The Friendship List(44)

“If he cared, he would have shown up a long time ago.”

An excellent point. One she wanted to linger on, but knew she had to stay neutral with a slightly positive chaser. In her heart of hearts, she wouldn’t be the least bit sad if Coop and his dad didn’t get along—but if that were to happen, she wanted it to occur organically and not because of anything she’d done.

“I’m sure he regrets his decision. How could he not? But he’s here now, so have a good time, then come join us on the beach.”

Her son met her gaze. “You all right with this, Mom? If you don’t want me to go, I won’t go.”

Ack! “Go,” she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “Go and have a good time. I’m happy you’re doing this. I’m a little jealous of your lunch because I think we’re getting hot dogs on the pier and that’s hardly the same as some fancy restaurant in Santa Monica. Maybe you’ll see a movie star.”

“Oh, Mom. It doesn’t work like that.”

“Why not? They have to eat eventually.”

He didn’t smile. “I want you to be okay.”

“I am okay.” She squeezed his hand and smiled. “I’m having a lot of fun already. I got a tattoo today.”

He stared at her, as if he hadn’t heard her. “What did you say?”

“I got a tattoo.” She pointed to her left rear hip. “It was very painful, let me tell you. I nearly told the guy to stop, but then what? I would have had half a tattoo.”

Cooper came to his feet, towering over her. “A tattoo?” he roared loud enough for the entire lobby to turn in their direction. “Are you serious?”

She held in a smile. “What are you so upset about? I’m an adult. I can do what I want.”

“You’re not the tattoo type. You’re a mom.”

She stood and patted his arm. “I’m not just a mom, kid, and I get to have a life if I want to.” She turned and reached for the front button of her pants. “Want to see?”

Coop looked horrified. “Not here. Mom!” He muttered something she couldn’t hear. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“It’s nice that I can still surprise you.”

He groaned. “I’m going up to my room.”

“Chicken.” She made a clucking sound.

“I don’t know you,” he called over his shoulder as he walked away.

She was still chuckling when she let herself into her room. She liked that Coop was shocked about the tattoo, but she wished he was more enthused about the various campuses they would be seeing.

As for him hanging out with his dad, that was a different kind of problem. Nerves were natural, but with her luck, Jeremy would be nothing but charming and by the end of the meal, her son would want to relocate to LA and leave her behind. Although that would solve the “I can’t leave my mom” problem, that wasn’t how she wanted it to happen.

“Don’t start worrying about things that haven’t happened yet,” she told herself as she reached for her phone.

Want to see my tattoo?
Keith responded instantly. I can’t believe you really did that.

I said I would.
There wasn’t a response, but seconds later, she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and found Keith standing in the hallway.

“What were you thinking?” he asked.

“It was on my list. I told you I was going to do it. All you guys act so tough and worldly, but you’re not at all. Coop was practically hysterical.”

“That his mother got a tattoo? Hmm, I wonder why that is.”

She grinned. “Want to see it?”

Keith hesitated. “Where is it?”

She rolled her eyes. “Nowhere bad. Just on my hip.” She turned her back and unfastened her pants, then pushed them and the granny panties down. “It’s a shooting star.”

“Uh-huh.”

He sounded farther away as he spoke. She glanced over her shoulder and saw he was at the far end of the room.

“It’s not a disease,” she told him, pulling up her pants. “What are you afraid of?”

“I’m being cautious. I didn’t know how many clothes you were going to take off.”

The unexpected statement hurt her feelings. “Because it would be so awful to see me naked? Gee, thanks for the compliment.”

He groaned. “It wouldn’t be awful. It would be—” He took a step toward her, stopped. His whole body tensed. “Could we please not talk about you being naked?”

“Because it’s too gross?” She squared her shoulders, determined to be strong in the face of what seemed to be mean comments. “I’ll have you know I look good naked.”

His jaw clenched. “I’m sure you do. I just don’t need that in my head right now. Thinking about you naked isn’t comfortable.” He held up a hand. “It’s a guy thing, okay? Can you trust me on that? It’s not that I wouldn’t like to see your body. This is not me dissing you.”

Some of her hurt faded. “So you would like to see me naked?”

He swore. “Ellen, please. Change the subject.”

She looked at him. He was a big strong guy. Very masculine and comfortable in his own skin. Which was weird to think about because they’d always only been friends. But now, studying his body and thinking how much they enjoyed each other’s company, she wondered what it would be like to be more than friends.