Coaching His Babygirl by Rory Reynolds
Chapter Thirteen
Melinda
With a broken heart,I check into a hotel. The desk clerk gives me a weird look. I’m guessing they don’t get many people checking in without luggage. Or maybe it’s my red-rimmed and puffy eyes that have him looking at me like that.
My phone rings again, and I once again ignore it. Coop has called at least ten times since the game ended. Maybe I should’ve stuck around for him to explain things, but my fight or flight instincts kicked in, and flight won hands down. I’m definitely at the hide and lick my wounds stage of things.
Maybe I’ll feel more like talking in the morning… or maybe not, I think as my brain conjures up the image of that woman’s lips pressed against my man’s. It breaks my heart all over again, and I can feel another round of tears pooling in my eyes. The attendant hands me my key card, and I rush away. I don’t want to cry in public, at least not again. It’s bad enough that half of my students saw me crying as I pushed my way through the crowd at the game as I escaped to my car.
By some miracle, I make it to my room before the tears start falling. I don’t even take a moment to look around the room before I throw myself down on the bed and pull one of the fluffy pillows to my chest. I curl around it and let my heartache flow freely.
How could I let this happen? I jumped into this thing with Cooper with both feet and zero reservations. Look what happened. I ignored my cautious side; now I’m paying for it. It was impossible to hold back with Coop. Not when he was giving me everything I ever dreamed of. Not when he made my deepest fantasies come to life.
Another sob bubbles to the surface and I lose myself in my grief. I cry and cry until I eventually fall asleep. My dreams are plagued with the sight of the beautiful woman wrapped around Cooper. Both of them laughing at the frumpy little band teacher and her stupid little crush.
I wake up much too early, eyes swollen and feeling even worse than I did last night. I stumble bleary-eyed to the bathroom and turn on the shower, hoping that the water will cleanse me of my emotions. The hot water feels good, yet I don’t feel any better. I stay under the spray until my skin is red from the heat of it. By the time I turn off the water, I feel drained completely.
Showers always refresh and rejuvenate me, but this one sucked the life out of me. Or maybe that’s just my broken heart. I wrap up in the fluffy hotel robe and wander back into the main room. I notice for the first time how nice the room is. I open the curtains and am met with a view of the river that flows on the outskirts of town.
After a deep, cleansing breath, I decide to order room service. Despite my emotions, I’m starving. I order pancakes… the perfect food for a broken-hearted fool. I’ve just sat down to eat when my phone rings. I cringe, hating the thought of talking to Cooper when I’m still so raw, but I can’t hide out forever.
It’s now or never, I think to myself. Never sounds awful good right about now.
I nearly drop from relief when I see Darlene’s name on the little screen instead of Cooper’s, then I instantly feel regret because I realize I really do want to speak with him. He hasn’t tried to reach out yet today… has he given up already?
My heart breaks a little more at that thought.
With a bracing breath, I answer the phone. Darlene barely lets me get out my hello before she starts talking.
“Girl, where are you? I’ve been worried sick after Coop called last night looking for you.”
“Sorry,” I say, feeling like a horrible friend for making her worry. Though at the same time, it feels good knowing there is someone out there who cares enough to worry. “I didn’t mean to make you worry. I just…” I trail off with a sniffle as my eyes fill with tears again.
“It’s okay,” Darlene says, consoling me. “I understand. I’ve been there before, trust me.”
And I know she’s telling the truth. I remember her brief break-up with Colt and how it wrecked her. Though her man was faithful so I’m not sure that it’s exactly the same feeling of heartache.
“I still hate that I made you worry.” I sniffle again, hating that I can’t seem to stop crying now that I’m talking to my best friend.
“Where are you, doll?” she asks, letting sympathy flow through her words.
“I’m at the Sunbreak Hotel. I couldn’t bear to go home, knowing that’s the first place Coop would look for me. I just… I can’t right now. I’m too raw to even talk to him.”
“I understand. I truly do. Want me to come over?”
My eyes well with even more tears at her offer. Part of me wants to be alone forever. The other part wants her best friend. “Yes, please.”
I give her my room number and we hang up. I pull on my clothes from yesterday, hating that I’m wearing the same clothes again. I feel scummy and unclean, but I don’t have another option right now.
Thirty minutes later, there is a soft knock on my door. I check the peephole and feel a little bit of relief when I see Darlene standing on the other side. I open the door and burst into tears.
“Oh, honey,” she says, pulling me into a hug and walking me back into the room so she can shut the door. “It’s okay.”
“N-no, it’s n-not,” I stutter through my tears. And it really isn’t. Nothing in my life is okay right now.
Darlene walks me to the end of the bed and sits down with me still wrapped in her arms. “Okay, it might not be okay right this second, but it will be okay. This I promise.”
I pull away, looking at her through my tears. “How can you be so sure?”
Darlene shrugs, looking chagrined. “I’m not. It just seemed like the right thing to say.”
“That’s less than helpful.”
She nods in agreement. “Why don’t you tell me what happened, and we can go from there on whether or not things will be okay?”
I sigh heavily but resign myself to telling her what I saw.
“I finished up the half-time show and wanted to congratulate Cooper on how great the team was doing. I… I saw,” I stutter over my words as I picture the gorgeous woman touching Coop with her lips pressed firmly to his.
“Take your time,” Darlene says, handing me a tissue from the bedside table.
I take another deep breath, composing myself, then I just blurt it out like ripping off a bandage. “Cooper was kissing a woman.”
“What?” she gasps, looking as shocked as I felt last night. Though, something tells me that she already knew this information. Especially since Coop called Colt last night looking for me. It only makes sense that he would tell them why I’ve come up missing in the first place.
“Yeah, he was kissing this beautiful woman. She looked like a supermodel pressed against him like only a lover would.”
Another round of tears falls from my eyes and I soak them up with a tissue.
“Oh, honey, are you sure that’s what really happened?”
“I know what I saw,” I say defensively.
“I know that, but there has to be an explanation. I can’t see Cooper being a cheater. He’s too loyal for something like that. I mean, why would he have waited so long for you just to ruin it by kissing some other woman?”
“What do you mean he waited for me?” I ask, affronted.
“I mean exactly what I said. Coop has waited for you for years. Colt told me so,” she adds.
“But why would he…? I don’t understand,” I say, feeling even more confused than ever.
“All I know is that he’s been waiting for you to be ready or for some kind of sign that you wouldn’t run for the hills when you found out about his daddy side.”
I snort at that. Little did he know that all these years I’ve been daydreaming about him while reading dirty BDSM books about daddies and littles.
“That’s just ridiculous,” I say, shaking my head.
“Well, it’s the truth,” Darlene says. “That’s why I can’t see him doing anything to ruin what you have. You’ve both been so happy these last couple of weeks. It just seems so out of character for him.”
She’s not wrong about that. It does seem out of character. Now that I’m not focused solely on my hurt, I can see things a little more clearly. Maybe Darlene is right. Maybe things aren’t as they seem. Is it possible that there’s another explanation for what I saw?
The hurt part of my heart says, ‘hell no,’ the other part is hopeful. I want to squash the hopeful part because I feel like that’s opening myself up for hurt. My mind replays her words over and over again.
He waited for me?
He’s wanted me like I’ve wanted him all these years?
How is that possible?
I push aside those doubts. Those thoughts are the old Melinda. The old me would’ve scoffed at the idea that a man like Cooper would want me. A couple of weeks ago, I never would’ve believed it, but my confidence has grown after my time with him. Funny to think that considering how I’m feeling right now.
“What are you going to do?” she asks when I don’t reply.
I shake my head. “Honestly, I’m not sure yet. I guess I need to talk to Cooper even though the thought terrifies me.”
She wraps her arm around my shoulders and gives me a squeeze. “It’ll work out one way or another.”
I laugh sadly. “Yeah… I just don’t know what the best way for it to work out is.”
“All you can do is give Coop a chance to explain things, then go from there.”
“What happens if I don’t like what he has to say?” I ask, feeling another wave of sadness flow through my heart.
“Then you deal with it and keep moving forward.”
Her words make perfect sense, but I don’t like the connotation. I feel raw and a little bit broken. Maybe more than a little broken. I’m not sure that it matters what Cooper has to say. I mean, I want to hear that it is all just a misunderstanding. That what I saw has been taken out of context, but I just don’t know if that will help matters.
I never realized how much a broken heart would hurt. If it hurts this bad after just a couple weeks of being together, what will it feel like after months? Years? I can’t imagine it. I don’t think I could survive it.
“I guess the only thing left to do is talk to him,” I say morosely.
“That’s a girl!” Darlene says, sounding proud. She reaches over and hands me my phone. “I’ll leave you to it.”
I take the phone, holding it carefully like it’s a ticking timebomb. She gives me a brief hug of encouragement, then leaves me alone with my cellphone and all kinds of doubts.
After a deep breath or three, I dial Coop. The second the phone rings, I nearly hang up. My courage waning. Before I can make the choice, Cooper’s whiskey-smooth voice is on the line.