Games We Play (17 page)

The Colonel wore his dark blond hair in the buzz style that military men favored.

“You must be Kendall,” the Colonel said, stretching his hand out to her. He pulled her hand toward him and kissed the back of it. “Myra has told be so much about you,” the Colonel said.

“Nice to meet you,” Kendall said, adding
gallant
to her list of adjectives she’d use to describe the man. She took the chair across from her aunt. The Colonel sat in between the two of them.

Cooper walked over to their table a few minutes later. He had a couple of beers in his hand, and he placed one of them in front of the Colonel.

“It’s something new I’ve been working on. It’s a pale ale, and I’ve been trying out a couple of different malts. Tell me what you think,” he said, his eyes on the Colonel.

“Sure, with pleasure.”

“Myra, your usual,” Coop said, setting a light brown beer in front of her aunt.

“Thank you,” Myra said, picking up her glass and sniffing it.

Okay
, Kendall thought,
since when did people start sniffing beer before drinking it?

“Professor, what would you like to try?” Cooper said, interrupting her musings.

“Water or tea is fine with me.”

“Not going to try a beer?” Cooper said.

“You know, I’m not much into beer,” she said.

“You haven’t tried a Coopersville-brewed beer. We have won more than our share of awards, haven’t we, Cooper?” the Colonel said, full-out pride on display.

She twisted her nose and gave Cooper her fake plastic smile again. “That’s okay. I’ll pass,” she said.

“Suit yourself,” Cooper said.

“I always do,” she replied.

“I’ll be right back with your water. Give you some time to look over the menu,” he said.

“The Colonel, George, and I were some of the first supporters of the Coopersville Brewpub, especially when Cooper suggested that it should become a cooperative,” Myra said.

“That’s
so
nice,” Kendall said.

Cooper smiled at the professor before walking away.

Kendall stole more than a few glances at Cooper as he moved around the building, talking to customers, comfortable in his skin and confident in his role here. The Colonel and Myra were content to watch Kendall and Cooper. Aunt Myra smiled at the Colonel and winked.

“Kendall,” Aunt Myra said, “Alex, the chef here, makes a spicy praline mix that goes very nicely with the beer here. Would you ask Cooper if he has any left?”

“Sure,” Kendall said.

Kendall stood at the bar, waiting for Cooper to turn around. She’d been standing there for five minutes and counting. Hell no, was she going to call attention to herself. He knew she was there. She’d caught his glance, his eyes running over her for a second, as she made her way to the bar. She ran her eyes over the back of his body, and memories of him moving behind her made it hard to rein in her desire for more.

“Professor, you’ve changed your mind about that beer?” he asked, finally turning to face Kendall after another two or three minutes had passed.

“Nope. No. Nada,” she said, just to rub it in. “Myra wants me to bring her some kind of praline dish.”

He walked away from her, returning with a bowl filled with something that looked a little darker than normal pralines. She picked up a piece.

“Be careful. It’s pretty hot,” he said in warning.

“Right,” she said, but the look she gave him said,
I can handle myself
. She took a bite of it, chewed a minute, and choked.

Dang it was hot
, Kendall thought. Cooper handed her a small glass of beer. She took a huge pull without glancing at the contents, then she pulled the glass out in front of her face to look at it. “Yuck,” she said, coughing, her face a twisted mess of distaste.

“Water?” she managed to croak out in between coughs.

He poured her a glass from a nearby pitcher and handed it to her. Watched as she drained it.

“Hot,” he said, again.

“Yes, it was,” she said, trying to answer quickly, playing off the fact that she was working hard not to choke again. “See you around, Barnabus.” She picked up her bowl of pralines and walked away from him.

“It’s Cooper,” he said.

“Barnabus the dick, remember?” she said, smiling as she turned to look at him again.

He didn’t say anything to that, just stood watching her walk back to her aunt and the Colonel.

“W
here is the lovely Celeste?” Luis said later on that evening. He was at the pub, sitting at the bar in front of his friend.

“In the back.”

“How is that working out?”

“Fine, so far she’s just done her job.”

“How’s it going with the professor? I saw her this afternoon. She and Myra came in to play bingo,” Luis said.

“The same. She’s still playing the angry woman scorned.”

“And what role did you take? The angry dude, I’ll bet.”

“I’m not angry.”

“Of course you’re not,” Luis said, taking a sip of his beer. “So you’re going to let the opportunity to spend time with the professor this summer slip through your fingers.”

Cooper shrugged.

“What’s up? I’m surprised at you. What, she didn’t accept your apology quick enough?”

Cooper shrugged again, and Luis shook his head, a grin on his lips. He took another pull from his beer glass. Cooper pulled out a glass and placed it under the spout, filling an order.

“You could make her change your mind, if you wanted to. It wouldn’t be as hard as you think,” Luis said.

“I never said it would be hard.”

“You sure you’re not just scared of her?”

“Me, scared? Why would
I
be afraid of the professor?”

“You dropped your guard really fast with her, when you and she…the first night, the same day you met her. You liked her so much you just threw Myra’s concerns right out of the window. That’s fast for Mr.-I-don’t-trust-anyone, and you know it. I can only conclude that you’re afraid of her. She must have all the qualities you want in a woman, and how scary is it that the
one
for you might be African American,” Luis said.

Cooper chuckled. “Remember, my first
one
is running around back there, and she dropped me for some other dude. There’s no such thing as the
one
. But I can see what you’re up to, and it won’t work,” he said.

“It could if you wanted it to. You can be persuasive when you have to be, at least that’s what I’ve heard. I haven’t seen you try in a long, long time, so who knows…You may have lost your skills. And what a better way to show Celeste-the-ex that she will continue to be an ex than by hanging out with someone new?” Luis said.

“Maybe, and that’s the first sound point you’ve made.”

“You like the professor. I can tell.”

“Maybe,” he said, walking to the end of the bar. “Anyway, I’ve got work to do, and much better things to do with my time than listen to you yammer on and on,” Cooper said, smiling as he walked away.

“I’m just saying, you used to be good, but who knows anymore,” he said to Cooper’s back, laughing along with Cooper as he walked away.

Way to go, Luis,
he said to himself, pleased with the outcome, surprised that his handprint wasn’t visible on the back of Cooper’s shirt since he’d pushed so hard.
Only a matter of time
, he thought. Cooper was nothing if not competitive, and he
was
interested. Way more than he was letting on. Luis had known him long enough to know when something got under his skin, and it wasn’t his ex who was bothering him. The professor and her lack of cooperation were needling his buddy. Luis had watched them together yesterday, Cooper the embodiment of cool disinterest whenever he happened to be in the professor’s vicinity. She’d managed to wiggle under Coop’s skin but good. So there was no way Luis was going to let him off the hook.

Midday Wednesday

Cooper looked up at the knock on his door. He’d been holed up in his office working for most of the morning.

“Come in,” he said.

It was Celeste, standing in his doorway now a tray in her hand—his lunch. Alex usually left it on a tray for him to pick up, so he could bring it back to his office and eat it while he worked. Today Celeste had taken it upon herself to deliver it to him. He checked his watch. Yep, it was eleven thirty, his regularly scheduled lunchtime.

“Alex asked me to bring you your lunch. He said you sometimes forget to eat. He thinks you work too hard. It didn’t make sense to let it go cold when I was free to bring it to you,” she said, releasing a string of chatter as she made her way over to his desk. He moved his paperwork aside, and she walked around his desk, standing next to him, a little closer than necessary, he noticed. He sat back in his chair and watched as she placed the tray on his desk.

“Alex is a great cook,” she said, picking up the napkin. She opened it and handed it to him.

“Chef,” he said, correcting her.

“Chef,” she said, smiling.

“Thanks, but I can take it from here,” he said.

“Sure,” she said, and moved away. “So things really turned out like you wanted them, I guess. The Brewpub seems to be just as you’d dreamed. You should be really proud of yourself,” she said, taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

“It did. I am,” he said.

“Was it hard getting to this point? You were so determined to get started after we returned to the States,” she said, sitting in the chair, tucking her hands under her body, all shy, cute. He used to think she was the prettiest thing, sitting like that, waiting for him to finish work. He was so past being the dude who had found those traits and mannerism appealing.

“Yes,” he said.

“What would you attribute your success to?” she said.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Here, bringing my lunch, asking me questions,” he said.

“I was just curious. I hoped we might be friends again,” she said.

“Maybe another time. I need to get back to work,” he said.

“Sure, sure,” she said, standing up.

“Thank you for the delivery,” he said, following her as she made her way to the door. “But I’ll pick it up from here on out. Okay?”

“Sure. I was just trying to help. Really, just trying to help,” she said, walking quickly through the door.

Kendall took a seat at the table. She was hungry and thirsty from this morning’s activities. It had been a let’s-get-physical day, working with Myra over at the state park. They’d missed bingo and headed straight to the Brewpub afterwards, and she was tired—and did she say hungry and thirsty? She looked around the room.
Where’s Barnabus?
she wondered.

People, she’d learned, voluntarily worked at the state park. Her aunt was one of the many who spent their time in service to it, some even spent their vacations working there—weeks at a time, no less. Who knew?
Why?
had been her first thought, but she’d kept her mouth shut and worked and learned that the park was a pretty cool place to hang out and a pretty cool place to spend a vacation. It was beautiful and tranquil, and she understood the pull more as the morning wore on.

She’d driven her little cart around, taking in the sights and sounds of the park as she cleaned out bathrooms. She’d been assigned to work with this older couple, Francisco and his wife, Rita, retirees who were up here from El Paso. Kendall had left Myra behind at the gate, taking money in exchange for entry permits and maps.

“Hey, Myra, Professor, you ladies are looking really nice this afternoon. Think you might like to try one of our beers today, Professor, or will it be tea again?” Cooper asked, smiling at her.

“No, thanks, Barnabus,” Kendall said, wondering who this friendly man was.

“You should try the honey wheat ale. I bet you’d like that,” the Colonel offered.

“Tea’s fine,” Kendall said.

“Tea it is. Your wish is my command,” Cooper said.

“Laying it on a little thick, don’t you think, Barnabus?” she said, placing heavy emphasis on the
Barnabus
.

“No, just being nice. Myra’s enjoying your visit, and I want you to know how happy we all are to have you here,” he said as he walked away.

“Thanks,” Kendall said, eyeing him like he was up to something. The tack he was taking was about a 180-degree turnaround from yesterday.

“See, he can be nice,” Myra said.

“He sure can,” the Colonel chimed in. Kendall rolled her eyes, smiled, and scanned the room for him again. He was standing at the bar. He caught her eye and winked at her. She stared back at him, fighting a smile. He knew it, and he laughed. She turned away quickly before she joined him. Okay, so Barnabus was trotting out his nice act. Jekyll and Hyde had nothing on him, and what was she going to do with Barnabus-the-nice?

Later on that evening, Kendall and Myra sat in the back room of Myra’s house, watching some TV. Well, Myra was watching and knitting, her fingers flying through a scarf she was starting. Kendall had zoned out hours ago, her thoughts focused on Barnabus and everything that had happened since her arrival. She was nowhere near as irritated as she’d been. Barnabus and his teasing were working, softening the last bit of her resistance. A person could only be angry for so long—at least that was true for her. Lark was the only person she knew who could hold on to a grudge forever.

Honestly, she could understand Cooper’s reasoning, his need to question her and look out for her aunt, and in some ways she appreciated that someone cared enough to take care of her aunt, particularly since Uncle George’s death. Outside of Vivian, Kendall, and Lark, her aunt had no family left. So yes, she appreciated Barnabus-the-protector. Not that she’d let him know that, at least not yet, but she was back to considering him again, back to wanting to play golf with him, followed by…probably not her smartest idea, but really, why not?

Cooper pulled into Myra’s drive. He was here because it was where he usually spent his Wednesday evenings, hanging out and watching TV with her, and today he’d have the pleasure of seeing the professor, his new preoccupation. She’d been on his mind way more that she should have, and way more than he would have thought possible.