Page 18 of Cooper & Jake
“I have a tuxedo cat. He’s feisty as can be, but he’s also very cuddly. Loves to take over my bed any chance he gets. Do you only have the one dog?” I ask, loving that Jake has a pet of his own. He always wanted one growing up, but his parents were worried that moving too often with an animal would be hard, so they never got a pet.
“Yeah, for now. I’m thinking of getting another one. There’s this tremendous lot of land in my town that I’m having a house built on, and I know Bailey is going to love it when she’s allowed to run around wildly.”
“Wow! You’re building your own house?”
I am nowhere near that point in my life. Hell, I don’t even think I want to live in Connecticut for the rest of my life. Yeah, I love it there, but it’s never truly felt like home. More of a stopover place that I’m just staying at right now.
“Yeah, I’ve been working on the plans for a few years. I saved up, and once I was finally able, I hired a contractor, and we finally broke ground a while ago. It’ll be done soon, though. Probably in the next couple weeks, actually. Maybe you can stop by and see it once it’s finished?”
I glance up to see he’s looking at me openly and warmly. “I’d love that.” And I really would. Plus, it gives me an excuse to reach out again once the weekend is over.
“Do you have a house?”
I shake my head, and, risking the chance of burning myself again, grab hold of my cup to take another sip. “Nah, I’m still living in an apartment. I’ve never needed anything bigger than that. And it’s allowed me to save for retirement, so that’s been nice as well.”
“What hobbies do you have these days?”
“Don’t laugh, but I recently started playing pickleball. It became like this big trend in our area, so I tried it one day and fell in love. Taylor refuses to play it with me, but sometimes I’lldrag her husband with me to play. Same question: do you have any hobbies?”
“I crochet,” he replies easily.
“You… crochet? Like with the needles and yarn?”
“Well, it’s one hook and yarn, but yeah. I started it a long time ago. Hell, years ago. I began by making a simple blanket, and now I’m crafting sweaters, hats, anything. You name it, I’ll make it.”
“Wow, please say you brought some with you. I’d love to see it.”
“I did, actually. Maybe I can show you after the reunion prom tonight?”
“Yes,” I say a little too excitedly. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself, but I also want to spend every extra moment with Jake that I can.
Sonny drops off our food, and we eat in companionable silence, just enjoying being in one another’s space again. I see Jake eyeing my pancakes, so I cut off a bite and set it on his plate. In return, he scoops up some eggs and a piece of bacon and plops them down onto my dish. We give each other a smile and then dig into the meal again. It doesn’t take us long to clean our plates, and Jake sneaks off to the bathroom right as we finish. When he comes out of the restroom, he stops next to me.
“Do you have any plans right now? I thought maybe we could walk down Main Street in the daylight?”
“No plans. Let me pay real quick, and we can go.”
“Oh, I already paid.” My eyes bug out of my head, and Jake chuckles, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the booth. “I might have made a little detour on my way to the bathroom.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, swallowing roughly. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“It was no problem.”
“I’ll pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it, Cooper. Now come on, let’s see what else this tiny town has to offer.”
We spend the next hour walking up and down Main Street before heading over to the school. There’s a tour going on, where they’re showing the alumni, and anyone else who wants to see, the new school. We stay there for a little bit, following the crowd of people strolling around.
“So, uh—how do you feel about arcades?”
“Hmm?” I ask, turning my head to look at Jake. Our arms barely touch, but the spark is still there. It hasn’t diminished at all; if anything, each touch has gotten stronger.
“Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love seeing the school and what’s new about it. But I also don’t care about it as much as I thought I did. So, I might have looked up other things to do here and found a pizza tavern and arcade, if you’re down?”
“Oh god, yes please,” I breathe, my body swaying into his. “I didn’t want to say anything because you seemed so into it, but these are things I can see when we come back tonight.”
“So, arcade?”
