Page 16 of Cocky Cruiser

“Naturally.”

“So, my brother and her exchanged some verbal jabs before he took it upon himself to pay for the bobblehead. He handed her the bag and walked out. Both of them thought that was the end of it, but fate had other plans.”

“What happened?” Cohen asked. He seemed genuinely interested in my story, which made me like him more.

“Well, they both got in their vehicles, about to go their separate ways, but my brother’s motorcycle wouldn’t start. Aubrey thought that was hilarious and was laughing at him as she watched him in her rear-view mirror. He came up to her window and confronted her about her laughing at his misfortune, then pointed out that one of her back tires was flat.”

Cohen laughed. “Are you shitting me?”

I chuckled. The story was still funny to me even years later. “No. So that’s when Chance propositioned her. He offered to change her flat tire in exchange for her driving him the rest of the way to California since they were both going there. Now they’re married and have an adorable son together.”

“Wow. That’s a crazy story.”

I nodded. “I didn’t even tell you about the goat.”

Cohen’s eyebrows flew up. “A goat? How does a goat fit into a cross-country road trip?”

“They almost ran over a goat on the highway and ended up adopting it. They still have it to this day.”

Cohen laughed. “That’s amazing. What a great story to tell their kids and grand-kids.”

I glanced back down at Cara’s list, smiling. “Yeah.” I couldn’t help but wonder if something like what happened with Chance and Aubrey could happen with Cohen and me. I quickly pushed the thought aside. “So, what tattoo did she get?”

Cohen smiled, making his dimples appear. “An elephant. She loved elephants, hence the elephant sanctuary item.”

“Do you mind me asking some questions about her? I’ll understand if you don’t.”

Cohen rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture I knew Chance did when he was nervous. “I’ve been avoiding talking about her since she died. It sounds stupid, but for some reason, not talking about her made her death less real.” He shook his head with a humorless chuckle. “But I need to face the fact that she’s gone and that the only way to keep her memory alive is to talk about her. So, no, I don’t mind.”

“Okay,” I grinned, excited to learn more about Cohen and his life. “What was she like?”

He sighed, a whimsical smile tipping up his lips. “For starters, she was so full of life, especially for someone who was dying. She always saw the good in every situation and could put a smile on anyone’s face.”

“She sounds awesome. How old was she?”

“She was twenty-seven when she died.”

My chest tightened. She was too young to die. I was thirty, and I’d barely even lived yet. I cleared the lump that had formed in my throat before I asked, “How did she pass?”

“She had cystic fibrosis. She was diagnosed when she was four and spent most of her life in a hospital. She ended up getting a nasty lung infection which caused her to go into respiratory failure.”

“Oh, God, that’s awful. I’m so sorry, Cohen.” I handed the list back to him. “It’s really sweet of you to finish her list for her.”

“I promised her I would, no matter how long it took me.” He looked down at the paper again. “So many of these things involved seeing the world, something she could never do. She always had a high risk of getting an infection, so it was too dangerous. But if the doctors and my parents would’ve let her, I’m sure she would have tried.”

A small smile tipped my lips as he chuckled softly. Cohen’s love for his little sister was evident in how he talked about her and how adamant he was about completing her list.

“Doing this is an amazing way to honor her,” I praised. Learning about Cara and her list made Cohen infinitely more attractive, and I really hoped something happened between us. But I definitely wouldn’t be the one to make the first move knowing how important and sentimental the trip was to him.

“I’ll be able to check a bunch of things off this list after this cruise,” Cohen stated, grinning proudly.

I smiled at him. “I’ll help you any way I can.”

Cohen’s eyes met mine. Butterflies filled my stomach as we stared at each other for several moments, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was thinking the same thing I was; about the last item on the list.

Then the moment was broken as he cleared his throat, darting his eyes away. “Thank you.” Folding Cara’s list back up, he stood and tucked it in his back pocket. “Let’s go look at the rest of the excursions.”

My heart sank a little. I was afraid Cohen wouldn’t act on the obvious connection between us for fear of complicating things on the cruise. I hoped he knew I would never get in the way of his task, even if our relationship progressed into something more. “Okay.”

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