Edible

29

On Friday night, Rachel waited beside Cole outside of Mason and Lena’s condo. She couldn’t help the quick glances she kept throwing his way as he stood there, staring at the door. It had been several minutes, and he still didn’t seem like he was about to raise his hand and knock.

Turning to him, Rachel touched his shoulder. Cole looked down at her, and she found herself offering him a soft smile.

“You okay?” she asked.

He pushed his hands into his jeans. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Rachel didn’t buy it for a minute. “Funny, you don’t seem fine.”

“I suppose I’m nervous.”

“Nervous, huh? The Cole Madison? Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected is nervous?”

He ran the back of his index finger down the bright purple streak in her hair. “You’re the only person who seems to see that side of me,” he admitted. “Or maybe I should say, you’re the only person who brings out that side of me.”

Rachel placed her palms on his chest as she stood up on her tiptoes. “You have nothing to be nervous about. I love you, and my family will love you, too. They just need to get over the shock.”

Bringing his hands up to cup her face, he laid his lips to hers. “I hope so.”

“Cole,” she said as she pulled her lips from his, “I know so. So, let’s do this.”

Just as he was about to knock on the door, the elevator dinged behind them, and Rachel turned to see Josh and Shelly getting off. As they started walking toward them, Josh had his arm firmly wrapped around Shelly’s waist. She looked up at him, laughing at a comment he must have just made. As they continued forward, Josh turned his head, and when he saw them standing there, his smile pulled tight, but he nodded in their direction as they stopped in front of them.

“Madison,” Josh greeted in a neutral tone.

Rachel stepped forward. “You and I need to talk. Now.”

At the fierce tone in Rachel’s voice, Josh’s eyebrow moved up his head, and he took a step back. As she walked around him and down the hall, she heard Shelly say, “Hey, rock star, ready for round two?”

Rachel almost rounded on her to tell her to quit it when she heard Cole come back with, “Sure am. Bring it on Man-Eater.”

As Shelly’s brow winged up her laugh filled the hall, and Rachel kicked herself for thinking that he couldn’t look after himself. Just because he was nervous didn’t mean he wasn’t still Cole.

Turning to where Josh had come to a stop at the end of the small hall, Rachel moved in front of him.

“Do you have something you want to say to me?” she asked.

She watched as he pushed his hands into his jeans pockets and looked over her shoulder. Rachel turned and watched as the door to the condo opened, and Lena came out to hug Shelly and then Cole.

Lena stood aside and invited them in. When Cole moved to let Shelly pass, his eyes connected with Rachel’s, and he gave her a small smile and a wink.

As the door shut, Rachel rounded back on Josh. “Well?”

“Would you calm down? You’re as prickly as a porcupine,” he told her in that lazy, relaxed voice he always seemed to have.

“Well, between you and Mason, can you blame me?”

“Can we blame you?” Josh scoffed. “Yes, we can blame you. You went away for a weekend and came back married. Most people would be a little shocked, so why don’t you get that?”

Rachel shut her mouth and turned away from him. Damn him for using logic. She pushed a frustrated hand through her hair, and as she was about to speak, she felt a hand grab her arm and turn her.

“We were worried, Rach. That’s all. It has nothing to do with who you married.” He paused and shrugged. “Well, not for me anyway. Mason might have thought differently, but I was worried about you.”

Rachel brought her eyes up to his big brown ones. “Do I seem unhappy?”

That was when Josh’s mouth broke into his usual easy-go-lucky smile that reached all the way to those eyes. “No. This is the happiest I’ve seen you in months. Honestly, since I moved back.”

Rachel beamed at him as she stepped closer. “He makes me happy.”

Josh reached out and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in close. “I can see that,” he told her as he hugged her tightly. “I can also see how happy you make him.”

Pulling back from Josh, Rachel looked up at him with a smile. “Really?”

Josh laughed at that as he took her hand, and they walked back up the hall.

“Really. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Cole this relaxed—ever. He’s always been about work, always so serious and stressed.”

Rachel nodded. It seemed accurate enough to her. Cole had been like that. It was only this last week when he had started to change. She liked to think she had a lot to do with that.

“He’s got a lot going on with work and his mom.”

Josh looped an arm over her shoulder as he knocked on the condo door. “Yeah, he told me about his mom this past weekend when he had to leave town. He forgot to mention he was marrying my best friend’s little sister.”

Rachel leaned her head on Josh’s shoulder as she heard footsteps coming to the door.

“He’s perfect for me. How weird is that?”

Josh squeezed her shoulder as he whispered, “It’s about as weird as the Man-Eater being perfect for me.”

Rachel let out a booming laugh as the door opened, and Mason stood staring at them with a smile in place. “Did you two kiss and make up?”

“They better not have been kissing!” Shelly called out from inside the condo.

As she and Josh walked inside, Rachel’s eyes moved around the room until she found Cole standing by the large window with Lena.

When he smiled at her, Rachel felt her insides warm.

“No kissing, Shelly. Keep your panties on.” Josh chuckled.

Rachel moved away from him, and as she was halfway across the room, she heard Shelly point out, “Who said I’m wearing any?”

As the room broke out into laughter, Rachel knew that she was home.

Cole watched Rachel move across her brother’s condo toward him.

As she got closer, Lena, who was standing beside him, said softly, “You have someone special there. She and her brother have two of the biggest hearts. Please be careful with hers.”

Cole looked down into the green eyes of the woman who was now a part of his family by marriage. He assured her, “I don’t know how it happened, and I don’t know why, but this—what she and I have—it’s solid. You don’t need to worry about her. I’d rather cut off my own arms than hurt a single purple hair on her head. I’ll look after her.”

Lena stepped up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Like I said once before, thank you.”

“For?” Cole questioned as she started to move away.

“For bringing her back to us. She left for a while, and you brought her back. For that alone, Mason is grateful.”

Cole looked back to Rachel, who was almost to them, and he mumbled, “Maybe she was looking for something.”

Before she moved away, Lena took a sip from her wine glass, and then she softly told him, “Yeah, you.”

She passed Rachel and gave her a hug and kiss before moving into the kitchen where her husband was standing at the oven.

“Hi,” Rachel said as she stopped in front of him.

Cole reached out and encircled her waist, pulling her forward. “Hello. Everything okay?”

Her lips tipped up into a smile. “It is now.”

“Joshua?” Cole questioned as he searched his friend out in the room.

Rachel placed her hand on his chest and patted it. “Josh is fine. He just wanted to—”

“Make sure you were okay?”

“Yes.” Rachel chuckled. “These people need to quit worrying about me.”

“These people love you,” Cole pointed out as he tipped up her chin, so her eyes met his. “I love you.”

She dropped her eyes from his and snuggled into his chest where she rubbed her cheek against his navy sweater. “I love you, too.”

“You are lucky. There are four people in this room who all want you to be happy and who have all told me what a wonderful person you are.”

“That person disappeared for a while,” she mumbled as his arms tightened around her, “but you helped her find her way home.”

“I’m glad. Because the girl who used to dance in the kitchen with her dad, the little sister who cried because of silly girls at school, and the teenage girl with the crush…that girl? My girl belongs in this room with these people.”

Cole rested his lips down by her ear, remembering a story Mason had told him the other day, and he did something he had never done before. Quietly, he began to hum in her ear, and then he started to sing, “What can make me feel this way? My girl.”

Rachel looked up into the hazel eyes that now held her heart, and as Cole softly hummed a song that meant so much to her, Rachel was reminded of all the good memories that came along with it—her father, her mother, Mason and Josh.

She was lucky. She belonged to the people in this room, and now, Cole belonged with her. Loneliness had gone, and in its place was peace, happiness, and something even better—a sense of belonging.