Page 15 of Cooper's Salvation
Heaving another heavy sigh, she shook her head. “Not now. I need a little time to process everything that’s happened here tonight.” Kara looked down at the card she held in the other hand, her thoughts running rampant. Who was this man, and how did he fit into her mother’s life?
Rising from the chair, Cooper held out a hand to her. Kara placed hers into his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. “Come on then, sweetheart. I think we can safely skip the social portion of tonight’s event. Let’s get you home.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a really good plan.” His hand wrapped tightly around hers, she allowed him to lead her from the room and out into the quiet evening, the card still clutched firmly in the other one.
* * *
For such an innocuousrectangle of cardboard, the business card held all the threat of a predator about to attack lying on her office desk. Every time Kara sat at the desk, it mocked her. She’d been staring at it for two days and was no closer to deciding what she wanted to do.
She’d been debating with herself whether to message him so he’d have her number and let him choose the day and time. Back and forth she bounced between doing that and just throwing the damn thing away. She picked it up, turning it over, then over again, before she finally came to a decision.
Before she could change her mind,yet again, Kara dashed off a quick message to the colonel telling him to pick a time and place and she’d be there. The indecision had been driving her crazy, and now she’d taken action, she felt better. Rather than obsess over receiving an answer, Kara got to her feet and headed for the door.
An incoming message notification had her stopping in her tracks. Her heart beat faster. No longer sure she’d done the right thing, Kara went back to her desk. She stared at the phone lying there but couldn’t seem to make her hand move to pick up the offending instrument.
For God’s sake woman, grow a backbone. Just pick the damn phone up.
A deep breath to fortify herself, she blew it out and reached for the cell. Unlocking it, she read the message and felt her adrenalin kick in. The text asked if she would meet him for lunch that day. Could she? Was she ready? Probably as ready as she was ever likely to be.
Not giving herself time to overthink it, she quickly shot off a short reply agreeing to meet at the little coffee shop down the block from her clinic. Throwing the phone back on the desk she dashed out of her office and into a brick wall. At least that’s what it felt like.
“Whoa there, speed racer. Where’s the fire at?”
“Cooper.”
“That would be me, yeah. Where are you headed in such a rush?”
Kara blushed. She was loath to admit she was running away from the tiny device. Well, to be fair to herself, what she was running from was bigger than that. Still didn’t mean she wanted to admit to it out loud.
“Um, I was just about to go see if I had any patients waiting.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “I’ve just come from there. It’s quiet. But I’m sure Darby would have let you know if you had one.”
Changing the subject, Kara asked, “What brings you by?”
“I popped in to see if you had time for lunch, and since the waiting room is empty, I guess you do.” Her grinned at her.
“Actually, I don’t.” The words came out sounding harsh. She hadn’t intended them to come out like that, but in her nervousness, she’d blurted the words out.
The grinned disappeared. “Sorry. That was presumptuous of me. No harm, no foul. We can do it another time.” He turned to leave.
“Cooper, wait.” He stopped but didn’t turn back around. “It’s me who should apologize.” Kara rubbed a hand over her face tiredly. “Come into my office and let me explain?”
This time he pivoted toward her. He indicated for her to precede him into the room. Kara waited for him to enter, closing the door behind him. Walking over to her desk, she picked up her phone again, opened it to her text exchange with Colonel Rollins, and handed it to Cooper.
Both eyebrows rose as he read the short exchange. His gaze lifted to hers, and for a long, uncomfortable moment, he regarded her wordlessly. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes. No. I – damn it.” Kara paused to consider her words. “No, I’m not sure about this, but I need to know what he wants to talk to me about. Maybe he can tell me about my mom. It’s been so long, and I was so young; I don’t remember much about her. That hurts. Memories are all I have of her.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“I – you’d do that for me?”
“Of course I would. If it’s important to you, I’ll go along if it’ll make you feel more comfortable with this.”
“That would be great. Thank you, Cooper.”
He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “No problem.”
