A few beach and sea scenes in misty water colors dotted the walls here and there.
Having taken it all in, the memories and the nostalgia too, I headed for the corner booth where Ellen and Joseph were seated.
When I stood there, looming over them, Ellen was the first to look up. Her smile of greeting faded when she realized I wasn’t the server, and then her eyes widened as she asked, more to herself than me, “Cooper? Is that you?”
Her astonishment told me Lauren hadn’t shared my return with her family.
I wasn’t sure whether to be discouraged about that or not.
Either way, they knew I was here now, and no mistaking.
At his wife’s bemusement, Joseph peered over his glasses at me. His attention drifting from seven down or whatever clue had him stumped and over to me.
“Cooper?” he asked, as confused as his wife.
I shot them a sheepish grin. “Hey Mr. and Mrs. Adams.”
They blinked at me, then Joseph half stood then sat again when Ellen’s hand went to his arm and gently urged him back into his seat.
“You’ve got some nerve,” Joseph snarled.
I sighed. “I know I do. But I’m here now, and I intend to make amends.”
Ellen tilted her head to the side as she studied me, taking far more in than I’d undoubtedly have appreciated because whatever she saw, it had her wafting a hand out and murmuring, “Sit with us, Cooper.”
Joseph blinked. “El, what the hell?”
She hushed him. “The boy’s got a message, Joseph. Let him speak.”
“After what he did to our girl?” Joseph snarled again, shooting me a fulminating glare. “He doesn’t deserve our time.”
“Maybe not, but I’d prefer to hear him out. There are always two sides to every tale, after all.”
“And what? Lauren got her side wrong?”
“No,” I immediately interrupted, and I knew it was rude but the glowers the couple were sharing weren’t my intention.
I didn’t want to cause dissent between th
e pair of them, not when I was in the wrong. Even if I’d only ever tried to act in their daughter’s best interests.
The only way they could understand that though was if I told them the truth.
Both Joseph and Ellen jolted in surprise at my outburst. I could sense they’d been engaged in a battle of the gazes, so wasn’t taken aback by their shock.
Ellen’s eyes softened as she took me in, and I prayed she could sense my earnestness.
Joseph, on the other hand, looked moody and disgruntled, but he stayed silent when Ellen urged, “It’s okay, Cooper. Tell us what you came here for.”
For a second, I missed my mom so terribly that the everyday ache was a sharp pain in my chest.
I was so damn glad Ellen was a fighter, that she’d survived cancer and hadn’t left Lauren.
I licked my lips, wondering where to start, when the server appeared at our table. Ruing her timing, I turned to her with a tight smile and said, “I’ll just have coffee, please.”
“Nothing to eat?”
Wanting the teenager, popping bubble gum as she spoke to me, to disappear, I grunted, “Nothing yet.”