Page 25 of One-of-a-Kind Bride

“Well, maybe you will one day. There’s still time. The season just started.”

“You can come to my game, Taylor.”

“Oh, uh…” She didn’t quite have a comeback for that. Cassie caught her off guard.

“It’s on Sunday,” Cassie said. “At three o’clock. Right, Daddy?”

“Yes, but, Cass, Taylor probably has a hundred things to do for the wedding. I think she’d be too busy to come.”

“You’re not too busy, are you?” Cassie asked, hope radiating from her eyes.

“I, uh…” She looked at Coop, then back as his adorable daughter. Taylor didn’t want to let the girl down. She didn’t want to see pain in her eyes or disappointment. She’d probably had her share of that since losing her mother. “Sure, I can come. I’d love for my first baseball game to be with your team.” She pumped her fist. “Go Tigers.”

Cassie clapped her hands several times, her face beaming. “Promise?”

Taylor thought about it a second. “Yes, I can promise you that. I’ll be there, Cassie.”

“Yay! My daddy…I mean Coach says we always have to try our best, but I’ll play extra hard. ’Cause it’s your first game and all.”

“I appreciate that, Cassie.”

Coop handed his daughter her hard hat. “Why don’t you wait for me in the truck, sweetheart? I’ll be right out.”

“Okay,” she said and Coop kept his eyes on her until the front door closed behind her.

Then he turned his intense blue gaze on her. “It’s nice of you to do all this for Cassie. But you don’t have to come. Cassie will understand.”

“I’ll find time,” she said, tilting her head as another thought entered her mind. “Unless you don’t want me there?”

“Why wouldn’t I want you there? I mean…it makes no difference to me if you come or not.” He twisted his face. “That came out wrong. Look, all I’m saying is that you’re not obligated to do anything for us.”

“I know that,” she snapped. “You’re acting as if we weren’t friends once.”

“I’m not acting. We’re not friends now. We don’t know each other anymore.”

“So, that erases everything in our past?”

“No, but—”

“But what? You’re still blaming me for our breakup?”

He jerked his head back, as if she’d slapped him. Which, she wasn’t going to lie, the thought did cross her mind.

“It has nothing to do with that. It’s just Cassie. She’s vulnerable and she gets things in her head sometimes. I don’t want to see her hurt.”

“I’d never hurt her, Ryan Cooper.” She breathed the words out in a whisper, from the very depth of her soul. His accusation really stung. “Why would you think that?”

He took a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t want her to get the wrong idea about the two of us.”

“Us? Why would she? As far as she knows, we were once good friends.”

Coop clamped his mouth shut, like he used to do when he knew a secret and wouldn’t tell. Obviously, that trait stayed with him to adulthood. Something was up, but she wouldn’t get it out of him, not judging by the stubborn set of his jaw.

“Coop?”

“What?”

“I’m going upstairs to work on Cassie’s dress. Unless you have an objection to that?”

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