Nicole Edwards - Chasing Dreams

“Go on now,” he told her as he swatted her on the butt, making her jump.

“Give me five minutes.” Tessa’s words trailed behind her as she disappeared into the house. Cooper would give her all night if she would just ask.

Half an hour later, they were pulling into one of the busier diner’s in the neighboring town. Tessa had mentioned that they had the best burgers and Cooper wasn’t one to argue so he’d let her give him directions.

Taking her hand, they walked inside together. Surprisingly, the restaurant was fairly busy for a Wednesday night, but not nearly as jam-packed as the restaurants Cooper was used to.

They found a booth in the back and Cooper gave Tessa some space, opting to sit across from her. He would much rather sit beside her, but he knew not to push his luck. She seemed nervous, but the fact that she had agreed to go out with him was a good sign.

They didn’t have to wait long before a harried waitress approached their table, sparing them a minimal glance as she took their drink orders and rattled off the specials. Once she disappeared, Cooper turned his attention back to Tessa, watching as she perused the menu.

“So what’s good here?” he asked, never bothering to open his menu. He’d already resigned himself to a cheeseburger. He was just making conversation.

“Depends on what you like,” she said, not looking up at him.

“You,” he whispered, and Tessa’s eyes shot up to meet his.

“What?”

“I like you, Tessa.”

The pretty blush that infused her cheeks made Cooper’s heart thump wildly, but oddly enough, the feeling wasn’t sexual. The woman stole his breath in so many ways, and when she lit up like that, he couldn’t help but want to wrap her in his arms and never let her go.

“Well, I’d suggest you go with the cheeseburger and fries, but whatever,” she said with a strangled laugh.

He continued to watch her until the waitress returned. This time the woman actually glanced at them, and Cooper noticed the instant she recognized him. Hoping she wouldn’t make a big deal out of it, Cooper took control of the situation, “What are you gonna have?” he asked Tessa directly.

“I’ll have the cheeseburger and fries. Oh, and a chocolate milk shake.”

“I’ll have the same, only make my milk shake a sweet tea.”

“You’re Cooper Krenshaw,” the woman said, her mouth hanging open. She never even bothered to write down their order, just continued to stare at him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a grin. “Do you need our order again?”

“No. No, I got it. Two cheeseburgers and fries. One chocolate milk shake and a sweet tea.”

Glancing down at her name tag and then back up at her face, Cooper grinned as he said, “Thanks, Rose.”

“Sure,” she mumbled, turning away briefly and then back to stare at him. “Oh, my God! I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Hey, Rose, is Ron in the back?” Tessa asked, effectively redirecting the woman’s attention.

“Yeah, he’s here,” Rose said with a huge grin. “Hey, Tessa. Sorry, I swear I wasn’t trying to be rude.” The waitress’s apology sounded genuine.

“No problem,” Tessa replied sweetly.

When Rose trotted off, Cooper looked at Tessa. “Who is Ron?”

Tessa’s brilliant smile had him answering with one of his own as they stared at each other.

“Ron owns this place. I know. I know. You thought Charlie did.” Tessa laughed. “Charlie is actually Ron’s son and no, he doesn’t work here.”

When Tessa glanced in Rose’s direction, Cooper frowned. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

“I get it. You’re famous. I figure half the people in here are fans of yours, even if they don’t necessarily know what you look like. How do you handle that everywhere you go?”

“It doesn’t happen as often as you’d think,” he explained. “In Nashville, it’s a regular occurrence to see someone out and about. For the most part, I just try to keep a low profile.”

“Has it happened much since you’ve been here? In Devil’s Bend, I mean?”

“Not really. I’ve been stopped a few times when I’m in town, but I think for the most part, people are giving me my space. It’s nice to be where I’m treated like a regular guy.” Cocking his head in the direction Rose disappeared, Cooper grinned. “And even Rose’s reaction was tame compared to some I’ve encountered.”

“Does it bother you when people approach you like that?”

Cooper had to ponder the question for a minute. In truth, it didn’t bother him at all. He felt like a normal person, so when someone recognized him and wanted to say hello, he mostly just went with it. Only when it encroached on his time did he get bothered by it, which honestly wasn’t often. “It’s still flattering,” he admitted.

“If that’s the case, what made you run from Nashville?”

The wording of Tessa’s question hit him like a brick to the back of the head, surprising and painful at the same time, and her interest in his answer made him curious.

“I’m not running from Nashville,” he said through gritted teeth. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “Sorry. I guess I’m just having a hard time seeing it the way everyone else is, that’s all.”

“How do you think they see it?”

“I get it,” he told her. “I left suddenly, and I’m hiding out. Or at least they think I’m hiding out. But I’m not, Tessa. Right now, right here, is where I want to be. As much as I like the limelight, as grateful as I am for the opportunity to do what I love, it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“So you’re saying it’s hard work to do what you love?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Did you ever think it wouldn’t be?”

Cooper couldn’t help but wonder what was spurring all of Tessa’s questions. He suddenly felt like he was under a microscope and she was digging for something specific. He never was one to circumvent the difficult questions, so he opted to go for the truth. “I always expected to work for what I wanted. I didn’t expect to get so far away from what I started out doing. That’s what I miss.”

“Playing in the small town bars?”

Cooper chuckled. “That’s part of it, but not all. I miss the fans, I miss getting in touch with what they want. I’ve spent the last few years letting other people make all of my decisions for me. I want to regain some of the control, I guess.”

Rose interrupted their conversation when she brought their drinks, but she didn’t linger and for that Cooper was grateful. “So, what else you got for me?”

“What brought you to Devil’s Bend?”

He had expected that question before now, but he actually hadn’t given it much thought. “I’m not sure what brought me to Texas,” he explained. “But as soon as I found myself here, I called Adam. He’s the reason I came to Devil’s Bend.”

“But you came to Texas on your own?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Are you originally from here?”

“I’m from a small town in Tennessee,” he admitted. “I grew up there, but came to Texas my freshman year of college at UT.”

“That’s how you met my brother.” It wasn’t a question, but Cooper nodded his affirmation anyway.

As much as he liked the idea of Tessa getting to know him better, Cooper couldn’t help but wonder whether she was actually trying to deflect from herself tonight. Not that he blamed her after their impromptu conversation over breakfast the other morning hadn’t gone so well.

Little did she know, but he was almost at his quota of personal information for the night. At least until she offered up some of the same answers for herself.

After all, it was only fair.

Tessa was on a roll and as long as Cooper was willing to answer her questions, she didn’t feel the need to stop asking them. That was until he pinned her with that look. The one that told her she wasn’t going to like the spin he was about to put on this entire conversation.

Yes, she knew early on that if she bombarded him with questions that he’d eventually get to take a turn. That was why she hadn’t let a single second pass before she asked another. Hell, part of the time she barely had time to process his answer before she was looking for something else to ask.

Apparently she wasn’t fast enough.

“I think it’s my turn.”

Darn it.

“Your turn for what?” Her rule of thumb: always play dumb, it helped to confuse them.

Thankfully, Rose chose that moment to arrive with their food, her gaze still glued to Cooper as she set their food on the table and went through the motions of making sure they didn’t need anything else. Tessa was pretty sure she could’ve asked for anything at all, and Rose would’ve agreed to go get it for her. Instead, she chose to keep quiet, quickly tossing French fries in her mouth so she wouldn’t have to answer any questions if Cooper decided to throw a few her way.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.

“So, I know you grew up in Devil’s Bend,” Cooper commented, grabbing the ketchup and pouring some onto his plate.

“Yep,” she mumbled, her mouth full.

“You’ve never lived anywhere else?”

“Nope.” See, this wasn’t so bad. She could do this if he kept asking closed ended questions.

“What about college?”

“What about it?” Tessa could see the irritation in his eyes, but she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t want this conversation to turn on her. She remembered all too well what happened the last time they tried this. As much as she liked being in Cooper’s company, she certainly didn’t want to give him a glimpse into her life. If she did, she risked getting too close to him.

“Where’d you go?”

Paying attention to the food on her plate, Tessa swallowed hard. “I didn’t.”

“Why?”

There were many reasons, but none she cared to share with him. Not that he was going to be pleased with her deflection, but Tessa honestly didn’t want to go into this.

“Tessa,” Cooper said quietly, pulling her attention to him.

His sparkling brown eyes were so full of interest, Tessa felt like a jerk for trying to avoid him. No, it probably wasn’t fair that she’d asked him a barrage of personal questions, but didn’t want to sit on the other side of the interrogation table so to speak.

“Do we have to talk about me?” she asked, just as quietly.

“I want to know you.”

God, why did he have to sound so sincere?

Swallowing hard, Tessa pushed her food around on her plate. She recalled Izzy’s statement from earlier: Give this guy a chance.

“Richie and I fell in love in high school,” she began, which wasn’t necessarily true, but close. Tessa wasn’t going to tell Cooper that she’d been a wild child, one that had ventured long past smart ideas and into extremely reckless territory and that was actually how she met Richie.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so he went to college while I stayed back here and worked. At the time, Jack’s dad had just had his second heart attack, and Adam had already started his first year at UT. And because he wasn’t always here, I felt obligated to stay here with Jack. Not to mention, I didn’t have the money to go. Neither did my mother.”

“What about your father? Where was he?”

“Who knows. The guy was unreliable. He left when I was two and he wasn’t much on being a father after that. I think I probably saw him ten times my entire life even though he lived just a couple of miles away.”

Tessa hated talking about her father. No matter how she tried to spin the story, she never could rationalize his behavior. He didn’t have anything to do with either of his kids, nor did he help out her mother much financially. It wasn’t until he left The Rusty Nail to her and Adam when he died that Tessa even felt as though he’d acknowledged he had kids.

At first, she was defiant, not wanting anything from the man. Except Richie managed to calm her down – something he’d gotten used to doing – and after they talked about it, Tessa decided she would take over the bar. And she was still grateful to him for that because, at this point, it was the only thing she had.

“What about your parents? Where do they live?” Tessa asked, hoping Cooper would take the hint before he started asking about her mother again. She wasn’t sure she had it in her to talk about Sheila tonight.

“They live in Tennessee. Probably two of my biggest fans,” Cooper said quietly.

Obviously her sad story was weighing on him. She truly didn’t want this date to go that direction like the first one had, so she smiled and decided to dig further. “I’m sure they’re proud of you.”