last, she didn’t know, but at least if her MS took a sharp downward turn, she would find comfort in knowing Caitlin would have a father and a new aunt Melody to watch over her, along with Olivia.
“Anyway, Olivia can help me.”
“I would love to,” Olivia said, “but I’ll be going back to Seattle soon.”
“Not that soon.”
Olivia forced a smile that Juliet realized was not genuine. How did she feel about this new revelation? There had been a few times within the past two weeks when she had wondered if there was something going on between Cooper and Olivia. She had hoped so, anyway. How would knowing Cooper was Caitlin’s father impact Olivia?
“You’re doing well,” Olivia said. “Better than the doctors expected. If your plan is still to return to the garden center part-time this week, there’s no need for me to stay longer. Especially now that you have Melody to help you at work.”
Olivia didn’t look up after she spoke. If she had, she might have seen that Cooper and Caitlin both wore matching expressions of dismay at the news.
“I can help you, Mimi,” Caitlin said. “With the cooking or the garden center or whatever you need.”
Though Caitlin still looked upset about Olivia leaving, overall Juliet thought there was a lightness about her she hadn’t seen in weeks.
“Thank you, honey.”
Cooper rose. “Speaking of Melody, I should go tell her the news that she has a new niece and that her boys’ babysitter all these years has really been their cousin.”
“That’s right! I have new cousins! How cool is that?” Caitlin looked both astonished and pleased.
He reached down to kiss Juliet on the cheek. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. “If I could have chosen anyone in Natalie’s life to be my granddaughter’s father, you would have been at the top of the list,” she said quietly.
They were words she had to say, for his sake as much as her own.
He looked humbled and she thought she saw suspicious moisture in his eyes. “Thank you for saying that.”
“It’s the truth. You’ve always felt a little like a son to me. Now you truly are.”
He gave her a ragged-looking smile, hugged her again, then turned to hug Caitlin, too.
“I’ll see you later, Chief Vance.”
“You can call me Cooper for now,” he said.
“Okay. Bye, Cooper.”
And then he turned to Olivia and the stark emotion in his eyes totally stunned Juliet.
There was definitely something between the two of them.
“Can you walk me out?” he asked her.
Olivia looked as if she wanted to say no. After a moment, she nodded and followed him, but not before Juliet, looking closely, saw the misery in her eyes, too.
Olivia was in love with Cooper.
And she was running away, going back to Seattle.
Juliet didn’t have time to dwell on that or what she could do. The instant the door closed behind them, Caitlin rushed to her and wrapped her arms around her.
“Are you mad, Mimi?”
“Mad? Why would I be mad?”
“Because I went looking for my dad. I don’t want you to think...to think you weren’t enough for me. It wasn’t that. I love you so much.”
“Oh, honey. Of course I’m not mad! I completely understand that you wanted answers. I’m only sorry I didn’t have them for you.”
Caitlin laughed. “That’s exactly what Olivia said you’d say.”
“She’s pretty smart, that aunt of yours.”
Juliet could only hope she was smart enough not to walk away from a good man like Cooper Vance.
33
OLIVIA
As she followed Cooper to the front porch of Sea Glass Cottage, she saw that, as predicted, the afternoon had turned stormy, with dark, ominous clouds on the horizon.
“Hell of a day.” He stopped at the railing and looked up at the sky, but she knew he wasn’t talking about the weather.
“I believe that’s the understatement of the century.”
She still couldn’t seem to process everything that had happened, from finding out Natalie had set the fire that killed their father to this latest shocking news about Caitlin.
Cooper looked stunned and a little lost, as if everything he thought he knew about his world had been tossed off the cliffs and into the Pacific.
“I have a kid. I have no idea where to go from here.”
“You have a great kid. Caitlin is an amazing girl. She’s creative and funny and kind. You two are lucky to have each other.”
He ran a hand through his hair, his usual calm nowhere in evidence. “I have a daughter.”
Did he think saying it enough times might make it feel more