Page 18 of Cole

Cole chuckled as he gave Benji a salute through the screen. “How’s it going, Benji, my man?”

“Good!” Benji’s grin broadened. “How are you?”

“I’m doing just fine.”

“So, why are you…” Benji pointed between Annie and the phone. “This is just a bit weird. Last thing I expected to see.”

“Cole placed an order for some items from my shop, and I needed to clarify a couple of things with him.”

“That’s cool.” Benji glanced at Annie. “Are you going to come for lunch before we go?”

Annie nodded. “I just need to finish up a few more things. What time are we supposed to be there?”

“Two.”

“Oh, we have plenty of time.”

“I should let you go so that you can get what you need done,” Cole said. “Been a pleasure chatting.”

“Have you seen Amelia skate, Cole?” Benji asked.

“No. I can’t say I have.”

“We could call you on video chat so you could watch her practice this afternoon,” Benji offered as Annie finished packing Cole’s order. “I mean, unless you have something else going on.”

“Nope. That would be cool.”

“So we’ll call you around two,” Benji said.

“Sounds good. And Annie, thanks for the order.”

“It’ll go out in the mail this afternoon, so hopefully you’ll have it shortly.”

“Perfect.”

After the call ended, Benji gave her a look. His brows arched, but to his credit, he didn’t say anything.

“Let me finish up here, then I’ll come down to the house,” Annie said as she removed her phone from the holder.

Annie tried not to think about her conversation with Cole, because to do so felt like giving it too much weight. And she wasn’t in a position in her life to allow the small crush she already had on Cole to deepen into anything more.

Because while her dad was giving her a tiny bit more freedom, if she even hinted at wanting to be in a relationship with someone who had such a high-profile life, he would definitely step in. And she didn’t want that.

CHAPTER FIVE

Cole made himself a couple of sandwiches while he waited for the promised call to watch Amelia practice. He’d been so focused on his career that he knew very little about his nieces and nephews.

His recent time home had made him feel a little convicted about how distant he’d been from his family over the years since graduating from high school. These were people who’d supported him through all his growing-up years.

Because of the span of their ages, most of his siblings had been established in their adult lives when he’d been in high school, yet they’d still found time to support him. They’d come to his games and cheered him on. Whenever they’d gotten together for family dinners, his siblings had always spent time talking to him.

Once he’d left Serenity for college and then moved on to his career, Jay had been the one most still involved in his life, but his other siblings always sent him congrats on wins. He hadn’t been as good about congratulating them on incredible things happening in their lives. Like the births of their children.

But he was alive, so there was still time to make up for his lack of involvement over the past decade.

He took his food and drink out to the large patio, which overlooked the swimming pool. There were times when his expansive backyard was full of people, partying and having a good time.

That hadn’t been the case for several months, however.

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