Something So Right(39)

“James, good to see you. Babe, let’s go swim, yeah?”

I’m in a daze. Why is he here? He never ever comes to these things. Actually, him coming to one before was like pulling teeth. He usually came up with excuses to never come to anything.

“Parker,” Cooper says, snapping me back to reality. “It’s fine.”

“What is he doing here?” I whisper. “He was never here, now he’s here all the time.”

“It’s all good, he’s here for Matthew. Let him have this.”

I scoff at him, rolling my eyes.

Meghan finally sits down on the side of the pool, putting her feet in the water, holding out a drink for me. “I think you need a double, but I didn’t know before I came outside.”

“I think I need a triple, not just a double,” I say, swallowing down half of my martini in one gulp.

“Babe, we have plans later, yeah? So go easy.”

“Oh, plans, is that what we are calling it?” Meghan asks, sipping her own martini. “I just had plans upstairs. Five minutes long. Tom was proving a point because your woman called him a two-minute man.”

Cooper just shakes his head, not even trying to get her brand of crazy. He simply accepts it.

“I see your plans made a mess of your hair, by the way. Looks like it was pulled and yanked.” I throw at her.

“Oh, that’s because it was. My plan was very aggressive this time. There was even a smack.”

That is the line that makes Cooper choke on his sip of beer.

“I can’t do this.” He leans down, making sure to kiss me before stepping out of the pool.

“Oh wait, don’t leave yet, Cooper. I was just going to tell you about my plans later tonight. I plan on making lots of plans.”

I splash water at her face, but she doesn’t even notice because she is now belly rolling laughing, making me see that everything is going to be okay.

When I finally make my way out of the pool, way before Allison is ready, I spot James sitting next to my bag. “It’s nice of you to come for Matthew,” I say, trying to not make a big deal out of it. “It was a big day for him. I know he is going to enjoy you coming out for him.” I wrap myself up in the towel before sitting by his side on another wicker chair.

“We had it good, didn’t we?” James looks over at me, smiling.

“Yes, we did, but if I’m honest, I don’t think we would have survived the forever.” I don’t know why I’m saying this.

“What do you mean?” he asks, his eyebrows pulling together.

“I mean, we loved each other, but we were not in love with each other anymore. I think it was all just routine. Us staying together was the right thing to do, but it wasn’t because we needed to, it was because we just didn’t know how to walk away.”

“This is about Cooper, isn’t it?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know if it is or if it isn’t, but what I do know is that with him it’s different. I don’t have to be scared he is going to get pissed off about something, because he’s just accepting to things.”

“What if I said I made a mistake?” he asks, looking straight in my eyes.

“I’d say that if you had asked me four months ago, I would have said that I don’t know what I would have said, but we are here now. So did you make a mistake? Fuck yeah, you did. You broke my heart, you ruined my life at the time. You made me doubt myself. You made me doubt everything that we created,” I say, taking in a deep breath. “But it also made me see that if you really wanted me you would have fought for me. You would have told me shit was going bad. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

“You’re right. I wasn’t happy, but you, you were the best thing to happen to me. Those kids are the reason for me to wake up every morning. I just lost my way.” He leans forward to hold my hands.

“You did lose your way, but I found my way. I’m happy, so very happy. I have my life, I have the kids, and now I have Cooper. I have to say I wasn’t expecting it, I wasn’t waiting for it, but it showed up and knocked me on my ass.”

“I think I’m just going to tell Matthew goodbye and catch up another time.” He gets up. “I’m hoping we could talk more.” He kisses my forehead. “I miss you, I miss us.”

And just like that he is gone, saying goodbye to everyone before stopping to kiss Matthew and Allison.

“Babe,” Cooper calls, sitting where James had been a moment earlier.

“I’m happy.” I look at him, smiling, hoping he gets what I’m saying.

“Good to know. I’m happy, too.” He tugs my hands till I’m sitting in his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck, kissing him through my smile. “We are both happy.”