Page 98 of Summer Nights

"Yeah, his baby is due any minute now, and Oakley's going back and forth on whether he should be in the delivery room. He wants to be there, but it's her decision."

I rested a hand on my belly, knowing I'd want Cooper next to me. I couldn't imagine doing this on my own. "I hope they can figure something out before she goes into labor."

Cooper leaned a hip against the counter. "Yeah. Me too."

I arranged the crackers and cheese on a plate, waiting for him to say what was on his mind.”

Cooper sighed. "I did something. I don't think you're going to be happy about it."

"What did you do?" I asked, unable to imagine he could do anything to upset me, other than disappear from my life.

"I hired a private investigator to find your father."

I lowered the cracker I was holding to the plate, suddenly not hungry. "Why did you do that?"

"I thought you deserved to know what happened to him. You've believed your entire life that he left you. That he didn't want anything to do with you."

I winced because that was my takeaway. "That doesn't mean I want to talk to him or hear what he has to say."

It was his turn to flinch. "I know I should have talked to you first, but I thought you'd say no."

I shook my head. "That was my decision to make. You shouldn't have gone behind my back."

"Hudson said you'd react like this."

Anger flashed through me, hot and heavy. "My father is my business. I get to make decisions regarding him, and I never had any intention of looking for him."

"I wanted to protect you." His voice tore through me.

I placed my hands on my hips. "Explain how searching for my father protects me?"

"I wanted to give you closure. If he could tell you that he never meant to leave you?—"

"Or he confirms everything I've thought about him all my life. He never wanted me, and I wasn't worth sticking around for." The pain sliced through me as if he'd struck me with a knife.

Cooper's jaw tightened. "Do you want to know what he said?"

"You talked to him?" He found my father. The man who'd been suspiciously absent my entire life. If it was so easy to find him, why hadn't he been here all along?

He nodded. "I spoke to him this morning."

"That's why you left so early. But you're already back. That means he's not far from here."

Cooper's expression was serious. "That's true."

Tears sparked under my lids. I hated that my father made me this emotional. I wanted to blame it on the hormones, but this was a lot for anyone to handle. "I don't think I want to hear what he said. I can't bear it." I moved past Cooper, grabbing my key and purse from the table by the door. I slid my feet into flip-flops.

"Wait," Cooper said, moving after me. "There's more."

I held up my hand, not wanting to hear anything else. "I can't hear it right now."

"Will you let me know where you are? And that you're safe?" Cooper's voice was anguished.

I'll text you."

"Thank you."

I opened the door.

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