Chapter Sixteen

Willa

"Hey."

"Willa? Hey."

My eyes fluttered back open from a soggy, unrestful nap to see him standing next to my bed with a smile and a plastic bag in his hand. 

Cooper.

"Hey." I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and then smiled back at him because...

Well, fuck. I was bored and cranky. And also really bored. And in spite of him being - well, Cooper - he was surprisingly easy to talk to. And surprisingly attentive too. I'd never expected that Cooper Grant would be the one to visit me the most, even more than Claire, Ruby, and Sadie. 

Not to mention there was also the whole "saving my life" thing. How could I not be happy to see him when I owed him so much?

Yeah, I was really, really happy to see him.

It was startling the way my heart leaped when I saw his clear blue eyes, and it was even more surprising how relieved I was to see that he'd clearly slept. He looked like he'd showered and shaved too, and his clothes were decidedly less rumpled. 

He looked... really good. 

"Sorry to wake you."

I realized I was grinning like a loon at him and tried to pull back a little. I shook my head. "No, you're not."

He grinned. "It's just, I promised Liam I'd FaceTime with you."

"Now?" I reached up and patted my rat's nest of a hairdo. "I haven't bathed in almost three days."

"You look fine. And besides, who are you trying to impress? Isn't he your ex-boyfriend?"

I gave him a sharp look to see if he meant that as a dig, and was surprised to see a glint in his eye. 

He was teasing me. 

I sort of... liked it. 

"Maybe I want to look good for my fiancé," I declared loftily. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed. 

"Yeah well, he says you look amazing, so let's get this over with. He gave me a time limit." He bent his head to make the call, while I sat there and tried not to think about how he'd just told me I looked amazing.

There was a burst of feedback and then Liam's tinny voice. "You really like waiting until the last possible minute, don't you Grant?"

I laughed, feeling my heart skipping strangely to hear his voice again. It felt like his party was a lifetime ago. "Where are you?" I called. 

"Turn the damn phone around," I heard Liam grumbling. "I'm not interested in seeing you." Cooper scratched his nose with his middle finger and then turned the screen towards me. 

"Liam." I wasn't going to cry. He'd feel guilty and I didn't want him feeling guilty. Liam could never stand my tears, even when they were on his behalf. "Hey big-city bigshot, how are you holding up?"

But he straight up ignored my bid to keep him from worrying. "Jesus, Willa." Even in the bad light of Cooper's tiny screen, I could see how the blood had drained from his normally tanned face. "How are you feeling?"

The way his eyes were shining hurt more than the gash on my forehead. "Better," I lied. "I'm fine, really."

"Cooper!" Liam bellowed. Cooper turned the screen to face him. "You need to watch her."

The corner of Cooper's mouth. "Yeah, I know -"

"No, I mean it," Liam interrupted. "Make sure she rests. Don't let her take on too much. I'm not there to make sure she doesn't over-do it, so it's on you."

"Liam, I'm fine -" I said just as Cooper gave our friend a hard look.

"What do you think I've been doing?" he hissed. 

Heavy silence. I wanted to speak, to cut the tension, but I couldn't get words past the lump in my throat. I stared at Cooper, but he wouldn't look at me. He'd turned his head and was deliberately staring at something on the wall that only he could see.

Liam said something I couldn't hear but made Cooper nod. Then he twisted his hand so that I was face to face with Liam again. "I'll call again tomorrow morning, Will. And it had better be a wake-up call. You have to sleep in, that's an order."

I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. "Make me."

"You know that I have no problem coming up there right now and slipping you an Ambien. But I don't want to have to, Will." He made a pained face. "Much as I hate to say this, you need to listen to Coop, okay?" 

I glanced up at Cooper. He still wasn't looking at me. But my stomach twisted anyway. Because I recognized that expression on his face. The one I was used to seeing when he was around me. 

Contempt. Mistrust. 

Hatred. 

I looked back at his phone where Liam was still watching me, and the pieces slid into place. With Liam not around us, Cooper and I had been able to settle into something easy. Almost like a friendship. But with Liam in the room, even digitally, the old baggage was back again. Hurt slid like a knife under my ribs, and suddenly - as much as I missed him, as much as I treasured him - I wanted Liam gone so that Cooper and I could be okay again.

"I'll do that," I promised my best guy-friend. "Even though I think the city smog has impaired your decision-making for you to even suggest it, I'll listen to Cooper."

Liam nodded. "Miss you, Will."

I blinked and smiled and hated how disloyal I felt for rushing him off the phone. Loyalty to Liam was so deeply ingrained in me that it physically hurt, but, "I think I'll get started on that good night's sleep soon. I'm getting tired."

"Of course. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Sounds good." I smiled one more time, and then waved my good hand goodbye just so he'd believe me that I was okay and hang up. 

Cooper pulled his phone back and tapped the End button. He must have felt the same way as I did, because the second Liam was gone, he met my eyes again. "So," he said. 

"So."

"You have to listen to me?" He smiled faintly. "That could be fun."

Some of the ice melted around my heart. "I just told him that so he'd stop worrying. You didn't actually think I was serious, did you?"

His faint smile widened a fraction. "I have no problem with calling him to rat you out."

"Snitch." 

He laughed, and I sagged into my pillow I was so relieved to hear it again. "You know it." He rubbed his hands together evilly, setting the plastic bag he was still holding to swinging. 

"What's that?" I asked. 

He looked down at it like he'd forgotten he'd even brought it. There was no store logo on it, just the generic "Thank You Thank You Thank You" printed in red ink all over the surface. Whatever it was, it was small enough that I couldn't make out the shape of it but heavy enough to have it swinging at the slightest motion. 

"Oh." His face changed again. I saw hesitation and realization, along with... something else. It wasn't mischief, although there was a lot of that in it too. It was something like delight. "So before I came, I stopped to look at an apartment."

That caught me by surprise. "You're moving out of your parents' house?" Cooper lived in one of the new developments that were springing up around the town as farmers sold off their land to developers. Developers like Cooper's father, Fred Grant, of Grant Properties. 

The corner of his mouth twisted in a wry smile. "Yeah, that's not... public knowledge yet."

I nodded. "I won't tell anyone." 

He gave me an odd look, then glanced at the bag in his hand again. "It's the place on Mill Street on the corner. The white house, top floor."

"Oh, the one with the second-floor porch? That'd be nice."

He looked oddly touched. "Yeah. And it's right next to Royal Crown Jewelry."

Most businesses around here was named similarly. Crown Tavern. Royal Diner. Royal Crown Jewelry. Even our most famous residents had the last name of King.

"That place always looks like it's one bad day away from going out of business forever. I don't think I've ever seen anyone go in there."

He lifted the bag. "Well, I did."

Why was my heart thumping so hard as he reached into the bag. And why did it stop altogether when he pulled out a small velvet case? I squeezed my eyes shut when he opened it and I tried to remember how to breathe.

"Cooper, what is that?" I opened my eyes to see that there was now something shiny in his hand. "What is that?"

He burst out laughing. “Jesus, Willa. You sound completely panicked. I’m not holding a bomb.”

I stared at the small, sparkly circle. “Sure feels that way,” I whispered. 

“Oh my God, so dramatic.” He brandished the ring at me and laughed when I flinched. “People keep asking me where your ring is.” It gleamed, winking at me. “Here.”

I gaped at him. “Not...”

“In a million years?” he finished,

I licked my lips. “I was gonna say, ‘even if you were the last man on earth.'”

He clutched his hand to his heart. “That’s a little much, don’t you think?”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay maybe. If you really were the last man on earth, I might grudgingly consider it.”

“That’s the spirit.” He placed the ring on the tip of my finger. “Willa Harlow, if we are the last two people on earth...” His eyes twinkled. “And my right hand was somehow broken.”

“Gross.” I stuck out my tongue. “And if I’ve suffered a head wound.” I considered. “A worse head wound.”

“If we're old and gray...”

“And ugly?”

“Never gonna happen.”

He winked. Dick.

I sat up straighter. “And if I suddenly develop a taste for assholes...”

“And in the unlikely event I cannot find any other options. The very unlikely event...” 

“And if I suddenly have terrible judgment.”

He nodded. “If all this happens.” He slipped the ring onto my finger. “Then will you marry me?”

I looked up at the man who’d saved my life. I hated that I owed him so much. I also hated that this was freaking hilarious.

“Fine.” I threw up my now decorated hand. “I’ll marry you, sure. Whatever.” 

A noise made us both look up. Chrissi had come in just then, and caught the tail end of Cooper’s “proposal.” He froze. I snuck a wary look at him before fastening my eyes to the floor. Was that it? Was the jig finally up?

Chrissi made a noise like a leaky balloon. Her eyes shone as she clasped her hands to her heart. “Not many brides are that chill,” she sighed. “I can’t stand it! You two are so perfect together!”


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