She wanted to throw herself at Coop and beg him not to leave. She wanted to make him promise that no matter what, he would come back. Because that was her greatest fear—that Jeremy would be all perfect and such a good time that Cooper would want to finish his senior year at some upscale private school, and that he would totally forget about his mother.

Coop was her baby, her little guy, her son. They’d been on each other’s team since he’d been born. They had a good life and didn’t need someone messing with that.

Only she knew Coop would see the situation differently. Of course he wanted to get to know his father, and she had to let that happen. She had to trust he would be okay.

“Mom?” Her son stared at her. “Mom, do you want me to stay home instead?”

Yes. Yes, a thousand times. Except she couldn’t say that or even think it. This was her son and she wanted him to have the world—even if that world included his father. Just as important, if she put up a fuss about him visiting his father, she would undo all the work she’d done to convince him she would be fine when he went away to college.

“Stay?” She forced a laugh. “Oh, please. I want you to go. You’ll have a great time. I just thought it was at the end of the month. I guess I got the dates wrong. Two weeks will give you more time to see the area and hang out with your half sisters.”

He didn’t look convinced. “I can tell my dad—”

She cut him off with a shake of her head. “The only thing you’re going to tell him is to pick you up at the airport. You’ll have a great time. Take lots of pictures and then when you get home, you can tell me everything.”

The lies got easier as she spoke them.

“Get me the flight info, so I can be available to drive you to the airport,” she said.

“Luka’s going to take me.”

An easy statement that hit her like an uppercut to the jaw. “That’s nice,” she managed. “Okay, I need to get back to work. When I get home, let’s go through your clothes and figure out if we need to hit the outlet mall for anything.”

Coop hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.”

He released her and bounded out of the store, leaving her with a neat display of apricots and a shattered heart.

Telling herself everything was going to be all right didn’t help at all. She unpacked a few cases of honey, then took her break. As she sat on a bench out by the picnic area, she told herself she was overreacting. She wasn’t going to lose her son. So what if Jeremy was rich and in the movie business—she and Coop were tight.