Chapter Twenty
Cooper followed Diedre back and forth to the Starlight kitchen, retrieving trays of prepared hors d’oeuvres and setting them out on the empty tables throughout the dining room. Diedre had asked him to leave with her right away from the proposal to help her get things ready over at the pub. He was glad to have a task to do because he had been feeling really emotional watching his baby brother getting engaged to Jessie. He’d known Cade was planning something really big for when he proposed to her, but he had no idea the extent he’d gone to. It was really something to witness and he felt so proud of his brother for making it such a special event.
“Thanks so much for giving me a hand, hon’,” Diedre said. She balanced a tray of bruschetta in her right hand and stuffed mushrooms in her left.
“No problem at all,” Cooper replied, pulling up the rear with two trays of pigs in a blanket. “Hey, we’re kind of going to be family now.”
Diedre stopped and looked at Cooper. “Wow, you’re right. I’m not just gaining a son-in-law, but a whole new extended family. Jessie is going to be a Stone. We have years of family get-togethers ahead of us. And can you imagine when they have kids? There will be little Stones running all around town and up and down the sled hills. It’s all so exciting, isn’t it?”
Cooper hadn’t even given thought far enough to his brother and Jessie having kids; but, it really could happen and soon. He would be an uncle. Uncle Cooper. It made him suddenly feel old. Like he should open up a Roth IRA tomorrow or invest in some stocks. “It is. I can’t believe my little brother is getting married.”
“To my baby,” Diedre added. She set the food down and turned to look at Cooper. “They really are a wonderful couple. You know, I thought Jessie was going to kill Cade when she met him. I still remember when he first came in here after you boys moved to town. I’d asked Jessie to deliver his dinner and beer to him and she’d said only if she could make him wear it. They sure got off to a bad start,” she added with a chuckle.
Cooper smirked. “Yeah, I guess our family doesn’t make the best of first impressions.”
“I saw a spark between them, though, that very first night. Anyone who could make Jessie that passionate, passionately angry at the time, true, had to be a keeper. It’s been wonderful watching them fall in love.”
Cooper nodded and looked over at the front door. People would start arriving for the celebration at any moment. He had a lot on his mind and could use some advice. Diedre seemed like she’d be the perfect person to talk to.
“I’m really happy for my brother, I am,” Cooper begun, “but I’m not like him. I couldn’t promise someone a lifetime together. I don’t think I could ever be so sure about something as those two are.”
Diedre gave Cooper a concerned look. “Well, no one knows for sure what the future holds; but, marriage is making a commitment that you want to give it a shot. It’s taking a leap of faith and saying you’re the person I want to be with. Let’s tackle this journey of life together. Sure, things can happen down the road that weather a relationship, but if you’re committed to making it work, you will.”
Cooper didn’t look convinced. “Maybe,” he finally said.
“Stan and I were young fools when we got married. We thought we could do anything we set our hearts on and we pretty much did. We moved to Snowy Ridge, bought Starlight, and made this our home for us and the girls. We didn’t know where life was going to take us but we went through it together for over thirty-five years. There were plenty of good times and bad; and I wouldn’t trade one minute of any of it.”
“It sounds like you were two of the lucky ones,” Cooper said.
Diedre considered this. “Luck? I don’t know about that. It was more like we made up our minds and we worked at it.”
“But when it fails, it’s horrible. Divorce sucks. I don’t think I could ever get my hopes up like that again. It’s too awful when it’s over.” Flashes of the angry voices and terrible words he and Mandy had screamed at each other through the last six months of his marriage filled his mind.
“It is horrible when something you counted on comes to an end,” Diedre admitted. “Ours was a wonderful marriage that ended too soon when my husband died. My promise of a lifetime got cut short. But I didn’t just shut down.” A wry smile crossed Deidre’s face. “Okay, maybe I shut down for a while. But I found my way back. It’s been seven years since Stan’s death. I decided to be adventurous this year and get back out there. I dated several men and I’ve found someone I really enjoy spending time with. You don’t just stop living because something bad happened. We’re humans. We go on.”
Cooper thought about this. “That’s kind of like me,” he confessed. “I stopped trying after my divorce. I didn’t see any point in dating because the outcome would be the same and I’d just end up divorced again.”
“But you went on,” Diedre urged.
Cooper thought about this. He went on living, of course, but he never really let himself move on emotionally. “Not with relationships. I shut down in that department. I’ve kept my focus one hundred present on my business.”
Diedre put an arm on Cooper’s shoulder. “That’s okay, too. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Cooper. You needed a break. When the right woman comes along you’ll know it.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I thought that once before and I was completely wrong.”
“I think you just have to trust yourself that you’ll know it when it happens. With Stan I knew I didn’t want to live without him. I knew each day I was with him was better than any other day. When something good happened to me, he was the first person I wanted to call and share it with. And when something bad would happen he was the one I wanted to console me. He was my person. When you find your person and she’s all of those things for you, you’ll know it. Just have faith.”
Cooper thought about this. Was there anyone he wanted to share his good times with? Was there someone he wanted to console him in the bad times? Was there anyone who made his days better just by being there?
One face came to his mind with each question. Becca. The right woman did come along and he let her keep on walking by.
He was such an idiot. Becca was his person all along and he’d been fighting what was right in front of him. He’d been denying himself happiness when he could have reached out and took it. Well, no more. He was done punishing himself.
“You’re smiling,” Diedre said. “Did what I said help?”
Cooper leaned over and kissed Diedre on the cheek. “More than you know,” he said.
The doors to Starlight opened and the townspeople poured in, chatting happily as they filled up the tables and booths. Diedre took Cooper’s hand and gave it a squeeze before she moved through the pub, greeting people.
Cooper filled pitchers of beer behind the bar and set them on a tray as he occasionally stole glances at Becca. She was sitting at a table near the fireplace with Luci and Amber chatting. His mind was going a mile a minute. He wanted to race over to Becca, swoop her up into his arms, and profess his love for her right then and there but he knew this wasn’t the right place for it.
Becca looked up and caught Cooper looking at her. She smiled at him and waved.
He waved back and then returned his attention to the beer flowing in front of him, quickly closing the tap. He’d almost overflowed the pitcher.
“Thanks so much for helping out, Cooper,” Wynn said, stepping up next to him. “I can pass those around,” she said with a nod at the tray holding four already filled pitchers.
“Yeah, sure. It’s no problem,” he replied.
“Are you so excited about our sibs getting married? It’ll be a fun wedding, huh?”
Cooper hadn’t pictured the wedding yet but between their two families and all of their friends, it had to be a good time. “Definitely.”
Wynn walked away with the tray, setting the beer down on various tables.
Cooper grabbed another tray and started filling more pitchers from the tap. He needed to form a plan. He needed to do something special to show Becca he was serious and that he was ready to be with her. If she still had any interest in him, that was.
And then it hit him. Cooper knew exactly what he needed to do.
He picked up a towel off the bar and dried his hands, keeping his focus set on Becca. He tossed the towel behind the bar and made his way across the room to her table.
“Hey, there,” he said.
Becca smiled up at him. “Hi,” she said.
“Cooper,” Luci squealed. “Were going to be in-laws!”
Cooper broke his attention from Becca and looked at Luci. “Sorta,” he agreed.
“Did you know about the proposal?” Amber asked him.
“Uh,” Cooper started. “Not really. I knew he was doing it and I saw the ring. I didn’t know he had cooked up such an elaborate plan though.”
“It was so romantic,” Amber said with a sigh.
“Yeah,” Cooper said. He turned toward Becca. “So, listen,” he begun. But a wave of applause and whistles broke out across the bar. Cade and Jessie had arrived.
Cooper took a step back and clapped along with everyone else as Cade and Jessie walked through the pub holding hands and grinning hard. They stopped at the table and everyone lined up to hug them congratulations again.
Cooper slapped his brother on the back. “Way to go, little bro.”
“Thanks, Coop,” Cade replied.
Cooper leaned down and kissed Jessie on the cheek. “I’m so happy for you two,” he said in her ear.
Jessie wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed. “Thanks, Cooper.”
They watched Jessie and Cade move on to greet the next table and Cooper refocused his attention on Becca. He had to get out what he needed to say before they were interrupted again. “So, Becca, I was just going to ask if you were working tomorrow night?”
Becca looked like she was thinking. “Nope,” she said. “I have tomorrow off from here. Just the bookstore during the day.”
“Good. Good,” he said. “You left your stock pot at my house and I was wondering if you’d come by and pick it up. Say five o’clock?”
Becca gave him a quizzical look. “My pot?”
“Yeah, it’s just been sitting on my stove top all this time. I’m sure you need it. I’ll be home at five if that works for you to get it. Okay?”
Becca looked at him for a moment like he had two heads. Finally, she said, “Sure. I’ll come by and pick up my stock pot.”
“Great. See you then.” Cooper flashed her a smile and walked away.