Chapter Nineteen

At least Dana knew that Cole was keeping his word. Six interviews in two weeks, and not a single one of them had offered her a job. Getting fired from Parker Industries carried more weight than everything else she had to offer.

Dragging her feet back, she unlocked the guest house and sighed as she stepped inside. These days, she was happier inside. There was no one to judge her self-misery. For the second time that day, she stared in the mirror. At least now she was sleeping a little better, so the bags under her eyes were disappearing. Thankfully, she hadn’t cried too much over Cole. At least she still had some dignity.

Still, the woman staring back at her was a virtual stranger. It wasn’t the hair or the clothes. She’d been a stranger standing in the most expensive designer dress. It was the fact that when Dana looked at herself, she didn’t see the same strong and independent woman staring back. She’d let someone like Paula get under her skin and get her fired. She’d taken a job pretending to be some rich guy’s girlfriend for money. And now she was desperately searching for a job that she knew would make her miserable.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her angry thoughts. Knowing it was Kathryn wondering how the job interview went, she pushed back her shoulders and opened the door. Her friend pushed her way in carrying a large box and a bag. “Hey,” she said brightly. “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to wish you luck before you left. I had an appointment. How did it go?”

“Same. As soon as they found out why I got fired, the door was slammed in my face. I don’t suppose there’s a job hiding in that box.”

“I have no idea what’s in the box. It was on the doorstep with your name on it. I did, however, bring you something to cheer you up! I gathered from all the plants in here that you like green things, so I bought you a green thing!”

She pulled out a lovely bromeliad plant with a lovely deep purple bloom. Unable to help herself, Dana’s eyes lit up with delight. “It’s perfect! Thank you so much!”

“I know you have a green thumb, but the girl at the store told me that these are pretty hard to kill.”

“They’re definitely hardy plants, and they’ll produce two to four pups.”

Kathryn looked at her blankly. “Pups?”

“Baby bromeliad offspring. Right after they bloom, they start to die because they put all their energy into feeding their babies. So, I can start a whole family of them!”

Her friend shrugged. “If you say so. I just wanted to see you smile. You don’t do that very often these days. What’s in the box? Did you order something?”

There was something off about Kathryn’s voice, and Dana shot her a puzzled look. “I have no money. What would I order?” Picking up the box, she inspected it. “Kathryn? There’s no address. It just has my name on it.”

“Huh.” Kathryn smiled. “I guess someone dropped it off for you.”

“You live in a gated community. People can’t just drop off boxes at your doorstep without you knowing about it.” When Kathryn didn’t volunteer any more information, Dana sighed and sat it down. Ripping the tape off the top, she peered inside and felt her heart jump.

Bubble wrap. Lots and lots of bubble wrap.

“Oh my,” she whispered as she picked it up and popped the first bubble. The sound brought her immense joy, but she wouldn’t let herself smile. Instead, she raised an eyebrow as she looked at Kathryn. “Do you know who sent this?”

“Why would you ask that?” Kathryn asked innocently.

“Asking a question to avoid the answer. Classic. Well, I’m keeping the bubble wrap because I deserve it, but you’re going to have to tell Cole that it takes more than packing material to get me to forgive him.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kathryn said with an innocent shrug. “But bubble wrap is such fun!”

They spent the rest of the night eating ice cream and popping bubbles, but Dana still couldn’t quite figure out what her friend knew.

The next morning, she woke up and she was not alone. She could hear the sound of her front door shutting quietly, but it was the tiny prick on her skin that got her attention. A small black bundle of fur pawed at her gently, and when she moved, it jumped a foot in the air and tumbled backward.

Gasping, she grabbed it before it fell off the bed and sat up. He wasn’t alone. There were three kittens in her bed. Along with the black one, there was a pure white kitten, and a black-and-white kitten.

“Aren’t you babies cute,” she mumbled as she pulled them into her arms and kissed their heads. They fought against her and hollered loudly. “Although it’s very irresponsible for someone to just drop you kittens off here. I’m broke. I can’t afford to feed you or take you to the vet or get your shots. It’s just like Cole to not think of the future.”

The white cat pounced on something crinkly, and Dana realized that they came with a letter. Opening it up, she read it silently. We were part of a feral community, and the shelters were too full to take us in. Could you please give us a home? The letter went on to explain that everything was already taken care of. Apparently, their vet bills for the next six months had been paid to ensure that they got their booster shots and were spayed. There was also a bag of supplies by the door.

Laughing, she scooted out of bed and reached for her robe. “All right, come on. Obviously, your Aunt Kathryn is involved, and we need to get some answers!”

Scooping them up, she carried them out of the guest house and across the small patio area to the main house. Kathryn was in the kitchen drinking her coffee. She tried to hide a grin. “Did you find some kittens?” she asked as she struggled not to laugh.

Dana dumped them on the counter. “I hope they pee on you,” she grumbled.

“Tell me that you don’t love them.”

“Okay, I adore them. And I get why Cole’s doing it. He’s probably never had a woman reject him in his whole life, and his pride is hurt, but why are you doing this? He was going to use you! Why would you be on his side?”

“I just agreed to give him access to the house, and I told him that he wasn’t allowed to send a driver or delivery guy. He has to do it all on his own. I’ll be honest with you, Dana, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a man look that pathetic. This is a very unconventional method, but the Parker boys don’t communicate well. I think he has something to tell you, and this is the only way that he knows how. Still, bubble wrap and kittens?”

Dana poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down to play with the kittens. They attacked her fingers and tried to drink her coffee. “The last night on the cruise ship, we talked about what brought us joy. Bubble wrap was my first item followed by kittens.”

“Please tell me that jewelry was next on your list!”

She snorted. “Doubtful. The truth is that while I remember what he said, I don’t really remember what I listed. A lot of things bring me joy, but popping the bubble wrap and waking up to kittens has reminded me that I haven’t spent a lot of time trying to make myself happy lately. I guess he gets credit for that.”

“Are you keeping the babies?”

“Of course! It won’t be easy to find a place with three cats, but I’m sure I’ll make something work. As long as they don’t eat my plants, I think we’ll be very happy here.”

“Well, I can’t wait to see what Cole comes up with next.”

The answer came the next day. Kathryn and Dana were out walking with the kittens in the basket when the ice-cream truck came around the corner, followed by five cars. As it pulled over, the cars also stopped and everyone got out. A smile tugged at her lips when five dogs lined up at the ice cream truck.

“What is this?” Kathryn asked as she stared at her. “Dogs and ice cream I get, but together?”

“Videos of dogs waiting at an ice cream truck,” Dana said softly as she pulled out her phone and started recording it. “I guess now I get to make my own.”

After the dogs got their ice cream, Dana and Kathryn headed to the truck to get something for themselves. The driver tipped his hat at them. “Are you Dana?”

“That’s me.”

“I wanted to thank you. I was going to go out of business next month, but Mr. Parker personally renewed my license and got me the gig in this neighborhood as well as five other places. Your boyfriend is a good man.”

Kathryn stared at Dana, but Dana didn’t say a word. “He’s not her boyfriend,” Kathryn said softly. The confession struck a chord with Dana, and she swallowed hard and accepted her ice-cream cone.

As they were walking back, Dana scooped up some ice cream on her finger and let the kittens lick it off. “I guess I know that he’s doing good things,” she said quietly. “But I don’t think he’s doing it for himself, and that’s the problem.”

“I wasn’t going to tell you because I wanted him to suffer a little longer, but my father still offered him the merger. I went and had a talk with him, and I basically forced him into it. The next day, my father called me and informed that he offered Cole the deal, and Cole turned him down.”

Dana whipped her head up. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not. Cole flat out told him that he was done making shady deals. He would put his family first.”

Feeling a little dizzy, Dana reached out and grabbed the mailbox to keep herself upright. For the first time since Cole had tried to ask her to stay in the office, she allowed herself the first ray of hope.

Was she right about him all along?

He’d heard nothing. Kathryn wasn’t giving any details, and Cole hadn’t heard a word from Dana. He’d sent her everything on her list, including ten boxes of the most gruesome murder mystery books that he could find, but he couldn’t figure out if it was working.

There was only one thing left on her list, and if this didn’t work, then he would know that he screwed up beyond redemption.

He was so nervous that his hands were shaking.

She walked into the small diner wearing a pair of tattered jean shorts and an oversized T-shirt. With her hair pulled back in a messy bun and her face bare of any makeup, she looked beautiful. As he stared at her, he forgot to breathe. How had he ever looked at her before and not realized that she was the love of his life?

Her gaze met his, and she froze. For one horrible second, he thought that she might leave. She looked over her shoulder and saw Kathryn pull out of the parking lot. Shaking her head, she squared her shoulders and walked toward him.

“I could still call a taxi or car service to take me home,” she reminded him.

“You could,” he said softly. “I have Lee on standby if you want to leave. I would never make you stay, Dana. I won’t do anything that you don’t want me to do.”

She relaxed a little and looked around. “Small-town diner in the middle of the city. Interesting.”

“Parker Industries had recently decided to invest in some local restaurants. Smitty’s Diner is our first. We’ll see how it goes.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Saving someone else?”

“No. Well, maybe someone, but not them. Not the ice-cream truck. They all would have eventually pulled themselves up. I just wanted to give them a boost. But myself? Yeah. One by one, it’s saving me.”

Tears filled her eyes, and she immediately averted her eyes as she wiped them. “I don’t really have time to beat around the bush, Cole. I have job interviews that I need to do some research for, and I have kittens to feed.”

“What did you name them?”

“Collette, Blakely, and Hawkeye. So at least there is one set of Parker siblings living in harmony.”

Cole couldn’t help but laugh. “Why does that not surprise me? You should know that in going through your list of things that brought you joy, I had to examine my own as well. There were a few things that I took off the list because while I thought they made me happy, they really don’t. I’ve come to realize that very little about my job brings me joy. I love to work, and I really am good at it, but Parker Industries is part of my family, and I needed to reevaluate how I treat my family. I’ve had a few dinners with my brothers in the past few weeks. We’ve got some issues to work out, but we talked about our mom. That was… nice. I’ve apologized to Garret. I blamed him for my issues with my father rather than blaming myself. It’s been therapeutic. I even started drawing up plans for a tree house. Not to live in, but one to put in the backyard.”

She sniffed and wiped her nose. She was a mess and still the most beautiful thing that he’d ever seen. “You don’t have a backyard.”

“Not yet. I thought maybe once things settled down, we’d go house hunting. You should have a say in the next house that I buy.”

“I should?”

Cole reached across the table and took her hand. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away. “There are a few more things that I had to add to the list. At the very top is telling you that I love you. I’ve always been a little terrified of those three words, but saying them to you, saying them about you, brings me immense joy.”

At first she didn’t say anything. “Now it is your turn to tell me something that brings you joy, remember?” he urged her softly.

Meeting his gaze, she nodded slowly. “It brings me joy to hear you say that.”

Cole chuckled. She wasn’t going to make things easy for him. “It would bring me joy to live with you in a house where you could grow as many plants as you would like in the backyard, and I could build a tree house.”

A small smile played on her lips. “Aren’t you a little old for a tree house?”

“That’s not how this game works. You can’t question what brings me joy.”

“True. All right, it would bring me joy to have a big yard to grow my plants.”

Releasing her hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet box. “This is sort of a two-for-one,” he admitted. “Because you’re right. I am too old for a tree house, but it would bring me joy to have kids that might play in the tree house someday. Your kids. My kids. Our kids. But before that happens, it would bring me great joy if you would marry me, Dana Coulson. You are the most beautiful woman that I know, inside and out. Being with you has changed me, and I want to spend every day of my life loving you.”

Eyes wide, she stared at the ring. His heart hammered in his chest as he waited to see what she might say. The seconds felt like a lifetime, and he realized that he’d walked into this not truly knowing what she would say. There’d been no prep work. There was no research involved, no analysis forecasting an answer. This was the only leap of faith that he’d ever taken, and he knew that no matter what she said, he’d never regret it. If she said no, he’d keep loving her until she said yes.

“It would bring me great joy to be your wife, Cole Parker,” she finally whispered.

The whole diner erupted into cheers, and for the first time, he realized that they had an audience. At some point, Lee and Kathryn had slipped back into the diner, and they were jumping up and down and hugging each other.

“I didn’t plan this,” he said quickly, but she was already out of her seat and in his lap. Pulling his head down, she kissed him.

“You’re about to marry a penniless wife with three mouths to feed,” she warned him.

He winked at her. “I don’t think that you’ll be penniless for long.”

To his surprised, she practically growled at him. “I told you that I don’t need your help getting a job!”

Laughing, he kissed her again. “I had nothing to do with it. I just have it on good authority that Kathryn Wellington decided to start her own little business, and I think she might need some help. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t know a damn thing about owning a plant nursery.”

Dana groaned and shook her head. “She’ll kill everything before the week is out. She has the worst black thumb that I’ve ever seen!”

“I guess you’ll have to help her out.”

“My happy place is becoming a reality.”

He gave her a strange look. “I have no idea what that means, but as long as I’m a part of your happy place, that’s all that I care about.”

“You weren’t before, but you most definitely are now.”

Cole leaned down to kiss his bride-to-be again, and he knew that no matter what his future held, she was by far the best investment that he’d ever made.