat screen television on the opposite wall. A weight bench, barbell and pile of weights sat in one corner of the room. And a plant that Jessie had bought Cade sat on a stand in the opposite corner. There was a couple of wintery scene paintings Cade had picked up at a garage sale somewhere hung up on the walls. Cooper thought about lighting a candle to make the place smell better but then thought that might be a little overboard. He didn’t want to look like he was trying too hard.
He walked into the kitchen and saw Cash’s dirty socks lying under the kitchen table. “Seriously?” he said out loud to no one. He picked up the socks and walked them to Cash’s bedroom, tossed them in, and shut the door. He was glad his brothers weren’t there for this dinner with Becca. He had to practically beg them to leave. He knew if they’d have stayed he would have been even more uncomfortable than he already was. He still wasn’t sure how he’d let himself get talked into the dinner in the first place. He really didn’t want Becca to go to alot of trouble. But she looked so cute, and insistent, when she was proposing the idea and he couldn’t say no.
Cooper returned to the kitchen and gave it a once over. Everything looked all right to him. He didn’t know what Becca would need to prepare this dinner but he had all the basic essentials. It would be weird to see someone else cooking with his pots and pans and spatulas though.
Cooper caught his reflection in the hallway mirror. He showered and pulled on his nicest t-shirt and jeans for the occasion. Again, he didn’t want to look like he was trying too hard but he also didn’t want to look homeless.
Just as Cooper was checking the clock on the kitchen stove, the doorbell rang. I guess this is it, he thought.
Cooper crossed the living room and swung open the door. Becca was standing there, loaded down with bags and Tupperware dishes, with more set on the floor beside her. Her hair was long and loose hanging down past her shoulders and her cheeks were flush. She looked happy and excited and very beautiful. He found he was momentarily at a loss for words.
“Are you going to let me in?” Becca asked.
Cooper blinked and slightly shook his head, coming back to his senses. “Wow, sorry, yes.” Cooper said. “Here, let me give you a hand.” He let Becca unload the items in her arms into his and he turned away from the door. “I’ll just drop these in the kitchen,” he called over his shoulder.
He set Becca’s stuff on the kitchen table and went back to the doorway to help her with the rest. “Is this dinner just for me and you or did you invite another dozen or so guests?” he teased.
“What can I say? I’m a big eater,” Becca teased back. She handed Cooper a few more bags and followed him through the apartment.
“Me too, so, I won’t complain.” Cooper set the rest of Becca’s groceries on the table and she stood next to him, surveying the kitchen.
“You have a nice place. This is going to be fun.”
Cooper watched as Becca unpacked everything she brought. She walked back and forth to his refrigerator, transferring things she had in a cooler onto the shelf inside. Cooper wasn’t sure what exactly he should do with himself. It seemed rude to leave her in his kitchen all alone. And there was really nothing else he had to do or wanted to do so he took a seat at the kitchen table.
Cooper was nervous with Becca there and wished he could relax. He could feel himself starting to sweat and wiped his palms on his thighs. “So, what’s on the menu?”
Becca grinned. “First an appetizer for you to munch on while you watch me work.” She pulled out a tray with various cheeses, dry salami, and olives on it and slid back the cellophane. “Oh, crackers too.” She opened a package of fancy butter crackers and laid them down one side of the cheese tray.
Cooper just stared at it for a moment. First, he was happy that she wanted him to stay in the kitchen with her and watch; and, he wondered if she was being slightly flirtatious with that comment. Of course, it would have been awkward if he would have had to watch television or read a book in the other room while she was cooking so maybe he read her wrong. Second, he couldn’t believe how much effort she’d put into the presentation of her appetizer and that she did it all just for him. No one put in any effort on anything for him, at least not that he could think of just then. He always took care of himself and his brothers. Cooper was touched by Becca’s thoughtfulness. He picked up a square of white cheese with black speckles on it and popped it into his mouth. He didn’t recognize what it was but he liked trying new things. A sweet and savory taste immediately exploded on his tongue. “Wow, this is good.”
“Isn’t it?” Becca said excitedly. “It’s a truffle cheddar from England. I saw it in the store and had to buy it; it looked so interesting.”
Cooper ate another hunk of cheese. He rolled the cheese around in his mouth and then swallowed. “It’s fantastic. I’ve never tasted anything like it.”
Becca picked up a piece and popped it into her mouth. She closed her eyes as she chewed and swallowed. “Yum. That is good.”
Cooper realized he was staring at Becca and turned his attention back to the tray. He cleared his throat. “So, what are you making?”
Becca pulled a small black apron from one of her bags and slipped it over her head. She tied the strings behind her back.
“One of my faves. Shrimps and scallops with angel hair pasta in an alfredo sauce.” She set a bottle of olive oil on the counter top along with the bags of seafood. “Should we break into the wine now though?” She pulled a bottle of white wine out of one of the bags she’d set on the floor.
“Sure, I’ll do that.” Cooper took the bottle and walked over to the utensil drawer where they kept a corkscrew. He took it out and pulled two wine glasses from a cabinet overhead.
Becca had moved to the counter and was chopping up a few cloves of garlic.
He poured both glasses of wine and handed Becca hers. He was about to retreat to his seat when she turned toward him.
“A toast,” she said. “To you. Thank you so much for helping me like you did. I know you didn’t have to do that, at all. The accident was my fault.”
His eyebrows shot up.
Becca laughed. “Yes, I’m admitting it. I was having a bad day and tried to peel out of the parking lot. I’m really sorry,” she added in a more serious tone. “But you really are a great guy. I wouldn’t have been able to fix my car for a long time probably. You really helped me out.”
Cooper could feel himself blush, partly because of the wine but mostly because of Becca’s toast. He shook his head. “I told you, no big deal.”
She held her glass toward him. “But it was a big deal to me. Cheers.”
He clinked his glass with hers. “Cheers. And you’re welcome.”
They both took a sip.
Cooper kept his eyes locked with her pretty brown ones.
She set her glass down on the counter and turned toward the stove. She drizzled olive oil in a pan and started sautéing the garlic.
An hour or so later, Cooper sat back in his chair and patted his stomach. “That was so delicious. And probably the nicest meal anyone has ever made for me.” Not to mention, one of the best conversations he’d had with anyone in a long time.
They had just finished eating a Caesar salad with homemade croutons, a baguette with honey butter that Becca had also made herself, and the shrimps and scallops alfredo.
Becca smiled at him across the kitchen table. “It’s not quite done,” she said. “We have a raspberry cheesecake for dessert.”
“You thought of everything,” Cooper said. He had the sudden urge to get more comfortable and get out of his small kitchen. “Do you want to have dessert in the living room?” he asked.
“Sure,” Becca said. “Fill up our wine glasses and I’ll plate our dessert and bring it in.”
Cooper brought their glasses of wine into the living room and set them on the coffee table in front of the couch. He popped his iPhone into the speaker on the end table, put on some soft music, and sat down.
A couple of minutes later, Becca joined him on the couch. She handed him a plate and turned her body to face him. There were only a few feet between them and Cooper was glad she had sat near him rather than at the other end of their long wrap-around couch.
“So, you were telling me about growing up here,” Becca said. “I can’t believe I don’t remember your family.”
“Well, we left when I was ten. That would have made you, what, about six years old?”
Becca nodded. “Kindergarten. That was a busy year for me. I was also very anti-boy then, too, so it makes sense. I got over that,” she said with a sly grin.
“That’s good.” Cooper returned. She was flirting now, wasn’t she? he thought. It had been so long since he’d flirted with a woman or a woman had flirted with him that he wasn’t sure what was flirting and what was plain friendliness. He cleared his throat.
He took a bite of his cheesecake and chewed. It was rich and sweet.
Becca did the same.
“This is delicious,” he said after he swallowed. “You’re a great cook. This whole meal has been amazing.”
“Thanks. It’s nice cooking for someone other than myself.”
“My brothers don’t cook. I don’t think anyone has cooked for me since we moved back. Probably not for a long time before that either. My mom used to love entertaining though. She’d make big meals and invite friends and family over a lot.”
“That sounds nice. My mom was never that Mom-y like that. I was a pain in her butt. I think I still am,” Becca added.
There was an awkward silence in the room. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Cooper finally said.
Becca shrugged. “It’s okay. I just hung out with my friends more than I hung out at home. Luci’s mom is the best. I always wished she was my real mom.”
“Yeah?”
Becca nodded and smiled. “Diedre talked to us and really listened, like she cared about what we had to say. She always treated us like our thoughts and feelings were important and valid. My parents were all rules and no bend. I was to do what I was told without argument.”
Cooper nodded. “That’s rough.”
“To me, coming back to Snowy Ridge felt like a failure,” Becca confided in him.
Cooper thought about this and then said, “To me, it was the dream.”
Becca gave him a surprised look. “Really? How do you mean?”
“I get that some might look at Snowy Ridge as small and stifling,” Cooper said. “There’s not that much to do and not many people to do it with. But to me it was always magical. This was the last place I saw my mom healthy. My memories of her are snowmobile rides on the back of her sled, cookies and Christmases, ice skating on the frozen lake and making peanut butter pine cone bird feeders to hang in the trees. My mom got sick for the first time here. That’s why we moved to Chicago when I was ten. My dad always said it was for work but I knew it was for her to have access to the best doctors at the best hospitals.”
Becca set her cheesecake on the table and leaned closer to Cooper, resting her arm on the back of the couch near where his was. She placed her hand over his.
Cooper looked at her hand briefly, surprised at her soft warm touch, and then continued. “My brothers were small and didn't understand.” He stared straight ahead at his wine glass on the coffee table but then made himself return his gaze to meet Becca’s. “They don't remember Snowy Ridge like I do. Mom did all the necessary treatments in Chicago and she got better. Her hair grew back, though it never looked quite the same. Things were good for a while.” Cooper paused. “Then, the cancer came back and she passed away when I was seventeen. I promised her I would always take care of Cash and Cade and that’s what I’m doing. That’s what this is to me, our business, coming back to Snowy Ridge. It’s what I was meant to do.”
“Wow,” Becca said. Her fingers curled around his and he didn’t stop her. He let her gently hold his hand.
Cooper nervously looked around the room. He wondered if he had said too much. It was certainly more than he’d said to anyone else in a long, long time. He turned his head and met Becca’s eyes again. They were blurred with tears that didn’t fall.