Happy New Life (8 page)

“I’d like you to put together a couple masculine designs using dark
woods and blue.” Mitch didn’t seem to care what Wendy had suggested. “I have to
think about the budget. It’s just me in the office, not a big city mayor.”

That’s what Liz loved about Grandberry Falls’ new mayor. He might be
young, but he was wise beyond his years.

No wonder Hazel wanted her granddaughter to snag him.

Too bad he’s in his twenties . . .,
Liz shook the thought out of
her head and replaced it with thoughts of Cole.

“I’ll bring some samples by later this week.” Liz made it a priority to
be sure her clients were satisfied early so she could take off the last two
weeks of the year, especially her upcoming vacation week with Hayes.

“Perfect.” Mitch shrugged Wendy’s hand off the crook of his arm.

Wendy smiled, playing it off. “See you later this week.”

“Do I need to make an appointment with Susie?” Liz wanted to make sure
she went through the right channels.

Susie Benton wasn’t going to let anyone into the mayor’s office door
without an appointment.

In Cincinnati, she had to jump through hoops to get to the mayor.

“Nah, no need to be formal. Just come on by.” Mitch waved ‘bye, letting
Wendy go out the door before him.

Nonchalantly, Liz peeked out the window at them. They were in a heated
discussion. Liz made a mental note to ask Jenna about it. There was something
fishy going on between those two that hadn’t made it into Grandberry Falls
gossip.

Hayes wanted to be the first student to arrive at Tramp’s class.
Rushing home to do homework and have dinner wasn’t her ideal evening, but it
was well worth it to avoid seeing Cole.

They piled into the car for their first official class.

This is a good thing.
Liz tried to convince herself.

The purpose of the obedience class was to teach her and Hayes how to
work with Tramp, not to let Cole enter him into dog competitions or work his
way into her heart.

Tramp took off when they got out of the car.

She pulled on the leash.

Tramp won.

Tramp dug his claws into the Pet Mall tile, sniffing the other dogs.
Liz joyfully watched Hayes gallop ahead of them through the massive store.

Hayes jumped up and down, pointing to a sign reading: “This way to
obedience class.” He ran in the direction the arrow was pointing.

Liz gripped the leash, holding on for dear life.

“OHHHHH!” Tramp’s leash got wrapped around Liz’s ankles and she fell to
her knees.

“It seems that when you see me, you fall all over yourself. Let me help
you up.” A hand crossed into her line of vision.

Before thinking, she grabbed the hand, but jerked away as the surge of
electricity shot through her fingers and up her arm.

His hand, massive and strong, pulled her up. She tried not to look
at…Cole.

Her flushed face would be enough to show him how embarrassed she was.

Why is he here?
Was he checking out his competition?
She
wondered how she was going to explain being here.

For the past year he was nowhere. Now he was everywhere.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Liz brushed her pants off
and hoped to brush the embarrassment away. “Thank you.”

Those warm inviting brown eyes made her weak in the knees. She
stumbled.

“Let’s get you a chair and check out your knee.” Cole put his arm
around her waist to walk her over to a metal chair.

His arm fit perfectly in the nook of her waist. Many times over the
past couple days she had imagined his arms around her. Not in this situation,
but it felt good.

For a moment, she could tell he was thinking the same thing. He looked
at her as if he was photographing her with his eyes.

She looked away.

The class was completely full. Cole was like a magnet. All the dogs
were sniffing him, as well as the women. A pang of jealousy hit Liz’s heart
with each smile he gave away to each woman he came in contact with.

“How does your knee feel?” He bent down and gently touched the skin
around it.

She tried to throttle the dizzy current that raced through her body.
And it took all the self control she had not to take his hand.

The man with the blue Pet Mall outfit she had met earlier handed Cole a
bag of ice.

“Hold it here for a few minutes to help with any swelling.” He gave her
body a racking gaze.

She sucked in her lip so he wouldn’t see that she really was in pain.

“You must be Hayes.” Cole was face to face with her son.

How did this happen?
She winced, looking back and forth between
them.

“Hey, how do you know my name?” Hayes was taken off guard.

“I’ve seen your dog in action. Did you teach him all of those tricks?”
Cole asked.

It bothered Liz how Hayes lit up when Cole talked about Tramp and all
the cool agility tricks he performed at Claws and Paws. This was exactly what
Liz didn’t want to happen.

It was painful enough that Cole didn’t have the same feelings as she
did, but the fact that he and Hayes seemed to have a good chemistry was a real
stab in the back.

“Excuse me, Liz.” Cole stood up. “Nice to meet you, Hayes.”

Cole patted Tramp’s head and walked away. Liz’s heart ached with the
distance that each step put between them. Her feelings for him were
intensifying and she couldn’t stop them. She could easily see Cole step into
her life and fit in…perfectly. She rubbed her knee. She wasn’t sure what hurt
worse, her knee or her heart.

“Good evening, everyone. I am Cole Michaels.” He was standing in the
middle of the circle, smiling, showing off those pearly white teeth. “I’m your
instructor for this basic dog obedience class. Let’s get started.”

“What are you doing?” Hayes poked his mom.

“What?” she whispered.

“That smile.” He stuck his finger in her face. “You have a goofy smile
on your face.”

Quickly she wiped the grin off her face. She’d had no clue she was
smiling. She hated the fact that this was her reaction around Cole.

Hayes bent over and whispered, “You think he’s hot, don’t you?”

“What? What do you know about hot, mister?” She’d never heard Hayes
talk this way, and vowed to pay close attention to her emotions.

If a nine year old boy could read her emotions, she was sure a forty
year old man could.

Hayes smiled and turned his attention to Cole.

The class was a lot more fun when you know the instructor. Cole used
Tramp for all the basic examples. Hayes grinned from ear to ear with pride.

Several children who attended the class with their parents wanted to
pet Tramp. Their eyes marveled. Tramp was a star.

“I want a dog like that.” One little boy snarled at his poodle.

Hayes pulled Tramp closer to him. “You can have a dog like Tramp if you
work hard. Your dog can do it.”

Liz smiled. He was becoming so mature for his age.

The lower extremities in Liz’s body tingled with anticipation as she
thought about talking to Cole. She touched his shoulder. He turned. She didn’t
like his stone-cold look.

“Cole? I want to thank you for being so kind to Hayes.”

“It isn’t for you. He seems like a very nice boy.” The tension could be
cut with a knife. “I’m assuming you are not coming tomorrow?”

Her heart sank as she took in Cole’s demeanor. He was pulling away from
her. He was cold and aloof, not the caring gentleman he was less than
twenty-four hours ago.

“I…” She stumbled over her words. She took a deep breath. “I figured
you would rather we find something else. I don’t like conflict.”

This was not the place Liz wanted to be right now. If she could, she
would grab Hayes and Tramp and run. She wanted to grab Cole and kiss him.

“I’m sorry I ruined your class.” She couldn’t look at him. Finding him
attractive was distracting her from protecting herself. 

Cole’s smile was condescending. “You didn’t ruin my class. Hayes and
Tramp are a complete joy. Hayes was exactly how I pictured him. I hope to see
you next Monday.”

Cole didn’t wait for her to answer. He walked away from her.

She watched in disbelief as he approached a young woman in the class
with a Chihuahua dressed in a pink shirt. There was no way she was more than
twenty-one. Plus Liz didn’t like the bedroom eyes the girl was giving Cole. Liz
knew bedroom eyes when she saw them.

“Mom.”  Hayes tugged at her arm. “Come on, Mom.”

“What?” Liz asked, but kept one eye on Cole.

The woman laughed and rubbed her hand down Cole’s arm. Liz turned to
look at Hayes when Cole looked over at her.

Hayes tugged on her shirt.

“What, honey?” she asked.

“Can we go? I want to try the new tricks on Tramp as soon as we get
home.”

“Okay, buddy.” She ruffled his hair.

There was no sense in hanging around, just to torture her
heart.

“For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my
heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.”

~Judy Garland

Liz had a hard time settling Hayes down for bed. He talked about Tramp
and how well Tramp had done. Plus all the talk about how “cool” Cole was and
how he knew so much about dogs. It was hard for her to drown him out during all
the Cole talk. Her longing to be back in his agility class at the Claws and
Paws was unbearable. Or was it her longing to be back in his presence that was
unbearable?

Alone with Cole in Claws and Paws, watching him handle Tramp, seeing
his smile and boyish ways as he worked with Tramp was burned into her memory
like a tattoo..

His smell.

His dark eyes.

The way his arm fit around her waist as if it belonged there.

“Yes, honey.” Liz repeated blankly when Hayes would ask her questions.
“Yes, honey.”

Finally he closed his eyes and he fell asleep.

Liz was wide awake. She couldn’t quiet her mind long enough to rest.
Images of Cole and the twenty-year-old woman’s smile haunted her.

Mindlessly, she walked around the house tiding up. She loaded more wood
into the hearth, and turned off the lights on the Christmas tree before she let
Tramp out one final time before bed.

“Come on.” She petted his head and grabbed her favorite quilt her
grandmother had made for her off the sofa. “Let’s go outside.”

Tramp danced around her with anticipation. She wrapped the quilt around
her to ward off the winter night chill.

Not only did it warm her on the outside, it also warmed her on the
inside, as she thought of how much she loved and missed her grandmother, and
all the memories that she had of her.

The night sky was clear. Oh, how she wished her mind was that clear.
Taking deep breaths, the night air flowed with ease through her nose and filled
her lungs. She closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.

“You up for company?” Cole walked in the gate without a smile on his
face.

“You startled me.” Liz held his gaze for a few seconds. She pulled the
blanket up around her neck. “What are you doing here?”

Tramp jumped all over him. With a few simple commands, Cole had Tramp
under control and sitting patiently. The moonlight cast a shadow on him, making
it hard to see his salt and pepper crew-cut. He walked up and stood next to
her.

The urge to grab him hadn’t gone away. His stare made her nervous, but
she didn’t turn away from him.

The night’s darkness blanketed them like her quilt. She could barely
make out his eyes. The energy between them was like a magnet.

They stood in silence.

She could smell his sweet scent.

“We need to talk.” He broke the silence. His hands were plunged deep in
his front jean pockets and he rocked back and forth on his heels. “Is Hayes
sleeping?”

“Yes.” The word gently rolled off her lips. “What can I do for you,
Cole?”

“That is a loaded question, Liz.” He turned around leaving her with a
view to be desired, only to come back. Closer. “The way I see it, we have a
problem.”

She enjoyed the way his eyes licked her up and down, taking in the
curves of her neck and over her shoulders.

“What problem is that?” she asked, cold and calculated.

There was no way she was going to agree with such a statement. Even
though she knew he was right. She wanted to hear it from him. She needed to
hear that she made him as crazy as he made her.

“You’re sexy as hell. I want you. Jenna is a problem.” He walked to the
gate.

That’s it? Jenna was standing between the happiness that she’s feeling?
There was no way they were going to keep using Jenna as an excuse.

“Why is Jenna a problem?” Liz shouted across the lawn. “I’m a big girl.
I can make my own decisions.”

She stood firm. He rushed across the yard. He grabbed the edges of her
quilt. He ripped it off and held it in one hand.

“This was what I want.” He jabbed his finger toward her. “And I can’t
have it. You are a distraction to me.”

The quilt fell from his hands and to the ground. He hurried away.

Liz closed her eyes tightly, whishing he’d come back. But when she
heard his truck door slam, her eyes filled with tears.

The engine didn’t start. She walked through the gate. Cole was slumped
over his steering wheel.

Without thinking, Liz jumped in the passenger side.

“You can’t leave like this. It’s too late. Hayes is involved.”
Secretly, Liz felt ashamed using Hayes to keep Cole here. Just like those men
who use their dogs to attract girls.

Cole looked into the night. His jaw clinched. If he only knew how fascinating
she found him.

“I love the way you interact with people, the way you are with your
son, your dog.” Cole gripped the steering wheel.

The passion in his eyes scared her. The tension in his jaw released.
He  pushed the hair away from her face.