I Hear...Love (A Different Road #2) (11 page)

It’s another beautiful sunny day, so I walk the two blocks to the deli and order my favorite vegetarian sandwich. I take a seat at a table outside, dig my headphones out of my purse, put them on, then take the first bite. I close my eyes as the delicious flavors mingle on my tongue. God, this is good. When I open my eyes, someone sets down a tray on the table in front of me.

Say what?

I mean, I don’t mind sharing a table with someone when there are no open tables to sit down at, but there are at least three empty tables right now.

I look up to politely ask the person if they can please sit somewhere else, but I see Cooper standing in front of me with a handsome smile on his face. His hint of cologne passes by my nose and I smile.

I flip my headphones off my ears, then turn off my music.

“Hi,” I say, setting down my sandwich.

“Hi,” he returns with a smile.

“Did you get flowers today?” he asks, taking a seat.

“How’d you know I got flowers today?” I ask. Oh, shit, were they from him? “Did you send me flowers?” I ask.

“Nope,” he says, then takes a bite of his sandwich.

Um . . . OK. I eat the rest of my sandwich and the longer I sit with Cooper, the less my brain hurts from being mad at River. I glance at my watch, and I should really head back.

“Thank you for eating lunch with me,” I tell him, wrapping up my trash.

“Thank you,” he says. “I needed a break from the meeting I was in all morning. You’ve recharged my batteries,” he finishes.

I smile at him thinking my battery level is at an all time low, I don’t know how I could have helped him.

He stands, leans in, kisses me on the cheek, then smiles and tosses his trash in the garbage can. He turns around, gives me a low wave, another gorgeous smile, and then walks the opposite direction back to his office.

I let out a little chuckle and smile at him as he puts a little dance in his step.

I walk back to work with my headphones on, feeling a million times lighter. The second I get off the elevator on my floor, I spot the beautiful flowers. I put my headphones in my purse and put it away, then take the card off my desk.

I open it and read the card.

I can’t help it. It’s so damn cute, I laugh out loud. I look up at the ceiling with an honest to God happy smile on my face. I put the card back in the envelope, then lean over and smell the beautiful flowers. Then I see Josh guiding River down the hall toward me and my smile fades.

“Where were you during lunch?” he asks angrily, sniffing the air.

Before I head home from work, I stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things. I emailed California Chef my paperwork, then I went on their website and picked out my meals. It was actually fun. They’ve assigned me Maddy, and she starts next week. It’ll be nice to have home cooking again, even if it’s not my mom who’s cooking it.

I grab a cart and start pushing it aimlessly down the aisles. I’m kind of at a loss as to what to buy now. It’s nice not to think about what ingredients I need to buy to make meals. Although I mostly order pizza, I can make a mean breakfast and it’s one of my favorite things to eat for dinner. I pick up some bagels and remind myself to grab some cream cheese when I go down the dairy aisle. I walk slowly through the aisles not picking up much.

When I get to the milk section, I grab a gallon of orange juice, then pass the coffee cream. The conversation with Kate in my kitchen crosses my mind, and I walk my cart backward to the coffee cream. I lean back and take a look at all of the different brands, and the multitude of flavors, and I just don’t have a clue. I drink mine black, sometimes with a little sprinkle of sugar, but the amount of choices here is insane. There are at least twenty different flavors, and some flavors come in sugar-free and fat-free.

I grab a bottle of regular coffee cream, not flavored with anything and place it in my cart. I grab eggs, bacon, sausage, shredded cheese and a bag of prepared hash browns, and place them in my cart. I remember I’m running low on coffee, then head back down that aisle. I grab a case of beer and a couple of bottles of wine, then head to the checkout. As I grab the coffee cream out of my cart to place it on the belt, I smile.

I load everything in my car, get in the driver’s seat, then remember I forgot the cream cheese. I’m not going back in there. Good old butter will just have to do.

I greet an enthusiastic Sadie once inside the door and place everything on the counter. I put everything away, then grab Sadie’s clean dish out of the dishwasher and feed her. I make myself three breakfast burritos, eat, then grab Sadie’s leash to take her for a walk.

Once down the steps, Sadie immediately pulls me to the right. Good thing, because I wasn’t planning on going the other direction. There are several people out on the beach, but Sadie ignores every one of them. She walks a determined, direct path to a woman sitting on the beach a few feet away from the shore.

I’d recognize that beautiful, long brown hair anywhere. Kate’s hair blows in the wind as she stares out at the ocean. Sadie gently walks up behind her and noses her gently on her neck, then sits down behind her. Kate turns her head and looks at Sadie. The sullen look on her face immediately disappears and she smiles.

“Sadie!” she says, excitedly.

Sadie scoots across the sand and sits down next to her. Kate looks up at me and smiles again.

Kate wraps her arms around Sadie, places her head on her, then gives her a tight squeeze.

“Thank you for the flowers, Sadie. They made my day, among other things,” she says, then looks up at me again.

I sit down on the other side of Sadie, pick up a piece of driftwood and start to shred it, then ask, “How was the rest of your day at work?”

Kate sighs and doesn’t answer.

“That bad, huh?” I ask.

“I’m trying so hard to do all the right things, but I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have started to work at Mason Group in the first place,” she says.

“What would you do instead?” I ask.

“I don’t know, teach yoga,” she replies, then her face lights up.

“I can totally see you doing that. I see how passionate you are about it. You should do what you love and not worry about what others are going to think about it, or you,” I tell her.

“I just started taking an active role in the company. I couldn’t leave Mason Group,” she says.

“You can’t leave Mason Group, or do you mean you can’t leave River?” I ask a tough question.

She looks at me and her eyes tell me it’s the latter, not the former.

“My brothers and I own equal percentages of the business. It’s a family business. It’s my dad’s business. It was his legacy. I should have been active in the company a long time ago,” she replies.

“You can always become a silent partner.”

“I just don’t know,” she sighs, then looks back out at the horizon.

“Well, just know that you do have options and seriously, you should do what you love and makes you happy.”

Sadie gets up between us, then walks around the other side of Kate and lays down with her snout between her paws. Kate gently strokes her from her shoulders down to her rump, and Sadie lets out a contented sigh.

We don’t say another word as we sit on the beach and watch the sunset. I scoot closer to her and wrap my arm around her. She lays her head on my shoulder. I’m sure she’s deep in thought, weighing her options about what to do about her job.

“I should head home,” she says, lifts her head, then stands up.

“I’ll walk you,” I say, as I stand, then wipe the sand off the back of my pants.

The three of us slowly walk to her house, then stop at the bottom step. I raise my hand, and run it up and down the back of her arm. I lean in and kiss her on the cheek. Sadie quietly climbs the stairs, then turns around and sits down, waiting for Kate.

Kate looks up the stairs at Sadie, then looks at me for my reaction.

“Good night, Kate. Good night, Sadie,” I call to the top step.

Sadie raises her paw as if she’s actually saying goodbye, and I laugh at her.

“Good night, Cooper,” she says, then climbs the stairs.

Sadie walks to my back door and sits as I reach the top step. I walk to the door and reach for the handle, feeling content and happy that I get to sleep with Sadie again tonight. I had such a good sleep with her last night.

“Kate,” River’s stern voice calls, scaring the shit out of me.

“Oh, my God! You scared me half to death,” I say, turning around, looking for River.

“I was serious this morning when I said you’re not to see him again,” he says, stepping out of the shadows.

“I’m not a teenager, and you’re not my dad. You can’t tell me who I can see,” I fire back.

Sadie stands perfectly still by the door, but has her eyes trained on River.

“I’m
nothing
like him. I
can
tell you who you can see and what’s that awful smell?” River asks disgusted, taking a few deep sniffs.

Sadie cocks her head to the side. I raise my hand in an
it’s alright
motion, then look back to River.

“I don’t know, the ocean,” I reply snottily.

“Kate, I’m not kidding and it’s
not
up for discussion. You will not see him again,” he says again.