Page 43 of Honey Bee Library
“This is where I live,” Cole said as he kept his gaze forward.
“Why are you in Harmony if you have this?” The question blurted from my lips before I could police them. My cheeks heated as the memory of Cole telling me to mind my own business surfaced in my mind. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Cole flicked his gaze over at me. “For what?”
I shrugged, trying to remain nonchalant. “I know you don’t want me to ask about your life or your past.” I tapped my finger against my forehead. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”
When he didn’t answer right away, I peeked over at him. His hand was wrapped around the steering wheel as he stared at the road, his jaw muscles tight. Just when I’d resigned myself to thinking that I’d royally screwed up everything, he glanced over at me once more. “You want to know?” His expression was daring as he stared at me.
Part of me wanted to shake my head and tell him no. I feared what getting to know him would do to me. When I thought Cole was just some rich guy coming in to take over my diner, I could hate him. But if there was more to him? A depth that explained why he’d suddenly appeared and turned my life on its head? I was certain I wouldn’t be able to come back from that.
I was getting in deeper than I wanted, especially when I knew the inevitable outcome of all of this was Cole walking away from Harmony…forever.
But the words didn’t come. Instead, I just nodded and whispered, “Okay.”
He held my gaze before he nodded and flipped on his blinker. After a quick stop at a drive-through to get me a hamburger, we got back on the highway. The car was quiet while Cole drove about twenty minutes down the road. He slowed as he took a left into the parking lot of a large building.
Affixed to the side of it was a sign that read,Seabreeze Memory Lodge. Confused, I glanced over at him, but he didn’t look at me. Instead, he parked and turned off the engine. I unbuckled but paused when Cole didn’t move to get out. We sat in silence for a moment before he turned to face me.
“Come with me?” he whispered.
I nodded. “Okay.” Then I glanced back at Jasper. “What about?—”
“He can come, too.”
I motioned for Jasper to get out of Cole’s car, and thankfully, he didn’t protest. I gathered my drink cup and empty to-go bag before I pulled open the passenger door and climbed out. Jasper and I stayed a pace behind Cole as he walked across the parking lot and through the sliding doors that led inside.
We waited while Cole spoke to the receptionist, who smiled at me after Cole signed us in. I gave her a soft smile as Cole waved for us to follow him. We headed down the hallway to the left and then stopped as Cole lingered outside the last door.
I wasn’t sure how long we stood there. I could tell that Cole was struggling, but I didn’t know who we were here to see or why. So I just held onto Jasper, who was starting to get antsy from waiting. Cole finally reached out and rested his hand on the doorknob. Just when I thought he was going to turn it, the door suddenly opened from the inside.
Startled, Cole stepped back, so Jasper and I did as well. A nurse was exiting the room and didn’t see us until she had stepped out, pulling the door shut behind her.
“Whoa,” she said, her eyes as wide as saucers. “Are you here to see Georgianna?”
Cole nodded.
The nurse glanced between me and Cole. “We just got her settled. She’s ready when you are.”
When Cole didn’t say anything, she turned her attention to me. She looked expectant, so I just smiled and said, “Thank you.”
That seemed to appease her. She nodded and brought the clipboard she was carrying up to rest at her side before she hurried down the hallway.
Now alone, I glanced over at Cole, who was staring at the door again.
Thankfully, he didn’t linger long. We only waited for a few seconds before he turned the doorknob and pushed open the door.
The room was dark. The sun peeking through the cracks in the drawn shades was the only light in the room. I kept Jasper’s back pressed to me in an effort to keep him from sprinting off as we followed Cole deeper into the room. A frail, elderly woman lay on a bed with her eyes closed. Her face was bruised, and her arm was wrapped in a sling at her chest. I heard Cole suck in his breath, and when I glanced over, my heart ached at the pain etched on his face.
“Gran,” he whispered as he approached the bed. His hand found hers and he held onto it.
She must have heard him because her eyes fluttered open. The glassy look she gave him reminded me of Harold’s grandmother when she was suffering from dementia. “Leonard?” she asked as she tried to sit up straighter in the bed. But with one bandaged arm, she couldn’t quite get the right leverage.
“Gran, Gran.” Cole leaned forward and wrapped his hands around her shoulders. “It’s me, Cole.”
I was starting to put the pieces together. This woman obviously had a form of dementia and thought that Cole was someone else.
“No, no, you’re Leonard,” she said as she shook her head, but stopped fighting him to sit up.
