Trying to Get Over You Page 15

  My flight touched down in the big airport, where I would normally take a car and drive back to my parents’ house, four hours away. Instead, Chris had set up for me to take a much smaller plane to another town, two hours away.

  It was a great idea in theory, except I was terrified of small planes.

  I bought a pair of headphones to use with the music loaded on my cell phone. If I could close my eyes and listen to the music, I could hopefully not freak out.

  I boarded the small airplane, noticing only about ten seats total. My nerves started to get the best of me and I had to remind myself. I’m doing this for Cooper.

  The flight only lasted about thirty minutes, but I could not grab my things fast enough to get out of there. I walked as quickly as I could out of the plane, turning my cell phone completely back on. I had two messages.

  Chris: I made rental reservations for you at the small counter. It’s the only one in that airport.

  Cooper: Not sure if I’ll come home or not. Key is under dad’s doormat if you don’t stay at your parents.

  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I had two hours to think about where I wanted to stay. I walked up to the counter that said “Car Rental” above it in big bold letters. No fancy national rental chain for this small-town airport.

  “Hi. I have reservations under Emily Reynolds,” I told the young man at the counter.

  “Okay. Let me check my records.” He pounded away on a keyboard belonging to a computer that had probably been manufactured in 1992.

  “Okay. Thank you.”

  “Oh here we go. I have you in a red two-door Kia. Let me print out some documents for you to sign.” He hit one more key on the keyboard, and the printer came to life. It was one of those old ones that made an awful noise, and the paper was a continuous piece with perforation.

  I felt as if I had gone back in time.

  I signed the paperwork he lay in front of me, before telling him “Thanks” and grabbing the keys. I went out to the small parking lot, looking for the small red Kia he had described to me. Luckily, it had a key fob, and I was able to locate it easily by making the car honk.

  I climbed into the rental and started the engine. It was actually a nice little car. I didn’t want to bother Cooper, so I decided to call Chris to let him know that my flights had all landed safely.

  He answered on the second ring. “Hey.”

  “Hey, back. I just wanted to let you know that my flights made it. I just got my rental car.”

  “Okay. I’m glad you made it. It’s really great that you are doing this for him.”

  “Cooper means a lot to me. Besides, Raymond is my baby’s grandpa, and I want to be there to support him as well as Cooper.”

  “I didn’t really think about it like that.”

  “That’s okay. Look, I just want to say thank you so much for setting up my flights and rental car today.”

  “That was no problem. It took maybe fifteen minutes.”

  “Well, thanks anyway, but I’m going to let you go so I can concentrate on driving.”

  “’K. Love you, Sis.”

  “Love you, too.” I disconnected with Chris and turned the radio up to a Nineties station, mainly because it was one of the few available. Salt-N-Pepa’s “Whatta Man” blared from the speakers. I grabbed my phone, thinking Cooper was calling. After looking at my blank screen, I realized that it was the radio.

  I remembered that I changed his ringer back to the standard setting. It made me start thinking, though, about how great Cooper had been and still was.

  I wrestled with the idea of giving Cooper and I’s relationship another chance. Maybe since we are having a baby, he will be able to stay away from the drugs. Maybe me leaving him will make him believe me when I tell him I won’t put up with that crap.

  Two hours later, I pulled up at Cooper’s dad’s house. I didn’t feel like talking to my parents right then. All I wanted to do was sleep.

  I noticed a small lamp light in the living room window but figured it must have been left on by Cooper’s dad, before he went to the hospital. I was just reaching down to grab the key when the door opened.

  Cooper stood in the doorway, then took a step closer and embraced me. “Thank you so much for coming. It’s nice to know that I have you.”

  I hug him tighter. “You will always have me, Cooper.”

  “You may get mad at me for telling you this, but even though my dad is sick, you leaving that guy behind in Vegas to be with me? Made me feel so much better.” He kissed my hair once before releasing me and grabbing my bags.

  We walked into the living room as I told him, “That doesn’t make me mad at you. I’m glad I was able to make you feel a little better. How is your dad?”

  “He’s stable. They have him on pain-killers, and the nurses said that he would probably be out most of the night. So I decided to come home and wait, in case you came here.”

  “Stable. That’s good, right?’

  “I guess. It happened while he was at work at the hospital. The nurses said that really helped him. It could have been a lot worse if he was home by himself.”

  “That is good, then. You look so tired. Why don’t I change clothes, and we can go to sleep? We can talk more in the morning.”

  “Where do you want to sleep?”

  “Can I sleep with you?”

  “Yeah, that would be wonderful” Cooper said before taking my hand and leading me into the bedroom, where he stripped to his boxers. I couldn’t help but feel excited at the thought of crawling in bed and snuggling up close to him. I pulled out my pajamas from my suitcase and laid them on the bed.

  He gave me a quizzical look. “Since when do you sleep in pajamas?” He asked while lying down on the bed.

  “Since I went to Vegas with a guy I didn’t want to see me in just my panties.”

  “Wow. I guess I really don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “No, you don’t. Trust me when I say you’re the only guy I ever plan on sleeping with.” I told him while stripping out of my clothes.

  He rolled onto his side and propped his head up, “Wait. What? Does that mean you’re not with that guy and you want us to be back together?”

  I pulled my T-shirt down over my head, “I don’t know what I want right now. But I do know I don’t want to sleep with him, ever. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep with anyone besides you.”

  “Well, you didn’t say no on us getting back together. That makes me happy. Come here and let me hold you.”

  I climbed into bed and lay with my back to Cooper’s chest. It felt so good, as though lying there with him was exactly where I belonged.

  I must’ve fallen asleep, because a short time later I woke up to the feeling of my arm being stroked. I turned my body so I could be face to face with Cooper. I stroked the side of his head and let him touch me.

  We didn’t speak to each other for a long time.

  “Thank you so much for being here,” he finally whispered.

  I didn’t answer him with words, I answered him the way I had wanted to for weeks but had held back: I kissed him.

  At first, he didn’t respond, probably shocked. I kissed him harder, not caring about anything or anyone else besides Cooper and me.

  He kissed me back. I parted my lips, and he took advantage of it, thrusting his tongue in my mouth. I did the same to him. I touched him everywhere my hands could reach, kissing him frantically. I had missed him so much.

  From how he touched me, he felt the same way about me.

  After what felt like a moment and yet an era, our kisses gentled.

  Finally, he kissed me once on my forehead. “You need to get some sleep,” he whispered.

  “You’re right, I do, but so do you. You’ve been through a lot today.” I told him as we snuggled again.

  “I’ll try. Sweet dreams. I love you.”

  “Good night. I love you too.”

  The next morning, I woke up to an empty bed, but I heard the
shower running. Cooper must’ve been getting ready to go back to the hospital.

  I heard the shower turn off, just as I had started to get out of bed. Cooper walked in, a few minutes later, wearing nothing but a towel draped around his lower body. I was glad I was still sitting, because the sight stole my breath. I hadn’t forgotten how good-looking he was, but it was still breathtaking.

  “Good morning.” He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, then sat beside me.

  He grabbed my hand and stroked it while we talked.

  “Good morning to you, too. Did you get any sleep?”

  “About an hour or so. I called the hospital, and they said dad did fine overnight.”

  “That’s great. Let me shower, and then we can go see him.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  I grabbed my clothes out of my suitcase and took them to the small bathroom located off Cooper’s old room. The smell of Cooper’s body wash was in the air, and all I could do was breathe it in. His smell calmed me, probably because it reminded me of him and how much he loved me. I had missed that smell.

  I showered quickly so we could get to the hospital as soon as we could. I threw my hair in a ponytail, deciding to let it dry naturally. I applied minimal makeup and was ready to go.

  I opened the bathroom door to see Cooper lying on his bed with his arm draped over his eyes. With his lack of sleep the previous night, coupled with the worry about his dad, he must have been exhausted. Should I wake him up or let him get a little bit of sleep.

  He moved his arm and opened his eyes. “Are you finished already?”

  I sat down on the bed next to him. “Yes. I think you dozed off.”

  “I did a little.” He rose up to sit next to me, then leaned over and gave me a kiss on the lips. He pulled back, searching my eyes.

  My only reaction was to lean forward and kiss him back.

  He stopped kissing me. “As much as I’d love to kiss you all day and make up for lost time, I need to go to the hospital.”

  “Okay. Let’s go.” I followed him to his SUV, which was parked in the garage. That explained why I hadn’t noticed it last night. I opened the passenger door to find it filthy. I had to move several fast food bags out of my way so I could sit down.

  “Sorry. I, um, I’ve been a little depressed lately.” He said as he started moving bags to the back seat.

  “I’m sorry, Cooper.”

  “It’s okay. As shitty as yesterday was, things got way better last night. Please tell me things got a lot better last night.”

  “Things are better.”

  He put the car in reverse, and we pulled out of the garage. Once we were in the street, he put the car in drive and grabbed my hand. We held hands the whole way to the hospital. As we got closer, his hand tightened around mine as his nerves grew.

  He didn’t say anything while we walked into the hospital or took the elevator to the second floor. As we went down the hall towards Raymond’s room, his doctor came out. Cooper picked up pace beside me, and luckily the doctor saw us and waited for us to meet him at the door to Raymond’s room.

  “I’m going to go ahead and go inside to say hi to your dad, if he’s awake,” I told Cooper.

  “He’s awake and doing well this morning,” the doctor told me.

  “Okay. Well, I’ll leave the two of you to talk.” I opened the door to see Raymond Thomason, lounging in his bed watching ESPN.

  He turned his head when I walked into the room and stretched out his arms for a hug. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite girl.”

  I walked over and gave him a gentle hug. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  “I’m much better, now that I’ve seen you. I assume you’re here with my son.”

  “Yes, I’m here with Cooper. He is talking to your doctor right now.”

  “Not much to tell him. I’m getting out of here tomorrow with some new medication.”

  “That’s wonderful, Raymond. So what happened?”

  “Just a mild heart attack. Can’t find anything really wrong, so we are going to try to treat it with medication.”

  I hugged Raymond again. “Well, that will be a relief to Cooper.”

  “No honey, you being here will be a relief to Cooper and to me. He’s been a mess with you not around.”

  I hadn’t thought that the hurt I’d caused Cooper would trickle down to Raymond, too. I guess a parent hurts when their child hurts. Soon, I would experience that emotion.

  Before I could think of anything intelligent to say, Cooper walked into the room. “Morning, Dad. I hear you’re doing pretty well.”

  “Yep. Going home tomorrow. Now you can quit worrying about me.”

  “Who said I was worried about you?” Cooper joked.

  “You didn’t have to say it. You wouldn’t leave my room yesterday, after driving four hours to get here.”

  “Well, Dad, you’re my only family.”

  “No, you have two more right there.’ He pointed at me.

  Cooper looked at me and then back to his dad. “Yeah, okay.”

  We hung out in Raymond’s room the rest of the morning, just talking. Cooper and I sat next to each other on the couch, snuggled up like the way we used to when we were a couple. Cooper was texting a lot, and I really wanted to know who he was texting, but it wasn’t my place to ask. There were probably a lot of people asking about his dad. I guess he could tell, I was curious because he let me know.

  “It’s your brother checking on Dad.”

  I glanced at his dad before looking back at Cooper, “Oh, okay. You didn’t have to tell me.”

  “I don’t have anything to hide from you.” He shrugged.

  “Thanks. Your dad looks sleepy. Do you want to take a walk around the trail outside?”

  “Sure.” He turned to his dad. “Why don’t you take a nap? We’ll go take a walk.”

  We walked downstairs to the small trail the hospital had around the perimeter of the outside grounds. They have it, decorated with beautiful landscaping and benches. Of the people I saw using it, I thought the staff likely walked to get exercise. The families probably just wanted to get out of the stuffy hospital.

  I stopped walking. “Cooper, I need to ask you something.”

  He turned to look at me. “What is it?”

  “I know this isn’t really my place to ask anymore, but I…”

  “You can ask me anything. You will always have a right to know anything that’s going on in my life.” He interrupted.

  “Okay. When’s the last time you smoked pot?” I needed to know his answer so I could decide how I wanted to spend my life with Cooper. I had a lot of thinking to do when I returned home, and his answer would play a huge role in my choices.

  He stroked my cheek. “I haven’t smoked pot since the day you left me.”

  “Please be completely honest.” I said while looking into his blue eyes.

  “I am being honest. Jason called me a day or two after you left, and I told him I wasn’t touching the stuff again. He could find someone else to smoke pot with.”

  I’ve been in Cooper’s life a long time. I had always been able to tell when he was lying. I could tell he was telling the complete truth.

  “Good. I believe you.” I raised myself up on my tiptoes and gave him a peck on the lips.

  He wrapped his arms around my waist, “I’m glad. I’m done with that immature life. All that matters to me is you and our baby. I promise I am going to do my best to provide for the two of you.”

  “You don’t need to provide for the two of us. Or at least, you don’t have that complete responsibility. I plan on working to support our child.”

  “If that is what you want, I’ll support that decision, but if you decide to stay home, I’ll support that, too.”

  It was nice to know that he would support me being a stay-at-home-mom if I decided to do that later.

  “How will I pay my rent money if I don’t have a job?”

  He grinned, “I bet you could work someth
ing out with your landlord.”

  Before the conversation could delve into a heavier subject, I suggested, “We should probably go back in and check on your dad.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  We held hands while we walked back into the hospital and into Raymond’s room. My parents were seated on the couch.

  My parents looked as shocked to see me as I was to see them.

  “Mom, Dad? What are you doing here?” I asked while walking over to them to give each of them a hug.

  “Well, we could say the same about you. Raymond is our friend. We wanted to check on him,” my mom replied.

  “Oh right, sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” I said standing in front of them.

  “Why are you here? We thought you were in Vegas. You’ve been here, in town, and we didn’t even know it.”

  I suddenly felt awful that I hadn’t contacted my parents. I hadn’t thought to call them. “I’m sorry, Mom. I flew in late last night and went immediately to bed.”

  “And where did you sleep?” She asked.

  “I slept at Raymond’s house with Cooper. It was so late when I arrived in town that I didn’t want to wake you up. I’m sorry.”

  “Well, why don’t you walk down to the cafeteria with your father and me? You can let us know how sorry you are about not calling down there.”

  I glanced over at Cooper, who was trying not to laugh at my situation. “Sure, Mom.”

  I went to the cafeteria with my parents, who surprisingly waited until we found some seats to start grilling me. “So where is the boy you went to Vegas with?” my mom whispered, as if it was dirty gossip.

  “I assume he is still there, but I don’t know. I haven’t talked to him.”

  My dad looked around the cafeteria at the other people. I was sure he was uncomfortable with the conversation.

  “So you just ditched him? Are you and Cooper back together?” my mom pressed.

  “I didn’t just ditch him. I explained the situation. As for me and Cooper, we aren’t, but we could possibly get back together.” I was ninety-nine percent positive that, after I dealt with Ben, Cooper and I would be a couple again. I just wanted to deal with Ben first.