Broken Barriers (Barriers Series Book 4) (28 page)

I ran the pads of my fingers over my forehead, wondering how to approach her. There was nothing I could say to defend anything she had heard.

“Do you miss her?” Cole’s voice was free of any emotion. She didn’t even turn her head to talk to me. I had never been the one to deliberately hurt someone else, yet I felt like I had done that to Cole.

I still hadn’t given her an answer. “Cole, it’s complicated,” I said, sitting next to her. I laced my fingers together, resting my elbows on my knees as my head tilted to only look at her face. The natural beauty that emanated from within her heart had been her strongest asset, and as I stared at her, I couldn’t see that light behind her eyes or the firecracker she usually had lit and ready for everyone to be mesmerized by.

I’d taken all of that away. I was to blame.

“Do you love her? Be honest for once in your life, Drew.” Cole’s typically strong voice wavered. I rubbed my hands over my face and back up and over my head before tugging on my neck in frustration.

I couldn’t lie.

“There is a part of me that has always loved her, Cole. I’d spent years thinking she was the only one for me, but never had the strength to say the words when it mattered. She was the one love I let go, and for that I’m not sure I ever truly let it all go. I don’t know if I could ever let her go for good.”

A single tear streaked down her cheek, but she didn’t make any effort to wipe it away. She only released a breath that seemed to say it all for us.

“If you truly love her, then you need to go to her.”

There was too much running through my head. So much had happened in the short time I’d been here at the lake. I just wished I had the right answer to put it all together.

I planned to head into town this morning and talk to Cole. There was nothing that I could have said to her yesterday to keep her from leaving after she told me to leave. I needed to explain just what happened before I went overseas, but when I got to her café, Marty flagged me down and said she and Morgan were off shopping for dresses for the day.

Evidently, that was another reason for Cole stopping by my house yesterday. She had some great news. News she wanted to share with me first, and I fucked it all up.

From what Marty told me, a number of recent photographs Cole took were to be exhibited at a huge Boston gallery. Had my head not been up my ass the last few weeks, I would have probably figured out that Morgan’s family owned the gallery where Cole’s pieces were to be displayed.

I wanted to scream the minute I heard the news. I basically ruined one of the best moments in her life. I could barely stand. My legs gave out beneath me as I collapsed onto the sofa in the café.

Marty sensed something was wrong, and before I had the chance to tell him, he had three large coffees to go, and I was being led down the docks of Wolfeboro Bay to his rusty old boat. Everett was loading some fishing gear on board, and I was given orders to roll the cooler from the truck with Cocoa in tow.

I was going fishing on the lake with the guys. That was it. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Everett was also given no other option and was told he was going on this trip as well.

The ride out to the fishing spot was mainly chatter-free, most likely due to the fact that the slow groan of the motor on Marty’s boat was too loud to carry a conversation over. The mid-morning fog had burned off, and the sun was shining brightly off the glassy surface of the lake. After we anchored and killed the engine, we baited the hooks with chum and dropped them into the water. The fishing rods dangled off the back of the boat as Marty, Everett, and I sat there surrounded by water. Cocoa chewed on a bone in the other corner of the boat until a flock of geese flew overhead, instantly distracting her. Her ears twitched, and her head followed the sounds before she went back to her bone.

The three of us sat in our seats, waiting for the lake trout to bite. The waiting game was upon us. Who would be the first to get a bite on the line? I casually sipped at the last of my cold coffee before tossing the empty cup into the trashcan.

“You boys have to be some of the dumbest sons-a-bitches I’ve ever encountered.” Marty laughed as he leaned back in his seat. His old, weathered veterans hat blocked the sun from his eyes as he rested his laced fingers over his rounded stomach.

I tugged at the length of my khaki cargo shorts and rolled my neck, waiting for the crack to release the stress. After Everett and I exchanged glances, we both knew we were about to be taught a lesson from the
Book of Marty
. Only then did I realize my only option out was to jump overboard. It was a lost cause since I was wearing sandals. The harbor was nowhere in my line of sight. I was stuck on the boat.

Using a worn handkerchief from his pocket, Marty wiped off his nose and scruffy mustache. As he reached around his seat, he pulled out an old transistor radio and turned the dial until the classic sounds of Creedence Clearwater Revival crackled through the speakers. With a simple twist of a knob, he lowered the volume before placing the radio back in its spot. He settled back again in his seat and chuckled. “I’ve got this one over here who can’t stay away from trouble with that girl Morgan. Then over here, I’ve got the one who can’t get his head out of the sand to see just how much that girl, Cole, cares about him.” Marty dropped his head and sighed.

As Everett opened his mouth to say something, Marty pointed a finger at him. “Sit.” One word was all it took before he peered in my direction. “That goes for you, too.” Marty gave me a stern look, and I swallowed the fear of being ambushed with Everett. Worse than any Marine Corps training operation gone wrong, that was a life lesson from someone who had seen and been through it all.

“You boys think I don’t see what goes on around me? I’m just this old croak who putters around town not paying attention to shit. Is that what you think? Well, I’ve got news for you two. I’ve been trained by the military, too. I see shit I don’t want to, but I keep quiet.” Marty moved forward to pull on the fishing rod before setting it back onto the stand. “Let me tell you two something. Women are precious creatures.” Everett guffawed, but Marty’s harsh squint of an eye and deliberate twist of his mouth said this was not a time for games. His back straightened immediately, and I continued to sit and listen in silence so I was not put in my place like Everett was.

Marty clamped his eyes shut. “I spent decades with one very special woman.” His tone softened. No longer able to hide his feelings, he stared up at the wispy clouds in the sky. “I never once had a doubt in my mind what love was when I found her. The day I finally had the courage to talk to her was the same day I was shipping off to basic training, but I knew where to find her. Her family owned the coffee shop downtown, until Cole bought the business.” Marty glanced over to me as he told me what I never asked Cole myself. “My Lizzie worked there in the summers, and when I finally got back, she was still there. After that, we dated and I served my country with pride, knowing I had a beautiful woman to come home to. We were married sometime after that, and the rest you could say is history.”

Everett grabbed the bobbing fishing rod and began reeling it in. “Marty, not to sound like a jerk here, but what does this have to do with Morgan and me?”

“Son, that girl doesn’t continue to come up to this lake each summer just to see Cole. She’s had eyes for you for years. Your pretty boy hair doesn’t allow you to fully see what she truly has to offer. She might be trouble, but she’s the good kind of trouble for you.”

Everett interrupted Marty and explained that he was crazy if he thought Morgan was the type of girl that wanted a serious relationship. I had learned that Everett and Morgan actually had known each other much longer than he let on. Everett’s family didn’t have a lot of money, and while growing up he worked hard to help his parents pay the bills. He met Morgan right before he joined the Marines as a teenager and always knew she was too good for him. She came from money, and he worked at the boat yard in the summer. She drove around on the boat, while he was the one who had to do the dirty work. Fix, gas, clean—if it meant getting his hands dirty for a paycheck, he did it. Her family never wanted her associating with anyone like him, which was why when the two of them finally did secretly hook up and she left, he assumed she was nothing but trouble. He feared his own heart being hurt by getting too close.

Marty explained to Everett that he heard things when people thought he wasn’t listening. There were a few times in the coffee shop and on the docks when Morgan chatted with Cole, not knowing Marty was around. He’d heard Morgan say how much she wished Everett would finally step up and be the one for her. She grew to love him, despite the obstacles put in their way. Everett just needed to let her know how he felt once and for all.

Marty turned in his seat as Everett yanked the empty hook from the water. With a quick re-bait, he side flicked the line back into the water before sitting down.

“As for you, my boy, I’ve seen you and Cole around town, and I know a part of you is scared to open up to her after everything you have been through. Trust me, if she has let you into her heart, do not let her go. She’s one of those women you cannot replace. I love her like she’s my own daughter, and I want her to be happy. You…” Marty said, poking his finger into my chest, “You make her happy again. So, I have to make sure you understand that before you decide on everything else.” Marty knew after we left the Veterans Center that day about how my heart felt about
her.
He also found out that my time at the lake might not be permanent unless the police test worked out for me.

I quickly grabbed a water bottle from the cooler and let the icy water push the torment of my decision down with any guilt that might have wanted to surface about hurting Cole in the process. He was right, though. Cole was one of a kind. If I didn’t pass the police test, I really had a tough decision on my hands. Did I stay and risk it all for her after such a short time? God, no matter what I chose, someone would get hurt.

Marty pushed off his chair and jerked the fishing rod from the holder as the line pulled tight into the water. “It seems to me like I have something biting here.” A quick tug on the pole and a turn of the shaft had Marty’s eyes glowing. “Now, if you two girls want to stop fussin’ over what you are going to wear to Cole’s gallery reveal tonight, you could come over here and help an old man out.”

Everett was the first to help reel in the small lake trout on Marty’s line while I re-cast my own line.

Despite no bites on the bait, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a bad omen of things to come. I sure hoped not. I’d had just about enough shit luck in my life.

We weren’t actually going into Boston for Cole’s big reveal of her photos. She wanted something small with friends from the lake whom she considered her extended family. I sent her a quick text after getting back from the fishing trip, explaining how sorry I was for how things ended the other night and that I would attend her showing. She said she was having a small party at Trouvaille with everyone bringing wine and appetizers around seven in the evening.

I found a shop nearby that sold dressier men’s attire and managed to throw together some black oxford shoes, charcoal gray dress slacks, and a light blue striped button-down shirt. My five o’clock shadow was just starting to show as the evening sun dipped under the mountains and I pulled my car into downtown. Even with my sleeves tightly rolled up to my elbows and no tie, it still brought back some distant memories of my days working in Dad’s law office all those years ago. But, I didn’t feel animosity any longer. It felt nice to dress up, even if it was just for one night.

My shoes clicked against the cobblestone of the downtown street as I walked with a spring in my step and a nice bottle of Pinot Noir that the owner of the wine shop down the road said was a great vintage and a nice complement to a summer party. Good enough for me.

As I pushed through the front door of the café, I saw many familiar faces that I had occasionally seen around town the last few weeks. Everyone had wine glasses in their hands as they conversed and sat or stood around. Acoustic music that had become a staple to Cole’s humble personality softly carried through the café. The guitar and the singer sounded so simple, yet the words and lyrics spoke to me as though I’d heard them all before somewhere.