And then I heard Cole coming down the hallway. He had on a black short-sleeved button-down shirt and a pair of slate-gray shorts. A totally simple outfit, but he looked undeniably gorgeous. He grinned when he saw me.
“Look at you,” he said. “Wow, you look great.”
I smiled and felt myself start to blush, all three of them looking at me.
“Will I still be awake when you get home?” Declan asked.
“Of course!” Ben said. “Uncle Ben knows no bedtime.”
Cole shot him a look. “I don’t know, bud,” he said. “We might get back later than you usually stay up for. But we’ll see. I want you to be a good listener tonight, okay?”
“He’s always a good listener for me,” Ben said. “You two have fun. Go enjoy a night out on the town.”
It felt a little surreal, being with Cole like this, without Declan, going to some fancy restaurant. It was a place in Gardner simply called Le Bistro, and it was rather unassuming from the outside, but once you were inside, you could tell that it was a very upscale place.
The tables were covered in white linen, and the far wall was all exposed brick. The servers were wearing black and white, and they were all very good-looking. As we were ordering wine, I heard my phone chime in my purse, which I had put on the back of my chair. It had gone off several times in the car, but I had ignored it. I reached around and subtly pulled it out of my bag, just to see who it was.
It was from my mother, all three of the texts.
You guys should drive down here this weekend!
I only bothered to read the first one and then I tossed my phone back in my bag, but not before I turned it on vibrate.
“Sorry,” I said. “My mother’s been totally harassing me about coming down there,” I said, sliding my phone back into my purse. “She’s acting like it’s the only thing in the world that she wants.”
Cole smiled. “Maybe it is.”
I rolled my eyes. “I highly doubt that. I haven’t come out and said so, but there’s no way in hell that we’re going down there. It’s like the last thing I ever want to do.”
“Really? I thought your mom seemed pretty nice.”
“She’s all right, but I can only take so much of her. It’s really more because of Bill. I have zero interest in ever doing anything with him.”
Cole nodded. “That’s understandable. But that’s probably also hard for your mother to hear.”
“I’ll tell you what was hard for her to hear—the fact that the whole thing happened to begin with. In fact, when I tried to tell her, she basically laughed in my face. She didn’t believe me. And then said I had an overactive imagination.”
“That’s a hard one,” Cole said. “I mean, don’t think for a second that I’m saying I condone what your stepfather tried to do, because I sure as hell don’t. But I can also understand that your mother wants to sustain a relationship with you, and she’s excited that you’re seeing someone and wants to be a part of that.”
“I’m not really interested in her being a part of that.”
Cole raised his eyebrows. “Do you really mean that?”
I considered this. “I don’t know,” I said. “I just wish she’d be more receptive to me about what it was that happened with Bill and me.”
“And if she was? How would that change things? I’m just being the devil’s advocate here.”
“I don’t know, it would make me feel like she was actually listening to what it was I had to say, being concerned over something that had happened to me. Or almost happened to me.”
“Look, I don’t know your mom that well. She seemed like a nice person, though, and she does seem like she cares about you a lot and wants to see you happy. I’m not saying that I think you guys need to suddenly be best friends or anything, but if she’s making the effort to sustain a relationship with you, then maybe it’s worth at least trying.”
“Maybe,” I said, though even I could hear the uncertainty in my voice. I didn’t really want to be having this conversation right now, when we were sitting here at this fancy restaurant. “Anyway,” I said, “Can we talk about something else? Anything else? How do you think Ben and Declan are doing?”
“Oh, they’re probably completely destroying the house,” Cole said nonchalantly. “There’s probably a pillow fight happening of epic proportions.” He laughed. “Ben’s actually really good with kids. Maybe because he’s basically like a giant kid himself.”
“He was saying that he had planned on the two of you being bachelors for life,” I said.
“He said that? When?”