Meant to Be (Whisper Creek #5)(98)

If he was looking.

If he even knew she was in Boston at all.

She lifted her chin and let the rays of the sun warm her skin. She hadn't slept all night-had lain awake in a huge, sterile bed thinking about the one person who'd taken her dark world and poured paint buckets of color into it, only to pick up his brushes and go home-though not by choice-at the end of three weeks. 

Three weeks.

She still couldn't believe that was how long she'd known him. She'd heard of insta-love and insta-lust and insta-everything else, but she hadn't believed in them. Not ever. Not even when she sang about those very things on the Tara stage.

Well, she believed in them now.

"This seat taken?"

A deep voice made Shelby jump, almost knocking off her glasses, and she looked up, dying to see Cooper's amused smile.

But no.

The man who'd spoken was tall, lanky, and blond-with a smile that probably kept his phone blowing up with interested women-but he wasn't … Cooper.

Shelby forced a smile. "Actually-I'm waiting for someone."

Essentially, that was true, right? I mean, Cooper didn't actually know that, but still. She was waiting.

"Oh." Ken-doll's own smile faded, then amped back up. "Need some company while you wait?"

"Thanks, but I'm good." She shook her head. "Just going to enjoy the peace and quiet for a minute."

"Okay." He turned slowly, like he wasn't used to being rejected, and Shelby almost felt bad for denting his ego.

"Have a nice afternoon," she called as he walked away, but he just waved a hand at her without turning back around.

"Ouch." A deep voice to her right had her spinning toward it, and again her stomach tried to launch itself up her throat. "He did not take that well, but I kind of liked it."

She squinted, since the guy was backlit, but even in shadow, she knew this wasn't Cooper, either. Wrong voice, wrong build, wrong everything.

Dammit. She was in a city of over six hundred thousand people. Had she really thought she could just find a random park bench in the middle of this huge metropolis, and somehow, he'd find her?

The guy stuck out his hand. "Thanks for meeting me. I'm Ryan. You must be Gwen."

"Um, no. Sorry." She cringed, realizing the guy thought she was his blind date of some sort. "Wrong bench, I think."

"Oh-h. Seriously?"

"Dead serious."

"So … Tinder? Hot cocoa in the park? Not you?"

Shelby shook her head. "Definitely not me. Sorry."

"Huh." He looked out at the water, then back at her. "Well, what's your name?"

Seriously?

"Not Gwen."

Ryan put up both hands and stepped back. "Gotcha. Good talk."

And then he was gone, and Shelby looked around nervously. Maybe she'd made an epic mistake, coming out here by herself. She didn't really feel any sense of danger-there were people everywhere-but the chances of Cooper finding her had to be just about nil.

The chances of random guys hitting on her were currently two for two, however.

Then an unsettling thought occurred to her. Maybe this was known locally as some sort of hookup park. Maybe-she shifted uneasily-maybe this was some sort of hookup bench she was sitting on. Thus the guys.

Great.

She looked at the watch Daddy'd given to her on her fifteenth birthday, then frowned. She didn't have time to figure out another place to go, and hookup or no, this spot was gorgeous. She just needed to take a deep breath, get out her guitar, and pray that the right person would come by.

She had one hour.

He had one hour.

-

"Cooper, my feet are killing me." Phoebe grabbed his elbow as they left the third park he'd tried. "Can you please tell me why you're trying to cover the entire acreage of Boston in one hour?"

"Because I have to find Shelby before tonight, and this is the only way I know to do that."



       
         
       
        

"Why would she be in some random park in a city she doesn't know? Is that a-like-thing for her?"

"Yeah." He nodded, smiling as he thought about how her face had lit up when she'd talked about her father's impromptu concerts. "If anything's a thing for her, I'd bet my left pinky finger that this is a … thing."

Phoebe pulled out her phone, tapping on a map, then almost tripping as she tried to keep up with his long strides. "There are a freaking lot of parks in this city. Just saying."

"I know." Cooper sighed, slowing down so he didn't kill the poor girl. "That's the problem."

"We need a bigger search crew."

"Well, we don't have one."