could think about was cancer. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about Teddy or the fact that his mother had been noticeably absent most of his adult life.
“I’ve already had treatment, like I told you boys. I’m one of the lucky ones, if you can use that term with the word cancer. Right now I’m concentrating on being healthy and making up for lost time. Which brings me to tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow?” Cooper managed to ask.
She nodded. “Yes. Apparently it’s half-price Monday at the diner in town, and I’d like both of you to take me out for chowder. No more watching my waist or counting calories. From what I’ve heard, it’s the best chowder around.” With that, she pressed one last kiss onto both of them and headed for the stairs. She paused before taking the first one, though she didn’t turn around when she spoke.
“No one else in the family knows. I’d like to keep it that way. You know your Auntie Virginia. She’d be down here on the next plane, and then none of us would get any peace.”
Cooper watched his mother until she disappeared from sight. His stomach was tight, his nerves all shot to hell. He glanced at his brother. “I guess we gotta trust she’s not leaving anything out?”
Maverick sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “She seems good. Tired but good.”
Cooper nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
A heartbeat passed. “Okay.”
Cooper took his time getting to his truck. He started the damn thing and let it run a good ten minutes before heading out of town toward his place. When he got home, Stanley was whining to be let out, and once the dog was done doing his business Cooper let the bundle of fur follow him upstairs. The dog climbed onto his bed, and Cooper didn’t give a rat’s ass.
He lay in the dark for a very long time, staring up at a ceiling that had no answers for him. His mother was sick but okay. He’d kissed a woman he barely knew, and it was all he could think about. A woman with scars that could be seen and a lot that were hidden.
Just like Holly.
“Shit,” he murmured, slamming his eyes closed. He grabbed his pillow, punching it hard until it was just right. Holly Adams had nearly done him in.
It was a good thing, then, that Cooper wasn’t planning on getting involved with a woman like Holly. No way was he going there. He needed to put Morgan Campbell out of his mind and get some sleep.
He needed to finish his book and get the hell out of Fisherman’s Landing.
With a plan firmly in place, Cooper relaxed, but sleep was elusive and dawn was breaking when he eventually fell under its spell.
14
August 15, 1951
Thomas wants to go all the way, but I’m so confused. I mean, I love him and all. Every time we make out, I can barely contain all the feelings in me. It’s like they’re trying to punch holes through my skin, and I want to get as close to him as I can. Last night, I even let Thomas take off my shirt. Good. Lord. (I can tell you, journal, that I’m blushing as I write.) I let him take off my shirt and put his hands inside my bra, and then he undid it. Thomas took my bra off, and I let him. It felt so good when he touched me. But then I thought of what Mama says. About how boys only do those kinds of things with girls of a certain reputation, and I got scared.
I think Thomas was a little bit mad when I asked him to stop. It was hard for him. I could tell. His face was red, and he was all sweaty. And that little tic beside his mouth was beating a mile a minute, I swear. He drove me home from our special parking place, and he hasn’t called me today. I hope I didn’t screw things up, because I love him more than anything.
Maybe I should just let him do the things he wants to do? Will he think less of me? Why is being in love so hard?
V.P.
Why indeed, Morgan thought.
She closed the journal and tucked it back in the folder she kept in the top drawer of the desk she worked at. She pushed back on her chair and stood on stiff legs. She’d been up here for hours, and with the sun setting in the