Page 57 of My Return to the Walter Boys
My heart dropped. “And how did Cole respond?”
“He didn’t,” Alex said. “Nick’s to-go order was called right after, so he excused himself. Cole left as soon as he was gone.”
***
The door to the art studio stayed shut all Saturday long. Cole didn’t even emerge at mealtimes to eat, not that I was looking for him. He knew he’d messed up. What other reason did he have to avoid me on his day off?
Now that I’d had time to process what happened, Cole’s behavior didn’t shock me. He had a track record of lashing out or forgetting basic human decency when something upset him. I was, however, confused. How could he proclaim himself my boyfriend one minute and ditch me without a word the next? Usually, I understood the whys of his temper tantrums even when they made me want to tear my hair out, but I couldn’t for the life of me pin down his motivation in this instance. Did it have something to do with what Nick said? The mystery of it ate at me, which only fueled my anger, but I didn’t get an answer until late in the evening.
Just as I was climbing into bed, a knock sounded on the door. When I yanked it open, Cole was standing on the other side wearing hiking boots and a corduroy sherpa jacket. His gaze instantly dropped to the hem of my sleep shorts.
“Nice jammies, Jackie,” he teased, and my lip curled at the sight of his obnoxious smirk. If he wasn’t careful, I was going to smack it straight off his face.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“For you to change into warm clothes. We’re going somewhere special, but it’s cold outside.”
His audacity made my blood boil. “What makes you think I’ll go anywhere with you?”
Cole sighed as if I was being difficult for no reason, then moveddirectly into my personal space. If not for the extra foot he had on me, our noses would have brushed. He leaned down, his lips ghosting across my ear, and whispered, “Because even though you’re mad at me, I still make your heart race.”
I hated that he was right—despite everything, I could feel the treacherous organ slamming against my chest like a caged animal—but it didn’t mean I had to put up with his crap. “Good night, Cole,” I said curtly, taking a step away from him.
“C’mon, Jackie.” He stuck his foot between the door and the frame to stop me from closing it. “Don’t be like that.”
My eyes narrowed into slits. “Don’t be like what? Upset because you abandoned me? Or angry because you’re acting like nothing happened?”
He deflated under my gaze. “I screwed up, okay?” All his earlier bravado dwindled, and without the nonchalant act, the bags under his eyes became obvious, but lack of sleep wouldn’t earn my forgiveness. His miserable excuse for a confession didn’t move the needle either.
“That’s not good enough,” I told him.
“I didn’t plan on leaving,” he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “It just happened.”
I let out a sharp laugh. Honestly, how wasthatany better?
Parker, who up until now had been trying to sleep, exhaled loudly and pushed herself into a sitting position. “Seriously, Cole? Did you leave your brain behind at the pub too? That’s the only reason I can think of for why you’re being such a numbskull.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You’re digging yourself a deeper hole, dummy. Less excuses, more groveling.” Parker muttered something under her breath about boys not having any brain cells as she flopped back against her pillow.
“Yeah,” I said, lifting my chin. “What she said.”
Cole briefly considered his sister’s words before taking her advice to heart and dropping to his knees. He blinked up at me with sad, remorseful eyes, but after a moment, they lit with mischief, and I knew whatever came out of his mouth next would be ridiculous.
“Oh, benevolent goddess—”
The rest of his sentence was drowned out by Parker’s groan. “Somewhere else, please?”
Sighing dejectedly, I went over to my dresser and rifled through the top drawer for a pair of thick socks. Next, I retrieved the jeans I’d worn today from my hamper. Both of Cole’s sweatshirts hung on a hook near the door, but I reached for my jacket out of spite. I instructed him to wait in the hall, which he obeyed immediately, scrambling to his feet and backing out of the room so I could change. When I reemerged, there was a stupid grin on his face.
“Don’t give me that look,” I said before sweeping past him and moving toward the stairs, determined to get this over with so I could return to bed. I was only caving out of consideration for Parker, not because I forgave Cole. He kept up a constant stream of apologies as he trailed after me, but I ignored every one of them. They would be meaningless until I received an explanation, but Cole refused toelaborate. Apparently, he’d planned a date for us to make up for last night’s debacle, and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise.
I focused on appearing apathetic as I climbed into the truck. Once the engine roared to life, however, Cole pulled onto a narrow path that barely counted as a road instead of heading down the driveway, and I couldn’t squash my curiosity. I glanced around in hopes of figuring out our destination, but it was too dark to see much of anything. Despite my piqued interest, I kept my mouth shut as Cole drove us clear across the ranch until we reached a forest on the edge of the Walters’ property.
After parking beside the wall of towering pines and grabbing a drawstring bag from the back seat, Cole led me over to a game trail I wouldn’t have found in the daylight, let alone in the middle of the night. No sooner had we stepped into the swath of trees than we were swallowed up by darkness. I took out my phone, but even with its flashlight illuminating the dirt path, I kept tripping over roots and getting caught in the underbrush. I stumbled after Cole for fifteen minutes before losing my patience.
“How much farther?” I asked through gritted teeth, then promptly pitched forward as my shoe caught on a rock.
