Текст книги "Cole"
Автор книги: Tess Oliver
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Текущая страница: 10 (всего у книги 24 страниц)
Chapter 29
Cole
The work site was ready for the first massive cement pour in the morning. It would be a long, stressful day, so we shut down early to go home for the night and get psyched up for tomorrow. I’d gone straight in to shower. I hadn’t told Denver, and especially not Rodeo, that I was going to meet up with Kensington. I was feeling a little like a sap. I’d never gone after a girl like this. But I hadn’t ever been with a girl like Kensington either. She was worth going against my usual principals and male pride.
Rodeo was leaning against the kitchen doorway shoveling down a leftover slice of pizza as I walked through the house. “Where are you going so shined up?”
“What are you, my mother? I’ll be back later. Are we going to practice?”
Rodeo raised the half-eaten pizza slice. “That’s why I’m fueling up.”
Denver came out of the kitchen with a soda. He glanced at me and nodded, which meant he’d figured it out. Denver never needed a lot of clues to piece things together.
I walked out the door and climbed into my truck. The coffee shop was only a few miles back toward the job site. More than once after I’d talked to Kensington, I’d tried to figure out just what I would say to her, but I decided it would all sound too rehearsed. Nix had advised me to tell her how I felt, and that’s what I was planning to do, lay bare my soul and let her know that I’d been thinking about her every minute of every day. And none of it had to do with a bet. Then, just like Nix had said, it was up to her. If she wasn’t interested, then I would just have to leave it alone. Kensington was a woman who knew her own mind, and if she’d already talked herself out of this, then there wasn’t much I could do.
I pulled into the coffee shop. Four o’clock wasn’t prime time for a coffee. I was glad to see only a few cars in the lot. Kensington’s car wasn’t there yet. I walked in and bought a water bottle. After the hot, dry day on the job site, water was the only thing that sounded good. I headed to a table in the back corner that had a view of the parking lot. I wasn’t completely sure why I’d picked a coffee shop except I didn’t want to meet her at my house with the guys lurking around. Sitting in a hot car trying to apologize for being an asshole didn’t seem like the best plan of action either. The more I thought about it, the more I thought making a bet about a girl was a completely jerk move. Sometimes Rodeo and I seemed to be in a contest to see which one of us could be a bigger asshole, but accepting the bet without even thinking about the woman on the other end of it had put me right at the top of the douchebag heap. I’d had Finley lecture me more than once that I needed to think more about the feelings of the women I dated. I knew she was right, but it had been more fun to ignore her words and push empathy out of my head. In short, I’d been acting like the son of a rock star. I’d inherited plenty of my old man’s good genes along with some of the bad ones.
Kensington had been different than all the other women. It had been the slap upside my head that I needed. I had no idea if our little meeting in the coffee shop would restore things to the way they were, but I had to give it a go. She was too incredible to let just slip out of my life without so much as a good-bye.
A car pulled into the lot, dragging my attention to the front window. It wasn’t her. I sank back against the seat and drank down the water. Just as I glanced at my phone to check the time, a call came through.
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, Cole, what are you up to?” His words were stretched, which meant he’d either had too much to drink or way too little sleep. From the clamor of voices and music in the background, it was probably both. “Fin said you got hurt on the bike.”
“Nah. Fin’s a worry wart. What time is it there?”
“Don’t know. After midnight. But I’ve about had it here. I’m flying home Wednesday to rest. I’m thinking we need to have a barbecue while the weather is still summer-like. Rett could invite his friends.”
“That doesn’t sound like rest. That sounds like a continuation of partying like the one that’s practically drowning you out.”
“A few dozen people showed up to the hotel suite. Management will be fucking happy to see my bum walking out of here this week.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Coley? Everything all right? You don’t sound yourself.”
“Yep. It’s all good. I’m just tired. We’ve got the first foundation form up, and we’re pouring cement tomorrow.”
“That’s great. You know, I don’t tell you this enough, but I’m proud of you. You’re doing a great job with Kingston Construction.”
My dad was getting fatherly and sentimental, which meant he was homesick. “Thanks, Dad. Looking forward to seeing you when you get back.”
Out of the side of my eye, I saw two more cars pull into the parking lot. Neither of them was Kensington.
“I’ll let you go, Cole. I’ll ring you when I get back.”
“Have a safe flight back, Dad.”
“Love ya, Coley. Bye.”
Nicky King, legendary rock star, a man who the tabloids had dragged through the mud at least twenty times, a man who everyone had pegged as a notorious drug addict, a playboy, a dissolute musician with more money than he knew what to do with, always said love ya at the end of his call. None of the public’s perception of my dad mattered. Finley, Jude and I knew the real guy, and to us, he was just Dad. And a fucking awesome one at that.
I glanced at my phone again. It was twenty past four. There were no texts or messages from Kensington. Nix’s words kept bouncing through my head. Tell her how you feel, and if that doesn’t work, then it’s time to move on. On the way there, I’d gone through a few different scenarios as to how this coffee date would end. But there was one shitty scenario that hadn’t passed through my thick skull—the one where she didn’t even show.
Chapter 30
Kensington
It was one of those times in your life when everything became a blur and yet you knew you’d remember everything about the day—the weird sour smell of the emergency waiting room, the serious look on the triage nurse’s face as she watched the blood pressure gauge, the funny little man who kept stepping into the elevator and hopping back out.
Mom was busy shredding another tissue in her fingers, while I obsessed about all the warning signs my dad had exhibited, warning signs that we’d fluffed off as heartburn. Things like heart attacks or strokes or cancer were too scary to consider. It was always easier to find less vile reasons for not feeling well.
“It’s my fault,” my mom said in her usual attempt to place herself at the center of attention. “I shouldn’t have allowed him to eat all those steaks.” She sobbed into her tattered tissue, and I patted her shoulder.
“You can’t blame yourself for this, Mom. Besides, triple bypass surgery is as common as an appendectomy these days. You heard the doctor, Dad’s in good shape otherwise. He’ll come out of this better than ever.” She was the parent, but I was the one comforting her.
Of course, deep down, I was terrified at the thought of my dad being splayed open on an operating table. He’d only ever been in the hospital once before. It hadn’t been anything serious, just some tests for dizziness he’d been experiencing, but I had only been ten, and it had shaken me to my core. I could still remember sitting in my fifth grade classroom the day they were doing the tests. It had been like today, a blur, but with small details remaining crystal clear in the midst of it all. My teacher had been talking about the presidential election, and it had caused a heated debate in class. I was glad for the diversion. I’d lowered my head to my desk so no one could see my tears. Then Mike Little yelled out, ‘Hey Kensington is bawling’. I went home early that day, and Mom and I went to the hospital to wait with Dad for the results. He let me sit on his hospital bed, and we shared the milkshake we’d snuck in for him.
A nurse stepped into the waiting room. “Mrs. Modante?”
My mom nearly fell out of the chair. “Yes, what is it?” She was nearly shrieking, and I placed my hand on her arm to calm her.
“We’re wheeling Mr. Modante into surgery, and I thought you’d both like to see him first.”
Mom wasn’t one to move fast with anything. She considered abrupt movements unladylike and crass, but she shot out of her chair as if someone had lit a firecracker beneath her. That’s when it occurred to me—she was completely nuts about my dad. There were times when she’d roll her eyes at things he said, or she’d complain that he spent too much time at work or at golf or anything else she might see as an opportunity to nitpick. But, underneath it all, she still had a huge crush on the man. That’s what I wanted. I wanted a man who I could have a crush on even when he was being annoying or grumpy or turning gray and wrinkled.
A hospital bed was wheeled out of the room. Several nurses walked alongside it with I.V. bags and monitors. Everything about the face staring up from the pillow was familiar, but I couldn’t believe how small and frail my dad looked. It took me a second to gather myself, and I had to work hard to keep it together. I’d been spending a lot of time calming Mom’s fears about this very common procedure, but in truth, the thought that he could die on the table terrified me.
Dad was slightly drugged, and his eyes took a second to focus on my face as I leaned down over the bed. His hand had tubes sticking out of it, but I managed to grasp his fingers. That’s when it hit me, I wasn’t always going to have my parents. How was that possible? Why was life set up so you came to depend wholly on two people who would eventually leave you?
Tears beaded on my lashes, and I was thankful that Dad was out of it. Mom was next to me. She’d already started sobbing into her shredded tissue again.
“Kensie, take care of your mom. I’ll be fine. But if something happens, the important papers are—”
“Yeah, I know, Dad, you’ve told me all that before. Just stay strong, and we’ll see you in recovery.” My last words were shaky and that made my mom cry louder.
Dad lifted his head to get a view of her. I kissed him and stepped back so that my mom could move to his side. She leaned down over him and his arm went around her, comforting her, protecting her as he’d always done. All I could think was that my mom was the luckiest woman in the world.
I stood with my arm around my mom, and we watched as the hospital bed was wheeled through the double doors to surgery. We walked back to sit in the odd smelling waiting room and suffer the agonizing hours of worry while Dad went through his surgery.
“Mom, I’ll go down to the cafeteria and get us some coffees.”
She nodded. It was weird seeing her in this state of disarray. She rarely left the house without being perfectly put together—a look that required a good, long hour in her luxurious master bath and a vast array of expensive cosmetics. But she stood in the fluorescent lights of the hospital hallway with a bright red nose and lipstick that had smeared to just a few pink streaks on her lips. Mascara darkened the circles beneath her eyes. She looked completely lost. She looked like a woman who was heartbroken with worry over the man who’d been her soul mate for thirty years.
I hugged her. “I’ll be right back with the coffees.”
“Kensington,” she said so faintly I could barely hear her over the hospital clamor, “you’re such a good daughter.” We both broke into sobs as we stood in the hallway, hugging each other, scared to death that we might lose the man who’d always been the center of both our lives.
Chapter 31
Cole
Daylight was fading fast, and we’d turned on the lights over the ramp. I’d returned from the coffee shop feeling like shit. Denver hadn’t even bothered to ask me how it had gone. My expression was enough to warn him off asking.
Rodeo had ended up going out with a couple girls to a local bar for happy hour, so Denver and I put on some gear to practice. I needed to work on getting big air when I came off the kicker, and I’d been wanting to master the no-footed landing.
Sweat had glued my shirt to me, and my hair was soaked under the helmet as I rode toward the ramp. I’d had a few good jumps, mostly because I’d been working hard at trying to forget how I’d fucked up something good with Kensington. But as I raced across the yard, I had a flashback of the Halloween party when we’d been sitting out there talking and laughing. I’d known then that I wanted to get to know her better.
I hit the ramp at full speed. My hand grabbed so much throttle, the launch had way more lift than I’d been ready for. The house, the yard and the outside lights blurred as I arced through the air. The dirt ramp for landing passed beneath me, and I braced for a hard impact on solid flat ground. The no-footer landing was out of the question. Now I just needed to hope that I could keep the bike upright. My back was still sore. I held my breath as I bounced hard against the seat. I turned a hard left but managed to keep rubber on the ground.
I rode back around to where Denver was standing, straddling his bike. I pulled down my goggles and pried the helmet off my head. Sweat dripped from my hair and I flicked my head like a dog. “Not my fucking week.”
“At least you stuck it. But I’ll bet that didn’t help your sore tailbone. I think you should call it a night, King. You’re off. Happens to all of us.”
Denver had only been broken off from his girlfriend, Melody, for a month. There were times when it was obvious that it was still eating at him.
“You’re probably right. Besides, if I get hurt, you’ll be in charge on the site tomorrow,” I reminded him.
“Shit, hadn’t thought of that. Get off that bike and go pack yourself in fucking cotton for the rest of the night, boss. I hate concrete day.”
“Shit, you and me both. I’m definitely not feeling it tonight.” I climbed off my bike and rolled it to the wall to sit and watch Denver practice.
As I hoisted myself onto the bricks, my gaze coasted across the ravine and empty landscape to the vineyard. There were lights on outside the barn, but it was quiet. I wondered just how long it had taken Kensington to change her mind about meeting me. Or maybe she’d never really planned on it at all. Maybe it had just been a way to get me to leave her alone.
“Here comes dipshit,” Denver said motioning his head toward the house.
Rodeo was walking out to the jump. He was grinning from side to side, which meant he had either scored or was about to. I needed to get back to that easy, no frills attached attitude about women. It was obvious a steady relationship wasn’t for me. I was fine with that, or at least I would be once I’d finally washed the thought of Kensington from my mind. I just wasn’t sure how long that would take.
“Why the hell do you look like the Cheshire Cat with that ugly ass smile plastered across your face?” Denver asked.
Rodeo looked confused. “What the hell is a chester cat?”
“Never mind.”
“Anyhow,” Rodeo said, “just came out to tell you guys you should stay out here for awhile cuz I brought Jenny home with me, and we tend to get a little loud—if you catch my drift.”
I shook my head. “I don’t catch it. Explain it to me.”
“Well, Jenny has this thing where she likes to—”
I put up my hand. “Sarcasm, dude. Shit, I wonder just how many times your mom dropped you on your head as a baby.”
He shrugged. “I heard there were a couple of incidences, supposedly, but fuck off. You’re just pissed because I’m about to get some, and you’re out here hanging with the giant, boring as hell brainy dickwad.”
“Do you mean the dickwad who whooped your ass at the last freestyle contest?” Denver asked.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s the dickwad I’m referring to,” Rodeo said. Sometimes we teased the hell out of Rodeo, but he always took it in stride and he never got pissed. He looked toward the vineyard. “So, I guess you heard about what happened over there today?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Jenny lives on the other side of the Modante Vineyard. She said there were a bunch of emergency vehicles there today. She heard that the old man had a heart attack. Collapsed right outside by the barn.”
“I didn’t bother to ask because you came home with your ass in a knot this afternoon. Did you see Kensington today?” Denver asked.
“Nope. We were supposed to meet at the coffee shop, but she didn’t show. Just figured it was her way of saying bug off.”
I looked out at the vineyard. The night sky cast wavering shadows over the perfectly spaced rows of grapes. I couldn’t see much of the house, but the grounds looked quiet and dark.
Rodeo was staring at his phone. “The news says that John Modante of Modante Winery has entered Pacific Care Hospital for emergency bypass surgery.”
“At least he’s alive.” I said.
“And maybe it’s time for you to show this girl that you really care about her,” Denver suggested. “You know, instead of a quick, pathetic ‘please forgive me’ plea at a coffee shop.”
I smiled at Denver. “Guess the worst that can happen is she can tell me to fuck off.”
“That or a slap across the face and she humiliates you in front of all the doctors and nurses at the hospital,” Rodeo suggested helpfully.
I hopped off the wall. “I’m willing to chance a little humiliation.”
Chapter 32
Kensington
The walls of the waiting room, with their cheaply framed beach landscape paintings, were closing in on me. That coupled with the odd mixture of smells drifting through the hospital along with the loud, terrified cries of a toddler who had stumbled into a cactus and was having the needles removed, I had to get out for a breath of fresh air. Mom had settled into her magazine and a long article about the risks and benefits of plastic surgery.
“I’m just going to step outside for a few minutes, Mom.” I lifted my phone. “Call if you hear something.”
She looked up bleary eyed from the magazine. The constant flow of tears had made her give up on the idea of contacts for the rest of the night. She’d put on her wire-rimmed reading glasses. I liked that they made her look more mom-like. “All right, dear. Don’t talk to any strangers.”
I smiled. It was the first light moment we’d had since the paramedics had arrived at the vineyard with their scary looking black box of monitors and gurney. “Are you sure? What if a handsome doctor is just arriving at the hospital for his shift?”
“Well, don’t talk to strangers, within reason. I think you can make an exception for a handsome doctor.” Her grin quickly faded. She looked more weary than I’d ever seen her. I kissed her forehead.
“I won’t be long.” The glass door slid open. The cool night air instantly washed away some of the stress of the wait. My head hurt from crying and from worry. A warm breeze caused the row of palm trees lining the street in front of the hospital to shake their fronds in perfect unison.
I headed down the sidewalk, just needing to stretch my legs and fill my lungs with something other than hospital smells. As I turned the corner, I stopped. My heart raced ahead, even as I tried to convince myself that I was imagining the tall, broad shouldered figure walking toward me.
Cole stopped a few feet from me and the look of genuine concern on his face melted the strong exterior I’d been wearing to keep Mom assured that everything would be fine.
“I heard about your dad and just came by to see if you needed anything.”
That was all it took. My feet flew forward. I was crying uncontrollably by the time his strong arms went around me.
“I’m sorry for the meltdown,” I sobbed. “I promise I’ve been holding it together very well until just now. Then I saw you and the rush of emotions . . . ” I took a deep, shuddering breath. “He’s in surgery right now.” I pressed my face against him.
“I’d be just as much of a basket case if it was my dad, Kensie. You don’t need to apologize. And I have no tissue, so feel free to use my shirt.”
A laugh spurted from my mouth. I lifted my face and wiped clumsily at my eyes. “I must look scary.”
He pushed my chin so that my face was turned up toward him. “Nope, you look like a distraught princess.”
There wasn’t any light or angle where he wasn’t incredible to look at, but what stunned me the most was how right it felt to be in his arms right now, when I was feeling so scared and vulnerable.
“The bet, Kensie, it was just a stupid thing between Rodeo and me. We do a lot of stupid things, I’m sorry to admit.”
I shook my head. “It’s all right. I was overreacting and overthinking and possibly even giving myself an easy out.”
His mouth turned down in disappointment.
I stepped back and took hold of his hand. “Not because of you but because of me. I was getting a little uneasy with just how much I liked you. You were checking all my boxes and then some. You never take yourself too seriously.”
“That’s for sure.”
I laughed again, and at the same time, I was wiping off a tear. “See, you even made me laugh through my tears. Twice, just standing here. And you’re a good, sympathetic listener.”
He brushed a long strand of hair off my face. “You’re easy to listen to and I don’t say that to many people. You mentioned ‘and then some’?”
Even beneath my tear stained cheeks, I could feel a warm blush rising. “I think I’ll let you figure out the ‘then some’.”
“Well, aside from the obvious, your amazing legs, you checked off my one box almost instantly. I haven’t stopped thinking about you for a minute.” His arm went around my waist, and he pulled me against him for a kiss.
With the events of the day and Cole showing up, my head felt as if it were filled with air. “I need to go back inside to be with my mom.”
“I can stay or if you’d rather I didn’t—”
“Stay with me, Cole. I’d like that.”
He took my hand, and we walked back through the big doors of the hospital. My dad’s doctor was pulling off his surgery cap as he was stepping out of the elevator. I stopped and the room swayed a little. Cole pressed his arm behind my back to steady me. It was just the support I needed. He was just what I needed.
We reached the waiting room at the same time as the doctor. I hurried to my mom’s side as she stood tottering and frail from her chair.
“He did just fine. He’s in recovery right now. Soon he’ll be moved to ICU where you can have a quick visit tonight. Then you should both go home and get some rest.”
Mom and I threw our arms around each other. Cole stepped back out while Mom and I had a good long cry session.
