Cooper took a deep breath, while Izzy managed a comforting smile. “Riley, she’s in surgery. I won’t lie to you—she’s critical, but the doctors here are the best at what they do,” Cooper said, staring at him so intently, it made Riley nervous.
“My letterman’s jacket is ruined,” Riley said. He’d gotten the jacket only a week ago, and it’d been his prized possession. He’d be getting the football letter for freshman football at the awards banquet at the end of the month. Only now he wouldn’t have anything to put it on.
It was weird the kind of meaningless crap that filled a guy’s mind at a time like this. He guessed that was how people coped at the worst of times.
“I’ll buy you a dozen more, Riley,” Cooper said, patting his shoulder. Izzy squeezed his hand.
They were acting like a—a family. Riley had never had a family before, and he was pretty sure he was going to embarrass himself and start crying again.
“Hey, buddy, we’ll get through this. Little by little. You’ve got us.”
Riley nodded, “How many—how many people died?” he choked out the words. Another one of those looks between Izzy and Uncle Coop.
“We don’t know yet, Ry.”
He nodded and gripped Izzy’s hand. Cooper sat next to him and put his arm around Riley’s shoulders, as if knowing somehow that Riley was going to lose it again. He did, only this time he didn’t feel so embarrassed. He knew they didn’t care if he cried.
“It’s okay, buddy. Let it out. You’ll feel better.” Cooper spoke quietly as Riley cried until there just weren’t any tears left to cry. He sniffled, while Izzy dabbed at his face with a hand towel, coddling him like he’d never been coddled even as a small boy. He liked it a lot, even though he was too old to be treated like that.
Uncle Cooper kept staring at him as if he had something to say. Riley met his gaze and waited, sniffling and hiccupping.
“We love you, Riley. We’ll get through this together. The three of us.”
Riley’s heart swelled in his chest to a point it was painful. “I’m not going to live with your parents?”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Cooper’s response was so definite that Riley almost smiled.
He glanced at Izzy who teared up again, but then so did Uncle Coop. “I love you, too, Uncle Coop. And you, Izzy.”
“You can call me Aunt Izzy.” She smiled at him, and her smile lit up an otherwise gloomy room.
Riley didn’t feel so alone anymore. For the first time in his life, he had people who cared for him and wanted the best for him.
Despite how much his world had been irrevocably changed today, he knew he’d make it with their love and support.
And through tragedy a small ray of hope warmed him inside.
Chapter 22—In the Net
The hospital was overrun by reporters and family members to the point that it took Izzy forty-five minutes to get lunch and bring it back to the room.
Tanner was there, as were Cedric, Brick, Rush, Coach Gorst, Lauren, and Ethan, all crowding around Riley’s bed. Riley managed to smile at some outrageous joke Brick was telling.
She glanced around the room. Cooper was conspicuously absent. Maybe he’d stepped out to use the bathroom. Yet fifteen minutes later, he hadn’t returned.
“Where’s Coop?” she asked, no one in particular.
“He said there was something important that he had to do. He’ll be back as soon as he can,” Riley answered.
Izzy couldn’t imagine Cooper leaving Riley at a time like this unless it was something so important and necessary he had to do it now.
Or lose his nerve.
There was only one thing she could think of, only she didn’t know where he’d go to confront the past which haunted him.
Thank God for the stalker app.
Izzy left the guys with Riley, promising to be back soon, and drove to the location indicated by the app. It was a run-down part of Seattle with old houses, many ready to be demolished by an urban reclamation project. Cooper’s SUV was parked in the overgrown driveway of a condemned house. The front lawn was a tangle of blackberry vines and tall weeds. A small path led up to a leaning front porch.
The door stood ajar.
Izzy gingerly mounted the front steps and peered inside the dark, boarded-up house.
Cooper stood in one corner, hands over his face, his body heaving as if he took deep breaths.
“Coop?” She picked her away across the room littered with beer cans, garbage, and other stuff she didn’t want to look too closely at.
He didn’t move, either not hearing her or expecting her. She touched his arm, and he stiffened, taking his hands away from his face and not meeting her gaze, but he didn’t tell her to leave either. If he hadn’t wanted her to find him, he’d have left his phone in Riley’s hospital room.
He needed her here, so he’d made himself easy to find.
Whatever had happened in this place was why he hated Seattle.
Cooper had been expecting Izzy. In fact, he was relieved she’d found him. He needed her right now as much as he’d needed her hours ago.
“Cooper, what are you doing here?” she asked, even though he suspected she had a damn good idea.
“Exorcising the past.” He stared at a corner in the room, but he wasn’t seeing it the same way she was, but as it had been. The trunk had sat in that corner. To this day, he would never have a trunk in his house.
Izzy moved closer to him, as if sensing his distress until she was so close to him, he could feel her body heat in this cold, oppressive house.
“This was your aunt and uncle’s house,” she said, answering the question he couldn’t bring himself to answer.
He nodded. “I’m glad it’s being torn down.” In fact, he’d personally pay to have it bulldozed if that was what it took.
“Why did you come here today of all days?”