Cooper by Sandra Alex

A fake name. A sudden fake life. A very real love. And an unmistakable miracle just in time for Christmas.

I grab a beat on the drums for Wade, while we get ready to play at the best armpit dive in town called Mingles. It’s where the Christmas beer runs green and the garland hanging over my drum kit is fastened with last year’s tape. It’s also where a new girl has started working, and from behind the glasses and bottles, she’s not your average bar maid. No flirtation in the eyes, no attitude, no intimidation. Wade suggests steering clear of this girl named Stella, but something about her is like a goddamn magnet to me. Strange, when I call her name, she doesn’t respond. When I secretly find out why, the answer would make most run…but, stupidly, I do the opposite.

***

It’s just Bean and I, in this new town, and in the worst part of it, too. After just a couple of nights at the house, and after meeting a few new friends at the bar, I’m abruptly moved…by Cooper, a man I hardly know. He’s a man I’d love to share all my secrets with, but he’s the only person who accepts that I can’t. In the past, trusting has led to nothing good. The same nothing good that’s left me in this predicament. The same nothing good that sits behind bars, and not the kind you drink at, either. It’s also the same nothing good that gave me the one gift I’d never take back, aside from all the rest. Which is why the early Christmas gift that I receive is so conflicting. But do I get to enjoy my Christmas miracle, or will it all be taken away by nothing good again?