Page 111 of Tempted Hearts
As I’d done all morning, I looked at my phone. I needed advice first.
Grabbing my phone and tapping two buttons, I put it on speaker and laid it next to my laptop.
“Hey. What’s up?” Delaney asked.
“Not much, just writing.” I hesitated, then jumped right in. “Cole stayed here again last night.”
I took my coffee over to the sink.
“I know. Parker just picked him up. Cole dropped off the truck this morning.”
I could have put the cup in the dishwasher, but found myself cleaning it, needing something to do with my hands.
“Makes sense. You know I sleep like the dead. He left before I got up, just said ‘text me.’”
“Hmmm. Well, you might want to do that sooner rather than later. He’s getting ready to head back.”
Head back? He wasn’t due to leave for New York until tomorrow.
“He didn’t mention anything about heading back early. Originally he was scheduled to go back Thursday for a meeting on Friday.”
This wasn’t good. At all.
“You’ll have to talk to him, but I think that meeting is the reason he’s going back. Something about his tenure. But I don’t know for sure.”
Cole had moved his meeting to Friday, but that was supposed to be about his fall schedule. What could have happened between last night and this morning to change that?
“Delaney, I’m falling for him.”
“Shit, Jules. I knew this would happen.”
“Why didn’t you tell me not to do it?” I teased.
“Don’t even. All right, it’s not a complete disaster. Parker did say that Cole seemed different since Italy, but in a good way. That’s a positive.”
I put my dried mug back into the cabinet.
“I guess. But he doesn’t even date people, never mind get into a serious relationship. And honestly, if I keep spending time with him, I’m going to want that. More.”
Actually, I sort of wanted that now. But admitting it out loud… not something I wanted to do yet.
“Funny enough, it was the lack of glasses he mentioned. Parker said that the guys had always ripped him about wearing glasses when he had contacts. I don’t know, just an odd detail that Park mentioned. Probably has nothing to do with you.”
Except it did. I said I liked him without the glasses, although I liked him with the glasses too, and he hadn’t worn them since.
“Okay, so Cole is acting out of character. Maybe he likes me a little bit. And I like him, a lot. So even if he breaks his own rules and, best-case scenario, we actually start dating, then what? He’s accepting tenure at Columbia and is stuck in New York City. Thinking long-term, that’s the last place I’d want to live. Visit? Yes. But Cedar Falls is my home.”
I sat back on the stool, knowing I had to polish an article next, and put my chin in my hands.
“I think you just can’t look at it that way. If you do, your best option is to cut ties with Cole right now before it’s too late.”
It was already too late.
“The other option,” Delaney said, “is just to enjoy the time that you have with him, keep it casual, and don’t think about a relationship or the future or any of that. If you really like being with him.”
That was kind of what we were doing now. Except my heart was starting to get involved. Ever since I learned about his brother, so much of Cole’s personality made sense. Getting beyond the initial coolness, there was a fun, intelligent man behind that mask.
One I wanted to continue to get to know.
