I Choose Us: Book 2 in the Crossing Midian Series - A Christian Romance

Chapter 12

–Coop–

On Thanksgiving day, Coop stood in the kitchen chopping celery to go into the stuffing as he thought about the new routine that had formed over the last three days.

Each morning, Coop woke up early to find Lottie had beaten him to the living room, already sitting on the couch, a cup of coffee on the table beside her and her Bible laying open in her lap.

Coop would then go into the kitchen and pour himself a cup before joining her on the couch and together, they would sit quietly and read. Only talking occasionally when one or the other of them read a passage which sparked something in them and wanted to share it with the other.

When they finished, Coop would go back into the kitchen and start breakfast while Lottie went to get ready for the day.

One of them would wake Cassie up, then they would have breakfast together at the small table in the kitchen. Afterward, Lottie would load the dishwasher and clean up while Coop got ready for work.

Lottie had also found an excuse to stop by the feed store on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Once to drop off a new basket of snacks for the store, and the other had been simply to stop in and ask if he or Tommy wanted anything from the diner for lunch. She had left to pick it up, and then came back and ate with them.

And those weren't the only things that had changed over the last couple of days. Both Lottie and Coop had made it a point to be home close to the same time each night. Usually in time for one of them to cook dinner and eat together as a family, and then spend a little while with Cassie doing whatever she might like before she had to get ready for bed.

Cassie's last day of school before Thanksgiving break was Tuesday, so on Wednesday, Coop had taken her to work with him while Lottie went shopping for Christmas presents. Cassie had been thrilled to spend the entire day with Coop at the store. He let her sit on top of the counter when customers were ready to pay and showed her how to work the register, helping her each step of the way by pointing to each button. It made the process twice as long, but the customers didn't mind, and Cassie loved it.

Almost every customer who stopped in assured Coop they would be at the festival and were looking forward to it.

Coop was having a hard time understanding what was going on. He felt confused and more than a little frustrated. He couldn't figure out what Lottie's plan was. Why would she turn such a one-eighty and then still leave after the holidays? But nothing aside from the changes over this week had given him any inclination she didn't still intend to go through with leaving, and Coop didn't have the heart to ask her outright. For all he knew, she was just putting on a really good show, for Cassie's sake. Especially after she said as much the night they decorated the tree.

But it didn't make sense; even before they were having troubles, Lottie had never really come to the store and hung out. He had always assumed she wasn't really into that part of his life; which was fine. Coop knew Lottie wasn't exactly the type of person who would enjoy talking about farm stuff. She was from a big city and had never stepped foot on a farm until she had met Coop.

Lottie would always be a city girl at heart, and it had never bothered Coop in the slightest. She was a sharp contrast to his own very southern ways, and he loved that about them. They were on opposite ends of the spectrum and, to be honest, it had surprised Coop when, after their first date, Lottie had agreed to a second.

"Need any help?" Lottie's voice pulled Coop from his thoughts, and he looked up to see her standing in the doorway.

He raised an eyebrow at her. He couldn't help the teasing grin that played on his face as she rolled her eyes at him.