Chapter 14
Cooper's dressed in a shirt and tie. He's boiling water in Violet's kitchen, when she comes in the room. Violet's dressed up to go out with Pete. "What are you doing in my kitchen Coop?" Violet looks around at the grocery bags on her counter.
"I'm making a special dinner for Charlotte. I'm gonna propose tonight." Cooper squeezes a lemon into the pot of boiling water.
"Wow Coop!" Violet gives her best friend a hug. "Uhm Cooper? Why does it look like that bag over there is moving?" Violet has her eyes fixed on a white plastic bag near her stove.
"Oh yeah." Cooper chuckles. "I'm cooking lobster."
"Live lobsters?" Violet backs up a little.
"Yup. I'm surprising Charlotte." Cooper boasts.
"Did you ever cook live lobster before?"
"No. The guy in the seafood store said it's easy. You just cut off the rubber bands and drop them in boiling water." Cooper takes the first lobster out of the bag and attempts to cut the rubber band. The lobster move it's leg and Violet screams. Cooper jumps. "Geez Vi." He drops the lobster back on the counter . The lobster's moving. Violet screams again.
"What the hell?" Charlotte bursts into the kitchen and sees the lobster moving on the counter. She looks at Cooper.
"It's dinner. Surprise!" Cooper looks at her as he tries to pick up the lobster.
"Let me do it." Charlotte grabs the lobster and drops it head first into the boiling water.
"There's another one in the bag." Cooper tells her.
"Hold your hand over the cover of the pot. Keep it closed tight." Charlotte tells him as she takes the other lobster out of the bag and cuts the rubber bands quickly. "Open the cover quick." She tells Cooper and drops the other lobster in the pot.
Violet's watching. "Looks like you've done this before?"
"I have." Charlotte tells her. "Keep your hand on the cover of the pot until you're sure they're not moving anymore Coop."
"Obviously you've done this before." Cooper feels foolish.
"Yup" Charlotte answers. "Did you make lemon butter yet?"
"No." Cooper answers still holding his hand on the cover of the pot. I've got potatos in the oven and a big salad in the fridge."
"I'll make the lemon butter." Charlotte puts some butter in a small pot on the stove.
"I didn't know you cook Charlotte?" Violet says. The doorbell rings. "There's Pete. I gotta go. You kids have fun tonight." Violet hurries to get to the door.
"So, where'd you learn to cook live lobster?" Cooper asks.
"You don't want to know." Charlotte answers, stirring the butter so it doesn't burn.
"I wanna know. Tell me." Cooper insists.
"My ex. " Charlotte sighs.
"You mean Mark?" Cooper says. "Can I let go of the pot now? They seem quiet."
Charlotte just stares at Cooper with a perplexed look. How does Cooper know Mark's name? She's sure she never told him about Mark. "You could let go of the pot. Get me some lemon juice from the fridge."
Cooper does as told and asks. "So, Mark taught you to cook live lobster?"
"Yeah." Charlotte wrinkles her brow and takes the lemon juice from him.
Cooper notices the baffled look and tells her. "You were talking about Mark in the hospital, as you came out of the sedation."
Charlotte pours some lemon juice into the butter mixture. "What'd I say?" She looks at Cooper suspiciously.
"That you wanted to apologize to him for being ...…..well...….mean." Cooper smiles with one side of his mouth turned up, waiting for her response.
"Is that all I said?" Charlotte feels her heart beating faster.
"I tried to get you to stop talking. Really Charlotte, I did. I tried to change the subject."
"What'd I say? Just tell me!" Charlotte raises her voice.
"You said he got another woman pregnant and that's why you left. That's all you said. I changed the subject after that."
Charlotte takes a deep breath and sighs.
"It's okay." Cooper puts his hand on her shoulder as she stirs the butter. "You don't have to talk about it."
"Here. You stir the butter. I'll chop the garlic." Charlotte takes a chopping knife from the drawer and begins to chop hard and fast.
"Be careful Char. Don't cut yourself." Cooper cringes as he watches.
"He says it wasn't his kid, that she was lyin'." Charlotte vigorously chops away at the little cloves of garlic.
"I take it you didn't believe him?" Cooper watches her, as he bites his lip.
"Didn't matter. He admitted sleepin' with her. Could've been his kid. Maybe. Maybe not. Bottom line is he slept with her." Charlotte scrapes up the chopped garlic and drops it into the melted butter mixture.
"Who was she?" Cooper asks.
"Someone we went to medical school with." Charlotte starts chopping more garlic. "We were residents, but we still got together with our friends from medical school whenever we could. I was workin' the night shift that rotation. She came over. Her name was Gina. Gina always brought stuff to smoke."
"You're not talking about cigarettes?"
"No. Not cigarettes. Mark told me that she brought some funny stuff to smoke. Not the regular stuff. He didn't notice until he smoked some. They all smoked it together. Then Mark and Gina went out to the hot tub alone. This happened on a couple of occasions, apparently while I was doin' my night rotation." Charlotte's still chopping away at the garlic.
"Charlotte, we have enough garlic. You could stop chopping." Cooper tries to take the knife away. "So, none of your friends told you what was going on with Mark and this girl?"
Charlotte holds on tight to the knife and keeps chopping. "Wanna guess why they're not my friends anymore?"
"Gotcha" Cooper responds and frowns
"Then she announces one day she's pregnant. My friend Amy told me about them sleeping together and Gina's going around tellin' everyone it's Mark's kid."
"Not Good." Cooper puts his hand over her hand. "We have enough garlic Charlotte. Stop chopping." He wraps his arms around her.
"I could've killed him." Charlotte tells. "He denied it was his kid.... He said she set him up..... that she was already pregnant ......that she made sure all our friends knew they slept together so they would think it was his."
"Why would she do that?" Cooper asks still holding Charlotte. Charlotte pulls away. "According to Mark she was sleeping with one of the attending doctor's. A married attending doctor. That doctor would sink deep in his own dirt if they found out he slept with her, so she made it look like it was Mark's. That's his story anyway."
"Do you believe him?"
"Like I said before..... It doesn't matter. ...He slept with her...... That was it. .....We were over after that...... I called him every bad name I could think of. ......I said every mean thing I could think of and then walked out on him. ....No turnin' back, ever."
Cooper tries to hug her. She pulls away. Charlotte reaches into the lobster pot with tongs. She pulls off one of the lobsters legs. "The lobsters are done."
"Great" They pull the lobsters out of the pot and bring them to the table with the rest of the food Cooper had prepared earlier. They're both quiet. Charlotte notices the bouquet of roses on the table. Cooper pulls out a bottle of champagne. They both sit at the table.
"Ready to dig in?" Charlotte looks at him and starts to break open the lobster shell.
Cooper pours them each a glass of champagne. He hands Charlotte her glass.
"Charlotte, look at me." Charlotte looks up into his eyes. Cooper begins "Charlotte King….. .I love you…. Will you spend the rest of your life with me? ……. Be my wife.....please?" Cooper looks hopeful into her bright eyes that are starting to form tears and pulls out a small box. He opens the box which holds a sparkling diamond ring.
"Yes." Charlotte says as she sniffles. "Yes, Cooper Freedman, I'll marry you."
Cooper gently guides the ring onto her finger. His hand is shaky.
"You're nervous?" Charlotte smiles. Cooper kisses the ring on her finger.
"Are you kidding? I'm sweating bullets" He answers.
"Why? You knew I'd say yes." Charlotte's beaming.
"You're important to me Charlotte. This moment is important to me. I'm a little nervous."
"Get over here!" She orders him. Cooper does as told. She grabs his tie and pulls him down so their foreheads are touching. She presses her lips into his. She kisses him and it's intense. It'a a long kiss and she's not letting go, he could feel her emotions pouring out in this connection. They finally come up for air and Cooper feels like he might need a cool shower before eating. She lets go of his tie. "I love you Cooper." He looks at her with raised eyebrows. He's aware this is something she has a hard time saying. "Now let's eat. These lobsters gave their lives for our celebration."
Cooper sits back down in his seat. He raises his glass and Charlotte does the same. Cooper toasts. "To us. To a long and happy life with lots of love, and lots of laughter." He chuckles and adds "And lots of babies." They clink glasses and Charlotte smiles before sipping the champagne.
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