The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River #3)

“Thank God,” Leo said. “We’re having some trouble here.”


“No we’re not,” Emma said quickly. “It’s just that the curb is higher than normal.”

“You have to save me, Cooper,” Leo said. “She just threatened to dump me in the river.”

Emma gasped and gaped wide-eyed with mortification at Cooper. “I was kidding!” she cried, but Cooper looked dubious. “I was kidding,” she said again. “Leo knows that.”

“Maybe I do and maybe I don’t. I’ll let you know what I believe when I am safely on the sidewalk.”

“Here, let me,” Cooper said. He stepped in between Emma and the chair, grabbed the handles of Leo’s chair, easily tipped him back and put his front wheels on the curb, and then the back wheels. “There you go,” he said to Leo. “I think it’s probably a straight shot from here. Want me to push you home?”

“I’ve got it,” Emma said, and elbowed her way in front of Cooper, shoving against his hard chest. He budged only a little.

“You okay, Leo?” Cooper asked again, unwilling to move until he heard from the horse’s ass.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Leo said. “I guess I freaked out a little when this delicate little flower couldn’t get me up here. And she hasn’t eaten, so I am expecting her to faint at any moment.”

“Why haven’t you eaten?” Cooper asked, frowning at her.

“I ah . . . haven’t had time,” she said crisply. “But I’m fine. I’m not even hungry.” She hoped he couldn’t hear the rumbling in her stomach.

“Maybe you could take her to dinner,” Leo said. “We could postpone our—”

“Thanks, Leo, but I have plans!” Emma said.

Cooper smiled slowly and easily at her fluster. His gaze wandered down her body, causing her starved belly to tingle even more. “That’s okay,” he said. “I’ve got plenty of time. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”

“I don’t think so,” Emma snorted.

“We’ll see,” Cooper said, and leaned around her to put his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“Could not be better!” Leo said. “You have made my day, Cooper Jessup. I’m so stoked you came into town.”

“Okay, all right,” Emma said, pushing against Cooper and leaning into the chair to get it moving. “We need to go.”

“I’ll see you tonight, Leo,” Cooper said, and then caught Emma’s arm, forcing her to stop and look at him. “I’ll see you later, too,” he said, his voice annoyingly and knee-bendingly stern.

“That’s great,” Leo said. “We were just talking about how Em’s going to try and get out more. You know, socialize with people. I can’t be her sun and her moon, you know what I’m saying?”

Cooper chuckled.

“He’s not funny,” Emma said. “Don’t laugh at him. And don’t get some idea that we’re going to be friends, because we’re not, Cooper. Not now, not ever.”

“Ouch,” Cooper said with a funny little smile.

“Leo and I really need to go.”

“No we don’t,” Leo said.

“We’ll see about the friend thing, Em,” Cooper said with a wink, and leaned around her, giving Leo’s chair a push to get it started.

Emma gave the chair another heave and began to move Leo along as quickly as she could.

“Thanks, Cooper!” Leo called out.

“Welcome!” Cooper called back.

She wasn’t going to look back. She was not going to look back.

Damn it, she looked back.

Cooper was standing on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, watching her. Expressionless. Virile. Kryptonite.

“Total hottie,” Leo said, wheezing a little.

“Oh my God,” Emma said. “Are you serious right now?”

“Well, he is. Way to draw him in, Em! I mean, if you get any warmer and fuzzier, we might have to call a fire truck. You want my advice?”

“No.”

“My advice is to be nice to him. It’s no skin off your nose. Who knows, he might even feed you.”

“I can feed myself,” Emma muttered.

But Leo was right. She could be abrupt, especially when she was flustered. She’d never been a sweet girl, that was for sure. Nothing but brass tacks and nails coming out of that mouth, her mother used to say. Even as a little girl, Emma had understood she wasn’t considered to be a nice girl, like Laura or Libby. If she could have figured out how to change that about herself, to become personable, she would have done it in a heartbeat. It sure would have saved her a lot of agony through the years. Unfortunately, having a way with words always seemed to elude her, like it had just now, with Cooper.

But then again, what was the nice way to tell someone to get lost?

Emma knew Leo was hurting when she wheeled him into the little house on Elm Street. He wasn’t hungry, either, which seemed to bother Bob more than usual. “What’s happened to your appetite, Son?” he demanded, as if Leo had eaten a jar full of cookies.