Sometimes, Forever (Sometimes Moments #2) (17 page)

I had never felt like more of an asshole than those weeks of my life.

Margot:
We have an issue.

Cooper:
We?

Margot:
Yeah, as in you and Peyton. Mother is going to be assessing the livestock.

Cooper:
My girlfriend isn’t meat, Margot.

Margot:
Ah, but to Mum, she is.

Cooper:
Don’t you dare say it.

Margot:
The woman who gave you life would like to meet the love of your life.

Cooper:
SHIT.

Margot:
YEP.

Cooper:
When?

Margot:
Saturday. Megs is coming, too.

Cooper:
You, Dad, and Phil?

Margot:
Will be mediators. Peyton will sweep them off their feet. I’m sure of it.

Cooper set his phone down on the kitchen table and glanced up to find his girlfriend at the bench, cutting the potatoes. It had been three months since she had told him about her relationship with Callum Reid. They had been best friends until the summer they were seventeen when Callum had kissed her under the cherry blossom tree by her window. Peyton had told Cooper about her pain and devastation when he had left Daylesford days after she had given him her virginity. That was the day she and Graham had become best friends. Her parents had died months later and Callum didn’t return. Little had she known that he was going through chemo after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. Four and a half years later, after Peyton took over the hotel and she had established a friendship with Jay Preston, Callum returned.

Slowly, they had rediscovered their love for each other once again. Jay Preston had been jealous and had cut ties with Peyton. The original hotel, the Spencer-Dayle, had burned to the ground. Jay had instructed the volunteer firefighters to let it burn. That was the night Peyton saw the real Jay. Weeks later, she would find out that the dishwasher he had fixed had been the cause of the fire. His negligence had cost her the hotel her parents had renovated. Callum had designed her new plans and urged her to call the new hotel the Spencer. At June’s album launch, Callum had walked Peyton to the pier where he had told her he loved her for the last time before he had passed away in her arms.

To pay tribute to him, she had named the hotel after him as well.

The Spencer-Reid.

For the entire time Peyton had told her story, Cooper had remained silent. This was her moving on. This was her finding another way to heal from his death. Cooper had held her hand as she spoke. When she had finished, he had carried her to his bed and held her tight until she fell asleep. The morning after, when he had woken to her smile, he knew that she was free from her guilt. That they could be together without her past hindering her. She would always love Callum Reid, and he would never try to take that away from her. But Cooper had learnt that she also loved him and had enough space in her heart to have a future with him in it.

“Peyton,” he said.

She glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah?”

Cooper stood up from his chair and crossed the kitchen to her. Then he wrapped his arms around her and settled his chin on her shoulder. She continued to cut the vegetable as he shifted to kiss the curve of her neck.

“Stop,” she said with a giggle. “Coop, seriously, I’m going to cut myself if you don’t stop.”

He peppered kisses up and down her neck until he pressed his lips against the soft spot under her ear. Then he pulled away and next to her ear, he whispered, “My family wants to meet you.”

Cooper heard her hiss. He glanced down to see her finger bleeding all over the chopping board.

“Holy shit,” he said and quickly let go of her. Cooper went to the oven door handle and removed the tea towel that hung over it. He hurried back to his girlfriend to find her washing her wound at the sink.

“If I believed in signs the way Jenny does, then this is not a good one,” Peyton said, staring at her index finger.

“Is it deep?” he asked as he set the tea towel next to her and picked up the bloody chopping board and knife. The potato that had sat in the middle of the wooden board was quickly disposed of. Cooper carefully set the knife and board in the sink as Peyton turned off the tap and stepped back.

He grabbed the tea towel and was by her side in seconds. Cooper dabbed the material on her index finger several times as blood continued to seep through the slice in her skin. As he wound the length of the towel around her finger, Peyton said in a low voice, “I would love to meet them, Coop. But I’m scared that I won’t make a very good first impression.”

His eyes darted to hers. “They’re going to love you.”

Then she frowned. “I’ve never met anyone’s parents.”

“Darlin’, you have nothing to be worried about,” he reassured and then planted a kiss on her lips. “Trust me. They will love you.”

“Oh, God. Oh, God,” Peyton whispered as they stood at the front of the Spencer-Reid. It had been his idea to have it at the hotel. More room and a public place to force his mother to be nice.

The truth was, Cooper had no idea if his mother would like Peyton. He’d be surprised if she didn’t. His girlfriend was the kind of girl you brought home to meet your parents. She was it. The ultimate package. Smart, beautiful, and successful. There was absolutely nothing he could find that faulted anything about her.

Cooper grasped her left hand in his and squeezed. “It’s okay, Peyton. I’ll be right here with you.”

From the corner of his eye, he could see her tight smile. She had made a nod that he knew was her encouraging herself.

“Oh, God. That’s them, isn’t it?” she asked. The fear in her voice bordered on cute.

He looked out to see his mother, father, sisters, Phil, and Rhys walking up the path towards them. Peyton’s grip on his hand tightened and he let out a chuckle. She had been up since five a.m. making sure she chose the freshest ingredients, prepped their food, and ensured that the hotel was to perfection. He had woken up to her note saying that she had gone down to the Spencer-Reid to set up and that had been at eight a.m. When he had showered and dressed, he arrived to her admitting that she had left the house at almost six in the morning.

“
Cooper!
” Margot squealed.

She wasn’t a squealer.

It could only mean one thing.

Trouble.

She only used that squealy voice when someone had pissed her off to the point where she was thinking murder.

“That’s Margot,” he said to his girlfriend. “The only person’s opinion who matters to me in my family is hers.”

Peyton let out a nervous groan.

When his family reached them, he smiled and turned his body. “Peyton, this is my family.”

“Hello,” she said sweetly, but he heard the nerves. She was trying really hard for him, and he couldn’t help but fall in love with her all over again. Peyton was out of her comfort zone. He knew that, and she knew that, too.

“Margot, this is Peyton,” he introduced.

Peyton held out her hand and Margot cringed. She hated formality. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Peyton, causing his girlfriend’s hand to part from his.

“It’s so great to meet you,” Margot said with an honest smile. “You are way too beautiful for my brother,” she remarked once she had ended their embrace.

“Thank you,” Peyton said, her cheeks blushing a brilliant pink.

Then he had introduced her to his father, whose eyes sparkled at the sight of her, before letting her meet Phil, Megan, and Rhys. Megan was apprehensive but shook Peyton’s hand.

“Mum, this is Peyton. Peyton, this is my mother,” Cooper introduced.

Once again, Peyton held out her hand to his mother.

Eleanor Hepburn glanced down at Peyton’s left hand, and he knew then that she had noticed Peyton’s tattoo. Her scrunched-up nose was all the indication he had needed. His mother turned her head to Cooper, ignoring Peyton’s hand, and said, “You’re looking well. Shall we get out of this heat? Give us a tour.”

He cringed at his mother’s dismissal of Peyton. Cooper noticed Peyton lower her hand and tried to brush it off as discreetly as she could. But he knew his sisters, their partners, and his father had seen it.

“Yes, Peyton, give us a tour of your magnificent hotel. The exterior is beautiful,” Margot said, trying to make Peyton comfortable. His youngest sister looped her arm around Peyton and ushered her towards the hotel’s front door.

Phil, Rhys, his mother, and Megan followed right behind them. His father had set a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from stepping towards the hotel.

“She’s beautiful, son,” his father said.

“She is, isn’t she,” he agreed.

Cooper stood by as his girlfriend spoke to his father by the cliff that faced the glimmering lake. Peyton had charmed his father the second she began to speak. She enchanted him; that was the only way Cooper could explain it. He was right; Margot and her boyfriend, Phil, loved her. Rhys was quiet as usual. And Megan was as cold as the Arctic towards Peyton. His mother had avoided even looking at her.

“Cooper, could I please talk to you for a second?” his mother asked in a harsh tone.

He sighed, knowing that an argument would more than likely spark between them. He had never fought her when it came to her meddling in his relationships. He nodded and watched his mother wave Megan over. Cooper couldn’t believe what he was seeing. With a sigh, he led his mother and sister inside the hotel and towards the back of the sitting room.

“Okay, what’s up?” he asked as he folded his arms over his chest.

“I don’t like her,” his mother said, bluntly.

Cooper’s shoulders sagged. “What?”

Megan nodded along. She had always sided with their mother on everything.

His mother’s nostrils flared. “She has
another
man’s name tattooed on her wrist, Cooper. I don’t approve of her for you. She is not what I envisioned for you.”

Anger coursed through him. He couldn’t believe how unbelievable and unreasonable his mother was being.

“What are you doing, Mum?”

“What a mother is supposed to do. Protect her child. You need to end this with her. She doesn’t deserve someone like you.”