She’d been engaged a few years ago, he remembered now. And then Melody had told him she’d broken off the engagement sometime later.
Other than those few shout-outs from his sister, he hadn’t really dwelled on her much. If he did, he had thought of her as Little Livie, Natalie’s baby sister and his own sister’s best friend. In his mind, she still had pigtails and braces and walked around with a book in her hand most of the time.
She wasn’t that girl anymore. The Olivia he just encountered was still small in stature but she wasn’t gawky and awkward anymore. His reaction to that one brief slash of smile still seemed to ricochet around his chest.
She wasn’t for him, Cooper reminded himself. She was only here temporarily to visit her mother and she would be leaving soon to return to her life in Seattle.
He, on the other hand, was here for good. His sister needed his help and he had vowed to her and to himself that he would do whatever necessary for Melody and her boys. They had to be his focus, not this instant, unexpected reaction to Olivia Harper.
He pushed her out of his mind, grabbed his toolbox and headed up the steps to Melody’s house. One of them needed fixing, he noted. He would add that to his to-do list.
Before he could knock on the door, his youngest nephew raced around the corner of the house, Melody’s big, goofy retriever right behind him. “Hi, Uncle Cooper! Did you bring your dog?”
He always loved listening to Charlie, who had trouble with his R or L sounds, so called him Coopah and used words like bwing instead of bring.
“No. Jock was sleeping when I left and I didn’t want to disturb him.”
“That’s okay. Because guess what? We’re dogsitting!”
“I heard that.” He studied the boy and the dog. “Weird. He looks just like Thor.”
Charlie giggled. “This is Thor, silly. The dog we’re supposed to be dogsitting isn’t here yet.”
“I think it is, since its owner just left.”
“Oh! I want to go see!”
Charlie raced up the steps to the porch of Melody’s small two-story house. “Mom! Hey, Mom! Where’s the dog? Is it here?”
His sister came around the house holding a tiny trembling purse pooch cradled in her arm. “Hey. Keep it down. He’s nervous enough already.”
“Oh. Sorry.” Charlie spoke in what he probably thought in his five-year-old wisdom was a whisper but was loud enough to rattle the windows.
“This is Otis. He’s not sure about us yet.”
“He’s so cute! Hi, buddy. Don’t be afraid. We’re nice. Except for Will and he’s still at school.” He beamed at the dog, who answered by trembling a little more forcefully and hiding his face in Melody’s arm.
Charlie’s smile turned into a frown. “What’s wrong with him? Is he cold? I can get a blanket.”
“He’s just nervous. If we sit down together on the sofa, I bet he’ll settle down enough that you can make friends and then hold him in a few minutes, as long as you can be gentle.”
“Okay. But I have to pee first. I was gonna do it outside but you got mad at me last time.”
“Good call.” Cooper barely had time to say the words to Charlie before he raced down the hall toward the bathroom at a pace that clearly indicated an emergency was imminent.
Man, he loved this kid. Charlie and his older brothers, Will and Ryan, were the most adorable boys. They were funny and sweet and openhearted. For the life of him, Cooper could not figure out what man in his right mind would walk away from the perfect family.
“So. This must be Olivia’s dog.”
Melody’s eyes widened in shock. “How could you possibly know that?”
He had to smile. She had the same expression on her face that she used to get when he would pull a quarter out of her ear. For hours, he had practiced magic tricks he learned from a school library book, simply to earn that look of astonished glee from her.
“Seriously. Did Charlie tell you that?”
He shook his head, shifting his toolbox to the other hand. “She was leaving as I was pulling in and told me she was leaving her dog here. From there, I could put the pieces together on my own. I didn’t recognize her at first. It’s been years.”
“Neither of you has managed to make it back to town nearly enough over the years.”
Was coming back to Cape Sanctuary as difficult for Olivia as