Page 17 of Sneak Attack

“We going for a walk?” The leash dangled in his hand and Bongo’s bark was almost as wild with excitement as his tail was thumping against the wall.

“Sleepover at Grandma B’s. If you want to.”

“Grandma B makes the best cookies!”

Chocolate chip. Sometimes with oatmeal. There wasn’t a cookie my mom made Jasper wouldn’t inhale, and the first thing he always did when getting there whether it’d been a day or a week was to go and check her cookie jar.

“Only one tonight, though, okay?”

“Grandma will give me two.”

I had no doubt she would. Probably let him stay up later than I normally did, too, but since that’d be Selma’s problem in the morning, I’d let her handle it.

“We’ll see what Grandma says, kiddo. Ready?”

“Yes!”

Bongo barked his excited agreement and ran toward the door, jumping and dancing so fast he smushed up the entryway rug into a pinwheel.

“All right. Let’s go then.” I grabbed the cooler of beer and wine I’d thrown together while he was changing earlier and snagged my keys off the counter.

Shuffling Jasper and Bongo into my truck and making sure I had everything else we needed for the night, I decided not to examine too long or too hard the bottle of wine I’d grabbed at the store after practice, or the wine opener and glass I was already preparing to take from my mom’s kitchen before I headed out.

CHAPTER7

COLE

Imight not have known Eden anymore, but I hadn’t been wrong. I stepped through the tree line of my parents’ house, my mom’s knowing look saying a whole lot without words and a whole lot I didn’t want to hear, before she offered me a blanket before I left in case it was cold.

Please. It was August. The humidity alone would have me sweating in a handful of minutes.

Eden had her hair in a braid, draped over her shoulder and a pink tank top hung in two thin straps over her shoulders. She flinched when I crunched on pine needles that littered the forest’s floor but didn’t turn back to me.

“For someone who said it was a mistake for me to be coming back here, I didn’t expect you to seek me out.”

I could have dished out a handful of excuses. That I wasn’t here for her. It was a coincidence, but again—I’d quit lying to others.

“Thought we should talk.”

Her back straightened at that, and she glanced over her shoulder at me before quickly glancing back to the lake. “Maybe I came out here to be alone.”

Probably, but she had to know I’d find her here eventually.

“All right. Then we can have a drink together in silence.”

There was a time when Eden hadn’t liked to be pushed into doing anything. Not sure if that changed, but I didn’t mind a drink in silence.

“Or you can go.”

“You want me to?” I had stepped closer, was a dozen or so feet away from her but stopped when I asked the question.

With a sigh that could have made the leaves tremble in the trees, she shrugged. “You can do whatever you want, Cole. You always did.”

Now that wasn’t fair. There were a lot of things I didn’t do that I’d wanted to.

Break up with Hilary and break her heart our senior year of high school. Get a new girlfriend and throw it in Hilary’s face every day. Kiss the woman currently sitting on the boulder all those times I’d resisted.

Go to Tennessee with her like we’d planned.

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