Keeping Cole's Promise

“You’ve done your good deed, so your guilty conscience should be taken care of. Go home. Call their parents. Help the kids who want your help.” Cole waved another cookie. “Write a cookbook or something, but learn the lesson that kid tried to teach you. Don’t stick your nose in his business and you’ll be okay.”

Now get out. He didn’t say it. He didn’t have to.

He expected an argument. Instead, she pointed at the tiny photo his Mimi had framed and hung over the sink. “Is that the county fair?”

Cole frowned as he tried to follow the conversation.

“It looks like the building where they do all the craft and food judging.” Rebecca bent to study the photo. “Someone should have brushed your hair.”

“Someone did. The tousled hairstyle was in.” That sounded like a criticism of his grandmother. She’d done her best to hold him down and make him presentable. It wasn’t her fault he’d taken that as a challenge. “And yeah, that’s my grandmother and me at the fair.”

“Blue ribbon. For what?” Rebecca asked.

Cole rubbed his aching head. “What does it matter? Baking. She won a ribbon for baking sugar cookies, but she’s dead, so you don’t have to worry about losing your cookie queen title.”

Even he was surprised at how angry he sounded. Instead of arguing or telling him to shove his head in the toilet, Rebecca turned and disappeared into the dark night.

If she gets hurt by three boys when you could have stopped it, you’ll have nothing in this life left to redeem, idiot.

Cole lifted the curtains. The boys had disappeared.

He hurried over to the door to see Rebecca’s taillights fading as she drove out of the trailer park.

Good. This was not his problem. Those kids would learn their hard lessons.

Cole slammed his door shut and locked it before he turned to see Rebecca’s neatly folded apron on his grandmother’s counter. “Probably has a frilly apron for every day of the week. She’ll be fine.”

Cole studied the tin of cookies and considered walking down to EW’s to offer him a couple. The guy had been his lifeline so far. Without him, Cole wouldn’t have stood a chance. That burned, irritated him because he’d been so certain he’d be better off by himself. There’d been no beer runs, but it was a matter of time until EW let him down. Still, that afternoon had been nice, normal, a glimpse at what life could be like. Too bad EW hadn’t taken him fishing at seventeen. How different his life might have been.

What if you could do that for one of those kids? What if that is all it takes to make a difference?

To drown out the little whisper that sounded a lot like Rebecca’s voice, Cole snatched up another cookie. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with my knees,” he grumbled.

He was certain he’d be replaying her visit long after her peace offering was gone.

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