Chapter 7
Tammy was supposed to meet Lizzie at the hospital for her appointment that afternoon. She rounded the corner and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Lillian looking through faxes. She knew Lizzie's was in there, so she had to think fast. She pretended to slip and fall and get hurt.
" Ow," Tammy yelled, landing on the floor. She was making a much bigger deal and a huge scene.
Lillian dropped the file and ran over to Tammy, looking concerned. "Sweetheart, are you okay?" she asked kneeling down to check her legs.
" I think I sprained my ankle", she said, putting on a good show.
" We had better get you in there and check you out, Tammy," Lillian requested.
At about that time, Lizzie walked in and noticed Tammy was being taken to a room on a stretcher. Tammy didn't look hurt at all. She mouthed two words to Lizzie. "Files" and " Desk". She didn't get it at first.
" Files and desk?" Lizzie thought. " What does that mean?" Lizzie went over to the front desk and made sure no one was looking, and then picked up some files. " Lewis, Smith, Spaulding, Landon," Lizzie stopped. She went back on file and looked at it again. " Spaulding. E. Spaulding," Lizzie repeated. Then she realized what Tammy had done. She had totally faked the whole knee injury so that her grandmother wouldn't read her file. After everything she had done to Tammy, Lizzie couldn't believe she would do this for her.
Lizzie picked up her file and records and went to sit in the waiting room.
Coop was still on duty at Company for about another half an hour, but he had been distracted all day. He knew Lizzie was not telling him the truth, and he didn't know why. He thought she trusted him, at least enough to be honest with him. He was so busy in thought, he didn't notice that his father had walked up behind him.
"Coop," Buzz said, preparing to ask his son what he was doing after work.
" Coop!" Buzz said, a little louder.
Finally Coop turned around and saw his father. " Hey dad. What's up?" Coop asked.
" You looked pretty busy in thought, son. What's up with you?" Buzz asked, a little curious as to what had his son so distracted.
" Okay, you know how you told me to go for it with Lizzie?" Coop asked. " Well, I did, and we sort of decided to try our relationship. That is until Frank walked in and ruined everything, but that is beside the point." Coop continued. " Anyway, I came back to see Lizzie again yesterday, and she kind of blew me off. I know something is bothering her and she will not tell me. She is just acting weird. Especially weird, even for Lizzie." Coop finished.
He checked out his dad's reaction. He knew he could talk to his dad about this because he knew Spaulding women well. He had dated Alexandra on and off for many years. In fact, he was dating her now.
" Coop, do you want a relationship with Lizzie?" Buzz asked.
" Yes, but she is making it very difficult." Coop responded.
" Son, you can not give up on her. If you give up on a woman who keeps secrets from you, you might as well give up on all women, because they all do it." Buzz said, making a joke.
" I guess that's true. But I wish there was some way for me to get Lizzie to spill her guts. I mean it can't be that bad, right." Coop said.
" I do have a few tricks up my sleeve that may help you," Buzz said, sitting up in his chair.
" Well, what is it? I am open to anything." Coop said, looking very interested all of a sudden.
" You want her to spill, right? So you act like this secret she is keeping doesn't bother you. Pretend like you don't even remember she mentioned it. Just go on and forget about the whole thing." Buzz suggested.
" Okay, but that will not accomplish what I want. What I want is for her to come clean and tell me what is bothering her. If I pretend like I don't care, she will not tell me what it is." Coop said, a little confused.
Buzz sighed, and looked at his son, " Coop, believe me, this will work if you play it right. Women can not stand it when they throw something out there at us and we pretend like it doesn't bother us. Remember, there is a reason why they tell us this stuff. To make us wonder. Then after we have wallowed enough, they will finally tell us." Buzz continued. " But if you pretend like you don't care, they will crack a lot faster," he finished.
Coop realized what his father said did make sense after all. If Lizzie wanted him to wallow and drive himself crazy in this secret, she wasn't going to get it. He was going to pretend like he didn't care, even though it was driving him crazy.
Lizzie was standing outside Company, looking through the window. She saw Coop sitting with his father and they looked very deep in conversation. She had dreaded coming to work today because Coop was going to be on her case all day until he managed to get this secret out of her. She was prepared. But since he was sitting with his father, maybe he wouldn't see her at all.
She opened the door and walked in. Coop did look up and see her. " Great. Here it comes," Lizzie thought.
But Coop looked away from her and back to his father. " Remember, Coop, play it cool and don't mention the secret," Buzz said, getting up and walking back behind the counter.
Coop got up and walked over to Lizzie. " Hey Lizzie," Coop said, smiling at her.
" Hey." Lizzie replied, putting her coat and purse down. She started to walk away to the back of the restaurant when Coop grabbed her arm.
" What?" Lizzie asked, turning around. " I was wondering if you wanted to do something tonight?" Coop asked.
Lizzie was curious about what he meant, and god knew she wanted to go with him, more than anything, but she knew she couldn't. She couldn't drag him down with her on this downward spiral to death.
" I thought I made myself clear yesterday, Coop." Lizzie said, trying her best to sound cold hearted.
" I know what you said, but I am still not buying it." Coop said.
Lizzie was wondering why he hadn't mentioned the secret or asked her for the millionth time what was bothering her. He was acting like it didn't bother him, and she knew it did. It was driving him crazy. Then a light bulb went off in her head. He was putting on an act. He was trying to get her to slip and reveal her secret. She was going to beat him at his own little game.
" Okay. We can go out tonight. Where are we going?" Lizzie said, her voice turning sweet again.
Now Coop was confused. She actually agreed to go out with him. His father's plan was not working out as he had hoped. She was not going to crack with this secret.
" Well, I was thinking that we could go to dinner or something." Coop said, saying something off the top of his head.
"Cool. That sounds great. Where are we going? I need to know how to dress. What should I wear?"
" Wear as little as possible," he let slip out.
He realized what he had said, but not before Lizzie did. " What did you say?" Lizzie asked, looking a little amused.
" I said, wear whatever you like," Coop said, trying to cover up his sentence.
" Okay," Lizzie said, still smiling. He knew she didn't believe him. " Well, I had better get going. I have to go home and get ready for our big date tonight," Lizzie said.
" Okay, can't wait," Coop said, as Lizzie walked away.
" Damn it," Coop said. The plan had not worked. She probably had figured out what he was doing. She was pretty smart about stuff like that. Oh well, he had plenty of time tonight to figure out how to get it out of her.
Lizzie was outside Company, watching Coop. " Henry, Henry, Henry," Lizzie said, to herself. " You should never try to underestimate me." Even thought she was glad to beat Coop at his own game, she was psyched to be going on an actual date with him. Then the horrible truth came crashing back down on her. The leukemia wasn't going away. Tonight was going to be the night she had to say goodbye to him once and for all.
Across the country, Alan Michael was sitting outside his house talking on the phone.
" Dad, I know what I have to do next." Alan Michael said, talking to Alan.
" Alan Michael, I know once this is all over, you will make a fine replacement for Phillip at Spaulding Enterprises." Alan said.
Alan Michael hung up the phone, sighing. Just then his wife, Lucy, came outside and brought him some lemonade.
" Thank you, sweetheart." Alan Michael said.
" Was that your father again?" Lucy said.
" Yeah. He will not give up." Alan Michael said, putting his glass of lemonade back down on the table.
" So are you going to continue to lie to him? Are you going to pretend you are helping him?" Lucy asked, very concerned for her husband's safety.
" Luce, I am trying to end all of this hatred between our two families. He had already sent Harley to jail for killing Phillip, when he did the ugly deed himself. He destroyed Phillip, my brother Gus lost Harley because of him." He continued. " My whole life he tried to control me and turn me into a mini him, and it would have worked, but luckily you came into my life and made me see the Coopers in a whole new light." He finished.
" So what are you going to do?" Lucy asked.
" I am going to teach my father a lesson he will never forget. This fighting between him and the Coopers is going to end as soon as possible. I can promise you that." Alan Michael said.
Alan knew his plan was coming together. When this all worked out, Lizzie wouldn't want anything to do with Coop and Alex wouldn't want anything to do with Buzz. He had to protect his family. Most importantly, he could keep Harley Cooper from becoming his daughter-in-law for the third time. He knew he could count on his son for help. This was coming together better than he ever expected.
Spoilers for Chapter 8
Coop comes to the wrong conclusion regarding Lizzie's secret, which forces Lizzie to admit the truth
Alan begins the next step of his plot, as Alan Michael begins the first step to taking down his father
Coming in the Future
Coop promises Lizzie that he will stand by her
Lizzie's family is still in the dark about her condition and will be for a long while
Coop finds out the truth about Alan, but is skeptical on whether to tell Lizzie
Whitney
