Love, Life, and the List(32)

It was Friday night. The show was in two days. We were in Lacey's room going over the final details of how Sunday would play out. I was sitting on her bed, which had more pillows than existed in my entire house.

She was surveying a shoe rack that took up one entire wall of her walk-in closet.

"What size shoe do you wear?"

"Eight."

She pursed her lips. "You think you can squeeze into a seven and a half for the night? Because these are perfect." She held up the shoes in her right hand. They were black peep-toe heels with red bottoms.

"I'll be on my feet for at least four hours."

"So that's a no?"

"That's a big no."

"Fine. But you need to pick out cute heels. None of your comfy flats."

"Okay, okay. I'll go tomorrow."

"Good. I wish I could go with you. I wish I could see this all play out. Maybe I should skip my latest LA audition."

"You're kidding, right? You should not skip the audition. You need to go and you need to get that part like I know you are capable of doing."

She gave me a salute. "Yes, ma'am."

I smiled.

"You're good at giving pep talks, not so good at taking them."

"Hey, I'm about to kiss Cooper my-best-friend-in-the-whole-world Wells on Sunday. Pretty sure I've taken an innocent pep talk to the extreme."

"Well, I wouldn't call my scheming an innocent pep talk, but I know what you're saying. And you will be great. I know you can do it, even if I can't be there."

"I can. I will." I put my fist halfheartedly in the air. "Ouch. My shoulder is sore."

"From what?"

"We've been moving a lot of paintings around at the museum."

She tapped her lips with her fingers. "I've been thinking. Is it too late to paint a special painting for Cooper? Something that would mean something to him that you could include in your display?"

"The show is in two days!"

"So that's a no?"

I laughed. "Do you normally say things and people just make them happen?"

She looked up in thought. "Not all the time. But enough to spoil me. We're good for each other, I think. You bring me down to earth and I make you dream big."

Maybe she was right. Because she did have me dreaming big. She had me thinking that in two nights, I could make Cooper mine. "I actually already have a painting for him. I revamped a painting of him on his quad. I haven't shown him the new version yet. I think he'll love it. I was going to gift it to him after the show if it didn't sell."                       
       
           



       

"Perfect. Look at that. I said something, and it happened."

I picked up one of her hundred pillows and threw it at her.

She caught it and twirled around like it was her new dance partner. Then she plopped it on the floor and sat on top of it. "So what are you going to do about his girlfriend? If she shows up to the museum with him, I mean."

My smile melted off my face. "They're not together," I said, repeating what he'd told me. "They've only been out a few times. I don't think he'll bring her."

"Okay, but if he does, you must steal him away from her to your secret location."

"That will be awkward."

"Remember, Cooper should've been yours a year ago. She is stealing him away from you. Think about the first time she met him. He was with you, and she didn't have any problem flirting with him."

"True."

"Say it like you believe it."

"True!"

A knock sounded at Lacey's closed door.

"Come in," she called.

Her dad poked his head in.

"Hello, Bill," Lacey said.

"Hey, your mother and I are going to run to the store. You brother and sister are watching television. Can you just keep an ear out for them?"

"Yes, I can."

"Thanks." He left, leaving the door open this time.

"You call him Bill. Is that an I treat my dad like my peer thing or is that a my dad and I are distant and therefore I must call him by his first name thing?"

"That's a he's my stepdad thing."

"Oh. That makes sense. Not sure why I didn't think of that one first."

She laughed.

"Is that why your brother and sister are so much younger than you?"

"Yep. Half siblings."

"Got it. And your not-stepdad?"

"You mean my actual dad?"

"Yes."

She threw the pillow back at me and I caught it. "He's around. Since I'm seventeen now, I kind of get to pick when I see him. It used to be they had fifty-fifty custody. But it's so hard to pack up my life for half a week. So now we mostly do meals together once a week, or I'll stay with him for three weeks here and there."

"Does he live close?"

"About an hour. And he's not super enthusiastic about my career choice."

"Acting? Why?"

"He thinks I'm too young. Wants me to grow up a little first."

"But your mom is fine with it?"

"Very. The consummate stage mom. And it's what I love to do, so I'm glad at least one of them has supported me. It's hard to be taken seriously as an artist. You know."

"I do. I'm lucky neither of my parents have given me grief about art."

"You are."

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I freed it. It was a text from Cooper.

I'm sick. Come take care of me.

I held up my phone for Lacey to see.

"Tell him no. You've lasted four days. He's going to ruin our plans. No seeing him until Sunday."

I texted back: I'm sure your mom is doing a perfect job of taking care of you.

Parents are out of town.

Can't Iris take care of you?

I'm on death's door. Please.

"Gah!" I grunted in frustration. "He said he's on death's door."

"Abby," she said in a warning tone.

"I know, but what if he's really sick and all alone?"

"He has Iris, remember?"

"That will just further their relationship if she's there to take care of him while he's sick. The fact that he's texting me says a lot, right?"

"It does. It says our plan is going to work."

"So I'll just go check on him."

Lacey leveled me with a cold stare. "You're going to go no matter what I say, aren't you?"

"He's my friend."

"I know. Get out of here. Hopefully he's incoherent and our plan will still work."

I smiled. "Thanks for everything."

She hugged me. "Text me Sunday night with a detailed report."

"I will."

She swiped up the heels she'd dropped at the foot of her bed. "Take these just in case you can't find any. Sacrifice is the start of any great relationship." She smiled. "Yes, you can put that on a T-shirt."

I took the shoes and ran out of the house. My heart was pounding. I'd let Cooper talk me into coming over so easily because I missed him.





TWENTY-EIGHT


Amelia let me in when I got to Cooper's house.

"Where is he?"

She pointed to the hall.

I dropped my bag by the front door and made my way to his room. I knocked softly on his door. "Hey, it's me."                       
       
           



       

He just groaned.

"You were well enough to text ten minutes ago. Have you deteriorated that much since then?" I walked into his room. The only light came from a small desk lamp, so it took my eyes a bit to adjust. He lay on his bed, his breathing labored. I put my hand on his forehead. It was burning up.

"Wait, you're really sick?" I had kind of thought he might be faking it a little or overplaying it to get me over. "You have a bad fever. Have you taken any medicine for this?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"Maybe." His lips were dry and cracked, and his words came out as a whisper.

"How long have you been like this? For longer than today?"

"What?"

"I'll be right back." I searched for his sister and found her eating ice cream in front of the television. "Has Cooper taken anything for his fever?"

"No. He got home about three hours ago and went straight to his room. I tried to wake him up to ask him if Mom left us any money for dinner, but he told me he was sleeping."

"So this just started today?"

"I think."

"Okay. I have money if you want to order a pizza or something."

"Thanks!" She ran to the phone and I went to the medicine cupboard. I found a bottle of NyQuil. I also wet a rag. With my offerings in hand, I went back to his room.

"Hey, sickie, sit up for a sec. I need you to take some medicine."

"Abby?"

"Yes."

"What are you doing here?"

"You texted me. Now come on, sit up." I helped him sit up. He took the medicine and lay back down on his side. I placed the wet washrag on the back of his neck, where he felt the hottest. "How did this happen?"

"Dunno," he mumbled.

"If I make you some soup will you eat it?"

"Not hungry."

"What do you need?" I flipped the rag to the other side.