“That’s why it’s all used or borrowed,” he answered, ignoring the niggling concern in the back of his mind. He’d called his mother first thing that morning about the J.T. person, but she’d never heard of him. His mother then called several friends, who’d reported the same.
This mystery was not going to be solved as quickly as he’d hoped.
“Okay, then. I’m ready if you are.” Lorelei drummed the seat like a two-year-old on a sugar high. “Let’s go.”
Cooper had noted Lorelei’s higher-than-usual level of enthusiasm as she’d flitted around Snow’s Curiosity Shop, the secondhand store that had served as his baby furniture supplier and happened to be where Lorelei sold her homemade desserts.
As he climbed behind the wheel, Cooper said, “You’re in a good mood today.”
Lorelei gave a noncommittal shrug. “It’s a good day.”
Cooper narrowed his eyes. “Spill,” he said.
Biting her lip, she looked torn. “If I tell you, Spencer might get mad.”
“Now I’m really curious. What’s so important that Spencer wouldn’t want me to know?”
“Oh, he wouldn’t be mad that you know,” she said. “He’d be mad that I told you instead of letting him tell you.”
The woman was talking in circles.
“Well then you’d better not—”
“We set a date!” she gushed, bouncing up and down in her seat. “We’re getting married in October. I’ve got a million things to plan, and it’s going to be insane trying to do it all in only six months, but I don’t care. We’re getting married and it’s going to be the most fabulous wedding ever!”
Of that, Cooper had no doubt. Lorelei did everything with flair and drama, and Spencer would doubtless smile and endure any off-the-wall idea she came up with. The two had been high school sweethearts before Lorelei’s West Coast detour, and the road back to their current status of sickeningly-in-love had been paved with numerous speed bumps and potholes.
If two people had ever deserved a happy ending it was Spencer and Lorelei.
“I’m happy for you,” Cooper said as the engine turned over. “And I’ll do my best to act surprised when he gets around to telling me.”
“I hope your acting skills are better than mine,” she laughed. “In my defense, we didn’t know I’d see you before he did.”
“And I didn’t know I’d be setting up a nursery for a girl I found in my storage building less than twenty-four hours ago. Life is full of surprises.” Pulling onto Main Street, Cooper said, “I appreciate you helping me out. Abby is working and there’s no way I could have done this on my own.”
Lorelei spun in her seat, giving Cooper a poke in the arm. “Has anyone told you lately how good a guy you are?”
“That seems to be coming up a lot lately,” he said, checking the side streets before pulling out of the four-way. “A lot of good it does me.”
“That doesn’t sound like the chipper Cooper that I know. Who put a dent in your fender, my friend? I’ll set her straight for you.”
Cooper had never made a habit of discussing his unrequited love for Haleigh Rae Mitchner, and he wasn’t about to start now.
“I appreciate a little hair-pulling cat fight as much as the next guy,” he said with a wink, “but you can put the claws away. These particular dents are nothing new.”
“She’s an idiot, if you ask me,” Lorelei said.
He glanced over to catch his passenger’s indignant expression as he asked, “Who’s an idiot?”
“Haleigh Rae. She delivered the baby last night, didn’t she?”
This conversation was quickly heading in a direction Cooper didn’t like. “Haleigh was the doc on call, sure. But how—”
“She’d be lucky to have you,” Lorelei interrupted. “Any girl would.”
“What makes you think I want Haleigh Rae?”
Lorelei lifted one brow. “That night at Brubaker’s last year when Spencer pretended that he’d seen Haleigh. You reacted as if he’d announced Henry Ford himself was standing behind you.”
“You read more into that than there was.”
“Oh, come on, Cooper. I’d have figured it out even if Spencer hadn’t told me.”
Fighting the urge to hunt Spencer down and sew his lips shut, he said, “How do you figure?”
“I caught you watching her at the hospital back when Carrie had Molly. The way you looked at Haleigh is how every girl wishes a guy would look at her. Like she’s the most beautiful, amazing woman on the planet.”