Silver Linings (31 page)

“Tell me everything you know, and please don't hold anything back. Whatever you found out I can take.”

“Okay.” He leaned forward a bit more. “All I know is that Mark is in Iraq.”

“How do you know?” I demanded. “Did you speak to someone?”

“No.” Bob shook his head. “I got this in the mail.” He reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a postcard and extended it to me.

The picture on the front was of skyscrapers in Dubai. I turned it over and in tiny print the message read:
SAFE ACROSS BORDER
. And that was it.

“Who mailed this?” I asked, studying the back of the card for any indication of who might have sent the postcard.

“I don't know.”

I focused on Bob, wondering if he was telling me the truth.

“That isn't Mark's handwriting, is it?” he asked me.

I knew it wasn't. “No.”

“The way I figure it, whoever put this in the mail was with Mark long enough to know he made it into Iraq safely.”

“You think Mark gave someone your address?” I demanded, fighting back my irritation.

“I can't tell you that, either. I'm sorry, Jo Marie, I wish there was more, but this is all I have.”

Coco wrapped her multicolored nylon raincoat around her as she slid out of her car and made a dash from the parking lot into her favorite Starbucks. Normally she would have gone through the drive-through, but the line was really long and she didn't have time to spare.

Nearly all the baristas knew her by name if not by face, as she was a regular. With the holidays approaching she decided to order a peppermint latte and then head directly into the office.

“Hey, Coco, love the coat,” Jill, the barista, greeted her.

“Thanks.”

“Is it new?”

“Yeah.” She'd created it herself, although she didn't mention that to Jill. The last couple months she'd spent a lot of time at her sewing machine. She enjoyed creating Christmas gifts for family and friends. Keeping her mind active while away from the office helped her push aside thoughts of Hudson. He hadn't contacted her, and after all this time she had given up expecting that he would. A hundred times, possibly more, she'd reviewed the night of the dance, wondering what she might have done differently. No matter what she came up with, the one fact remained: Hudson simply wasn't interested. If he had been, she would have heard from him before now. Yes, she was disappointed, but she'd been disappointed before and she'd get over it. If he was looking to pay her back from rejecting him all those years ago, he'd succeeded, although she found it difficult to believe Hudson was that petty or that unkind.

In an effort to get past his rejection, Coco threw herself into the social whirl, going out nearly every night, dating two and three guys at a time. To those around her, it looked as if she was having the time of her life. Coco wished that was the case. The bare, naked truth was that she was bored silly. It'd taken her a good six weeks to find her equilibrium.

One positive had come from the reunion, however. Coco and Katie had become even better friends. They'd stayed in touch before, connecting through the years. They'd met for lunch or dinner or sometimes a movie, once every couple of months. That had changed since their visit to Cedar Cove. They either talked or texted nearly every day. If Coco had been asked why, she'd guess it was the shared disappointment—it just felt like it had brought them closer.

To her credit, Katie was moving forward. Her friend hadn't asked her to accompany her on any more letter-burning expeditions, and she also seemed to be coming out of her shell. Although she claimed she didn't feel any romantic spark with Christian, Katie had gone out with him several times. They were seeing more of each other. In fact they'd gone out two weekends straight. Katie told Coco in detail about their drive to Leavenworth for the last remaining weekend of the Oktoberfest celebration. Just recently Katie and Christian had attended a rock concert at the Columbia Crest winery. Christian liked Katie, and it did Coco's heart good to see her friend with someone who genuinely appreciated her.

Lately Coco had cut back on her social life, playing it more low-key. She realized the frantic dating was how she'd chosen to deal with the disappointment of not hearing from Hudson. What took her by surprise was how much his rejection had affected her. She'd genuinely been attracted to him. She liked him better than any man she'd dated in a long while.

“Your latte is ready, Coco,” Jill said, interrupting her thoughts.

“Oh sorry, I was a million miles away.” Coco reached for the peppermint latte and turned to go. She noticed two men approaching as she went to the exit. One of the men opened the door for her and she stepped through. She glanced up to thank him and went completely numb.

It was Hudson Hamilton.

Seeing him no more than a foot away came as such a shock that the latte slipped out of her hand and fell onto the ground. Immediately, the contents spilled all over the concrete sidewalk. Coco gasped and leaped back to avoid getting splashed.

All these weeks she'd half wondered if she'd run into him, seeing that they both lived in the University district. But considering the fact that she hadn't happened upon him in ten years, the likelihood of their being in the same place at the same time seemed fairly slim.

“Coco.” Hudson sounded as shocked as she was.

For one crazy moment all they did was stare at each other.

“I'm so sorry,” she said, recovering when she found she could breathe again. She bent over and scooped up the empty cup and tossed it into the waste receptacle. An employee came with a pitcher of water and washed the remainder of the liquid off the walkway.

“Did any of my latte get on you?” Coco asked, fearing some might have splashed on his white lab coat or his pants.

“No. What about you?”

“I'm fine,” she assured him, eager now to escape.

“Let me buy you another drink,” he offered, apparently blaming himself for the accident.

“No…no, it's fine, really.”

“Coco,” he said firmly. “I insist.”

She looked at her wrist without actually registering what her watch said. “Another time, perhaps. Sorry, I can't be late for work.” And with that she dashed across the parking lot, heedless of any traffic, finding it imperative to leave.

By the time she was inside her car, her hands were trembling so hard she had trouble inserting the ignition key. She felt like such an idiot. As soon as she was out of the parking lot, she called Katie.

Katie answered right away. “Morning,” her friend greeted cheerfully, full of positive energy. “You're out and about bright and early.”

“I bumped into Hudson,” Coco blurted out, her voice in a panic. Even now her heart continued to race at the speed of a freight train.

“What?” Katie repeated and then started again. “Okay, okay, tell me everything. Where are you?”

“I'm in my car now. It just happened.”

“Where were you?”

“Starbucks. I ran in for my morning latte and was on my way out. I saw a couple of guys in white lab coats, and didn't think anything of it. I wasn't really paying attention, you know?”

“Sure,” Katie said.

“Hudson held the door open for me and then I looked up and saw that it was him, and Katie, oh Katie, you won't believe what I did. I was so shocked I dropped my latte and it spilled all over the sidewalk.”

“Oh Coco, how embarrassing.”

“Hudson must have assumed it was his fault, because right away he volunteered to buy me another. I said no and flew out of there like Freddy Krueger was after me. I'm still shaking.”

“Is this the same Starbucks you stop by every morning?”

“Yes.”

“You've never seen him there before?”

“Never.”

Katie paused. “Do you think he was seeking you out?”

“I doubt it. He looked as shocked as I was. This makes me so angry. I can't tell you how mad I am.”

“Angry?” Katie repeated, sounding surprised. “With Hudson?”

“No,” Coco insisted. “I'm furious with myself. How is it that after all these weeks he still has the power to rattle me? What is it about him that unsettles me so?”

“I can't answer that.” Katie's response was gentle and full of understanding.

“The problem is that I can't, either.”

They chatted a few minutes more and then disconnected. Coco made it through the day and later that night sat at her sewing machine, working on her Christmas gifts until the wee hours of the morning, seeking a distraction. When her alarm went off the next morning, her eyes burned and she was out of sorts. The last thing she needed was another run-in with Hudson, and she almost decided to skip her stop at Starbucks.

“You are way overreacting,” she told herself as she climbed into her car. “It isn't likely that you'll see him again anytime soon. He'll probably avoid that particular Starbucks for the rest of his natural life.” She went through the drive-through and of course there was no way to run into him there.

In fact, she went through the drive-through every day for the next week with no sighting of Hudson, which suited her just fine.

On Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday, she rolled up to the drive-through to find Jill, her favorite barista, at the window.

“Morning, Coco.”

“Happy Thanksgiving,” she returned, smiling and thankful for the upcoming holiday. Not that she had any real plans—well, other than stuffing herself with turkey at her brother's house and Christmas shopping later with Katie. Stores in downtown Seattle were so beautifully decorated this time of year.

“When are you coming back inside again?” Jill asked, lowering her voice.

“Can't say. Why?”

Jill half leaned out the window. “You know that guy you bumped into last week?”

Right away Coco's heart went into high alert, pounding hard against her ribs. “Yeah, what about him?”

“He's been here every morning since. He's asked about you a couple of times. Said he knew you from high school and wondered how often you stop by.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Just that you're a regular. Maybe I shouldn't have, because he's been here like clockwork every day about the same time you usually are.”

Coco thumped her fingers against the steering wheel, not knowing what to make of this.

“Maybe I shouldn't have said anything,” Jill said.

“No, no. It's fine.”

Jill glanced over her shoulder. “He's here now.”

“Now?”

Jill nodded.

The driver behind Coco pressed impatiently against his horn. Coco beeped back and then pulled forward onto the street. So Hudson had made a point of returning to Starbucks. Fascinated at his reasoning, she circled the block and returned, parking in the lot.

His behavior didn't make sense. If Hudson wanted to contact her all he had to do was text or call. He had her contact information and he'd made no effort to reach out to her. Coco sat in her car for a couple minutes until she felt capable of making a decision.

Curiosity won out.

Grabbing her purse, she climbed out of her car and headed inside the Starbucks, leaving the latte she'd recently purchased behind. When Jill saw her she nodded toward Hudson, who sat at a table with his laptop open, intently studying the screen. Coco might as well have been invisible, for all the attention he paid her.

Not knowing what else to do, she got into the long line, ready to place her order. Feeling more foolish by the minute, she purposely turned her back to him and pretended not to notice that he was anywhere in the vicinity. Despite her best effort to be calm, her heart continued to pound. It was a wonder no one else could hear it.

She was close to the counter when she sensed someone approach.

“Coco?” Hudson said her name.

Although she knew it was him, she glanced at him and smiled as if surprised. “Hello, Hudson.”

“I'd like to buy your latte.”

“Why?” she asked, again sounding perfectly calm.

“Please, let me,” he answered. “I wanted to replace the one you dropped last week then, but you said you had to get to work and didn't give me a chance.”

“Really, that's not necessary. It wasn't your fault. I was the clumsy one.” This all rushed out in one giant breath, as if she couldn't get the words out fast enough. She inhaled in an effort to calm her pounding heart and started again. “There's no need,” she said, clenching her wallet.

“I wouldn't feel right if I didn't replace the one you spilled.”

In other words, he'd been hanging around Starbucks every morning for the past week out of obligation. This had nothing to do with any desire to see her or talk to her. The disappointment was keen. Her first inclination was to argue, but that would have been ridiculous.

“All right,” she finally said.

He stood beside her until it was her turn to order. When they reached the front of the line, he gestured for her to place her order and then asked for black coffee for himself. Hudson paid for both and then waited for his coffee while she stepped down to the end of the counter to collect her latte.