Boomerangers: A second chance romantic comedy (Cajun Girls Book 1)
Boomerangers: Chapter 4

Remember when I told you I’d had exactly three sexual partners in my lifetime? That broken heart I spent years getting over before Tate? Well, that third spot and broken heart can both be accredited to Cooper Hebert. And yet, being in Cooper’s arms like this again feels like heaven. Even if he is a big, dumb, kid-hating jerk.

Stop staring, Spencer. Fuck. I can’t. Somehow, he’s managed to get even more gorgeous with time with his stupid boy band hair and the way the light sheen of sweat on his hairline causes brown wisps to stick to his forehead. How those amber brown eyes catch the light from the sun so perfectly. The way they’re staring into mine right now and I’m suddenly finding it hard to swallow. Those lips. Dear God in heaven, I want to suck on those lips. No. No, I don’t. What’s wrong with me? I will not be lured in by that sexy scruff, chiseled jawline, or that fucking dimple in his chin that still makes my heart race. Goddamnit.

“Still mad, Momma Bear?” He whispers the question in my ear, and the warmth of his breath makes me shiver.

I shrug, burying my nose in the fabric of his shirt. The scent is oddly comforting. It’s the smell of childhood sleepovers, first dances, first kisses, and first love. Coop smells exactly the way he did when we were kids. For a moment, I convince myself that nothing has changed. But, although this place may look the same and he may even smell the same, we are very different people.

“Let me make it up to you? I’m meeting Roy Nelson at T-Boy’s tonight for a beer. Why don’t you take my number and call me if you can sneak away? Let me buy you a drink?”

God, I haven’t been to T-Boy’s bar since we were kids. Hell, I haven’t been inside of a bar since discovering that I was pregnant with Kyle. I’m not sure how wise it’d be to go out drinking with my heart’s most unhealthy addiction. I am dangerously close to falling back under his spell. Hell, maybe I’ve been fooling myself into believing I’ve ever truly gotten out from under it.

I pull back, feeling embarrassed for so many reasons. The way I’m dressed, losing it on my child, breaking down in front of him. It’s definitely not a novel worthy reunion, that’s for damned sure.

“Say you’ll come . . .” he pleads, giving me a pouty lip as he holds out his business card, offering it to me between his pointer and middle fingers.

“I’ll think about it. It’s been a hell of a day, Coop. Shit. It’s been a hell of a week.” I take the card from his hand and flip it around in my fingers.

“All the more reason you should sneak away with an old friend for an adult beverage or two, or even ten. I won’t judge.”

Old friends. Such a shitty title for all that we were.

“Is that what you consider me? An old friend, Coop?”

He reaches out, tucking a tendril of hair behind my ear as his eyes meet mine. “Princess, I don’t know that there are words to adequately define what I think of you and us. Old friends felt most appropriate considering . . . But, if you need me to stand here and list all of the roles you’ve filled in my life . . . the voids you left when you took yourself out of it . . . I can.”

I can smell the coffee on his breath and have to fight the urge to lean in and taste it. Suddenly, I’m finding it extremely difficult to breathe. Why does the world always disappear when I’m with this man? How can a few words still ignite a fire in my blood?

“Mommmmy,” Kyle screams, banging on the screen door. “Mommy, hole me!”

I pull my bottom lip between my teeth and laugh. “I’ll think about it, Coop. I should get inside and say hi to Momma . . . tend to my children.”

Cooper hangs his head, studying his shoes. “You’re still as beautiful as ever, Spence,” he says as he lifts his brown eyes to meet mine. “You still make it hard to breathe.”

“And you,” I say, swallowing as I try to rein in my overeager heart, “are still the same old charmer you always were.”

He chuckles, mostly to himself. “Was good seeing you again, Spence. Call me if you change your mind, okay?”

“Mommmmy!”

“I will. I gotta run.”

Cooper takes both of my hands into his, squeezing them gently. He looks into my eyes and stares a little too long. A little too hard. And I feel way too much.

I step back, letting my hands slip slowly out of his, and then I tear my eyes away. I don’t trust my voice enough to utter another word as I go. I want to turn back. I miss him the second I move away. Coop’s eyes burn holes into my back as I climb the steps and pull the screen door open. Even then, I don’t have the courage to glance in his direction. I let the door slam shut behind me, continuing into the kitchen where Momma is spoiling my boys with junk food and sodas.

“Mommy, you baack!” Kyle call’s from his booster seat, reaching out with his Cheeto-covered fingers, making grabby hands.

I blow him a kiss from the doorway. “Not a chance, Savage. You finish your snack and I’ll hold you after you get all cleaned up.”

He doesn’t argue, digging right back in to the mountain of chips and candy before him.

“Welcome home, Spencer.” Momma dries her hands on the towel that hangs from the oven handle and walks over with glossy eyes and a smile that splits her wrinkly face. She grabs my head in her hands and places kisses on each of my cheeks before wrapping me in her arms. “I’m so happy you’ve finally come back.”

I know why she didn’t tell me that Cooper was home. It’s never been said, but she knows me better than anyone. Well enough to know that the reason I’ve stayed away all these years was to distance myself from the boy who broke my heart. The heartbreak from which I’ve never fully recovered. I thought I’d be safe now that he was married and living in another state. If I had known that Coop was back, there’s no way I’d have come. I’d have been too afraid to face him. And yet, I still have to ask . . . “Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice cracks.

“You wouldn’t have come,” she answers simply, crossing her arms on her chest.

I shake my head. “No.”

“Well, there ya have it. Now go wash up. You look like hell. I got these hooligans for a few hours. Take a nap.”

This woman. My eyes well up as my heart swells. I’ve gone it alone for so long with no one there to worry about me. The simple offer of a bath and a nap in the middle of the day is the greatest gift she could’ve given me.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“No problem, baby girl. It’s time you start taking better care of yourself. You aren’t gonna win that man back walking around looking like something off that walking zombies show.”

I choke. “It’s The Walking Dead, Momma.”

“Whatever, you get the point. Now’s your chance, Fancy . . . Don’t let me down.”

My Momma is obsessed with Reba and has been since I was a little girl. The reference brings a smile to my face, even if her meaning sort of pisses me off. “Momma, I’m not looking for a man.”

“Of course you aren’t lookin’. The only one you ever wanted is right under your nose,” she says, tapping her pointer finger to the tip of my nose. “Don’t fuck it up this time,” she whispers so the kids can’t hear.

What the ever-living hell? Why does everyone seem to think I’m to blame for Coop and I not ending up together?

“You’re going senile, old lady. Coop dumped me. Not the other way around. And did you just say fuck?”

“Sometimes sentence enhancers are necessary to get one’s point across.”

“Well, your point is out of line. And anyway, Cooper doesn’t like kids. So, you can get those thoughts out of your head. You should’ve seen the way he acted with Kyle. It was insulting. Cooper isn’t the same boy he was when we were growing up, Momma. He’s sort of an ass.”

But, God, does he have a fine ass . . . and his face. That body. It’s better than ever. My skin begins to tingle remembering the way it felt to have my body pressed against his just moments ago.

“He just needs time to fall in love with ’em, baby. I was watching the two of you out there. I saw the longing in his eyes when he looked at you. That boy isn’t over you, not by a long shot. And we both know that . . . well, you never got over him, either.”

The truth hurts, and now it will be staring me in the face each and every day. But, what if she’s right? What if he still loves me, too? Would it even matter? The answer is a resounding no. My life isn’t about me anymore. I gave that up when I had children. They come first, and I could never be with a man who couldn’t love my babies.

As tears begin to creep out the corners of my eyes, I excuse myself. “I’m gonna go lay down now, Momma. Thanks for everything.”

“Oh, baby. It’s gonna be okay,” she whispers after me with a little catch in her voice as I rush off.

“I’m fine, Mom,” I yell from the top of the stairs before making my way across the hall and into my room.

I shut the door and lean back against it, taking in my old bedroom fit for a princess. The white, four-poster bed dons a pink canopy adorned with bows in each corner. The pink netting drips down to the floor and is pulled back at the middle and tied to the posts on each end. The bedding is white and fluffy, decorated with varying shades of pink throw pillows.

My first ballet shoes still hang above my old desk and on top sit four ornate picture frames, each holding a memory of Coop and me.

There’s one from when we were toddlers, both of us in only our diapers, running in the field between our houses. I looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man with all of my rolls, and Coop was a skinny little thing. His hair was a lighter shade of brown, thin and wispy, curling at the ends. Mine jet black and already past my shoulders.

In the next picture, we were in junior high. He was in his football uniform with his helmet held in his right hand, which was also gripping one of my legs to keep me from falling from his back. I matched him in my cheerleading getup. My long hair in pig tails, topped off with bows. My smile was huge, and there was a sparkle in my eyes. But, what I love most about this picture is the way Coop stared up at me instead of the camera. Even then he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered. I never had to wonder where I stood with him because Coop wore his love for me loud and proud.

That’s why I don’t understand how things ended the way they did. How we ended up where we are today—living, and then again, not really living separate lives.

The third frame holds a picture of the two of us standing in front of the limo the night of our senior prom. Coop was so handsome in his tux, and I felt like a princess in that white dress. The bodice was fitted and strapless with sequins, and the skirt consisted of layers upon layers of tulle. He stood with his legs about a foot apart with me cradled in his arms. I remember thinking that this was a prelude to our wedding day. The white dress, the tux, the limo . . . I’d dreamt of our wedding for practically all my life.

By the time my eyes drift to the fourth and final frame, the tears are steadily falling. Graduation day . . . Judging by the smile on his face, I’d have never guessed he was planning to break my heart later that night. We stood hand in hand under the large oak in my front yard. Piano key smiles on both of our faces. We were happy. We were in love. Or at least I was. God, I was so crazy in love with that boy.

After graduation, we’d gone out to a fancy dinner with our parents at Marceaux’s Steak House. From there, we rode together in Cooper’s single cab Chevy S10 to join our class for the after party: a bon fire in the cane fields. Old Mr. Dugas pretended not to notice the hoards of teenagers who invaded his property every weekend. There’s no way he didn’t know. We left behind plenty of evidence. I think he just wanted us to have a safe place to hang out. We lived in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t even a movie theater within fifty miles.

Looking back on it now, I can’t believe our parents allowed us to be so stupid. We drank, we smoked, and Coop and I made love for the last time on a pad of blankets in the bed of his truck. Coop drove us home, and when we parked in his spot, he asked me to stay because we needed to talk. A few different scenarios ran through my head. He had changed his mind and was coming to New Orleans with me instead of taking that stupid scholarship to Boulder. He was going to propose. But never did I imagine he’d kept me there to crush my heart.

“I don’t know how to say this, Princess.” His beautiful brown eyes swam with unshed tears. “I think we need a break.”

I was in shock. I didn’t have the ability to utter a single word as my heart shriveled up and died. I stared at the boy I’d loved for all of my life like he was a complete stranger, and I guess he was. I didn’t know this person at all.

“Don’t do that, baby. Don’t cry . . .” His own tears began to fall, but that didn’t stop him from digging that knife in and gutting me. “All we’ve ever known is each other. And I love you. I know you probably don’t believe that right now, but I love you, and that’s why we need to do this. I need to know. I need to know that you’re with me because there’s no one else out there, not because I’m the boy you’ve shared a bed with since we were in diapers. Not because it’s convenient or because it’s how it’s supposed to be. I want us to come back from college in four years and know without a doubt that this—” he waved his finger between the two of us “—that what we have is the real thing.”

His hand darted out and he cupped my cheek, wiping my tears with the pad of his thumb.

I shoved him away. “Don’t. Don’t you dare. You don’t get to break my fucking heart and touch me like you care.”

He sniffled and began crying harder. “That’s not fair. You know me. You know how much I care about you, Spence.”

I scoffed. “No, Coop. I thought I knew you. But, the boy I love wouldn’t need to fuck other girls to decide if I was good enough.”

I gripped the door handle and pulled before the door swung open. I moved to get out, but Coop’s hand reached out, wrapping around my wrist.

“I love you, Spence. Don’t give up on us.”

Was he freaking serious with this shit? “I never would have. This . . . this was all you. Now let go of my fucking arm before I lose my shit, Cooper.”

He closed his eyes and took two deep breaths before releasing me from his grip. As I climbed down from his truck, he started crying louder and harder, his fists pounding on the dash.

I slammed the door shut, and without looking back, ran through the wet, muddy yard that separated our houses. My chest heaved and tears blinded my vision. I slipped, falling over one of the roots of the big oak tree. I didn’t even have the strength to lift myself up. Cradling my hands to my chest, I cried with a broken heart.

Sometime during the night, Daddy came out and found me lying there. I was soaked to the bone, freezing, trembling, wailing. He lifted me into his arms then carried me up the stairs to my room. He called for Momma. Daddy sat on my bedroom floor and rocked me. And as Momma rushed about gathering clean clothes and dry towels, he cried with me.

Momma dried me up and helped me into my pajamas. She got me into bed, and in that bed is where I stayed for weeks on end. Cooper tried to visit. I heard Momma and Daddy send him away almost every day. He called. I deleted every voicemail without listening to them. And the day I left for college, I made a promise to myself that I would fall in love again.

Boy, did I ever fuck that promise straight to hell. My chest feels tight as I swat at the tears that are rolling down my face. God, I feel like such a fool to still be crying over Cooper all these years later. My stupid heart is nothing but a big fucking vagina.

I fall back onto my childhood bed, and just as I’m starting to drift off, my phone buzzes in my back pocket. With sleep-bleary eyes, I strain to read the message.

Gina: Did you guys make it yet?

Me: Yeah. We’re here. Sorry, it’s been a little overwhelming. About to take a nap.

Gina: Did something happen? Landon still being a little fucker? Want me to come over there and give him some Auntie Gina tough lovin’?

God, I love this girl.

Me: Nah. I mean, yeah, he’s still upset, but it’s okay. Coop’s here.

Gina: Here as in with you right now? Spencer . . . he’s married.

Me: He’s not.

Gina: Not there or not married?

Me: Both.

Gina: Well, if he’s not married, then why the fuck aren’t you fucking his brains out and showing him what he’s been missing out on for the last fifteen goddamned years?

Me: The whole reunion was a freaking disaster. I’ll call you later and fill you in. He invited me out for a drink tonight, but I don’t think I’m gonna go.

Gina: Uh . . . yeah, you are. You haven’t had sex in like three years, Spence. You could have twat rot for all we know. Take a nap. Groom the lady bits. Put on something sexy and a pair of fuck me heels and go get you some!

Me: Maybe . . . Going to sleep now. Love you, Gigi!