AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thank you. It’s adorable.” I grin back at the sweet little stitched smile on its face and straighten the Chaos tee he has on. One that’s so fitting despite the fact the fair employee didn’t seem to recognize Cooper in his baseball hat and aviators.
“Of course. Anything for you,” he answers. I look up, startled by the way he says it, and my heart flutters at the way he smiles in return.
The wink he gives me nearly sets me into a full-blown blush until I remind myself I’m here with him and his daughter. All of my heart palpitations and blushes need to be locked down. I’m praying he can’t see them on the surface. Because the last thing I need is to look like, after this short little visit, I’m already falling for another Rawlings brother—one who is objectively a good friend to me and ridiculously off-limits.
But half the time, I forget that he is a Rawlings brother. He’s sweet in so many of the ways his brother wasn’t. Thoughtful even when you don’t expect him to be. Always up for a good time and a laugh when Rob spent so much time brooding and complaining. Sometimes, it’s hard to believe they were raised under the same roof.
Then Cooper does little things like this, winning me a teddy bear at a fair. Winking at me before he turns to take us for more sugary sweet things to spoil us for the evening. Things that make me feel like I might still want a relationship with someone after all. If I found a guy like Cooper.
Not long after we win the Chaos teddy bear, we run into Lizzy’s friends— three guys and two girls who are definitely having the junior high equivalent of a date night minus their odd man out. As they drift off into the night, chatting and heading for one of the games, Cooper and I sit down at a small beer garden area after we grab some snacks.
“Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.” Cooper watches as Lizzy talks to guy number three, who I assume is the friend that Cooper is so wary of.
“A group date? Yeah, I think that’s what that is.” I smile at the way Lizzy’s face lights up even from this distance.
“They’re in junior high!” He protests the idea of it.
“That’s usually when kids start dating. Or at least thinking about it. Hand-holding. Movies. Things like that. Plus, it’s the summer before high school. Don’t you remember what that was like? Sneaking kisses with the guy you have a crush on. Cuddling at the movies. Some of my friends were getting to second base.” I look back at him before I dunk my pretzel in the mustard that’s threatening to overflow from the small white paper cup.
“I don’t want Lizzy doing anything like I did. I’m not ready for her to date. I’m not ready for hand-holding, let alone any base rounding. Do you know what kind of assholes are out there these days? It’s not like when we were kids and all innocent.” Cooper’s brow furrows as he watches them drift off around some booths and down the path.
“Oh, I don’t know how innocent we were. I had a pretty tame upbringing, but then I had Xander for a brother, and well… I wouldn’t call that influence innocent. His friends and the girls they all brought around were very um… educational.” I laugh.
“Really? I’d always pictured young Trixie as a super straitlaced good girl. Was that not the case?” He smirks at me.
“Uh… I don’t know. More innocent than most, I think. I was pretty naïve. But Xander definitely wasn’t, and he rubbed off on me a lot. At least, being in his orbit meant I was exposed to things I wouldn’t have been otherwise. If my parents had a say in it, anyway. They didn’t even want me to date until I was nearly in college. Meanwhile, Xander was… well, Xander. I’m guessing you weren’t all that different from him.”
“Maybe.” He shrugs, but his lips quiver in a half smile before he changes the subject. “So tonight… That guy. Are you going on another date with him?” His focus suddenly snaps back to me, and I shift uncomfortably.
Cooper and Rob aren’t the closest of brothers. I saw more than one strained moment between them over the years. Enough to know there was tension between them I didn’t fully understand. Rob didn’t discuss it, and I didn’t press for more. It was the story of our relationship. But I still don’t know if I want Cooper to know the ins and outs of my dating life—or the lack thereof. I’d rather Rob have as little information as possible about me because, given the current state of my very chaotic life, I’d rather he not know what a mess it is.
“I’m not going to say anything to him, you know,” he adds when I hesitate to answer, and I feel some relief. I trust Cooper enough to believe him.
“Yes. Well, sort of? I’m done with dating. Trying this whole hooking up via an app thing instead.” I take a sip of my lemonade, and apparently, that’s more information than Cooper wants because a look of surprise flashes over his face before he covers it.
“Oh. Is that what I interrupted? No wonder he was pissed then,” he says as he breaks off a piece of the pretzel we’re sharing, his eyes darting off into the distance as he slips it into his mouth.
“Well, I mean… it was kind of a screening situation. I guess?” I feel awkward explaining this. “It feels weird to be back in the dating/hookup pool, and I’m still figuring out what I want. I just know I don’t want a relationship.”
“No?” His brow is furrowed as he looks over me.
“Is it that surprising?”
“I mean… not to bring him up again, but yeah. A little. You seemed like the relationship type. You guys were headed for permanent, weren’t you?”
“I thought so, but I don’t think your brother was.”
“So he ruined it for you for good?”
“No. He was just… what he was.” I shrug. “I’m not in the right place for a relationship right now. I don’t know where I’ll be living in a year. Maybe even in a few months. Right now, it’s in a hotel, which is good for hookups if my neighbors are any indication, but it doesn’t really make me relationship material. Plus, I don’t know what I want now, you know?”
“Yeah. I used to feel the same way.”
“Used to? Are you dating now?” I raise an eyebrow because, while I don’t exactly know his reputation the way Wren and Madison had described it, I know he’s been perpetually single. In all the years I met up with his family, Cooper never brought a woman home for a holiday or the yearly summer trip to the lake house.
“Not yet. But I’m finally ready to give the dating thing a try.” He grins and grabs a fried Oreo, popping it in his mouth like it’s a tiny, little morsel.
“You think?” It’s my turn to ask vague, probing questions. Because I’m curious about the Cooper who dates, and even more curious about what it could mean for his image reform.
