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Post by Cooper Benson on Aug 31, 2015 22:51:56 GMT
Cooper stood out on the back deck of the beach house he'd rented out for the weekend with a few friends through work. He'd finished unpacking both his and Melanie's rooms before taking her outside. She was only a few yards away on a stretch of private beach, playing in the sand and shouting incoherent things at seagulls. "Mell-Bell, you stay right there where I can see you, yeah?" he called out, leaning against the railing and watching her run around for a while. After about thirty minutes or so, she toddled her way back up to the deck, curled up on a wicker love seat and yawned dramatically. "Well, that's what you get for not napping in the car," he mused.
Sitting down beside her, he adjusted her so that her head was in his lap and he opened up the newspaper he'd picked up that morning on the drive out while getting his morning coffee. He'd missed sun and sand, it seemed that since coming back to New York to take over the company in his father's wake, he had made very little time to actually enjoy the things he once did. He was beginning to think Melanie deserved more than that - that he deserved more than that. He was wondering if perhaps he should schedule time off and take her someplace, like Europe or an Island, though he supposed that a four year old might prefer Disney.
He pushed the thoughts away for now as he flipped through the paper, starting on the business section he noticed the state of the Dow Jones and New York Stock Exchange and remembered Riley explaining something about it to him while staring at an alarmingly complex computer that, for some reason, he was paying $24,000 a year for her to use now that he'd contracted her to consult for his company. He barely understood any of it, though he resolved that it was as much as he understood most things. Two of his friends clamored loudly onto the deck before noticing the sleeping girl in his lap, they looked at him apologetically and he laughed out loud. "She could sleep through a hurricane, I'm sure of it. Don't worry."
He wondered briefly if Madison had arrived, he knew that Riley and Adam were likely to be spending the weekend the way a newly engaged couple should and knew that Amber Jacobs had separate plans. So he'd invited Maddy to stay in one of the extra rooms in the house, hopefully with the benefit of being able to spend more time with the brunette that had caught his interests.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 31, 2015 23:49:55 GMT
In true Madison Walker fashion, she had paced back and forth through her townhouse a thousand times before she had finally gotten up the nerve to get her bag together and head down to the car. Cooper had offered her a spare bedroom and she had agreed before she had really given herself any time to consider what it meant for them, for her. It was a big deal for her to spend any time away with her new, boyfriend or whatever Cooper was, but it was an entirely new thing to note that it was going to be several days with his daughter as well. It hadn't seemed like such a big deal before but now she was highly focused on making sure that this all worked. All of it, from this weekend to what this relationship had the opportunity to be.
She spent the majority of the ride trying to keep herself from overthinking everything, from dwelling too much on the what if scenarios that seemed to be endlessly popping into her head. Madison had even spent a moment outside of the house trying to prepare herself for the long weekend. She sighed and decided to just go for it, grabbing her bag from the car and walking to the door. She knocked loudly on the door, trying to mentally prepare herself for whatever was waiting on the other side.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 1, 2015 0:42:30 GMT
Cooper head the knock at the door and easily scooped up Melanie, carrying her inside and settling her down on the sofa inside to get her out of the sun, but she already was starting to stir from her nap. He jogged to the door and smiled when he pulled it open. "Maddy," he greeted warmly. "Glad you made it," he leaned in and kissed her cheek before looking at her belongings. "Let me get your bag, yeah?" he flashed her a grin before stepping out to grab her bag and step aside to let her inside. "If you want, I can show you around or if you want to settle in first, that's all right too."
"Hi!" chirped Melanie, who was now awake and peering at them both from over the back of the couch.
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Post by Madison Benson on Sept 1, 2015 0:55:13 GMT
Maddy smiled brightly at him, forgetting exactly what she had been worrying about for the last few hours. She was realizing that she was getting increasingly comfortable being around him and getting even more comfortable with where she wanted this relationship to go. She smiled at Melanie as she popped up over the back of the couch, knowing that if there was anything that was going to cause her to hesitate in the slightest, it was going to be the adorable four-year-old. "Hi, Melanie." She greeted with a little wave before turning back to Cooper. "I think a tour would be good. It's beautiful out here."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 1, 2015 1:11:47 GMT
Cooper smiled at his daughter who then hopped off the couch and scampered off to her room in the house, undoubtedly to find something to play with. "Yeah, sure. Let's start upstairs so we can put your stuff there," he nodded, hoisting the bag up and gesturing for her to follow him up the stairs. "So there are three bedrooms up top, mine, Mel's and yours. Yours has got a great view of the beach," he explained. "A couple of the people from my office are staying in rooms off the first floor, and then handful more are crashing in the basement because it's finished. There's a pool table and stuff down there if you play," he offered.
"Bathroom's right across this way," he nodded as he stepped passed his own room, not even bothering to glance inside. "Put it down," he said sternly, hearing something clatter inside and then little footsteps pattering away behind them. "I always have a 50/50 shot of that working, I swear," he laughed. "This is you," he nodded, stepping aside to let her into the room and then following her to put her things down.
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Post by Madison Benson on Sept 1, 2015 1:42:24 GMT
Madison laughed at him catching Melanie doing something, remembering times when she had gotten caught by her own father when she was growing up. There was something endearing about the exchange, something that made her feel a small surge of fondness for both of them. She stepped inside of her room and surveyed it with interest, noting that he was absolutely right about having a great view of the beach. Looking out the window for a second she sighed, really letting it sink in for a minute that she finally had a short vacation away from everything.
Her first thought had been to turn around and grab Cooper, pulling him into the room with her and closing the door behind him, but she shook the thought from her head. This whole going slow thing wasn't always easy to stick to, it wasn't always easy to remember what the right thing to do was versus what she wanted to do at that moment. "This place is really nice, thank you for inviting me," she nodded, smiling at him.
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 1, 2015 1:50:04 GMT
Cooper grinned at Maddy, leaning against the doorjamb while she looked around. "Yeah, of course. I'm glad you came. As nice as it is to spend time with the folks from the office, you were the only one I wanted to come," he admitted. He leaned back, glancing down the hallway before stepping in a bit closer, he cupped her face in his hand and bent down to kiss her softly on the lips. He grinned down at her before putting his hand on the small of her back and guiding her back out. "C'mon, I'll show you the rest of the place. There's a bunch of food in the kitchen, I'm going to make breakfast for everyone tomorrow. The living room's got this great built in entertainment unit and there are some pretty decent books on the shelf," he mentioned, smiling at her. "Which I thought you might like."
He led her through the house, pointing things out to her. "But the best part is the view off the back deck." Sliding the door to the back porch open, he let her step through first before stepping out behind her. "Our own little stretch of private beach for the weekend," he chuckled. "Do you like it?"
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Post by Madison Benson on Sept 1, 2015 2:58:58 GMT
Madison smiled at him when he admitted that she was the one he had wanted to come. It made all of the second guessing of her decision to come seem stupid in hindsight. She reminded herself to try and stop over thinking everything.
He stepped closer to kiss her and she was surprised by how quickly she relaxed into it before he led her through the rest of the house. She made a mental note to peruse the bookshelves later and strollers out onto the back patio. Taking in the sight for a moment she sighed, finally freaking as though she could relax away from almost of the stresses she left in the city. She turned back around to face him, leaning lightly against the railing. "I like it a lot. This whole thing is really great. The house, the weekend away... You."
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Post by Cooper Benson on Sept 2, 2015 0:29:32 GMT
Cooper grinned at Maddy. "Me?" he chuckled, reaching out and tugging her against him, hands firmly on her waist. "Well, you flatter me, Madison Walker," he nodded. "Anyway, I still need to call to make sure it's all right with both of them, but I think Amber and Brandon are going to take Melanie for a night so that I can take you to dinner, if you'd like that, I mean." He grinned, partially because the idea of Brandon Finn babysitting his child was equal parts amusing and horrifying, and partially because he just really liked the idea of having a night alone with Madison to have dinner. "That way Melanie gets to play, and maybe we do too," he joked.
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Post by Madison Benson on Sept 2, 2015 0:45:36 GMT
Madison bit her lip for a second before grinning at him, giving him a small nod. "I think that sounds like a good idea - I mean the dinner part in particular." She didn't want him to think that she was trying to get rid of Melanie, but she did enjoy spending time with Cooper. Especially alone. She wrapped her arms around his neck, "This weekend should be fun."
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