"Nobody's left a message. He would have left a message." She pulled a throw blanket around her shoulders, closing her eyes. "I just kind of-I wish he would find me. I wish … he wanted to."
"He's not going to come to you, Shelby. He won't risk it. He won't do that to you, no matter how much he wants to."
"Well, you are just a little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Shelby tried to inject a humor she didn't feel into her voice.
"I'm sorry." Lexi was silent for a moment, then took a quick breath. "Maybe he'll come to the concert!"
"Ha. He won't. We know he won't, for all the reasons he left me at Whisper Creek in the first place."
"Well, he may not be the biggest fan of Tara Gibson, but we know he was falling pretty hard for Shelby Quinn."
"I thought so, but it's been a month, and we both know he's got a lot more important things on his mind."
"Well, maybe Tara can't find him, but maybe Shelby can figure out a way."
"Right." Shelby shook her head miserably, but then she sat up slowly as a perfect, completely ridiculous plan materialized in her head.
How had she not thought of this before?
She jumped up and headed to her laptop, pulling up a map of Boston, smiling as she touched a finger to the spots of green on her screen.
"You know what, Lexi? Maybe Shelby Quinn can figure out a way to find him."
-
"Coo-ooper." Phoebe sing-songed as she knocked on his motel room door a couple of hours later. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
He opened the door, then had to brace himself as Phoebe flung herself into his arms.
"Hey, Wonder Woman. Take it easy. You'll knock me over."
"I'm excited. Sue me." She untangled herself, then shut the door behind her. "So it's true? It's all true?"
"All true. Just got back from Lionel's office. I am officially not under investigation."
"And you can have your job back? And your house? And your life?"
Cooper paused, unsure of how to answer. "Yes to the house. Maybe, to the life. Not sure about the job."
"But-don't they have to? Offer you your position back?"
"Absolutely."
Phoebe narrowed her eyes. "But you don't know if you want it?"
"It's a lot to take in. I'm thinking."
"Huh." She sat down on the foot of the bed. "Interesting."
"Interesting, why?"
"Because the Cooper I know would have headed straight from his attorney's office down to his old stomping grounds, grabbed his badge, and demanded to be put on the schedule."
"Well, it's all still a little fresh, Phoebs."
"But it's your badge, Coop. It killed you to turn that thing in."
"I know." He took a deep breath. "But they're not going to rescind the offer if I wait another twenty-four hours, so you can relax."
"Is there a reason it's not an easy decision? Like, anything in particular?"
"Um, no. Just need to think things through."
"So, like, there isn't anybody in particular you're thinking things through about?"
He paused. What the hell was she talking about?
"If you could speak English here, I might be able to answer your questions."
Phoebe laughed. "You're being purposely obtuse, and we both know it. Did you meet someone this summer who's maybe making your decision harder? Someone maybe you'd like to be with? Who maybe doesn't live in Boston?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Cooper made himself busy straightening up the papers that had seemed to take over the motel room. Of course he had. And of course she was the reason he had no frigging idea what to do right now.
He knew she was in town. He knew where she'd been every day since he'd left her Whisper Creek cabin-had even looked up footage of her two concerts this week-and he'd been dying a little bit inside every hour he wasn't with her.
He'd done the right thing, letting her go. He knew he had. Her tour had ramped up nicely, her ticket sales were up, and he had to admit, she'd looked like her old self in the videos he'd been playing all morning. Her Tara self, that is. If she wasn't happy to be on that stage, belting out those popcorn lyrics, he sure couldn't tell by looking.
Yes, he'd done the right thing. She'd recaptured the hearts of America, she was going to tour the country and make the money she needed to get out from under whatever debts held her strangled, and eventually, she'd forget all about her few weeks at Whisper Creek.
Eventually, she'd probably forget all about him, too.