The Perfect Homecoming (Pine River) (25 page)

NINETEEN

Cooper called Michael from the Denver airport and asked him to pick him up at LAX when the flight arrived.

“Perfect. Audrey is doing a show at the Wiltern tonight, and she and Jack are throwing a party afterward,” Michael said, referring to Jack’s pop-star wife, Audrey LaRue. “You can come with us.”

“I’m not dressed for that,” Cooper said, looking down at his jeans and boots. Not to mention he wasn’t in the mood for it.

“Dude, it’s the Wiltern. Text me when you land.”

A few hours later, Cooper walked out of the LAX terminal. Leah, a vivacious brunette with short, bouncy hair, leapt out of a vehicle and threw her arms around Cooper as if he’d been gone for months instead of days. “I’m so glad you’re back! Braden and Brodie keep asking where Uncle Boober has gone.”

“What have you done with those hoodlums?” Cooper asked, bending over to peer into the back of the SUV Michael now drove. Gone were the sports convertibles he’d once favored.

“With their nanny,” Leah said, and did a little dance move.
“
’Cuz Mommy’s got her party face on!” She grabbed Cooper’s hand and did a twirl beneath it, then opened the back door and hopped in.

“Leah, I’ll sit there,” Cooper said.

“Nope. I’m sure Michael is going to interrogate you about the potential to break your necks, so I’m going to check some e-mail. Go on, Cooper, get in the front and leave me alone,” she said playfully, her gaze already on her phone.

Cooper sighed and glanced at Michael.

Michael eyed him curiously, a Cheshire grin on his face. “I wasn’t going to interrogate you, but now I am. You looked pissed, bro,” he said, and took Cooper’s bag, tossing it in the backseat next to his wife.

“Not pissed,” Cooper said.
Pissed. So pissed.
“Tired.”

“Sure,” Michael said, and fist-bumped Cooper’s shoulder, smiling a little as he walked around to the driver’s side of the SUV.

Michael started in on Cooper the moment they pulled away from LAX. “What happened in Colorado?”

What happened in Colorado?
An invisible rug had been jerked out from beneath him, that was what. A rug Cooper hadn’t even realized was there until he found himself flat on his ass. That was the thing that had eaten at him on the flight to Los Angeles—not, as one might expect, the way Emma had sent him on his merry way after some of the most incredible sex he’d had in his life—but that he didn’t even
know
he’d held this torch for Emma Tyler all these months. Had he really been so smitten that night in Beverly Hills?

And yet, when he’d seen her at the door at Homecoming Ranch, he’d felt a familiar reverberation in his membranes. A recalled ache, a resurrected attraction.

“Yo—Coop?”

“Nothing happened,” Cooper said, startled back to the present. “I checked out Trace Canyon. It looks perfect for what we want.”

“Oh yeah?” Michael said.

That’s how you handled men—give them some sport to talk about, and they were happy to push aside the nasty business of feelings. Michael asked a lot of questions about Pine River and Trace Canyon. How sheer was the rock face, how deep the ravines? What sort of access would they have, and how would they get equipment up to the site? All business.

But as they turned on to Wilshire Boulevard, Michael looked at him curiously and said, “Anything else happen?”

“Like what?”

Leah’s head suddenly popped up between the bucket seats. “What my husband wants to know, and so do I, is what about Emma Tyler? What’s the deal with her? Did she have the thing?”

“The thing!” Michael scoffed.

“The thing, the thing, whatever it was Carl Freeman thought she took?”

“Yes,” Cooper said. He’d called Carl earlier to tell him he’d be personally delivering it to him tomorrow.

“Wow,” Leah said, and looked at Michael. “Is she really as loony as they say?”

“She’s not loony,” Cooper said instantly, and then caught himself. Unfortunately, not before Leah and Michael had noticed.

“No?” Michael asked, a big grin spreading his face. Leah punched Michael on the shoulder. “Ouch,” he said with a laugh. “So I guess you had some time to talk to Miss Tyler, huh?”

Cooper didn’t smile. He couldn’t banter his way out of this. “A little,” he said, and looked out the window. “Sorry guys, I’m beat.”

He knew Leah and Michael were looking at each other again, the silent questions flowing between them. He felt Leah ease back to her seat, and they didn’t ask him more, for which Cooper was thankful.

Audrey’s concert was already underway when they arrived, and with their backstage passes, Cooper was able to nurse a beer and enjoy her show in solitude. Without a lot of questions, without having to
think.
Audrey’s music could do that to him—carry him out of this world. He wasn’t the best judge of musical talent, but to his ears, Audrey had the most melodic and sultry voice of anyone on the airwaves.

The after-show party was a typical Jack-and-Audrey event. The who’s who of Hollywood was in attendance, but so were regular folk, too. Audrey always made a point of that. Invitations to these high-wattage parties—which Cooper took for granted—were highly coveted because Audrey was a huge pop star. Yet in spite of fame, Audrey was a down-to-earth gal, and she liked to invite people who typically would never have access to this sort of event. Such as the barista at her local coffeehouse, or the middle-aged couple who owned the dry-cleaning shop she used. Tonight, Cooper recognized two girls from the Whole Foods grocery near their offices chatting with the head of Moonglow Records.

Generally, Cooper was right in the thick of things because he enjoyed these events as much as anyone. Tonight, however, he was not in the mood. He wanted to go home, take a shower, find something to eat. He sighed when Eli sidled over to him and said, “Why the long face?”

“I don’t have a long face,” Cooper said.

“It’s so long it’s scraping the floor, Coop. Everything all right?”

Cooper looked at his oldest friend. “Everything is fine,” he said. “I’m just tired.”

“Sure,” Eli said, but his gaze was locked on Cooper’s.

Cooper swallowed down the rest of his beer. “Derek’s getting out,” he said. “I’m flying out at the end of the week to help Mom.” That much was true. But it was also a lie—Derek wasn’t on his mind. Cooper had never lied to Eli that he could recall, but in all honesty, in the last two days, Derek had hardly crossed his mind.

He hated that Eli’s expression suggested he knew that wasn’t what was bothering Cooper. But he nodded and said, “Ah. I guess it’s going to be a tough transition for him.”

“Yep.”

Eli’s eyes narrowed. “Tell him I said hello.”

“I will. Thanks,” Cooper said.

Eli looked at his beer bottle, then at Cooper again. “Need anything, Coop? Another beer? A friend?”

Eli and Cooper had been friends for so long—more than thirty years now—that Cooper knew Eli wasn’t asking if he needed help with Derek. He couldn’t help a small chuckle. Couldn’t get anything past Eli McCain. He put his hand on Eli’s shoulder and squeezed affectionately. “I’m going to take a rain check.”

“Whatever you say, chief.” Eli touched his bottle to Cooper’s and wandered off.

That was it—Cooper was calling a car. He walked out into the hallway, out of the din, to call up the service. There were people there, too, groups of two and three talking away from the music. Cooper pulled out his phone and was about to make the call when someone tapped him on his shoulder. Cooper turned, and looked into the smiling face of Laura Franklin, Emma’s stepsister.

“Cooper, right?”

Unbelievable. What was she doing here? What were the odds? “Cooper, right. Hello, Laura,” he said, and stuck out his hand.

“Wow,” she said with a laugh of surprise as she took his hand and gave it a shake. “This is weird, running into you like this. How’d you get in?”

“Audrey’s husband and I go way back,” he said. “How about you?”

“My boyfriend!” she said, and pointed to a man down the hall, talking to a couple. “He’s a real estate broker. He sold some property to Audrey LaRue’s lawyer.”

And with that bit of information, Cooper knew exactly the sort of guests Laura and her boyfriend were. Leeches, Jack called them, people who sought out any angle to get into this sort of Hollywood party.

“So, did you find Emma?” Laura asked. “We haven’t heard from her, you know. But that’s not unusual—Emma’s a flake.”

Cooper felt a hitch in his heart; she wasn’t a flake. Laura said it casually, with a smile on her face. “I found her,” he said.

He didn’t mean to show any emotion when he said it, but he obviously did, because Laura blinked. And then she smiled wryly. “I take it that it didn’t go quite as you hoped? Trust me, you’re not alone, Cooper. Welcome to my world.”

“It was okay,” Cooper said. “She had what I was looking for, so
. . .”
He shrugged.

“Well,
that
surprises me. Emma’s not very forthcoming. I mean, she’s forthcoming with her opinions, obviously. But when it comes to her? She won’t tell you anything.”

Laura was full of information of what Emma was not, and Cooper didn’t like it. “Why do you think that is?” he asked, trying very hard to sound casual.

Laura shrugged. “I don’t know. Mom says she’s jealous.”

“Of
. . .
?”

Laura laughed. “Of
me
, silly,” she said, as if that should be obvious to him. “It’s been a problem all our lives. When we were kids, it was manageable, but when we grew up, and boys came into the picture, she got really possessive and really weird.” She wrinkled her nose.

Why was she telling him this? She was Emma’s sister—she ought to be defending Emma, not piling on.

“I mean, between you and me? Her own family has always been a lot more comfortable around
me
rather than her.” She smiled a little.

Cooper was appalled that Laura would casually toss that observation out there, given what had happened between her and Emma. Not to mention Emma’s father and her.

Laura smiled curiously at his study of her. “What?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard just how comfortable some of her family
has been around you.”

Laura’s smug smile faded. She blinked back her surprise. But she didn’t deny it. No, Laura Franklin slowly smiled again, as if sleeping with Emma’s father was amusing somehow. Her smile was a come-hither smile, too, one meant to seduce. “No one listens to Emma,” she said silkily. “But forget her, because you know what? You’re cute, Cooper Jessup.”

He gave her a dark look, annoyed that she thought he would fall for that.

“No,
really
cute,” she said, turning to face him, her shoulder against the wall. “How come you’re not married?” She touched the button of his shirt—the same buttons Emma had touched—and began a slow finger walk up his chest. “You could have anyone in LA if you wanted. You can’t be so hard up for company that you’d want my sister.”

And Emma thought she was the despicable one.

Laura laughed. “Don’t look at me like that. Everyone knows how Emma is. I can’t help it if her own flesh and blood found her difficult to be around, can I?”

Cooper reached up and pushed Laura’s hand from his chest. “Good night, Laura.”

“Hey, don’t go away mad,” she said, reaching for his arm. “I’m not going to tell Emma. Not yet, anyway.”

What the hell was wrong with this woman? “Tell her what?”

Laura shrugged. “That we sort of hooked up,” she said, and her smile turned cold.

Laura was a bitch. “We’re not hooking up. Nowhere close,” he said.

“Whatever you say.”

He could tell by the slight sneer on her face that she would do exactly what she threatened. She would tell Emma that she’d met him at this party, that they’d connected. She would imply they’d slept together, and on some level, that was more shocking than anything Emma had done. “Why would you do something like that?”

“Why does Emma keep telling everyone I had an affair with Grant?” she shot back. “It wasn’t my fault, you know. I was only eighteen. Besides that, we didn’t do anything to
her
. What, he wasn’t supposed to live his life because she didn’t like it?”

“Wow,” Cooper said. “Are you a sociopath? Do you pack your heart in ice every night? I mean, you
do
realize you’re talking shit about your sister, right?”

“
Step
sister,” Laura snapped, and walked away from him.

Cooper stood a moment, unable to move. No wonder Emma’s life had spiraled out of control. Her family was as treacherous as anything she could possibly encounter in the rest of the world.

Eventually, Cooper went outside, away from Laura and her betrayal. Which, in the grand scheme of Hollywood, wouldn’t even rank on the list of great family betrayals. It made him a little nauseous.

An hour later, Cooper was home at his little house in the Hollywood Hills. He made himself a sandwich and a drink and sat on his terrace overlooking the glittering lights below. His thoughts were with a beautiful blond woman with enough emotional baggage to fill a dump truck.

He told himself it was best he’d left when he did. That it was mountain air that had him thinking there could be more to the story of Emma and Cooper than a chance encounter at a bat mitzvah, or a few days in Colorado.

When he finished his sandwich and drink, Cooper decided he was truly as tired as he felt. He thought he’d have a shower and get a good night’s sleep without any beavers looking at him.

Cooper wearily turned on the shower and as the water warmed, he emptied the pockets of his jeans onto his dresser. A few coins, his wallet, his phone. He looked at the little pile in passing, but halfway to the bathroom, he paused. He walked back and studied the contents of his pocket. Something was missing, he thought, although he couldn’t think what at first. His wallet was there. His phone. A few bills and some change.