He gave me a sly smile, "The best way ever."
I rolled out of bed, "Fine, keep your secrets. What time are we leaving, sir?"
He gave me a cocky grin, "You are going to get it, Evie, and I guarantee you're going to like it."
I grabbed my sweater and jeans and walked to the bathroom, "We'll see."
He laughed, "It's better than nope. I'll take we'll see."
We all stood at the front porch an hour later. His father hugged me, muttering, "Stay safe, Evie."
I nodded, "Thank you, sir."
Rachel caught what I'd said. She looked a bit stunned by my calling their father sir. She hugged me next, "Have a safe trip and when you guys are home, make sure you call."
I gave her a funny look, "Thanks."
Coop rolled his eyes, "You all know I'll call on the next birthday."
His mom hugged him again, "When are you coming back?"
He gave me a look. I shrugged, "When we can."
Suzanne hated that I answered, I could see it on her face. She hugged me with wooden arms. "Take care of my boy."
I almost laughed. I managed to keep it under check and nodded, "Of course."
Coop snorted, "That is her mission in life."
I gave him a sharp look. His siblings hugged him once more as Suzanne gave my kids hugs. "Take good care of your mom and John."
Mitch looked confused. I nudged him, "Coop's name is John." Mitch's face started to glow. Coop gave him a grin, "You better still call me Coop though. I don’t want to get confused and think you're talking to my dad."
Mitch shook his head, "I like John better. I always thought Coop was a weird name."
We all laughed. Suzanne hugged him again, "Out of the mouths of babes."
Mitch started to look confused again. Coop ruffled his hair, "Okay, we have to go." He gave his dad a look, "Thanks for letting us stay."
His dad winked, "Have a safe trip."
We walked out to the SUV we had rented and drove into Anchorage. He parked the SUV and looked back at the kids, "Who is ready for three days of fun?"
I scowled, "What?"
He winked at me, "We are going to Vancouver, in Canada, by cruise ship. So we'll have to stay on a huge boat with heated pools, saunas, arcades, kids club, and all the restaurants you could imagine. It's going to be very hard to decide if this is the thing we want. I mean, I know it's a sacrifice to miss three more days of school, after already missing a few. So you'll have to decide if you want to do this or the drive to Vancouver? Either way, it’s three days."
Mitch gave me a look. Jules was screaming and shouting and asking a million questions. I watched her attack Coop and nodded at Mitch, "Sound like fun?"
He beamed and nodded.
I didn’t know how he had done it, but I followed him to the massive cruise ship and boarded with him. He had our Canadian passports and boarding tickets. Apparently, we had been on the cruise the entire time and had only left the ship to explore Anchorage.
I watched him point out things for the kids to see and laugh and joke, and felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.
He had let all his guards down. He was letting us in.
That scared me.
When we got on board, I was stunned at how much he had pulled off without me knowing. Not that it was a surprise. He was always doing it.
Our room was a suite. So the kids had their own room but no door out into the hallway. That made me feel better. What had me feeling a little strange were the bags we had in our room. Packed suitcases with swimsuits, dresses, raincoats, and yoga pants. He held up a pair as he opened the bags, "I didn’t forget your favorite."
I looked at the Lululemon pants and smiled, "How?"
He scoffed, "Jack, of course. The guy is a genius. This was all handled days ago."
I shook my head, "How did you get the clothes on board?"
He shrugged, "I work for this agency who has connections and they do things for their people so that our missions are easier. It's a good gig, unless your mission is in the desert somewhere and you're stuck sweating your ass off and eating dust."
I folded my arms, "You're annoying sometimes."
He walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me and tilting my chin upwards, "Are you over him?"
"James?"
He shook his head. I felt the sinking feeling in my stomach again. He stepped back, "Let me know when you are."
I couldn’t fight the look on my face. It was obvious I wanted to say I was over him, but I wasn’t. I couldn’t lie to Coop. Servario had broken my heart, even if it was just a little and my own fault.
He changed the subject quickly, "You know what Vancouver has?" I shook my head. He cocked an eyebrow, "Lululemon outlet stores."
"Really?"
He nodded, "Yeah. Rachel wears that crap too. She told me when we were at the house, she gets her pants there at the outlet, it's way cheaper."
"Where do they all live?"
He sat on the bed, "Brant and Sarah and the kids live in Anchorage, near Mom and Dad. Rachel lives in Washington, She works in Seattle but has a house in a suburb just outside of it. Louise lives in California where Maria and Stan also live. Stan is her husband, he never visits."
I pulled my bathing suit out of the bag, "Do they know about your dad?"
His eyes twinkled, "My siblings know Dad worked for the government in something he never talked about. They know when he retired, we all got new names and new ID's. They know what they need to know. I was a kid when we went underground. Maria was getting ready to leave home; she's ten years older than me. She was eighteen and so angry. But we had to start over. Mom and Dad moved to Anchorage and he hasn’t left since."
"You started over completely?"
He nodded, "Just like your kids. They get new names and new lives and new everything."
"It’s hard for kids to leave everything behind. I feel bad for them."
He laughed as if it were to something in his head he wasn’t sharing with me, "They'll bounce back. Kids are resilient."
"That they are. So you and Rachel are the only ones who work for the government now?"
He scowled, "Rachel isn’t one of us."
I nodded, "Dude, she so is. She is one of us. I guarantee she is."
"No, she isn’t. She's a photographer and a chaotic mess. Trust me, she is not an agent." He gave me a look of absurdity. Had I been imagining it?
"Okay. I seriously thought she was one of us." I brought my bathing suit into the bathroom and pulled it on. The images of Rachel and the other siblings filtered through my mind. I looked at my own face and whispered, "She so is." I just needed to know why she hadn’t told him.
I left the bathroom to find my two kids already in their suits and ready to hit the hot tub.
When we left the room, Coop took my hand in his. We walked like a family, and I couldn’t help but wish that it was my kids’ real family. I wished I had been smart enough to date a guy like Coop when I was young, and not a dickwad like James.
The kids ran to the indoor pool, both diving in. Jules went right for the climbing wall. She scaled it like it was nothing and dove off into the pool. Mitch swam over to the indoor waterslide and went down it.
"Shouldn’t Jules have a lifejacket?"
I looked at Coop with an absurd look on my face, "Someone needs to do his research better—she's on the swim team. She swims with the kids Mitch's age."
He sighed, "You are going to have issues with that one."
I scowled, "Why? She's smart, athletic, and sweet. She isn’t going to be boy crazy or anything."
He climbed into the massive hot tub, never taking his eyes off the kids, "She is going to make the Olympics, and you'll have to invent some kind of amazing cover for that."
I laughed, "I never thought about that. That’s probably true." The water was hot and amazing. I sighed when I laid back in it, "This is nice."
He swam over to where I was, pulling me into his lap. "Was my mom really mean to you? Brant said she is a complete bitch to Sarah."
I nodded, "She hates me."
He winced, "I'm sorry."
I shrugged, "It's not like we're really dating, and she's really going to be my mother-in-law."
He cocked an eyebrow, "Lucky thing."
I pushed on his chest, suddenly noticing the way I was straddling him and his hands were making their way to my ass. He held me tight to him, "We could just try to date and see what happens."
I laughed, "This from the guy who spouts I'll never love anyone ‘cause I have to save them and Jack is a moron?"
His face flushed a little. He looked back at the kids, "Yeah, well… I think it's safe to say, I have eaten all of those words."
I felt my lips curl up into a smile, "I did notice over the last few days at your parents’ house, you might have eaten those words."
He shook his head, "You cheated. Firstly, you have Jules. Sweet and doe eyed and totally cute. She always says that thing that makes your heart twinge. Secondly, you have Mitch. He is funny and shy and sort of sad, and reminds me of me and Brant when we were little and our lives were taking a turn for the worse." He adjusted me in his lap, cupping my ass completely, "Thirdly, there is you. Absolutely beautiful and bumbling and needing me to save you, except in that rare moment when you become G.I. Jane for twenty seconds and start killing everything in the room. Then you're badass sexy. I know you're an amazing mom, and yet, you’re a humble human being, and for a hot chick, that is refreshing. You've been dealt a terrible hand and you aren’t giving up. You're fighting."
I felt like I was melting. I shook my head, "I have wanted to give up."
He laughed, "Evie, everyone wants to give up. It's human nature, but the fact you don’t give up is what counts."