Lib Novel Page 29
Keenan sniffled, nodded.
“And he’s taken you a lot of places. You’ve had fun, and done a lot of new things.”
“I know.”
“You should be grateful for that, baby, instead of pouting because you can’t have more.”
She straightened again and hoped she could take her own advice.
Chapter 9
“You’re spending a lot of time around here.” Ben edged a hip onto the corner of Coop’s desk. All around Coop’s cubicle phones rang, keyboards clattered.
“So?” Without taking his eyes from the computer screen, Coop hammered out the draft of his weekly column.
“I just figured you had it made in that apartment of yours. I mean, great location.” He thought of Zoe. “Great view. You didn’t spend as much time in here when you lived downtown.”
“I needed a change of scene.”
“Yeah.” Ben snorted and picked up a baseball from Coop’s desk. “Trouble in paradise?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And I’ve got a column to write.”
“Pretty obvious the last few weeks that you’ve been stuck on the landlady.” He tossed the ball from one hand to the other. “I mean, when a man hauls a kid around, buys little baseball jerseys, it follows that he’s hooking a line into Mom.”
Coop’s eyes flashed up. “I like the kid, okay? I don’t have to use a four-year-old to get a woman. The kid’s cool.”
“Hey, I got nothing against rug rats. Might even have a few of my own one day. The thing is, when a woman’s got one, a man has to play Daddy if he wants the inside track.”
“Who says I have to play at anything to get a woman?”
“Not me. But it was you who couldn’t shoot hoop last week because you were taking the family to the aquarium.” Ben winked, set the ball down. “Still, I bet you scored better than I did.” Ben jerked back as Coop lunged for his throat.
“It’s not like that,” Coop said between his teeth.
“Hey, hey. Just yanking your chain. I wouldn’t have made any cracks if I’d known you were serious about her.”
Coop’s grip loosened. “I didn’t say I was serious. I said it wasn’t like that.”
“Whatever you say.”
Disgusted with himself, Coop dropped back in his chair. He and Ben had been riding each other about women for better than five years. No reason to overreact, he thought. Or to make a fool of himself. “Sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Forget it. What you need’s a distraction. You coming to the poker game tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Losing money should put you back on track.”
Something had to, Coop thought as he sat back alone in his cubicle to stare at his screen. For the past three days he’d slept little, eaten less and gone around in a constant state of flux.
Because he was avoiding the issue, he decided. Opting to bunt when he should be swinging away. The only solution to getting his life back in order was to face the problem head-on.
He flicked off his terminal.
***
The beautiful thing about an afternoon off, Zoe thought, was the solitude. No customers to talk to, no orders to fill. It meant she didn’t have to be salesclerk, or waitress, or Mom, or anything but Zoe.