“You hated leaving the kids.”
Someone else might have said,Tough losing a job like that. But Cole knew what hurt her most. The thought swirled around in her chest, unsure where to nest.
“Some of the kids still keep in touch. We text.”
“I’m glad you found your way here.”
“I was lucky that a position opened up at Hope Hill. It’s not like there are a million openings for ecotherapists.”
He pushed away from the door frame to pick up an empty bucket. “Tree hugging is vastly underrated. It’ll catch on. I mean, what’s not to like? Right?”
“Definitely the next big thing.” It hit her how much she loved spending time with him like this. How could the two of them together feel so right even as she knew, with her rational mind, that a relationship between them would be all wrong?
When she heard a car pull up, she was grateful for the distraction. She went to see who it was. Then her stomach clenched when she spotted Joey’s camo-painted pickup in the driveway behind Cole’s.
Joey cracked the driver’s side door to get out.
Dammit, Joey.“I can’t talk to you right now.”
He paused with the door half-open and pushed his red baseball hat up his forehead an inch with a finger. “I can’t take a no for an answer again. You have to give me time to explain.”
Then Cole strode past her, heading Joey off before Joey could even get out. When Cole pushed the pickup’s door closed, Joey rolled down his window, a wary look on his face. “Who are you?”
Cole said, “You need to leave. You won’t be stopping by again.”
Outrage reddened Joey’s cheeks. “I’m Annie’s boyfriend. Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the guy you’ll be seeing through your tears when I rip your balls off.”
Good grief.
Annie flinched as she stood in the doorway. She didn’t need Cole to defend her. But she knew she couldn’t stop Cole, and Joey needed a wake-up call. As unpleasant as their conversation was, maybe it was something Joey would finally take seriously.
“You don’t come by,” Cole said. “You don’t call. You don’t run into her in town.” He took a step closer to the pickup. “If you see her on the street, you turn and start walking in the other direction before she even notices you. Am I clear?”
Joey cast a hurt look at Annie. “Don’t do this to me. You can’t choose this guy over me, Annie. Not him.”
Cole fisted his left hand and punched the pickup’s door so hard he dented it.
“What the hell, man? You can’t do that!” Joey scrambled to roll up his window. When the dented door wouldn’t let him, he switched his efforts to backing out of the driveway. Then he was off, his mouth moving, probably swearing. Annie could no longer hear him.
By the time Cole came into the garage, Annie had the first-aid kit ready.
“Anger management. It can do wonders.” She twisted the top off the peroxide bottle. “Let me see that hand.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to. Having to look at a few drops of blood isn’t going to kill me. Neither of us believes in indulging our weaknesses.”
Cole held out his busted knuckles for her. The damage wasn’t as bad as it’d been back at the gas station.
He scowled. “Somebody had to talk to the kid.”
“That was you talking?” Annie shook her head as she cleaned Cole up. “Band-Aid?”
“Don’t bother,” he said, and went back to work.
When Cole finished filling the outside troughs with water, they fed the skunk kittens together, then drove back to Hope Hill.