My One and Only(87)

“I love you, too, Cooper.”

In all his days, he would never get tired of hearing that.

“Oh,” he said around the bite of Cheerios in his mouth. “Hold on.” Swallowing the cereal, he said, “This is a weird question, but do you think Jessi looks anything like Becky Winkle?”

Haleigh frowned. “I’m not sure. Why?”

Cooper shook his head. “Lorelei said she looks like Becky did in high school and made the comment that they could be long-lost cousins.”

The implication wasn’t lost on Haleigh. “Jebediah could be the J in J.T.”

“I highly doubt it. Winkle is a self-righteous jerk, but I can’t imagine him crossing the line into infidelity. Lorelei says he has a brother, but thinks his name is Samuel.”

“Well, crap,” she muttered. “I thought we had a clue there for a minute.” Running a finger around the rim of her mug, she said, “Whoever her father is, he either lied about his name or he never lived here.”

Sitting down at the table, Cooper said, “I really wanted to help her find this guy. At least her coming here wasn’t a complete bust. She might not have found her father, but she found Ian. He talks about her constantly at work.”

“She’s also found a job,” Haleigh informed him. “Started at the bookstore yesterday. Your mom got her boyfriend to give her part-time work. Against my medical advice, I might add. She needs to wait two more weeks, but she was so excited I didn’t put up too much of a fuss. Though I did insist on no lifting anything over ten pounds. Not even that if she can avoid it.”

He’d stopped listening at the word boyfriend. “Do we have to call him Mom’s boyfriend? Really?”

Stealing a Cheerio, she said, “That’s what he is. You might as well get used to it.”

Cooper didn’t want to get used to anything where his mom and Bruce Clemens were concerned. “Who’s watching Emma?”

“Linda. I think she got Jessi the job with the sole purpose of having Emma all to herself several hours a week.” Haleigh unfolded out of her chair. “In spite of this coffee, I’m struggling to keep my eyes open.” She placed a kiss on his cheek and said, “Have a good day. I’m off to la-la land.”

“Sweet dreams,” he said, watching her walk away. She gave a wave before disappearing up the stairs, leaving Cooper alone with his soggy breakfast. He considered following her. What was the point of being your own boss if you couldn’t play hooky whenever you wanted?

Then again, she wouldn’t get that much-needed sleep if he stayed home. Carrying the bowl to the sink, he dumped what was left down the disposal. At least now he had an excuse to stop for doughnuts on the way to the garage.



By Friday afternoon, Haleigh had reached new levels of exhaustion, stress, and guilt. Thanks to their crossed schedules, she hadn’t seen much of Cooper since Tuesday morning. He’d offered two more times over text to be there when she told her mother the money was going away for real. Since she had yet to even mention Cooper’s name to her mom in any context other than as her best friend’s brother, explaining why he was tagging along for such an important conversation would be a bit complicated.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell. Haleigh simply hadn’t found the right moment to say, “Oh, by the way, I’m in love with the town mechanic and I’m probably going to marry him, can you pass the butter?” Maybe she could enlighten her mother after the fact. When it was too late for her shrewish ways to chase Cooper off.

And so the guilt mounted. Her inexcusable cowardice reeked of shame, but Haleigh pushed that thought aside. She was not ashamed of Cooper or what he did for a living. She’d love him no matter what profession he chose. Her mother’s prejudice was the problem. Heck, her own daughter had become a doctor and that rarely impressed the snobby woman. Expecting her to graciously accept a son-in-law with grease-stained hands was like asking a politician to take a lie-detector test.

Neither scenario would end with positive results.

Speaking of politicians, Haleigh checked her phone for the third time since arriving at the steps to city hall. Her mother had lined up a meeting with the mayor for two o’clock. As instructed, Haleigh had arrived promptly at one forty-five, professionally dressed, shelter plans in hand, and ready to let the elder Mitchner do the talking.

Oddly, the elder Mitchner had yet to arrive. Confused and concerned, Haleigh took a seat on a bench near the building entrance.

“Don’t slouch like that once we get inside,” her mother said, sneaking up behind her like the evil ninja that she was. “Do you have the file?” Haleigh waved the manila folder in the air. “Good. We won’t show him, of course, but it’s good to have the documents with us.”