Page 11 of Hooking the Captain
Sure
Great. I’ll send you the address of where we should meet
A few seconds later, a map with a pin location came through.
Got it. See you soon
Climbing out of bed, I grabbed my clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. The smell of coffee and sausage filled my nose as I stepped into the hall, causing my stomach to growl.
It had been a couple of weeks since I had left Boston, and I was finding the small town of Hartford, Vermont, to be the perfect place to mend my broken heart and get away from everything having to do with my ex and the mess I’d made.
After I finished with my shower and was dressed, I made my way downstairs to the kitchen, where my grandmother stood at the stove while my grandfather sat at the small table drinking a cup of coffee.
“Good morning,” I greeted them as I rushed over to the coffee pot and poured myself a cup.
“Good morning, honey. Breakfast will be ready in a minute,” Grandma advised.
As I took a sip of my coffee, I let out an appreciative moan for the much-needed caffeine boost.
Grandpa chuckled. “Late night?”
“I was home before midnight. But I could hear you snoring when I came in, so I guess you could say it was late,” I teased as I passed him and squeezed his shoulder.
“Stop giving your grandpa a hard time.” Grandma swatted playfully at me with her spatula.
She turned back to the eggs cooking in a pan, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Nope.” She turned off the burner. “Just grab a plate.”
I did as I was told and piled it high with scrambled eggs, sausage, and fried potatoes.
“What’s on your agenda today?” Grandpa asked after Grandma set a plate of food in front of him.
“I think I might go for a hike on Moose Mountain.”
“By yourself?” Grandma inquired.
“Actually, I ended up playing pool with someone last night and they mentioned going on a hike. It sounded like fun.” That wasn’t a total lie. I may have been the one to ask Coop to show me around, but he did bring up hiking. “Unless you need my help around here.”
“Oh, no,” she replied. “You should go have fun.”
Some time with Coop was definitely the kind of fun I was looking forward to.
An hour later,I parked alongside the road near the trailhead and saw Coop standing next to a Ford F-150.
“Nice ride. You got a thing for Fords?” I teased as I stepped beside him.
Coop barked out a laugh. “Maybe. But this one”—he dragged his hand along the side of the vehicle—“is my baby.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Baby, huh?”
He grinned, and I felt my stomach do a little flip. “Yeah, unfortunately, it’s not fun driving around in the busy city. I get to take her off-roading while I’m here.”
“Ah. That makes sense.”
“Ready to do this?” he asked, hooking a thumb toward the entrance to the trail.
While I worked out regularly, I’d looked up the details for the trail and was concerned about keeping up with a professional athlete on the almost two-and-a-half-mile hike. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
