Page 47 of Just Like Home

He faced her. “Can we be done now? I’ve really got nothing else to say to you.”

“Look, I just wanted to call a truce. We’re both here this summer, so—”

“Yeah, why is that?” Cole asked. “Why are you back here?”

Gemma looked shocked, as if it had never occurred to her that coming back to Harbor Pointe might not be the best idea. “I’ve spent my summers here since I was a kid.”

“And you just couldn’t help but come back to flaunt Max in my face?” Cole was beginning to understand the meaning behind the expression about blood boiling. “I live here, Gemma. It’s not a vacation spot for me.”

She held her hands up as if in surrender, and Cole backed away. He hadn’t intended to get that close to her, and he certainly hadn’t intended to raise his voice enough to stop an older couple walking on the other side of the street.

“Look, you bring out the absolute worst in me, Gemma.” Cole took a step back. “I think you need to just stay away.”

“I don’t want you to hate me, Cole,” she said. “You know I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Was she delusional? “What did you think having sex with someone else while we were married was going to do? Make me feel good?”

“We’re both adults, Cole,” Gemma said. “You need to figure out how to let go of me.”

Now Cole did laugh. “You’re absolutely insane if you think there is any part of me still pining away for you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “But you’re still angry.”

He swore under his breath. “I’m going back inside now, Gemma. And it would be great if you’d find somewhere else to eat when you’re here this summer.”

“I can eat wherever I want,” she said.

“Yeah, you can,” Cole said. “But if you have even a shred of decency, you won’t eat here.”

She straightened.

“But I suppose if you had a shred of decency, you wouldn’t have done what you did, now, would you?” Cole stared at her for a long moment, wondering if he’d regret this conversation later.

He started back up the street to the corner, but before he turned, Gemma called out, “Max asked me to marry him.”

Cole stopped, but he didn’t respond.

Gemma faced him now, he heard her turn. “I just thought you should hear it from me.”

He bit back a sarcastic comment and walked away.

16

For days after the meeting at the dance studio, Charlotte busied herself with her morning run, with observing dance classes, with meeting parents—most of whom thanked her profusely for ensuring the kids would have their recital.

She’d managed to stay busy, even without the rigors of a strict dance regimen, and that busyness had allowed her to avoid the thing she really didn’t want to do

But unfortunately, the time of procrastination had come to an end.

Which was why she now sat in the parking lot at the high school, watching from a distance as Cole and another guy barked orders at the boys on the field, boys who all complied with whatever the men told them to do.

She opened her phone and saw a missed call from Marcia. Seconds later, her voicemail alert rang.

She couldn’t deal with her mother. Not now. Not today. She tucked the phone in her purse just in time to see the boys run to the center of the field and huddle up, all eyes on Cole. She had to wonder what the man was saying, considering that he seemed to find it impossible to 1. Talk and 2. Be nice.

But then maybe high school football coaches didn’t have to be nice. Those boys probably all needed a little tough love.

How many dance teachers had she had over the years that subscribed to that tough love method?

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