could borrow?”
Arlo’s face screwed into a comic mask of what the fuck. “Um…I don’t think you know how grand gestures work.”
“No, it’s fine.” Drew shook his head dismissively at Arlo’s clear puzzlement. “They don’t always have to be a flash mob, Arlo. They just have to be personal. Something that has meaning to the other person.”
“Well thank you, Dr. Phil,” Arlo said derisively, “but when a guy says needle-nose pliers in relation to a woman, my handcuffs tend to get twitchy.”
Cole did laugh at that. For the first time since Jane had opened the door to him, he felt like all was not lost. Even if she did send him packing, he’d go knowing he’d left it all out on the field like the damn fine rugby player he was.
And let the cards fall where they may.
…
Jane was curled up in a stately wingback chair in the red sitting room with a hot cup of tea when she heard the front door open. She heard a male voice that must’ve been Wade’s, because it wasn’t Cole, but she didn’t have to see or hear him to know Cole was also in the house. She could sense him in her bones. It had been close to two hours since they’d left, and she’d pretty much cried for that entire time, with CC offering her both tea and sympathy in equal measure.
The last thing she’d expected to find in Credence, Colorado, was love. She sure as shit hadn’t been in the market for it.
But it had found her anyway.
And she’d thought about that a lot since Cole and Wade had left. She’d turned this whole shitty situation over and over in her head ad nauseam, starting with all the reasons she couldn’t be with Cole. He was from another country. She couldn’t just pick up her life—take her son out of America and away from his father and his grandparents. Tad would probably fight her in court over it, and she wouldn’t blame him. And then there was her business. She could run it remotely or install a manager, but she didn’t want to.
It was hers. She had built it up from nothing, and she loved it.
Then she’d moved on to how she could make it work with Cole. The compromises she could make, because goddamn it, she did love him, and did it make her such a terrible mom to want to be loved by someone? To have adult love in her life?
She could tell Cole she couldn’t go to Australia but she was willing to make a long-distance relationship work. They could travel back and forth. She could go there for a couple of weeks every three months. Maybe longer, if Tad stepped up like he’d indicated he was going to. And Cole could reciprocate.
That would be six times a year.
She could take Finn for a vacation to Australia—she didn’t think Tad would object to that—and they could stay for three or four weeks. Cole could have his vacation time in the states, too. So that took it to eight times a year, which could work out to be four or five months.
That was doable, right?
It would require a lot of juggling and meticulous planning, and even thinking about all those long-haul flights made her tired, but if they were committed? And everything went okay with the business and with Finn and Cole’s new job…
And if it didn’t?
She was back at square one with everything falling apart. With arguments and resentments flaring like spot fires as exhaustion exacerbated everything. And hurting Finn. She would be hurt as well, but Finn…? She couldn’t even bear the thought of what it might do to her little boy.
She glanced over to the doorway as she heard footsteps approaching. Cole’s footsteps. She slid out of the chair, sniffling as she dabbed at her nose with a tissue. God alone knew what she must look like. Her eyes felt gritty, the skin around them tight. They were probably all red, too, leaving little doubt to anyone but the legally blind that she’d been bawling.
He appeared suddenly, looking just as delicious as he had a couple of hours ago. His gaze travelled across the room, seeking hers, and she braced for his concern, but it didn’t quite reach her before it was distracted by the surroundings. Cole’s eyes flicked over to the drapes at the windows, then to the fireplace as his feet carried him into the room. As he got into the center, he looked