From there I’ll run to my car.
From there I’ll run to Goodnight House and pack up my shit that’s left in the hallway.
From there I’ll run to the airport, and from there I’ll run some more.
Chapter 8
Pancakes will cure anything…
Coop
I watch Eden run out the door of Tilley’s and then whip around to Ashley. She’s practically beaming with pride, her chest all puffed out as she winks at me.
“That was not fucking cool,” I growl at her, and the smile slides off her face.
“Come on, Coop,” Ashley says in a small voice. “Don’t be that way with me. You know what she—”
“That was completely uncalled for,” I snap at her. “You need to grow the fuck up, Ash.”
“But, baby,” she whines, and it makes my skin crawl. I ignore her and turn for the door, letting my long legs eat up the distance between Eden and me.
As soon as I exit Tilley’s, I see her across the street getting into her rental car.
“Eden,” I call out to her.
Her head whips my way, and because it’s still light out, I can clearly see the tears in her eyes. It makes my chest constrict painfully, but she doesn’t even stop. She jumps into the car, turns it on, and jets out of her parking spot.
“Christ,” I mutter, and turn in the opposite direction, running for my truck, which is parked two blocks down.
I cannot believe fucking Ashley said that shit to Eden. I get she’s jealous, and I get that a lot of people in this town feel like Eden’s a rotten person, but, Jesus…let it the fuck go. I know I have, and any hard feelings I’ve got for her stem from the failure of our relationship, not from the person she’s grown into.
In fact, I feel sort of sad that she is the way she is, because while Ashley may have been rude, she was very much right about Eden. Everyone in this town has seen it firsthand, and no one can deny she’s self-centered and selfish.
Which makes me wonder why in the fuck I’m even chasing her back to Goodnight House. I could have stayed at Tilley’s, gotten drunk with Clay, and then fucked Ashley afterward. It would have been a typical Friday night for me.
The trip from town center in Newberry to Goodnight House takes less than ten minutes, and because I’m driving like a bat out of hell, I can see Eden’s brake lights come on in front of the house just as I’m turning into the driveway. By the time I pull my truck to a stop behind her car and jump out, she’s unlocking the front door.
I’m completely surprised when she spares the time to look over her shoulder at me as she’s entering the house and yells, “Just stay the hell away from me, Coop. I’m packing up and I’ll be out of here soon.”
She runs into the house.
“Goddamn it,” I curse under my breath, and run after her. The thought of her leaving is not setting well with me and I have no fucking clue why, but I go with my instincts and hunt her down.
She’s flying up the staircase as I hit the front door, and I take the stairs two at a time.
When she gets to the top and turns to the right for the master suite, she comes to a complete and sudden halt.
So sudden I can’t quite stop in time and I barrel into her. My arms go around her waist as I push her forward, keeping her from flying into the wall. Eden grunts as if I knocked the wind out of her, but then immediately shakes herself out of my hold. I let her go but she doesn’t move.
She just stares at the hall floor before finally mumbling, “What did you do? Did you throw the rest of my clothes out the window too?”
The hall floor is completely bare and cleaned up, and I could understand given our joint tantrums today why she’d think I’d throw her clothes out the window. Instead, I take her by the elbow and guide her into the master suite. I let her go when we reach the middle of the room, but continue walking to the closet. I open the door, sweep my hand to it, and watch as her gaze drifts that way.
Her eyes widen as she surveys all of her clothes hung neatly in the closet. She whirls around and sees the rose-colored comforter with cream flowers on the bed.
She whips back to face me and I almost laugh at the look of genuine confusion on her face, but sadly, this really isn’t all that funny. “I don’t understand.”
“You can have the master suite,” I tell her. “I decided to be an adult. This was your house long before it was mine.”
Eden shakes her head. “No, it’s okay. You should have stayed in here.”
Well, aren’t we playing nice together? “No, I insist.”
“I’m leaving, Coop,” she says firmly, and marches past me to the closet and pulls out her large suitcase. “This was stupid to come here.”
“Don’t,” I say as I easily pull the suitcase away from her. “You’re upset. Stay the night at least, and if you want to leave tomorrow you can.”
I can tell she’s conflicted. She doesn’t grab the suitcase, but she doesn’t accept my offer either. Her spine stays stiff and her eyes are guarded.
Eden’s voice is so very small, something I’ve never heard from her before, when she says, “I don’t get it. Why does everyone hate me? Because I left Newberry and didn’t come back?”
My body jerks a little over the na?veté of Eden’s question. Surely she can understand people’s feelings. “Eden…after what you did…people are still pissed about that. I don’t think that’s going to be easily forgiven.”
“What I did?” she cries out in pure confusion, throwing her arms wide in exasperation. “I left Newberry. I became a famous actress. Why is that a crime?”
“Eden—”
“Or is it because we broke up?” she asks in a voice so serious I know she thinks that’s really a possibility. “Is the town mad at me because our relationship failed?”
“Eden—”
“Because if so,” she says in a rush, anger tinging her voice, “that’s fucked up. You and I ended things mutually.”
“I know,” I agree. “But—”
“Then what the hell did I supposedly do?” she pleads.
And I get angry too over her refusal to accept responsibility for her selfishness.
“Because of what you did after the fire,” I snap at her.
Eden jerks backward and she blinks at me slowly. Her head tilts slightly and her tone is cautious. “The fire that killed your dad?”
I roll my eyes. “That’s the one.”
“But I didn’t even know,” she says quietly, her brows furrowed deep. “Not until Missy told me this afternoon.”
“Now that’s not true, Eden,” I admonish her, but not too harshly. There’s something about her complete confusion that’s throwing me off a little. She either clearly has forgotten what happened, she didn’t know, which seems impossible to me, or she’s just that damn good of an actress.