Page 30 of A Bright Winter Season

“Cooper, it’s time to leave.”

Cooper threw his head back, laughing. “Right this second? Come on, Alexis, you’re interrupting our date night.”

“You see Julia every day. You’re paying your babysitter by the hour. Go home.”

Cooper and Julia walked to the door together, chuckling, where Cooper put on his hat and coat.

“Well, Alexis, I look forward to getting the full report of this tomorrow,” Cooper said. “Julia tells me everything, you know.”

“That’s whatyouthink.” Julia winked at him.

She and Cooper exchanged one more kiss, and then he left, waving goodbye and still laughing.

“Okay.” Julia hurried back over to the couch and sat down cross-legged across from Alexis. “What do you need to talk with me about?”

“Hazel.”

“What about Hazel?”

“Hazel and Jacob.”

Julia leaned her face forward into a pillow, groaning. “Alexis! I’m going to call my boyfriend and tell him to come back. Hazel can’t be with Jacob, he’s dating someone else. We already knew that.”

Alexis shook her head. “We don’t know that. And I need you to help me figure it out.”

Julia’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, we need to figure out if Jacob is single or not. Because I have reason to believe that he is.”

“What reason?” Julia hugged the pillow, looking interested.

“Well, for one, nobody’s seen him with his girlfriend in a long time.”

“Nobody? How many people have you asked?”

“Well, nobody as in me and Mom. But you haven’t seen them together lately either, have you?”

Julia shook her head laughing. “Oh my word, Alexis. But I have to admit, you’re right. I haven’t either. But I don’t like this idea. I don’t want to get Hazel’s hopes up about Jacob all over again. She’s been doing so well, enjoying being independent.”

“So we don’t tell her unless we know for sure. Or maybe we don’t tell her at all for a while, and let fate do its thing. But I need to know. Because I saw him smiling at her the other day, and I could have sworn there was a spark there.”

“That’s the other reason why you think he’s single, huh?”

“Mmhmm. The chemistry between the two of them was just gorgeous. Rom-com worthy. We need to find out if he is still with his girlfriend or not!”

Julia sighed. “I just don’t know that we should really be doing this. It’s none of our business.”

“Hey.” Alexis leaned forward and poked Julia in the shoulder. “You’ve been looking for valuable tasks to set your mind on. This is certainly a valuable task! Hazel finding a wonderful man she could grow old together with.”

“Slow down there, fearless leader.”

“I’m your leader, huh? So you’re in?”

Julia laughed and groaned. “Yes. Fine. Now you’ve got me all curious and invested too. I did always think that he and Hazel would be amazing together.”

“Perfect!” Alexis grinned and grabbed a fistful of popcorn from a half-eaten bowl that was resting on the coffee table. “Let’s stalk all his social media accounts.”

Laughing, the sisters flopped back on the couch and began to search through Jacob’s Instagram and Facebook.

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