Faithful (8 page)

I walk around every table, studying the stunning jewelry which even includes some broken or incomplete necklaces and earrings from the Georgian, Victorian, and Edwardian time periods. This is exactly what Lauren and I look for—vintage jewelry we can disassemble and repurpose into our own designs.

“Hey, look what I got,” Cooper says from behind me.

I turn around to see him brandishing a large sword. Now he really does look like a Viking, and he’s got the attention of every woman in the room.

“Oh, God, not you, too. What is with you men and weapons?”

“This thing is so cool,” he says as he puts an arm behind his back and swings the blade upward, ready to duel.

“Stop it. You’re going to get us kicked out of here,” I whisper loudly to him.

“I don’t think so. I’m advertising their products. Besides, I dropped a nice little bundle on this beauty.”

“You bought it?”

“Hell, yeah.” He smiles, looking pretty proud of his acquisition.

“What are you going to do with that?” I ask, imagining him cruising around town on his bike with a swashbuckling sword strapped to his side. Oh, good grief. I have to stop thinking of him like that.

“The blade is completely dull and useless, but it’ll be nice for party tricks.”

“Perfect.”

“What did you find?” he asks, sheathing the sword and stepping forward to look at the table I’ve been salivating over.

“Everything here is fantastic. They have the jewelry set up by the period it’s from. The family that lived here collected some incredible pieces.”

I feel Cooper’s warmth as he presses against my side to view the velvet tray in front of me.

“Lauren wants me to get the jet jewelry. Those are these black, Edwardian beaded pieces in this lot. I really want the Victorian silver lockets over there. They’re similar to what you bought for your sister.”

“Great, let’s buy all these boxes,” he says, and one of the middle-aged auction women standing behind the table gets a little giddy, either over the idea that she thinks he’s buying the whole table or that she has a smoking hot guy standing two feet from her. I’m betting it’s the hottie factor.

“Are you cuckoo for Coco Puffs? Each one of these trays is anywhere from six hundred to three grand. You’re not buying anything for me, and I’m only buying one lot because that’s what Lauren and I agreed on.”

Cooper looks at the auction attendant, nods his head to the side towards me, and rolls his eyes, causing her to give him a little laugh. He’s very practiced at winning the female population over, so I smack his side to make him stop.

He leans down to whisper in my ear. “If you do things like that, people will think we’re more than friends.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” After I push his face away from my cheek and inform the woman which tray I want, she hands me the lot number and purchase card.

“I’m going to go pay for my goodies,” I tell Cooper. “Be right back.”

Heading into the foyer where they have cashiers set up, I turn over my lot number and credit card. After they ring me up and give me a receipt, I return to the dining room to collect my purchase. Cooper is talking up the auction attendant and has her in stitches over something.
That kcuffing charmer.

After I hand her my receipt, she turns over my packaged items to Cooper! I immediately take the bag from him. “I’m ready to go. Lauren will be excited to see this.”

“Are you sure? There’s more here, and I know you love this stuff.” He sounds so thoughtful and concerned. I have to glance away when a blond lock falls forward, and he has that adorable questioning look along with the ridiculousness of a ginormous sword at his side.

“I’m sure. I’ve spent my max. And how are we getting that thing home?” I ask, pointing to his sword.

“They’re holding it for me. After I drop you off, I’m going to bring Leo’s truck back to pick it up. The auction will still be open.”

“Okay, so can we go?” I shrug.

“Whatever you want,” he says as his hand rests on my lower back and he turns me away from the table. At that moment, I catch him give a quick wink and smile to the woman who just helped me.

“What the hell was that wink for?” I ask as we leave the lovely home. “Did you hit on her?”

Cooper laughs. “No, I was just being friendly since she was so friendly in assisting us.”

“You mean assisting me. Man, you sure are
friendly
.” I overemphasize the word with a deep, snarky punch. “You should take over my shifts at the diner, what’s left of them. The customers would love you.”

“Imogene, I’m teasing you. Sometimes I like getting a rise out of you. You’re sexy and lethal,” he says and hands me my helmet.

The ride back is easier. I feel less tense about our situation. I think I clarified the friend set-up fairly well, and I bought some vintage jewels without completely stressing myself out. Having Cooper along to reassure me and to lighten the mood definitely made it easier. Being all cozy and warm, snuggled up to him on the Harley didn’t hurt, either. Unfortunately, those are the kinds of things that blur the friendship lines, and I’m notorious for blurring things, so much so I’m practically blind.

When we return to my house, Leo walks out onto the porch and tosses his truck keys to Cooper.

“How did he know you needed the truck?” I ask, attaching my helmet to the back of his bike.

“I called him while you were paying for your stuff.” He takes off his leather bike gloves and then pulls my jewelry bag from the satchel.

“Good thinking.”

“Are you happier?” he asks as he hands me my bag.

With it being kind of a loaded question, I don’t know how to respond. I begin running the scenarios of the past few days through my head: my behavior with Cooper; divulging my concerns about the business; potentially quitting my most reliable source of income; defining boundaries for an emerging friendship between us; and then, naturally, dwelling on those hot and heavy kisses that negate all my previous arguments I thought were so rational.

“I love this,” I finally respond, waving the bag. “Thanks for insisting I go, and thanks for taking me. I had a really good time.”

“I know you did. It’s written all over your face. And I had a great time, too. So when’s our next date?”

After all that, I laugh. “It wasn’t a date. You’re something else.”

“I’m something you like. Remember, I’m very good at reading people. My former job used to depend on it.”

“Even so, it wasn’t a date.”

“Call it what you want,” Cooper says with a shrug. “So when are we going out again as friends?”

He is tenacious and I’m flattered, but I can totally envision a relationship with Cooper as the kind that ignites in a lusty frenzy and burns out just as quickly. As such, he’s probably not a wanker, but the thought of having a potentially destructive fling with a guy who is part of my circle of friends is enough for me to keep him at arm’s length. Apparently, however, that arm is very short if I keep kissing him. Yes, that’s a problem.

“Lauren and I have to buckle down and really get to work on some necklaces that a store will purchase if we meet their deadline. So I don’t really have time for any social outings. With anyone,” I emphasize.

Cooper glances at Leo’s truck as though he’s ready to bolt without another word.

“Hey, Coop!” Leo returns and suddenly shouts from the porch. “Wait up!”

Leo runs down the steps and jogs over to us.

“Is something wrong?” Cooper asks.

“No, I need to talk to you, so I thought I’d take you to get your sword thing.”

“Okay,” Cooper replies with that shrug again. He then looks down at me with an indecipherable expression.

“I’ll see you around. I’m going to get some work done,” I say joyfully in a rehearsed manner. That’s not like me, making me fully expect my phoniness to cause a little fire and brimstone action; perhaps my hair will start smoking or my head will turn into a swarm of hissing snakes.

“Humph,” Cooper grunts and grabs my shoulders, pulling me in for a quick kiss, enough to nip my lips.

Hot damn.

Eight

How does this keep happening?

Is it really possible that my one drunken episode has caused this domino effect so that every time Cooper sees me he feels entitled to kiss me? It’s not like I’m fighting back or cursing him out. I realize I’m letting this happen. I keep talking friend-zone shit and boring myself to death with my pithy rationalizations, and then I let my tongue do whatever it wants when Cooper touches me.

Leo looks unperturbed by the incident as he jumps in the truck and waits for Cooper.

Cooper cups my cheek. “You’ll probably see me sooner than you think.”

“I guess,” I concede since he’s clearly outmaneuvering me at every turn.

While they drive off to go back to the Murphy estate, I trudge into the house, replaying the last few days with Cooper over in my mind. It
was
my kiss and bold behavior at the party that started this whole series of events. I changed our relationship from that of a standoffish acquaintance on my part to something more potent that’s brewing in both of us.

I drop my purse on the front hall table and kick off my shoes before walking upstairs to the workroom where Lauren is finishing the designs. She’s quite a talented artist when it comes to drawing the details of each necklace pattern. She lays them out like a blueprint where each bead is marked with a code that correlates to a specific bead size and color. Her drawings look like paint-by-number pictures in that respect, and it makes it very easy for us to fill the bead trays and see what the actual necklace will look like before we string them on the various jewelry wires and add the hooks and closures.

“You’re going to love what I got,” I exclaim as I take the items out of the bag and reveal the exquisite pieces to her.

“They’re gorgeous.” She picks up the necklace with the largest black, faceted teardrop and fifty smaller carved black beads. It has some engraved silver balls interspersed and some muted, chipped gemstones. The clasp is broken and some of the beads are missing, but we’ll remove the good parts and incorporate it into some of Lauren’s new designs. That’s how each piece of jewelry we design becomes one-of-a-kind. We can’t replicate a single necklace with the exact same beads because we only have one of everything when it comes to the vintage pieces. When they are strung together with new Swarvoski crystals or vibrant gemstones, they become our own little masterpieces.

“The broker there gave me this whole lot, all ten pieces, for seven hundred.”

“You did great. I’m so excited about this new batch of designs. Sasha’s is going to love it. Seriously. I bet business will take off.”

“I hope you’re right.” I sit down next to her, ready to get to work.

“There’s something I have to tell you.” Lauren’s eyes have sort of glazed over, hiding whether she’s about to tell me something sad or if she’s holding back enthusiasm.

“Is it bad?”

A smile spreads slowly across her effervescent face. “No, it’s really good,” she beams. “It wasn’t planned, and it wasn’t exactly prevented, but now … I’m pregnant.”

My jaw drops, a joke about protection immediately coming to mind, but then I see she is serious. My best friend is pregnant. Lauren is going to be a mother. If anyone plays her cards right in life, it’s Lauren. She doesn’t do anything half-assed, and frankly, I’m lucky to have a friend like her giving me advice and confiding in me; as a result, I have to be happy for her.

Her face watches me with concern because I’m taking much too long to react. The longer I gasp in silence, the more it comes across as judgment.

“Oh, Lauren,” I utter softly and reach over to hug her.

She exhales in relief and squeezes me hard. “You’re going to be an auntie.”

“Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m going to be a step-sister,” I correct her, and she laughs against my shoulder.

“There’s more.”

“Oh, my God, you’re having twins?”

“Leo and I are getting married in a month. We wanted to have a wedding at the end of summer, but the baby news has pushed it up. Since it’s early, we don’t want to tell people, other than our closest friends and our parents. So I want to get married before I start showing. We have four weeks to get it planned and organized, but I think I can pull it off.”

“Jesus! I’m still on the
‘I’m pregnant’
part!”

Lauren bursts out laughing. With her being overjoyed, I must tread lightly when it comes to my cynicism. A baby and a husband and a little business with me—she has everything she has dreamed of, and I feel genuinely happy for her. If she weren’t pregnant, I’d call in the reinforcements for an alcoholic celebration.

“You’re having a baby and getting married …”

“Wedding first, baby six months after, and I want you to be my maid of honor.”

“Yes, I’d like that.” I laugh, trying to think of what those duties entail.

“We’re skipping over the little parties. I don’t want you to plan anything like that. You’re my best friend, Imogene. I just want you by my side when I marry Leo and when I have this little human.” She’s almost in tears.

“I can do that. I can.” I nod vigorously as if I’ve been asked to join a special task force. Truthfully, before this, I’ve only been a tipsy bridesmaid. I have never been asked to be the maid of honor, and I haven’t had any friends give birth yet. We’re entering a new phase in our adult lives, and it’s time for me to step up to the plate for my friend.

“It’s going to be fine, right?” Lauren asks me, the least knowledgeable person on marriage and parenting.

“Yes, just tell me what I need to do.”

“Leo is telling Cooper right now. That’s why he decided to go with him tonight, so he could ask him to be the best man.”

“Cooper is the best man?” I ask, envisioning him standing in a tuxedo at the altar with a sword.

“Yeah, and we’re going to call Carson and Jess and Dylan and Emma when Leo gets back. We want all of you to be in the wedding party. We already told our parents this afternoon.”

“Uh-huh,” I reply, realizing the others are married couples, and once again, Cooper and I will be the only single people in the group, except this time, we’ll be matched up with duties.