The One Real Thing (Hart's Boardwalk) (28 page)

The inn was a beautiful place to work. It could be peaceful. It could be busy and fun. There were downsides—where customers were involved there were always downsides. Some people weren’t as friendly or as easygoing as others. Some made being particular into an art form. But it was nothing I couldn’t handle. And I liked working with Bailey, although to be fair we actually saw less of each other now that I was working for her.

Another downside.

The biggest downside, however, the one that scared me, was the niggling voice in my head that whispered that hospitality really wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life.

Okay, so I knew that running an inn probably wouldn’t turn out to be a permanent thing, but knowing only two weeks into it that I didn’t have the passion for it that Bailey did was scary stuff. Because that meant I needed to start thinking about what the heck I was planning to do with the rest of my life.

Trying my best not to think about that, I was in the middle of helping Mona close up the kitchen for the night when my phone vibrated in my pocket.

Cooper’s name flashed on the screen and with it came the butterflies.

Still.

I wondered if and when the excitement of being with him would go away.

I was hoping never, because it was a pretty awesome feeling.

“Hey, you.” I smiled as I answered the phone.

“Doc, I got a problem,” he said without saying hello.

I immediately went on alert. “Oh?”

“Archie is here. He’s not drinking, though. Just sitting at the bar, looking depressed as all hell. It’s something about Anita, and I’m guessing you have an idea what’s going on. Any chance you could get away to come down and talk to him?”

Obviously things with Anita were as I’d suspected. “Of course. I’ll be right there.”

“Everything okay?” Mona said as I got off the phone.

“I’m not sure. Do you mind if I head out for a bit?”

“No problem. I’ll get finished here and lock up front for you.”

“Thanks, Mona.” I gave her shoulder a squeeze. Despite her control-freakery in the kitchen, she’d turned out to be a pretty cool lady.

I hurried out of the inn and down the boardwalk, my heart pounding faster the closer I got to Cooper’s. My fear was that nothing could be done for Anita, that her cancer had progressed too far, and Archie was in the first stages of grief.

Inside the dimly lit bar, my eyes met Cooper’s first and he gave me a tender look before nodding his head toward Archie. The place was packed, but unlike most nights, when Archie found someone to chat with, he was huddled up on a stool in the corner, staring forlornly into a full draft of beer.

My stomach twisted with sympathy for him as I slowly made my way over to him. When I placed a hand on his shoulder he turned to look at me.

His gaze softened. “Hey, Doc.”

“Hey, Archie.” I leaned in to him. “Do you feel like taking a walk with me? It’s a beautiful night.”

He shot Cooper a look. “You called her?”

Cooper didn’t say anything.

“You called her.” Archie heaved a deep sigh and then to my
surprise moved off the stool with little prodding. “Alright, Doc, let’s take that walk.”

He walked close by my side and it was the first time I’d really noticed much about him. Although it would be fair to call Archie an alcoholic, he was certainly a functioning alcoholic. He was immaculate, for a start. From head to toe. The crisp, fresh scent of soap clung to him, his hair was combed and styled, his shirt and pants ironed with perfect crease lines, and his black leather shoes were gleaming they’d been shined so well. I wondered if it was all Anita’s doing.

Looking at him, at his well-trimmed gray beard and warm brown eyes, I could see he’d been a handsome man, and by some miracle he’d escaped the wrath of alcohol on his physical appearance.

I stopped us near the bandstand by leaning on the railing to look out at the dark waters. “So . . .”

Archie came to a halt beside me, his sad gaze following mine to the gentle surf. “I guess you know about Anita.”

“I don’t. I just know what I suspected when I told her to go see her doctor.”

“Cancer.” He looked at me now, anguished. “It’s not good, Doc. They told her weeks ago. She only just got up the courage to tell me.”

Sorrow for him and Anita tightened my chest and I couldn’t help but reach for his hand. “I’m so sorry, Archie.”

“They say she’s got a chance. But it’s going to be a tough fight.”

“Anita seems like a tough woman. If anyone can do it, I’m sure she can.”

“Ah, Doc.” Archie sighed heavily. “That woman is the strongest woman I have ever met. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t got lots of soft in her. She’s cut up about this. She needs me.”

“So you’ll help her.” I squeezed his hand.

In answer he yanked away from my touch. “She needs me,” he snapped. “And do I look like the kind of man she can depend on? I’m all she’s got and I’m going to fail.”

I considered my options. I could pander to him, tell him everything would be alright. Or I could be blunt.

I went with my instincts.

“The next year is going to be the toughest year of Anita’s life. From what I’ve heard she’s a good woman. You need to step up, Archie.”

“How can I look after her when my priority has been the drink this long?” He shook his head. “I’ve had a lot of shit happen to me . . . and the drink has always been there for me. Now it’s going to cost me.”

“Anita gets that, doesn’t she? About you and the drink. She’s never tried to change you or take it away from you.”

He turned his head to stare at me, surprised perhaps by my understanding. “Never, Doc. Not once. She took me as I am.”

“Then you owe her. She needs you. Don’t take
you
away from her. Not now.”

Fear darkened his face. “I’d need to kick it—to really be what she needs. How the hell can I do that in time, Doc? There’s no way.”

It was true that rehabilitation was an extremely hard and long road for addicts, but sometimes things happened in life that made us more capable than we’d ever imagined. According to Cooper, Archie hadn’t drunk a drop all night. Anyone would reason that the first thing Archie would have done was drown his sorrows in the drink.

He didn’t.

I leaned in to him, speaking from my heart. “People can do extraordinary things to save the ones they love.”

Watching Archie walk away, I was suffused with melancholy. Archie had accepted my comfort, and I’d like to think I helped a little.

For a start he was going home to Anita, rather than returning to the bar.

But he had a hard road ahead. They both did. And I was sorry for them.

A pall hanging over me, I decided to head back into the bar to
tell Cooper I’d sent Archie home, but also because I needed a Cooper hug.

I was not amused, then, upon strolling back into the pub to find a woman in jeans so tight they looked painted on sitting up on the bar counter, her red stilettos settled on a stool. She had her fingers curled in Cooper’s shirt and was looking at him with sex in her eyes.

Cooper had been trying to gently loosen her grip on him.

When Ollie clapped him on the shoulder and gestured to me, Cooper scowled and yanked the woman’s hand off him.

She pouted and tried to grab a hold of him again.

I could feel the regulars’ eyes on me, obviously excited for a show, as I hurried over to Cooper. Of course I wasn’t going to give them a show, but I was going to get this stranger out of my man’s bar.

“Come on, Coop, why you acting so tense?” I heard her say, and I bristled at her familiarity with him.

“May I help you?” I said, stopping at the bar.

Cooper sighed. “Doc, it’s not what you think.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I think this woman is coming on to you and you want her to go away.”

“Then, yes, it is what you think.”

The woman turned to look at me, her eyes growing round. “Oh. You’re the doctor.”

“That’s me.”

“So . . .” She gestured between me and Cooper. “You two are serious?”

“Who are you?” I said.

She grinned at me. “I’m Sadie Thomas.”

I cut Cooper a dark look and he winced and scrubbed a hand over his face.

I ran my eyes over her revealing shirt and big hair.

She was attractive in a very obvious way.

And my total opposite.

Yet he’d had sex with her.

Jealousy bubbled up and I hated it.

“Sadie”—I stepped closer, hoping to reduce the number of people who’d overhear me—“in answer to your question, yes, Cooper and I are dating, and if you don’t get off his bar and keep those well-manicured fingers to yourself, I may have to forget that I’m a lady.”

I heard Cooper snort and shot him a killing look.

“Oh, honey.” Sadie shook her head, somehow getting off the bar with a grace I did not expect. “You don’t need to threaten me. I didn’t realize you two were serious, that’s all. Cooper and I flirt. No big deal. But if you two are together, then I respect that.”

Surprised but gratified, I nodded. “I appreciate that.”

“Sure thing. I’m going to go shoot some pool.” She waved her long red fingernails at me and sashayed over to the pool table to flirt with one of the regulars, Hug.

I shot Cooper a look.

He stood, bracing himself, it seemed.

And so he should. “Archie’s gone home. I’m going back to the inn.”

“Jess.” He darted his arm across the bar and stopped me as I turned to leave. “Don’t leave angry.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “Why didn’t you tell her we were dating and that she needed to get her hands off you?” I hissed.

“I was trying,” he said through gritted teeth. “You walked in just as she was starting that shit.”

With a harrumph of annoyance, mostly at myself for my jealousy, I pulled my arm away. “I need to go. We’ll talk later.”

“Jess,” he called, but I was already halfway across the bar.

I was lying in bed, reading—or trying to read—when my phone buzzed on the bedside table. Picking it up, I felt a flip in my stomach at the text from Cooper:
I’m right outside.

This flip was different from the usual.

It was a sensation caused by worry.

This man was tangling my insides up in knots, and sometimes I loved it, but tonight I’d found it unsettling.

I’d been angry with Sadie for touching Cooper because I thought of him as mine. It had been a long time since I’d thought of anyone as mine. To feel that way meant that person was in my blood.

There was no way to get people out of your blood once they were in.

Even if you lost them.

But I wasn’t going to avoid Cooper because I was scared of how he made me feel. The scariness was accompanied by an addictive thrill and a sense of connection I didn’t want to shake.

Hurrying to pull on a pair of yoga pants, I moved quickly through the inn to reception, to open the door for Cooper. He crowded me immediately, his hand on my hip, and turned to take over locking up for me.

Without saying a word, he led me by the hand to my room. He closed the door softly behind us and then pulled me into him for a hug.

That was all I’d wanted earlier.

Cooper hugs were all-encompassing and warm and safe, and I felt utterly cared for and protected when he hugged me.

My arms tightened around him and I mumbled into his shoulder, “Not that I mind at all, but what are you doing here? You know I’m technically still working, right?”

Cooper moved me back to arm’s length. He curled my hair around my ear and then trailed his fingertips along my jaw. I was utterly disarmed by the warmth in his expression. “I wanted to sort out our earlier misunderstanding. Also I
needed
to see you, make sure you were okay. I found out about Anita’s diagnosis. I know she has cancer.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

“One of her friends came in tonight to tell us.”

“I’m sorry, Cooper.”

“You’ve known for a while.”

“I suspected. That’s why I insisted she see her doctor right away.”

He brushed his thumb over my mouth and then leaned in to rest his forehead against mine. He sighed heavily. “Must be hard, Doc. Telling people they’ve got a battle ahead of them.”