Make Me Yours (Bellamy Creek #2) - Melanie Harlow Page 0,74
grabbed my garment bag and roller suitcase, and took a last look at the room I’d always think of as ours.
“We’ll come back sometime,” I whispered, a promise to myself. “Together.”
I took the elevator down to the lobby—the memory of Cole’s kiss in there making my stomach cartwheel—and spotted my mother at the desk. As I was making my way over there, I heard Mariah calling my name.
“Miss Cheyenne!” she cried, running toward me and throwing her arms around my waist. She was all bundled up already. “Are you leaving now too?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing as I nearly lost my balance.
“I don’t want to go home. I love it here.” She pouted, looking around the lobby.
“Me too,” I said. “I was just thinking a minute ago that I already want to come back.”
“Yes! And next time, let’s come in the summer so we can ride the horses!”
“Sounds good to me,” I told her.
Cole appeared over her shoulder, wearing his winter gear. He’d clearly been outside already, because his nose and cheeks were pink. “Hey.”
“Hi,” I said, knowing my cheeks were flushed with pink now too.
“Car’s out front, Mariah. I already loaded it and we’re taking up a spot, so let’s get Grandma and hurry.” Cole pulled off his gloves and hat. “She’s over there by the door. Can you help her with her bags?”
“Okay.” Mariah gave me one last squeeze. “Bye, Miss Cheyenne.”
“Bye, honey.” I patted her puffy jacket.
She took off running toward her grandmother, and I stood face to face with Cole. “Cold out there?”
“Yeah.” He glanced outside and spoke quietly. “I wish I didn’t know anyone in this lobby.”
I smiled. “What would you do?”
He met my eyes. “I’d kiss you.”
“I’d like that.”
“Someday,” he said, giving me that lopsided grin I loved. “Anyway, I better get a move on. Drive safe.”
“I will.”
He tugged his gloves on as he walked away, and my breath hitched.
The ring was back on his finger.
Seventeen
Cole
I was behind the wheel, my eyes on the road, my mind lost in memories of Cheyenne, when my mother’s voice suddenly registered.
“Huh?” I straightened up in the driver’s seat and took another sip of my coffee.
“Cole Mitchell, have you heard a word I said?”
“Which word? You’ve said about a million of them since we left Cloverleigh Farms.”
“Very funny. I was just saying how pretty the centerpieces were. Didn’t you think so?”
“Sure.” Truthfully, I couldn’t even recall them.
“And the food was so good.”
“Yeah.” Had I eaten it? The only thing I remembered tasting last night had not been on the table.
“I think Mariah ate three pieces of cake.” My mother laughed, glancing into the back seat, where Mariah had fallen asleep. “She was on a sugar high for hours after that. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get her into bed!”
I sipped my coffee again, feeling a little guilty that my mother had been left to deal with my daughter while I’d gone to Cheyenne’s room for an all-night fuck fling. “Thanks for watching her.”
“Oh, my pleasure.” She sighed again. “Such a wonderful night. Did you enjoy yourself?”
“Yes.”
“Cheyenne looked beautiful, didn’t she?”
I swallowed more coffee. “Yes.”
“Darlene said she’s not seeing anyone.”
She saw a hell of a lot of me last night, I thought. “No, I don’t think she is.”
“You two looked very sweet on the dance floor together.”
“Mm.”
“And I was thinking, maybe you might, you know, enjoy each other’s company.”
“Maybe.” I hid my smile behind my cup. We had definitely enjoyed each other’s company last night. In many positions.
“Look, I know it’s none of my business and you don’t like being told what to do, but I just want to say one thing.”
“Okay.”
“When I was pregnant with you, I was scared.”
“Huh. That’s not where I thought you were heading at all. Are you worried I’m pregnant?”
“Don’t be a smartass. I was scared, because I worried I didn’t have enough love for two kids. I worried about loving Greg less once you came along.”
“Are you finally admitting I’m your favorite?”
“But then I learned something,” she went on, ignoring me. “When you have a second child, you don’t love the first any less. You make more room in your heart.”
I snorted. “Did you read that on a fortune cookie?”
She exhaled sharply. “You’re so exasperating. My point is that you might think falling in love again isn’t possible, but it is. You’ve got a big heart, Cole. There’s room.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Lightning can strike the same place twice, if you let it,” she went on. “But you can’t be afraid.”