I slide the phone back into my pocket, knowing Cooper won’t answer for a bit since he’s currently getting fit for a crown. Holland’s back straightens in hopeful surprise at my offer.
“There’s a pool, right?” she asks. “I could really go swimming right now. Feel weightless in this bloated body for once.”
I hold back a snort and nod, handing off the bill to the waitress when she walks by. Holland and I have a trade-off system, and it’s my turn to pay. Usually she’s a little more frugal with her menu choice, but I was happy to see that she finally indulged in both an appetizer and an entrée.
Her wince is back, and she runs a hand over her stomach and holds her side, breathing as if she’s in the third trimester and not the first.
“You sure you’re all right?”
She nods at the table. “Promise. I’m not bleeding. I’ve read that this is completely normal.”
Her words are in total contradiction to her tone, and after the pain passes she shakes her head at the empty food tray in front of her. “Damn it, don’t tell Warren that he’s probably right about my food intake. Next time I’ll lay off the grease.”
I chuckle, hoping that the action erases the unsettling feeling I have digging a hole in my gut. The waitress hands me back my card and wishes us a good rest of the day, and I shake myself into taking Holland’s word over her health. She already has one worrywart hovering over her; she definitely doesn’t need another.
My phone goes off just as I’m adding up the tip, and I let my brow pull in as I read the message.
“Cooper’s done early,” I relay to my friend. “I better get him back to his place and I’ll see you there tonight?”
“Yes,” Holland says on an exhale. “Thank you. Another night alone and I will go stir crazy.”
I laugh, humoring her, but also stocking yet another tidbit away as ammunition when Cooper has me near ready to commit to him. Warren’s been working so much lately that he’s mostly gone and when he is around he’s too exhausted to be entertaining company. I feel for my friend, and I give her a tight hug before parting. Yes, both of us could use a night to give our heads a break.
***
“Wheeeeeeeeeew!” Cooper hollers, pressing the down button on the passenger window of his precious truck. He stops it halfway down and then grins in stupid fascination as he rolls it back up.
“Someone’s enjoying their laughing gas,” I say, trying not to get too distracted by him as he tests all the buttons within arms’ reach.
“Did you know,” he says forcing a serious look on his droopy lips, “that my first client was a used car place?”
“I did not.”
“Yeah.” His eyes widen. “They paid us five hundred bucks to shoot a commercial. We couldn’t hire actors so Robbie and I did it.” He leans in further as if it’s a big secret he’s been keeping from me. “It was a local commercial that someone messed up in the schedule or something, and it aired during the Super Bowl. Wham bam boom, now I’m a billionaire. You knew that, right?”
“I am your realtor,” I say, biting back my laughter.
“Mmm,” he mutters, smile tilting his lips as much as it can through the Novocaine. His head falls against the headrest and he taps the ceiling of the cab. “Funny… people tell me I have it all. But I don’t have what I want. Can’t exactly buy a wife and kids.”
“Sure you can,” I tease, nudging him with my elbow. “You could probably throw a rock and find what you’re looking for. You’re a billionaire, easy on the eyes, funny, smart, charming, witty. You’re basically the whole package. I’m surprised you haven’t taken the first girl to come a knockin’ and slap a ring on her.”
“Maybe I’m looking for the whole package, too. Someone funny, witty, easy on the eyes, doesn’t care about my money, preferably because she makes her own. She’s content, strong, and smart, and I don’t want to spend a day without her. I don’t want just any wife and kids. I wantmywife and kids.”
How is he so profound while he’s high as a kite? Perhaps some of that laughing gas has made its way over to me, because while a sentence like that would normally have sent me running, I almost feel like clinging on to him, hoping to prove myself worthy of just one of those qualities he’s searching for.
He lets out a long sigh and rolls his head toward me. “If only you were up for the job. People think I’m lucky?” He snorts. “I’d give up every penny just for the chance at a future with you.”
Yes, he’s definitely reached the nonsensical point in his pain medication. “Okay,” I tell him, pulling up to the house and shutting the truck off, “I think it’s time for a nap. Your tongue is starting to run away with you.”
“I thought you liked that.” He waggles a pair of suggestive eyebrows, and I fail at keeping my laughter at bay.
“Come on.” I help him from the truck, his weight having an arousing effect on me as he drapes an arm over my shoulder. My hand holds onto his waist, and I can’t help but appreciate the muscle under my fingers even with him resting his head on mine and gazing at me as if I’m something to be treasured.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs as we step up the front porch. “I like this freckle you have right here.”
His finger presses into my cheekbone much harder than I expect, and I jerk back with a laugh. We get inside and I take one look at the staircase and opt to set him down in the sitting room instead. Heflumpsdown into the cushions, laughing as he does so. His cheeks are puffy and his eyes are crossed. He looks out of his mind, and yet I still find him sexy as hell.
“Time to sleep this off, my friend,” I say, pulling a woven blanket up over his shoulders. As entertaining as he is, I hope the effects have worn off by the time Holland gets here. I’m already worried about Cooper’s lack of filter while he’s sober; I can’t imagine the ribbing I’ll get if his laughing gas pairs up with my best friend of ten plus years.