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He nodded at her
His heart beat a little faster, a little harder
“Hi, Cooper,” she said
Daave her a sain”
She didn’t smile In fact, she looked a little nervous He tensed as she leaned over his bar toward him “Do you have a minute to talk?” Riley, Lily, and Old Archie all leaned in toward thenored them, but Jess looked bemused by all the attention “Perhaps in private?”
“Yeah, I’ave Riley a look “Watch the bar I won’t be long”
“Sure thing, boss” She grinned knowingly at him
He ignored her,subjected to his staff teasing hiestured to Jess toat Old Archie, who grinned at her like a pubescent boy, and met Cooper at the end He placed a hand on her lower back and guided her through the Staff Only door “We can talk in my office”
Once they were inside the small, cramped space, and the door had closed behind them, Jess moved away fro aat her She wore a fitted black leather jacket, a dark pink shirt underneath it, and black skinny jeans She was also wearing those sexy-as-hell high-heeled boots again
Her pretty features were taut with tension
Cooper iood she looked as his earlier concern ca on, Doc?”
“Uh” She glanced around “Can we sit?”
“Sure” He gestured to the chair behind her and he strode by her to sit on his desk “Nohat’s going on?”
Jess stared up at him and he tensed at the compassion he saw in her eyes “I mostly came here for my vacation, but there was another reason I chose to come to Hartwell”
Curiosity definitely piqued, Cooper nodded at her to continue
“As you knoork at the Woton” She paused to open her purse and pull out four little envelopes “A feeeks ago I found these letters inside a book from the library They ritten by your mother’s cousin, Sarah Randall”
Shock froze Cooper to the spot
“I didn’t know she was your ht Bailey told me of the connection”
Sarah Randall Jesus Christ He hadn’t known her—she died before he was born—but his er than Sarah and they’d been close She’d thought of her as a big sister Coop knew fro about her cousin that the crie ied his mom
He didn’t have the s toward the woman because of that
At his silence, Jess leaned forward in her chair “These letters are for George Beckwith You will of course know the story there”
Everyone in Hartwell did
“I’ht for ht that George gets theht to know the truth at least”
“And what truth is that?”
“That Sarah was black hie’s father, the senator, was involved in crie would lose everything Sarah was just a kid and naive and she stupidly gave in to Ron He was very abusive The night she shot hi to kill her It was self-defense These lettersShe wanted forgiveness, Cooper Froiveness and she died before she could et what she needed”
Cooper narrowed his eyes on Jess There was a lot of passion in her voice for so his mother’s cousin “No one knehy Sarah married Ron Noe know But ht in Sarah’sher and they tried to help her My e that she kept everyone at a distance This” He waved his hand at the letters “Look, iven her because she’d already guessed that Ron was abusive But she was hurt that Sarah cut theed her I didn’t know Sarah, but I can’t forget the way ot when she talked about her I believe, no s were, she had other choices available to her My mom and our fa choice”
More than that, Cooper knehat it was like to see a woman be beat down in every way by a h would she have ever considered taking the road Sarah Randall did
Jessica stared up at hie in them He didn’t knohat it was because he didn’t know her well enough, but he got a feeling that it wasn’t good
That wasthe letters into her purse “Okay,” she said in that quiet voice of hers “Bailey just” She shrugged dded at her