Cooper slowly put Sarah on her feet. He turned her around. He looked calm. She looked furious. “Sit down,” he said softly.

Sarah went back to her chair, but she was seething. Trembling. She could feel eyes on her; she could feel the hot flush on her cheeks. She took a sip of her wine. Then she whispered, “Did you see?”

“I saw,” Cooper said with a black frown. “He set you up. He’s a punk.”

She shook her head, still stunned. “Listen, Cooper, I’ve been in one or two seedy waterfront bars where you have to be careful and I’ve never been treated like that.”

“I believe it. Even in ugly grunt bars, only the lowest, drunkest men pull that stuff. And he’s seventeen?”

“I think I’d like to leave,” she said.

“No, Sarah. We’re going to stay. We’re going to sit here awhile and talk quietly. I want you to have your wine, try to eat your dinner.”

Cliff came to their table. “You folks okay?” he asked softly.

“We’re fine,” Cooper said. “We’re very excited about that grouper.”

“Good!” he said, grinning.

But Sarah’s hand went to her stomach. When Cliff left she said, “I’m not all that excited.”

He smiled at her. “Time to get a grip. If you’re going to live in a little town, you have to know who you can trust. You can trust the grouper.”

“You broke his finger?” she asked.

“Nah. He got in my face, poked me in the chest and told me to take off and leave Landon. I didn’t feel like it. I made a point, that’s all. His finger is fine. I wanted to mess up his face, lying little prick. He’s lucky we walked away.”

She smiled at him. “Are you all right?”

“You are buying dinner,” he said. “My shins hurt.”

And her flush deepened.

Eleven

Cooper wanted to keep Sarah at the restaurant for a reasonable length of time. For one thing, he wanted to be sure she was completely calmed down and thinking straight. He also intended to be sure they discussed some very important things. While they ate salads, he opened the conversation. Mr. and Mrs. Morrison clearly considered themselves privileged and above the rules. Jag took it even a step further. He was vindictive, cruel and obviously spoiled, with a powerful family who would back him up even when all the facts pointed to his dishonesty and immorality.

“Listen, Sarah, that kid? He’s fearless and dark, dangerous. Obviously, he comes by it honestly—his mother is just as creepy. First of all, if you ever see any of them, the Morrisons, I want you to cross the street to avoid them. Second, we’re going to take this even more seriously and make sure Landon is safe. And third...” He shook his head. “I don’t know how I’m going to describe it, but I’m going to tell Mac about what just happened. It was very sick and twisted.”

“They mentioned a lawyer.”

“People say lawyer a lot more than they use lawyers. But they do need one. Their kid went to jail, will have to appear before a judge and has been suspended from school. Landon doesn’t need a lawyer.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “Because it sounds like they really believe Landon would lie about this.”

“I think they do believe it, but that doesn’t make it true,” he said.

“Where does a kid like that end up in life?” Sarah asked him.

“Probably cell block five,” Cooper said. “And if so, he’ll find out what it’s like to be jumped from behind. Listen, the real important issue here is Landon. He wants to be a big manly guy, all sixteen-year-old boys do. He doesn’t want to appear afraid. You’re going to have to find a way to convince him to take Morrison very seriously.”

She huffed. “I can try. You might have better luck with that than me.”

“If there’s an opportunity, I will. And I’ll talk to Mac, but I think you should do that, too. Ask Mac what steps you and Landon should take to be safe. Hopefully, the kid’s just an ass.”

She shook her head. “I’m trying to figure out how to explain that I could interpret him throwing me kisses and licking his lips as dangerous....”

“It wasn’t that, Sarah. It was the gleam in his eyes. If he’d done that to my girl in front of me ten years ago, I might’ve taken him out. As for Mac, I don’t think he’ll even question you when it comes to your feelings about Morrison. After all, his daughter is involved, if only on the edge of this situation.”

She was looking at him steadily. Earnestly. “I never thought I’d be relying on a complete stranger for help with this.”

Cooper was considering many possible responses when Cliff brought the grouper.

“Here we go,” Cliff said. “Most popular dish in the house. And listen, folks, I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I didn’t see what he did to get a rise out of you, but I didn’t have to. I’ve dealt with that kid and his mother before. His dad, Puck Morrison, is not such a bad guy, unless you’re doing business with him. Then he can get a little fierce, but I never knew him to turn on anyone...”

“Puck?” Cooper asked.

“From old hockey days.” Then he laughed. “Real old. Puck’s got about thirty years on his wife. I knew her way back. She used to be a tiny little thing with a bad temper. Came from nothin’—she’s a town girl—but you’d think she came from Buckingham Palace. Puck came from Eugene. Effie’s the second wife. He wasn’t quite done with the first one when Effie stepped in. That’s mostly just gossip, but I been around a long time and knew Effie before she had boobs. Seriously, I think Puck bought her boobs, then married her. Or maybe then his wife left him, along with their two older sons. I don’t know what they were doing here tonight. Morrisons don’t usually darken my door. Puck drops in by himself sometimes, just for a beer or some gossip, but the wife likes the country club. She doesn’t waste a lot of time in this old town....”

He just talked on and on while Cooper and Sarah listened. When he slowed down just a little, Cooper said, “Pull up a chair, Cliff. Have a cup of coffee with us.”

“Nah, but thanks,” he said, not catching the sarcasm. “Enjoy that grouper. Most popular dish in the house.”

Cooper and Sarah just smiled at each other across the table. Cooper lifted his fork and said, “Try it. It really is good.”

As she took a small bite, Cooper was aware of the shift in mood at their table, thanks to Cliff. At least for the moment, it seemed as if Sarah wasn’t thinking about that snotty punk or her brother or her troubles. She chewed slowly, lifted her brows and said, “Wow. Excellent! You must come here a lot.”

He shook his head. “Just a couple of times. It was recommended and I liked it.” He took his own bite. “So, I told you I was in four schools in four years. I had no idea I’d end up in the Army, in helicopters. I enlisted because I figured everyone in the Army was from somewhere else and it was probably the only place I wouldn’t be the new guy. But what about you? You move around a lot as a kid?”

She shook her head. Born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida, she grew up surfing, sailing, swimming, diving, playing volleyball, softball and soccer. The conversation was slow and easy, punctuated by his questions and their bites of grouper, rice and asparagus. She loved the sea, thus the Coast Guard. She’d thought she’d like flying, then learned she loved flying helicopters. Until the death of her parents, she’d led a charmed life.

She married another Coast Guard helicopter pilot, a man her age but junior in rank by a few years. And she described it as a foolish mistake.

“There were red flags. I questioned his fidelity before the wedding but he somehow convinced me I was imagining things, that he could never be interested in another woman. It turned out I married a man who thought being faithful was optional. Once caught, he calmly explained he wasn’t cut out for marriage. For monogamy.”

Cooper was stunned. Of all the stupid and insensitive things he’d done, that hadn’t been one of them. If he became attracted to another woman, enough to want to take her to bed, he saw that as a signal whatever relationship he was in wasn’t working. Duh. He wasn’t naive; men cheated all the time and some rationalized that any woman who wiggled past them was fair game.

“Why do you look so dumbfounded?” Sarah asked him.

He closed his mouth. “Sorry. I’m not fifteen. I know it happens all the time. But before the marriage? Why’d he want to get married?”

“I have a better question. It wasn’t the first time. The Coast Guard is like a small town, especially after about six years. So why didn’t anybody tell me? Why didn’t someone say, Hey, Sarah, this guy’s really been around and he’s broken a few hearts?”

Cooper couldn’t stop the stain that darkened his cheeks, though he fought it. He’d been accused of breaking hearts, but not by cheating. His crimes were slightly different. He’d been called shiftless and unable to put down roots or plan a real future. He couldn’t seem to get attached. He’d been twice engaged—once because he’d been with a good woman and thought it was time and once because his girlfriend of the moment, also a good woman, asked and he couldn’t think of a reason to say no. Both times he’d been informed he had commitment issues. He was told he was emotionally unavailable, whatever that meant. One said he had problems with intimacy, but he thought his only problem was not enough intimacy—and then he was informed that sex was not intimacy. Really? He was too much of a loner, couldn’t connect, didn’t understand women. Probably true, as far as he knew. And although the breaking up had hurt him enough to try avoiding women, he realized he was probably better off than with either of them.

And there’d been a whole lot of short-term women. Some very short-term. Right now as he looked across the table at Sarah, who was so hot, he asked himself why. Shouldn’t he have found a long-term mate by now? Did he have a missing chromosome?

“You look completely embarrassed,” she pointed out to him.

He cleared his throat. “I’ve been told I’m a bad bet. That I’m afraid of commitment, intimacy, et cetera. I never thought I was afraid. You don’t have to believe this—I probably wouldn’t if I were you—but I didn’t cheat. I’m no Prince Charming, but I didn’t do that.”

Unbelievably, she laughed.

Cliff chose that minute to bring them coffee and pick up the plates. For someone who had wanted to leave and didn’t think she could eat, Sarah had killed that grouper. Cliff asked if they’d like drinks or dessert and they both shook their heads.

“So, why is that funny?” Cooper asked.

“First of all, it doesn’t matter whether I believe you. I have no stake in your past affairs. And second, I’m laughing at myself for depending on help from a guy who has a long history of fear of intimacy and commitment.”

“Yeah, that’s been said about me, but I think I’m completely dependable.” He lifted his coffee. Sipped. “I asked how that could be the case, since I had no resistance to getting married.”

“Oh, so you were engaged,” she said.

“Twice.”

“And they broke it off?” she asked.

“One of each—I was asked to leave the first time. It was about that something I didn’t seem to have and that I still don’t understand. And the second time, I had to end it because of all the arguing. But it seemed to be about that mysterious missing factor again.”

“Easy come, easy go,” she said.

He looked at her over the rim of his coffee cup for a long moment. Then he said, “No, Sarah. There wasn’t anything easy about it.”