Page 22 of Cooped Up for Christmas

I stiffened my upper lip. “All lies. Anyway, there you have it. From the Diary of the Young and Stupid.”

“Eh,” Coop said. “We weren’t that stupid.”

“We were very stupid. Some of us ran off and joined the Navy for no reason.” I took a slurp of coffee to show my nonchalance, despite the fact that my cup was empty.

“I had a good reason to join the Navy.”

“Such as?”

“I wanted to join the Navy.”

“And what about Barbie Malone?” I flinched. Oh, God. I wish I hadn’t brought her up. I didn’t want to know what happened between Coop and Barbie Malone. I really didn’t.

He smiled. Widely. “Barbie, who?”

“You know who.”

“Gosh, Vic. That was ages ago. I didn’t know that was still bugging you.”

“It’s not bugging me.” It wasn’t.

“No? Then why did you bring her up?”

Why? Because the two of them went together, didn’t they? Coop leaving me, and Coop leaving me for Barbie? Couldn’t he see that?

“Just forget I said anything.”

“Is that why you thought I left?” God, he was persistent.

Ben cleared his throat. “Maybe I should leave?”

“No.” I bounded to my feet. “No need. Coop and I have worked all this out. We’re friends and coworkers. Right?” I speared him with a look.

He did that little thing where he stroked his lower lip for a minute, as though trying to remember. After he caught my glare, he grinned and said, “Right. That’s the plan for the week. Friends and coworkers.” Something in his smile sent a shimmer of…something down my spine. But, I had work to do and employees to supervise and all that shit. I didn’t have time for this. Without a word, I left. The guests would be waking up any minute for their fun snow day—those who weren’t hungover, at least. All I had to do was get them out the door and then, well, then I could relax.

“Vic—” Coop called as I left. But I didn’t turn back.

So, naturally, he followed. He caught up with me on the porch of the back entrance to the big house. Since I didn’t want to have any nasty confrontations in front of the guests, I refused to open the door. Unfortunately, Coop didn’t seem to care where we had this out. He was simply determined to do so.

I found a little nerve-wracking, although I had no idea why. Maybe because he took my arm and turned me to face him. “Do you really think I left you for Barbie Malone?” he asked.

I pulled away. “Are we still discussing this?”

“Oh, you better believe we are.” He put a hand on each of my shoulders, gently, of course, or I would have smacked him. “Seriously. You think I left you because I had the hots for Barbie Malone?”

“Isn’t that what happened?” Because in my version of history, it had.

“I left you because you told me to go.”

“And you hooked right up with Barbie.”

“I didn’t hook up with her. I ended up with her because you didn’t want me anymore. And I was miserable. With her. Without you. That’s when I joined the Navy.” He crossed his arms and harrumphed. “They wanted me.”

“So are you saying it’s my fault you joined the Navy?”

“It’s nobody’s fault. It was my choice. And it was a damn good choice. Which is kind of a miracle, because we were really young. I can’t believe what a dunce I was back then. When I think back…” He snorted a laugh. “How on earth could I have ever been interested in Barbie Malone?”

“Do you think this is funny?”