Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Make me work for it, Palmer.
“I have a lot of things to tell you, but I want to go at your pace,” I say.
“Maybe this isn’t the right time for me. I’m at work.”
“And I cleared that with your boss.”
Her eyes widen. “So you are the buyer? You bought Skoolie’s?” She gasps. “Why would you do that, Cole? Why?”
I reach for her hand, but she pulls it away.
“You’re the one that said that if this place fell, it would hurt the community,” I say.
“I did, but that’s a bullshit answer.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Is this some kind of game for you?”
Hardly, my love.
“Why, Cole?” she asks again.
I take a deep breath. “I know you have no clue, but I have a lot of money. Like, a mind-numbing amount of money, and it bothers me to some degree that I’m ridiculously wealthy from playing baseball. It seems wrong, and I have guilt about it. So I’ve been thinking I need to do something positive with it. I’ll never spend it all anyway.”
She blinks once. Twice. Three times.
“Skoolie’s wasn’t cheap, but it’s a hell of an investment—not just for me and my plans, but for the town of Bloomfield that I’ve come to really appreciate.”
“But how are you going to run Skoolie’s from San Diego?”
“I’m not.”
Emotions crash together in her eyes like a hurricane threatening the coast. It’s a push and pull that’s fun to watch but must be terrible to endure.
“I don’t know how I’ll actually manage it,” I say. “Maybe I’ll do it; maybe Dad will. I’d prefer it if you did it, since you run it now, but that’s up to you.”
“Cole . . . ,” she says warily.
I force a swallow as my face heats. “You should know that I intend on buying it in a trust.”
“Okay. Why do I care?” she says, still unable to process what I’m saying.
“Because I want the beneficiary to be Ethan. When he’s old enough, of course.”
Her eyes bug out. “What? You . . . you want to give this place to Ethan? Why? Why would you do that, Cole?” Her hands go to her hips. “What is going on here? You’re starting to freak me out.”
My heart pounds in my chest as I prepare to be the most vulnerable that I’ve never been with a person in my entire life.
What if she refuses to hear me out? What if she does listen to what I have to say and decides that I was right—she doesn’t want anything to do with me? What if she feels like she can’t take on caring for anyone else anymore?
I run my palms down my jeans.
“When I came to your house the other day,” I say, starting slowly, “I came with the intention of telling you that I wanted to try things with you. I wanted a real relationship with you.”
She looks at me with disbelief.
I continue on before she can say anything.
“I’d called Scott, my agent, and told him to turn down all of the offers that I’d received. I had a real estate agent come to look at my house in San Diego to put it on the market.”
“Why?”
“Because I was going to move here.”
Her bottom lip quivers. “Why?”
I take a deep breath. “I’ve never seen my parents so happy. They love it here, and you know what? I miss them. They’re getting older, and it’s my turn to be there for them. I didn’t even really realize that until I came here.”
She nods like that makes sense.
“Then I coached the boys,” I say, smiling. “I love watching them and interacting with them and the way they all relate in a small-town kind of way that I’ve never seen before. And I want to be a part of that.”
“Small towns are nice,” she says, watching me out of the corner of her eye.
“And then I fell in love with you. And I fell in love with that little boy of yours.” I smile at the way her shoulders slump in what I think is relief. “I just wanted to be with you. I want to share the home you’ve built. I want to build a life with you, Palmer.”
Tears slide silently down her cheeks. “Then what happened? Why did you go?”
I walk to the chair across from her desk and grab the back of it. My exhale is harsh and full of the frustration and anxiety coursing through me.
“Palmer, I left because there’s something I didn’t want to tell you. I was going to, but then Jared called, and I decided maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to do.”
She quirks a brow. “Then why tell me now?”
“Because you deserve to make the choice yourself. And if I’m being honest here, I can’t live knowing that I didn’t tell you that I love you.”