Rise (29 page)

“I see.”

“Let me be bluntly honest with you. Guys don’t think clearly when it comes to getting physical. You can’t trust that they’re going to stop themselves. If given the opportunity to go further and do more, the majority of the time they’re going to take it.”

“But I didn’t give the opportunity.”

“With what was going on in there, in no time you could have found yourself having to make a split second decision on whether or not you were going to continue. That can be hard to do.”

“If he would have tried anything, I would have stopped him. That’s been working for us so far.”

“Think about what you just said.”

“What?”

“Basically what you’re saying is that you think it’s fair to get him all worked up and then just when you reach your limit suddenly say no. Not only is that not fair, it’s also dangerous. Had Cooper been anyone else or less than the gentleman you think he is—”

“You don’t have to say it. I get it. You’re right.”

“And let’s just say you went a little further than last time. Where do you start the next time? You think he’s going to want to go backward? Go back to doing less?”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that. After today he isn’t going to want to do anything with me. I’ll be lucky if I ever hear from him again.”

“If that’s the case, then you’ve learned a lot about what his true intentions were and what type of person he really is. If Cooper cares about you, he’ll try to make things right, no matter how embarrassed he is or how difficult it will be. I guess he and I are alike in that way.”

“In what way?”

“I’ve thought a lot about our last conversation. I get it. I get that I haven’t been there for you.” He reached across the table and covered my hands with his. “I’ve got to prove that you’re that important to me. I’ve got to make things right.”

“After today, I’ll have a lot more free time, so just let me know if you want to work on it.” I got out of my chair and went toward the refrigerator to collect the ingredients for dinner.

“No time like the present,” he said.

I turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“Will you go to dinner with me? And maybe a movie?”

The feeling of a small smile perching on my face tingled at the corners of my mouth. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“I scared off your only prospect. I figure it’s the least I can do.”

I looked around the room, almost as if to make sure there wasn’t someone else in the room and that was who he was asking to go with him. There was no one else. Just me. My heart actually fluttered at the idea that my dad was making some effort to spend time with me. “Okay, I’ll go on a date with you. But you better behave.”

“I’ll be a complete gentleman.”

“You’ll come to learn that I have very high standards. I hope you can live up to them.”

“Me too. Where do you want to go?” he asked.

“A steak joint for dinner and a chick flick.”

He rolled his eyes.

“It’s the least you can do.”

“True.” He stood and walked toward his room. “Oh, and don’t make any plans for this weekend.”

“Why?”

“We’re going into the city. I got tickets for a show.”

“A Broadway show?” Excitement rose out of my chest and into my throat.

“What other kind of show is there?” He turned to me and grinned. “I even got us a suite at a swanky hotel. I’m going all out.”

I smiled back at him. “Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re welcome. Now go on, get dressed. You’ve got a hot date picking you up in a little bit.”

As Dad climbed out of the car and made his way to my side, I made a mental note to never see a PG-13 movie with him again. Evidently, even movies with that rating had enough stuff in them to make a teenage girl squirm when watching one with her father sitting next to her. And come to think of it, he didn’t seem too comfortable with it either. The farther into it we got, the farther away he seemed to lean.

He opened the door and I hopped out. “Sorry about that movie choice,” I said. “Only Disney movies from now on, I promise.”

He shut the door behind me, and we started walking up the sidewalk. “Why do you think we’re seeing The Lion King in New York City? Everything else looked a little risqué. You may be seventeen, but I still like to think you’re six. I had no idea movies were that bad nowadays.”

“That’s nothing. The Bennetts and I watched movies almost every night during the summer. Mostly 80s stuff, and you’d be shocked at what they had in PG movies back then. Heck, Sixteen Candles even had nudity in it.”

“Sixteen Candles? I loved that movie when I was younger. I don’t remember there being any nudity in it.”

“Trust me, there was. I threw my hand over Riley’s eyes so fast that I ended up slapping him by accident.”

“How’d that go over?”

“Not well. I got a pillow to the face in retaliation.”

“Tom and Molly always did love movies.”

“While a movie was on, every time Riley and I’d see or hear something we shouldn’t have, Pops would yell: ‘That didn’t just happen. It was a figment of your imagination.’ As if that made any difference at all.”

Dad laughed, and I could see by the look on his face that he was thinking fondly of his former best friends.

The laugh stopped cold as we turned the corner and saw Cooper sitting on the top step of our patio.

He jumped to his feet when he saw us. “Sir,” he said, nodding to my dad.

“Hello, Cooper,” Dad said as he stood behind me and placed both of his hands on my shoulders.

“I … I was hoping to talk to both of you,” Cooper muttered.

“Go ahead,” Dad said. He was playing hardball, not even inviting the poor boy inside.

Cooper rubbed his hands on his jeans before shoving them into his back pockets. It was the first time I’d seen him so full of anxiety.

“First, I’d like to apologize to you, Attie, for crossing into some questionable territory. I wasn’t thinking straight. I know where you stand on things, and it was stupid of me to think that I could act however I wanted. I should have put some boundaries in place. I’m sorry I didn’t do that.”

“Thank you, Coop.” My heart wasn’t beating at that point, it was trembling. I was so touched to see him standing there under those uncomfortable conditions that I was literally shivering.

“And Dr. Reed, you were right. I’m older than she is, and I’ve been around long enough to know better than to do what I was doing. It was disrespectful to both of you. But honestly, when I approached you about spending time with Attie, I didn’t have any idea we would end up in whatever kind of relationship it is we’re in. The ski trip idea was completely innocent. I didn’t ask you if I could take her so that I could get her out from under you. I did it because I wanted her to get out the house and have some fun. Honest, I never lied to you or went behind your back in any way.”

Dad nodded.

“I understand that Attie’s still in high school and she’s going to have some rules placed on her. I also understand that if I want to date her, then I have to follow those rules too. I need you to know that I’m willing to do that. Whatever stipulations you lay out, that’s what I’ll do. Sir, I’d like the opportunity to date your daughter.”

“I just sat through a movie with her. It was painful to watch because it was based on how to tell if a man truly likes a woman or not. What was it?” he asked, looking at me. “He just doesn’t like you?”

“He’s Just Not That Into You,” I corrected.

“Yes, that was it. Anyway, to be a dad and to see how horribly my daughter might be treated by the men in her life, including me, made me sick.”

I didn’t know what to say. I don’t think Cooper did either.

“My daughter is priceless, Cooper, and if you or anybody else has any plans of spending time with her, that’s how you better treat her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And that includes honoring her age and her morals. I don’t know anything about you. I know your parents, but I don’t know you. I don’t know where you stand morally, and I don’t know what you expect from the girls you date. But I can tell you this: the first time I catch a whiff that you aren’t treating her the way she deserves or that you’re putting pressure on her to do something she doesn’t want to do or something that I wouldn’t approve of, it’s over. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, sir. One hundred percent.”

“Fine then. You can come back tomorrow and the two of you can spend some time together.”

Cooper’s shoulders finally relaxed slightly.

“I’ll head inside and give you two a minute alone. And I mean it when I say ‘a minute.’” He walked up to Cooper and held out his hand.

Cooper pulled his hand out of his pocket and shook Dad’s hand. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome.” Dad gave him a firm pat on his shoulder before going inside and shutting the door.

To say the moment standing there staring at Cooper was awkward would be an understatement. I was completely embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“No, I’m sorry. He overreacted.”

“No, he didn’t. He’s exactly right. I know better than that. I know how easy it is to cross the line, and let’s be honest, if he wouldn’t have walked in and you wouldn’t have stopped me … well, let’s just say we’d be having a whole ‘nother discussion right now.”

“I know, but it takes two to tango. I hold half of the responsibility.”

The front door opened. “Let’s go, Attie.”

“Yes, sir.”

I walked toward the door, but Cooper grabbed my hand and stopped me. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” I could tell by the tone in his voice that he wasn’t so sure I wanted to see him again.

I stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. As I started pull away, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me back to him so that the kiss wouldn’t end so quickly. After another moment, he let go.

“See you tomorrow,” I said.

He kissed me on the forehead before I turned, went inside, and shut the door behind me. Dad was standing in the dining room shuffling through some papers on the table.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re welcome.”

I made it halfway to the stairs before turning around and going back to him. “Dad?”

He turned from his papers and looked at me. “Yes?”

“Not that it matters anymore or anything, but I just wanted to let you know that Riley always treated me with the utmost respect.”

“Okay.”

“He loved me very much, and he always treated me like I was special.”

Dad didn’t respond.

“We had boundaries. Boundaries put on us by the Bennetts and our youth pastor and boundaries that we put on ourselves. In all our time together, Riley never crossed them. When I was with him, I never felt pressure; I never worried that he was going to do something that made me feel uncomfortable. He was always a gentleman and always wanted me to be happy. So much so that I think he put my happiness before his.

“I know you didn’t get a chance to see that, but I just wanted to make sure you knew it. Cooper’s a great guy, but it’s only fair that you know Riley was too.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

I turned, went down the stairs to my room, and before I could stop myself reached into my closet and pulled out the shoebox that I’d shoved underneath my sweatshirts. It was the box that held all the notes that Riley had written me and many of the small pictures he’d sketched.

Just as I went to pull the lid off, my cell phone rang.

I answered and put it to my ear without even checking the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Attie, it’s Cooper.”

“Hi.”

“I forgot to say goodnight to you before you went inside. I didn’t want you to go to sleep without hearing it from me.”

“Thank you.” I picked up the box and shoved it back under my sweatshirts. “I appreciate you calling, especially after the beating you took from both my dad and my BFF. You’re quite the trouper, Cooper. Hey, that rhymed.”

He laughed. “You’re worth it. Although, I can’t say I enjoyed it.”

I lay down on my bed. “Poor thing. Evidently your dazzling effects don’t work on everyone.”

“As long as they work on you, that’s all that matters.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So tell me about this movie that has your dad all freaked out … ”

chapter 40

Cooper’s Hummer was sitting in the driveway as I walked home from school. It was parked directly behind my dad’s car, which meant my dad was home to keep his eye on us. Almost a month since he’d caught us in the kitchen, he still wasn’t taking his chances. If at home, Cooper and I were delegated to sitting on separate couches and making faces at each other from across the room, and under no circumstances was he allowed in my bedroom or in the basement at all. Not even the theater room.

Although part of me was embarrassed by the way Dad was acting, the other part was happy that he cared. Having him in the middle of my dating business was better than not having him care about any of my business at all.

In an effort to get me out of the house and give us more alone time, Cooper was teaching me how to ride horses equestrian style at a small stable just outside town. Every other day after chores and homework were finished, we’d head out for a lesson. He was a good boy and followed my dad’s rules to a tee, but I think it was more out of fear than out of respect. He knew if he crossed the line, he’d lose me. That and that alone kept him from attempting what he’d done with so many other girls in his past, and I couldn’t help but worry that as time went on, his patience and understanding would start to fade.

I walked into the house to find Dad, Cooper, and another man standing in the living room.

Cooper gave me a hug before turning toward the man. “Attie, this is my dad, Alex Truman.”

Mr. Truman and I shook hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Truman.”

“You too. I’ve heard all about you.”

Mr. Truman turned his attention back to my dad as Cooper pulled me away from them and into dining room.

“Why is your dad here?” I whispered.

“There’s no way your dad’s going to let you go on the spring break trip unless my dad can talk him into it.”

“He came all this way to talk to my dad about that?”

“Of course. He knows it’s important to me that you go.”

“Why is it that big of a deal?”

“Attie,” he said, grabbing my hands in his, “you’ve never left the country. I want to be there with you the first time you do.”

“First time?” My heart plummeted. This would be a first that I wouldn’t be experiencing with Riley, and even though we’d broken up months ago, the realization was painful.

“What’s wrong?”

“What?”

“You look upset. Is something wrong?”

“No, I just—”

“Attie,” my dad called, “can you two come in here please?”

Cooper led me back to our fathers.

“I was just telling your dad here that my son would like to take his girlfriend on our family spring break trip.”

Girlfriend? I’d never thought of myself as Cooper’s girlfriend, and we’d certainly never discussed him wanting to appoint me the title or me wanting to accept it. Hearing the word made me very uncomfortable, and for some reason I glanced down at the ring finger that had been empty since waking up in the hospital back in Oklahoma.

“I told him that our entire family is going,” Mr. Truman continued. “And that you’d be in good hands, so to speak.” He’d made himself laugh.

I tried to smile, but I suddenly wasn’t feeling well. By the look on my dad’s face, he’d caught on to my distress.

“Attie and I will discuss it. How’s that sound?” he asked.

Mr. Truman shrugged. “Fair enough.”

I felt Cooper come up behind me and slide his hands around my waist before he kissed me on top of the head. It was something Riley never would have done in front of his parents. “It’s going to be a great trip. I’d really appreciate it if you’d let her go.”

“We’ll talk about it,” Dad repeated.

“All right.” Cooper kissed me on the head again. “Well, Dad and I’ve got to head out.” He let go of my waist and turned me to face him. “Sorry I can’t stay. We’ll go to the stables tomorrow, okay?”

I nodded.

“It was great to meet you, Attie.” Mr. Truman pulled me to him and gave me a hug. “I look forward to spending more time together.”

“Thank you,” I squeaked as he squeezed me to him. His hug reminded me of the hug Cooper gave me at the pool party that slightly freaked me out. It felt overly friendly.

Mr. Truman let go of me, and the two of them made their way to the door.

“I’ll call you tonight,” Cooper said.

Within seconds they were gone, and Dad and I were left standing in the entryway.

“What was that about?” Dad asked. “Do you not want to go?”

“Yes, I do. I think.”

“You think?”

I didn’t respond. All I could do was stare at the door.

“Attie?” My dad touched my arm. “What’s going on?”

“Cooper’s dad called me Coop’s girlfriend.”

“And?”

“I’m not. I’m not his girlfriend.”

“You aren’t? You’ve been together for more than a few months—”

“Just hanging out. Nothing serious.”

“What I saw … what you’ve been doing with him is nothing serious? Does he know that?”

“I’m not his girlfriend.” I turned and walked toward the kitchen. My dad was only a few steps behind. “I’m not ready for that. Riley’s the only one … ”

“This is about Riley?”

“Yes … No.” I shook my head in an effort to clear my confusion. “It’s not about Riley; it’s just that he was my boyfriend. I loved him. I don’t love Cooper like that. I don’t feel that way about him.”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t think so.” I sat down and laid my head on the table. “No. I know so. I don’t feel for Cooper what I do—did for Riley.”

Dad sat down across from me. “But you like him, right?”

I sat up. “Yes.”

“You enjoy spending time with him?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to love someone to do that.”

“But—”

“Don’t ‘but.’ You need to go on the trip. You’ll have fun and get to go somewhere you’ve never gone before.”

“Do you hear yourself right now? You’re actually trying to talk me into going on a trip with a boy that you’ll hardly leave me alone with.”

“His dad promised he’d hardly leave you alone either.”

“Oh, I see.”

I got up and walked to the pantry. “You do realize that one of these days you’re going to have to stop trying to protect my virtue and trust me enough to protect it on my own.”

He laughed. “Hopefully not for another ten years or so.”

“Ha ha.” I grabbed some cream of chicken soup and then put it back down.

“You miss Riley,” he said out of nowhere.

“Yes.” I hid my tears by pretending to be looking for something. “I miss all of them.”

“I’m sorry that I doubted you, and I’m sorry that I pulled you away from them. Riley especially.”

“What’s done is done. It’s been four months and everyone’s moved on. No sense in crying about it now.”

“She says as she stands in the pantry crying,” he teased.

I trudged back to the table and plopped back down in my seat. “Cooper’s a great guy, he is. I really like him a lot. I’m very attracted to him, and we have a lot in common.”

“But?”

“But I just don’t know if I’ll ever get the fireworks I got with Riley.”

“You can’t ever match the feelings of first love, Attie, no matter who it’s with.”

“Maybe that’s true. Maybe that’s all it is. I actually told Cooper something similar.”

“Look, I’m not going to make you go on the trip. Go if you want, don’t go if you don’t, but be fair to Cooper. The boy is obviously crazy about you, so if you don’t think you can ever feel the same, then—”

“I didn’t say I couldn’t ever feel the same. I said wasn’t sure if I could feel the same.”

“Then there’s only one way to find out.”

“How’s that?”

“Go on the trip, have some fun, and see where that leaves you.”

I sighed and looked over at my dad. “You’re the doctor. I’ll follow your orders.”

“Good. Now go on and watch some television or something. I’ll make dinner.”

“Really?”

“Sure. I’m practically forcing you to go on some exotic vacation on a private jet with an extremely good-looking guy. I have to make it up to you somehow.”

I stood. “That’s true. How dare you try to make me enjoy my life?”

“How dare I.”

“I’m going to go to my room and pout about it for a while.”

“You do that.”

I kissed him on the cheek as I walked past him. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“You’re welcome.”