Chapter Nine
Becca hummed to herself as she worked on the massive pile of dishes in the Starlight Pub sink.
“What are you humming?” Luci’s older sister, Wynn asked. She set down the beige tub stacked with more plates and cups to be washed on the counter near Becca. Wynn was gorgeous with long auburn hair and pretty green eyes. Each of the Foster sisters was equally blessed in the beauty department actually; Jessie with her dark hair and exotic eyes and Luci with her bouncy blonde hair, light blue eyes, and super fit physique. Becca had always been jealous of the girls when she knew them from childhood because the local boys lavished them with their attention. But the women were each somehow even more stunning now.
“Oh,” Becca said. She nodded at the tub of dishes. “I’m sorry, I would have gotten those.”
“No biggie,” Wynn replied.
“Well, thank you. And it was just some country song. I was listening to a lot of music yesterday so I guess it’s still just rolling around in my brain.”
“Did you have a nice weekend?” Wynn asked.
Becca thought about this. It actually was a pretty good weekend. For the first time in a while she felt like she didn’t spend the bulk of it sulking around the house. “I did. How about you?”
“We had a really nice time. I had yesterday off and all my homework was done so Bryce and I took Melody to the zoo. She just loves the monkey habitat. We brought a picnic with us and made a whole day of it.”
“That sounds like fun,” Becca said. “So, Bryce and Melody get along well?”
“Yes,” Wynn begun, “she completely adores him. I was worried at first about introducing her to someone I’m dating but Bryce feels special. I think he’ll be around for us for a really long time.”
“That’s great, Wynn. You certainly seem happy.”
“I am,” she said. “What about you?”
Becca smiled as she plunged another cup into the soapy hot water. “I’m getting there.”
Another perk of working at Starlight was that Becca was getting to know Luci’s sisters, Wynn and Jessie, better. Sure, she always knew them, when she and Luci hung around in high school. But they’d never hung out together or talked like friends do. Wynn never wanted to be bothered with Luci and her friends and likewise, Luci never wanted Jessie tagging along with their group either; so, other than pleasantries when they’d see each other, the women hadn’t spent much time really getting to know one another. And then Wynn moved away and Luci and Jessie had that monster falling out and stopped talking altogether so Becca hadn’t spent a lot of time with Luci’s family. Other than her mom, Diedre, of course. Becca loved Diedre. Becca remembered that she could always see how much Diedre loved her girls and how she worked hard trying to make them happy. It was a startling contrast to her own mom who made parenting seem like a burden she was tasked with. Becca swore the happiest day of her parents’ life was the day she got married and they were finally free of her. Of course, that all changed when she came crawling back to Snowy Ridge.
“Well,” Wynn started, “I’m glad you took this job. Don’t get me wrong, I love Nick and all, but I like the all-female vibe we’ve got going on these days.”
“What about Ralph?” Becca said with a head nod toward the grill where their head cook, Ralph, was flipping hamburgers.
“What about him? You don’t count, do you, Ralph?” she teased in a loud voice.
“Just one of the girls,” Ralph replied without turning around.
The two women laughed.
Becca pulled a stack of plates out of the rinsing water and set them in the drying rack.
Jessie, the youngest of the Foster sisters and co-owner of Starlight Pub with their mom, joined Wynn and Becca at the sink. “So, I hear someone has a date tomorrow night.”
“Who?” Wynn asked. “Becca?”
“Me?” Becca asked.
“Yeah, you,” Jessie replied. “I heard you’re cooking dinner for Cooper.”
Becca immediately felt her face begin to flush.
“What? You have a date with Cooper Stone and you didn’t even say anything to me about it? We’ve been talking for what, five minutes? That’s first twenty seconds of conversation kind of info, lady. Spill it.”
“What?” Becca said, trying her hardest to sound innocent. She turned away from the sink and dried her hands on a towel. “It’s no big deal.”
“Ah man, Cooper Stone. He’s so damn sexy,” Wynn said, her voice full of longing.
“You know, Luci said the exact same thing” Becca said. “If everyone finds Cooper so hot, why haven’t you guys dated him?”
Wynn thought about this. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really ready to date until I met Bryce. And Cooper is always so serious. I haven’t ever seen him out with any women. I guess I figured he didn’t date.”
“That’s true,” Jessie agreed. “Cade says he hasn’t dated since his divorce years ago. Which makes your date even more special.”
Becca pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s not exactly a date, though. I just want to make him a nice dinner to thank him for helping me out. He fixed my banged-up bumper on my car for free. He found a new bumper, spent hours working on it, and wouldn’t take any money at all for it. It was really sweet.”
“Exactly,” Jessie said. “Cooper’s not known for doing really sweet things for women. I don’t mean he’s an ass or anything, don’t get me wrong. He’s a great guy. He just a bit of a loner I guess you’d call it? But he has his brothers so he’s not completely alone.”
“Aww,” Wynn said. “You guys would make an excellent couple.”
“Whoa, hold on,” Becca said. “We’re not a couple. It’s just dinner.”
Wynn wiggled her eyebrows. “For now.”
Becca laughed. In any other situation she might have been annoyed with people teasing her but with Wynn and Jessie it felt sort of sisterly, like what they’d do with Luci. Becca was an only child so she didn’t have any sibling experience; but, she wondered if this is what it felt like.
“What makes you think he likes me?” Becca asked Jessie. She was genuinely curious for Jessie’s thoughts on the situation. Maybe she had insight from dating Cooper’s brother, Cade.
“Just a couple of little things,” Jessie said. “For one, his face changed a bit when he talked about you.”
“He talked about me?”
Jessie nodded. “And he sounded a little nervous, like he was measuring each word he said.” She paused. “That and Cade said, ‘Cooper has the hots for Becca.’”
Wynn burst into laughter.
“I don’t know about that,” Becca replied. Did Cooper have the hots for her? Usually she could tell when a guy did and she didn’t exactly pick up that vibe from him. She was pretty sure she annoyed him, actually. At least at first. But he was really nice to give up his Sunday to help her out when he didn’t have to. The accident was basically her fault. Not that she was going to admit that to him. No, Cooper was just a great guy who did her a favor and she was paying him back with a good meal. That was it.
Becca looked up and saw Wynn and Jessie still staring at her. “You guys, stop. I have work to do.”
“All right, all right,” Jessie said. “But we want to hear all about your date when you come in on Thursday.”
Becca didn’t even try to deny it was a date again. She just smiled at the women and turned back to the stack of dirty dishes.