Page 93 of Broken Heart

Then I kept it together long enough to look inside the gift bag he’d also given me. I pulled off the tissue paper, revealed the contents of the bag, and felt something squeeze in my chest.

I looked up at Cooper and asked, “Did you make this?”

He nodded.

Reaching inside the bag, I pulled out the metal vase that contained three handmade metal roses. I pulled out one of the roses to inspect Cooper’s flawless work and said, “These are beautiful.”

“There’s one for each of them,” he explained. “Your mom, dad, and grandmother. I remembered you telling me a few months ago how you hated when your flowers your dad would give you would die. Just as the memories you have with them live on your heart and mind always, now you’ll have flowers that can do the same. These flowers will never die, just like the love you have for your family.”

I didn’t stand a chance. This gift meant everything to me, and holding back the tears was no longer an option.

Cooper held me in his arms, hushing me and murmuring reassuring words. I was utterly overwhelmed by the love he had for me and the ways he continued to show me how we could have such different opinions on things like favorite colors or seasons, or even differences in our demeanor and the way we handled situations, but deep down where it really mattered, our values were very much the same.

Everything he’d done for me since the day I met him had involved him going that extra mile for me. I loved him so much for it.

And the day wasn’t done yet, even if I had not a clue where the day would take us.

The only information I’d gotten from him was that he’d made plans for my birthday, and he wanted me to make sure I gave myself the day off.

So, that’s exactly what I did.

Cooper spent the night last night and woke me up with his mouth between my legs this morning. Following a long lovemaking session, we cuddled and fell back asleep. And when we woke again a bit later, he cooked breakfast for us.

We had a slow and lazy morning with one another, and it was delightful.

But at some point, Cooper told me I had to get myself ready, because he was taking me out for the rest of the day, and it was starting with lunch.

Or perhaps the celebration was starting before lunch. Because Cooper was still kissing me, and I was just grateful he had his arm wrapped around my waist. I was dizzy with the scent of him around me and the taste of him on my tongue.

I was convinced we might have kept ourselves there all afternoon, completely content, if it hadn’t been for the fact that Cooper’s phone rang.

He groaned his frustration at having to tear his mouth from mine and reached his hand into his pocket to pull out his phone. “It’s my mom,” he said.

“Answer it,” I urged him.

“Hi, Mom.”

I had no choice but to watch and listen to Cooper as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and held me close to his body.

After a brief pause, he said, “Can it wait until tomorrow? I was just getting ready to take Skye out for her birthday.”

Silence again while his mom responded.

“Yeah, we are going out to dinner tonight, but I had some things planned for this afternoon, too. We were just about to leave her place to grab some lunch,” he explained. “Have you called Liam? He should be able to fix it, and it shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes or so.”

There was another pause. From what I could gather, his parents needed something fixed, and since Cooper was the handy one of the bunch, they were calling him. But from what I knew, Liam was just as capable of handling most things that Cooper could.

“He’s sick? What’s wrong with him?”

Evidently, Liam wasn’t going to be able to help them out.

Cooper sighed, clearly frustrated. Whatever they needed done didn’t seem like a big deal.

“We can stop there on the way,” I whispered.

“Wait. Wait, Mom. Hang on a second,” he declared, turning his attention to me. “What did you say?”

“If your parents need help with fixing something and it’s only going to take twenty minutes, we can just stop over there before lunch,” I suggested.