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“You’re not stealing my recipe for the restaurant,” Bailey said, sufficiently diverted

“What if we called it Bailey’s crab apple salad and fritters?” Ira offered

Bailey considered it and then shook her head “Sorry, no We serve this at the inn I can’t havethe same dish” She frowned “Anyhow, it’s not Italian”

“Oh, right” Iris grinned mischievously

“Coop, I saw Cat the other day with Joey That boy is getting bigger every time I see him,” Ira said

He felt the doc’s curious gaze and answered her silent question “My sister, Cat, and her eight-year-old son, Joey”

“Oh”

He looked back at Ira “He’s skipping a grade, did she tell you that?” he said proudly Unfortunately, Joey’s dad had been a one-night stand, a tourist whose name Cat couldn’t even reot to be the man in Joey’s life and it filled a hole in his own in a way that he’d be forever grateful for His nepheas the nicest kid and he was smart as a whip

“She did” Ira grinned “Proud as punch And she should be That boy is being raised right All ‘yes, sirs’ and ‘no, sirs’ You don’t hear that much anymore”

“And he is your spitting iot more of you in him than his own mother”

It was true Joey had inherited his and Cat’s blue eyes and dark hair, but he looked just like Cooper had when he was his age Except Joey was smarter and more talented

“Cat was saying he’s doing really ith his piano lessons,” Ira said

He nodded even though that was an understatement The kid was a little virtuoso When he was four Cat had the piano she’d inherited from their mom tuned and refurbished because Joey was so fascinated by it He just took to it Cooper had offered to pay for piano lessons, and the teacher had just recently suggested Joey audition for a private tutor in Dover who had once been a tutor at the New England Conservatory and had a high success rate of getting his kids into the best music schools in the United States

He was very picky about who he worked with and he liked to start with the like Joey

He also didn’t come cheap

But Cooper had prouy took Joey on as a student

“Plays ‘well’,” Bailey scoffed at the word choice “Ira, you should hear hi noise as she esture with her hands near her head “Seriously Blows my mind”

“He sounds aled up in hers again “You must be very proud”

“The proudest,” he said gruffly

“Theybetter, don’t they?” she said

He guessed she was thinking about her goddaughter and he found hiirl, whose kid she was, and why those people meant so much to her “Yeah,” he answered instead “They do”

“Thank you for dinner,” the doc said, giving Bailey a hug “And for everything Best vacation ever”

“It’s not over yet,” Bailey said, sounding almost panicked about it “We still have a few days”

The doc grinned at her “That’s true We’ll make the most of them”

“I’ll walk you back, Doc,” he offered

Her grin wilted a little “We all will” She gestured to Iris and Ira

Iris smirked “Oh, we just live a block over We don’t live at the boardwalk”

“Right Of course” She turned back to Cooper “You don’t either, right? So I don’t want you to go out of your way”

“You’re not walking back to the inn alone at night, Doc We’ve been over that” He grinned as she flushed at the reminder of their make-out session on the beach

She huffed “I’ so”

“Not arguing about it”

“What happened to the enlightened gentleman who let me pay for dinner the other day?”

“Splitting the cost of a date is different fro to your safety”

“Date?” Bailey’s ears perked up

“Fine, you can walkoff Bailey’s curiosity “’Bye, all!” She hurried out of the house

Cooper was met by four amused stares He sht She thought they were a tag team

They weren’t

Cooper still wanted the doc to make up her own mind

Didn’ther wasn’t fun as hell

He hurried to catch up with her outside “Hold your horses, Doc”

She turned to wait for hiht out of him

They walked together toward the inn in silence until Cooper couldn’t take it anyton, Doc?”

He felt her tense beside hi frustration “I don’t know, okay? I don’t know But I do know that ton, Cooper My job is there And I’ood at my job Those women need someone like me I made a commit my recipe for the restaurant,” Bailey said, sufficiently diverted