Page 11 of Craving Cooper

I take the box, heading for the corner of the kitchen, while she crouches in front of Addy. “Are you gonna sit up at the island unit and do some coloring while Mommy finishes up?” she says. I don’t hear a reply, but I guess Addy must have nodded her head, because when I turn around, she’s sitting on one of the chairs, and her mom has cleared a space and laid out a coloring book and some crayons for her. She seems quite happy, and Laurel comes a little closer, fetching some pasta bowls from one of the cabinets beside me. “I wanna keep these,” she says, clutching them against her and smiling at me before she turns away.

She busies herself on the other side of the kitchen for a while, and I’ve got more than enough to keep myself occupied, loading the box with the contents of the cabinets. Once it’s full, I turn around, coughing to get Laurel’s attention.

“Do you want me to seal this up?” I ask.

“Oh… yes, please. And if you could label it, too. There’s a marker pen around here somewhere.” She scouts around on the countertop and finds it, handing it to me, along with a roll of packing tape. “So… how do you know Cooper?” she asks, as I take them from her.

“I’m his receptionist,” I say. “I started working for him about three months ago.”

“Oh, yes. I remember Brady said something about your predecessor leaving.”

“I don’t think she was there for very long.”

“Not compared to the one before her. She’d been there since before I was born, I think.” Laurel smiles, although I’m a little confused by the slight frown that crosses her face. “So… so there’s nothing going on?” she says.

“Going on?”

“Between you and Cooper?”

“No.” I shake my head, feeling the blush creep up my cheeks.

“Can I take it you’d like there to be?” she asks in the gentlest of voices, and I suck in a breath.

“He’s with Meredith, so…”

“But you wish he wasn’t?”

I look up and she smiles, her eyes so full of understanding, I don’t mind saying, “Is it that obvious?”

“Yes, it is. Sorry.”

I shrug my shoulders, unsure why she’s apologizing. Is it because she feels sorry for me…because she knows there’s no hope?

I don’t want to think about that, so I turn away, closing the box I’ve just packed.

“Where are you from?” Laurel asks, moving back to the other side of the room.

“Southern California.”

“Do you know anyone here?” she says. “Is that why you came to Hart’s Creek?”

“No. I chose this place by sticking a pin in a map.”

There’s a second’s silence, and then she giggles. I join in and we turn to face each other, Addy glancing from me to her mom, looking confused by our mirth, although she’s not interested enough to pay us too much attention and quickly gets back to her coloring.

“Do you regret it?” Laurel asks once we’ve both calmed down.

“No. Not at all. I’ve landed on my feet with my job, and I’ve got somewhere to live. I’ve adopted a cat, and…”

“And you’ve fallen for your boss,” Laurel says.

“No comment.”

She comes over, getting close enough that she can lower her voice and whisper, “Does he know?”

“No, he doesn’t. So please don’t tell him.”

She nods her head, although she looks kinda sad, and then she smiles and says, “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”