For now Cooper happened to be a substitute single father, something he’d never dreamed of being. He had no idea what to do with a thirteen-year-old boy, especially when he went on road trips.
Maybe Izzy could help. She mother-henned three younger sisters, while Cooper struggled to take care of just himself.
Besides, he was new to town, and she’d lived here all her life. She’d help him if he asked.
He started to call her and stopped. It was really late. Tomorrow would be soon enough.
Tonight he was tired. Bone-dead tired. He stripped off his clothes and crawled between the cool, soft sheets, feeling very alone and out of his element. He liked kids, but he’d never dealt with a kid he couldn’t send home at the end of the day. He’d never been solely responsible for a kid, even temporarily. He swooped in, made kids happy for an hour or so, and swooped back out, like Superman saving the day.
He didn’t think it’d be that easy to save his nephew’s day, and he doubted he was up to the task. He’d let Riley’s mother down all those years ago, and he didn’t trust himself to know what was best for her son.
His life revolved around hockey. He lived, breathed, and slept hockey. He didn’t have time for a kid.
His eyes snapped open and refused to close. Cooper stared at the ceiling. He flipped through all his concerns, looping back to Izzy over and over again.
Riley needed clothes; Izzy could help with that, and Cyrus would need to work on a temporary custody arrangement. Izzy could likely advise him on that. And he needed someone to care for Riley until he worked out other arrangements. Izzy could find someone.
There was one problem with this picture. Izzy didn’t want anything to do with him, and Cooper wanted everything to do with her.
Beautiful Izzy. Sassy Izzy. Classy Izzy.
He wasn’t beyond using a missing sister and a sad teenage boy to help him get Izzy back.
He’d messed up, and now he needed her more than ever, and he wasn’t sure how to approach her other than to tell her the truth.
He missed her.
Chapter 5—Opportunity Knocks
Izzy worked days as a barista, since her business didn’t make enough to pay the bills. It was midmorning, the early crowd long gone, and the place deserted.
She frowned at her phone as it played a ringtone she hadn’t heard in almost a month and one she should’ve deleted—both the ringtone and the phone number. The ringtone was one of To the Max’s hits—her parents’ band—titled “Heart and Soul”, and so not a song she should be tagging as Cooper’s ringtone, or any man’s for that matter.
She silenced the phone and ignored it, laying it on the counter. A second later it pinged, informing her of a voicemail. A few seconds after that, a text message came through.
Izzy rubbed her hands over her face and groaned. Don’t look, she warned herself. Just don’t look. She walked away from the phone and wiped down tables. The damn thing chirped again announcing another text message.
Dammit.
Izzy crossed the room, picked up the phone, and punched the Message button:
Izzy, call me please. It’s important.
Izzy, I need your help. Please call me.
Cooper needed her help? Hard to imagine Cooper needing anyone but himself.
A glutton for punishment, she played the voicemail: Izzy, please call me. I’m in a bind, and you’re the only person I can think of who can help me.
She sincerely doubted that. Money bought a lot of things, and Cooper had plenty of money. Whatever he needed, he could pay for it.
She hesitated.
Money.
Her twin sisters’ tuition was due in a few days, and funds were low. Too low. Dropping out wasn’t an option. She’d made that mistake, she’d be damned if they would. She’d hoped the Party Crashers would be bringing in more income by now, but the summer wedding business had ground to a halt and the fall parties hadn’t quite kicked in yet. Even worse, the big job they’d done last week hadn’t gone as planned, and the client, a big-time asshole attorney refused to pay. She’d put out a lot of money for that job banking on a big payout and gambled wrong.
If Cooper really needed her help, it’d cost him. These days nothing came for free, not when they were barely surviving day to day, and tuition was due.
With an annoyingly shaky hand, she called Cooper’s number. He answered on the first ring, breathing hard and sounding anxious.
“Where are you?” she said.
“On the ice.” Izzy stifled a laugh at the thought of Cooper Black racing around the ice while talking on his cell.
“I can only assume your coach isn’t there.”
“You assume right. Our player agreement doesn’t allow us to use the team facility until training camp starts. I’m at a private rink.”
“I’m at work, too, so let’s dispense with small talk. What’s so important you had to spam me with voicemails and texts?”
“One voicemail and two texts are hardly spamming.”
“Cooper,” she said in that voice which said way too much. Remember? We’re through. You and me. No more. Why are you bothering me?
“Izzy, please, hear me out.”
She blew out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, what is it?”
“Just a minute.”
She heard clattering and doors closing.
“Okay, I had to go somewhere private.” He paused and cleared his throat. “I have a nephew.”
“I’m happy for you, but what does that have to do with me?”
“He’s fourteen, showed up on my doorstep last night. He doesn’t say much other than he’s looking for his mother, my sister, who I haven’t seen since before he was born. I didn’t even know about him. He came to me because his mother is missing.”
She hardened her heart to Cooper’s sad story. No way would she let him suck her back into his life. Izzy kept her silence, waiting for him to continue.