Page 19 of Broken Heart

People can be taught what to do. It’s the will to work or learn that you can’t teach.

Agreed.

When he didn’t respond, I took a moment to think about how he’d taken the time to reach out to me three separate times now. The least I could do was return the courtesy to him and ask a question.

So, even though I don’t know exactly what you do, would you say you had a good day at work, too?

COOPER

I’ll be happy to share more information about it on Thursday at dinner. For now, I’ll say that it wasn’t steady for me. It was hectic. It is often hectic and very busy.

I should have let it go there.

I didn’t.

Would I be right to assume you work at Westwood’s?

COOPER

Yep.

Every response Cooper gave came in with almost no delay. Clearly, he was attentive and liked to put his focus on whatever it was he was doing. For now, that meant talking to me. I couldn’t know for sure if that was how he was in every other area of his life, but if he was, I thought it was a wonderful trait to have, especially in a world where people could get distracted so easily.

And it was that thought which pushed me to send him one more text.

I’m looking forward to hearing more about it when I see you later this week.

COOPER

And I’m looking forward to just seeing you.

There it was again.

Cooper seemed to have no problem saying things to me that made me believe there was something else happening beneath the surface for him. He’d come right out and stated he was merely attempting to help me in my situation with Simon and Maria and make it so I didn’t need to lose one more thing by not being able to attend the charity benefit alone when they’d both undoubtedly be there. But his actions now, along with some of the things he said to me, made me believe there was something more there for him. I was much too scared to ask him what it was.

And for the next several days, that was all I could seem to think about whenever I had moments of downtime. If I wasn’t busy helping a customer, training my new employee, or handling some other work-related tasks, my thoughts seemed to be constantly focused on Cooper.

There was both good and bad in what I was experiencing.

Because on the one hand, the conversations we’d had on Saturday when he was in my store and during every moment after that had me growing just a bit more comfortable with him. I had a feeling that these interactions would help me feel more at ease when we were finally face-to-face again at the restaurant later in the week.

Of course, hearing from him had led to me thinking more and more about him and less and less about Simon, Maria, and how badly they’d hurt me.

On the other hand, the constant communication from Cooper wasn’t exactly ideal. Because even if I appreciated how he’d inadvertently taken away all of the focus that had been on people who didn’t need to be taking up space in my thoughts, I wound up thinking about him.

I thought about how handsome he was. I thought about his hardworking nature, the way he stepped into the conversation with Maria for me, and the fact that he listened to things I said.

Mostly, I found myself unable to think about much beyond how much anticipation and, dare I admit it, excitement I felt about seeing him again.

Now, the day had arrived.

I hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, but I didn’t feel the exhaustion I would have normally felt after a full day at work.

I’d come home this afternoon and attempted to calm my nerves a bit by doing things to prepare for dinner with him. I made myself a small snack in hopes it would not only tide me over, but also settle my stomach. Afterward, I picked out a dress to wear, since that was going to be unavoidable given where we were having dinner, and I took a nice long bath.

Then I took my time doing my hair and makeup before slipping into my dress and shoes. And before I knew it, I was heading out the door to meet Cooper at Savor.

If I’d had any success in alleviating any of the nerves while I was at home, they returned with a vengeance as soon as I was in my car. And the closer and closer I got to the restaurant, the worse they became. It was a wonder how I’d made it there without throwing up all over myself.