“You forget, Ms. Sinclair, David Banner was a doctor too. Until, that is, his experiments went wildly wrong.”
“He was a scientist,” Tess rolled her eyes.
“Same difference,” Brooke replied with a sneer.
Tess leveled a defiant gaze at her friend. “Well, Dr. Banner, the right side is yours,” Tess grinned. She climbed into the bed and arched her brow at Brooke to follow. Brooke grabbed the pillow at her feet and climbed onto the bed. “I knew I bought a king size bed for a reason,” Tess mumbled as she shut out the light.
“What?” Brooke asked.
“Well, should you morph into some large, green creature in the middle of the night, at least I will still have leg room,” Tess said with a yawn.
Brooke chuckled. “You’re a bit touched, aren’t you?” she asked affectionately.
“Not lately,” Tess replied. Brooke swallowed hard. “Goodnight, Brooke. I mean, Dr. Banner.”
“Goodnight, Tess. I mean, Diana,” Brooke yawned.
“Thanks,” Tess whispered.
“Don’t thank me yet. I hog the covers,” Brooke answered. Tess smiled and let herself begin to drift off to sleep. Brooke looked over at her new friend in the faint light. Why do I have a feeling that lasso of truth is going to get me in trouble? Triple trouble. Brooke took a deep breath and closed her eyes. For the first time in months, she felt herself slip into a calm and restful sleep.
Chapter Five
Brooke woke up with a sliver of sunlight warming her face. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She rolled to her side and came face to face with a sleeping Tess. Brooke smiled at the contentment on the younger woman’s features. It had been many years since she had shared a bed with another woman solely out of friendship and without expectation. In fact, Brooke realized as she watched Tess sleeping, that the last woman she slept beside without engaging in any physical exploration had been Rachel. That had been over seven years ago. Back then, it was a frequent occurrence more out of necessity and exhaustion than anything else.
Tess looked peaceful and relaxed. The expression on her face stood in stark contrast to the worry and guilt that had painted circles under Tess’s eyes the night before. Brooke shifted carefully, not wanting to disturb her friend. She glanced to her right and noted the time. Holy crap! It’s after nine. Brooke never slept past six in the morning. Even when she was sick or had been up for hours, Brooke’s inner clock always jarred her from sleep early. She attributed that to two things. The first was her many years of rising before the sun to get in a workout before school or rounds. The second was the numerous cat naps she sometimes took when she was on call. Five hours of solid sleep was a monumental achievement for Brooke. The sun had almost been ready to rise when she and Tess had climbed under the covers. Brooke laughed softly. Wonder Woman needs some more nap time.
It didn’t surprise Brooke that the rest of the Sinclair clan was also still in dreamland. She poked her head into Dani’s room and laughed softly at the girl who had kicked the covers completely off her bed. Dani was clinging to a pillow wrapped in a Wonder Woman pillow case that nearly matched her mother’s pajamas. Brooke left the room chuckling and made her way to Davey’s door. She gently felt his head and was pleased to see that he had remained cool. There was also markedly more color in his cheeks than there had been a few hours earlier. Just as she was about to leave the room, he stirred.
“Mom?” he called hoarsely.
“No. Sorry, D.”
Davey sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I’m thirsty.”
“I’ll bet,” Brooke replied. “Do you want me to get you something or do you want to come downstairs with me?”
“You slept over?” he asked.
Brooked nodded. She wasn’t certain how the young boy might perceive that fact. “I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she explained.
Davey rubbed his eyes again and nodded. “My stomach feels funny.”
“It probably will for a while,” Brooke admitted. “Do you think that maybe you could try some toast or something plain?” she asked him. He wrinkled his nose but nodded. “Okay. Maybe you can help me find things,” Brooke suggested.
Davey stretched and moved slowly from the bed. He looked at Brooke curiously. “Where’s Mom?”
“Still sleeping. What do you say we let her do that for a while longer?”
“Yeah. She never sleeps,” he commented innocently.
Another thing we apparently have in common.
***
Tess awoke to the distant smell of coffee and the faint sound of soft laughter. She stretched in her bed and yawned before rolling to her side to check the time. An unfamiliar scent wafted from the pillow beside her and Tess closed her eyes. Brooke. Tess pulled the pillow to her and inhaled deeply. She had not shared her bed with anyone since Jackie, except occasionally when one of her children crawled in beside her after a nightmare or being sick. What surprised her the most was the level of comfort she felt with Brooke beside her. It never occurred to her that Brooke would attempt to take advantage of the situation. In fact, she was positive that even if she had wanted Brooke to do just that, Brooke would have declined. This is not good. Tess breathed in deeply again. Just friends, Tess. That’s what you need, a friend. Not a friend with benefits, a friend. A burst of laughter from below jarred Tess from her musings. What are those two up to? She climbed from the bed reluctantly and looked at the time on the clock. Ten-thirty? It can’t be. How did I sleep so late? Slowly, Tess made her way down the stairs. She was straining to hear the conversation that was taking place a few rooms away.
“How come they look like that?” Dani asked.
“I don’t know. I read the instructions,” Brooke answered smartly.
“Mom never reads the instructions,” Davey said taking a small bite from his piece of toast.
“No? How does she make them?” Brooke asked. Dani looked at the uneven plop that Brooke had in the pan and wrinkled her nose.
Davey shrugged. “She just knows stuff, I guess.”
“I’ll bet she can’t deliver a baby,” Brooke muttered.
“Well, that depends on what you mean. I did manage these two,” Tess said from behind Brooke. Brooke spun on her heels. The look on the doctor’s face was priceless. Tess closed the distance between them and looked over Brooke’s shoulder at the contents of the pan on the stove. “Interesting,” she commented playfully.
“I read the directions,” Brooke said softly.
Tess detected the embarrassment and a touch of disappointment in Brooke’s voice and decided that teasing her would have to wait for another time. She was touched by the attempt Brooke had made. Tess didn’t need to spend another moment with Brooke to understand that domesticity was not the doctor’s forte. She squeezed Brooke’s shoulder gently. “Pancakes are trickier than they look,” she said sweetly.
Brooke sighed. She was not used to failure. This felt like an epic failure to her. Jesus, Campbell, you can’t even make pancakes! You operate on people for God’s sake! How hard can it be?
“Brooke,” Tess said softly.
Brooke shook her head in frustration. “I’m sorry,” Brooke said dejectedly.
Tess pulled the doctor to face her and smiled. “For making coffee? Feeding my kids? Letting me sleep? Which thing are you apologizing for?” she asked.
“I wanted to do something nice for you,” Brooke said. Her voice was so soft that it left Tess wondering if Brooke had meant to speak the words out loud at all. “The coffee is edible. I swear,” Brooke added.
Tess giggled. “Go sit down. Let me do this. You’ve done too much already,” she said.
“I…”
“Go. My house, my orders. Remember?” Tess teased.
Brooke managed a small smile. She made her way to the coffee maker and poured Tess a cup of coffee. “I don’t know how you take it,” she said. This is bizarre. I feel like we’ve known each other so much longer. I don’t even know how you take your coffee.
�
��Just milk,” Tess told her. Brooke added some milk to the cup and handed it to Tess. “Thanks,” Tess said. “Go and relax. How long have you been up?”
“A little over an hour,” Brooke said.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Brooke said we should let you sleep,” Davey explained.
Tess looked at Brooke gratefully. She was about to say thank you when Brooke’s phone began ringing. “Sorry,” Brooke said as she lifted it.
“Brooke?” Rachel’s voice came over the line.
“Yeah.”
“You okay?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, fine. Why?” Brooke wondered. “Is everything all right? Do you need me?”
Rachel chuckled. “No, Dr. Wonderful. Believe it or not, I remember how to deliver babies all by myself,” Rachel replied.
“How’s Daisy doing?”
“The same,” Rachel said. “Are you home?”
“No,” Brooke said as she watched Davey toss a piece of toast at his sister. Oh boy, he is starting to feel better. “We were just having breakfast.”
Rachel held her cell phone away from her and looked at it as if it had grown a head. She mentally shook herself before replacing it to her ear. “How is Tess’s son?”
“Better,” Brooke said with a slight chuckle. She could feel Davey and Dani leg wrestling under the table. Definitely better. “Listen, I can take over now. You don’t have to work the whole weekend.”
“No. You must be tired. It was late when you called last night,” Rachel said. “It’s fine.”
“Actually, I slept really well,” Brooke said without thinking. For the second time in a few minutes, Rachel looked at her phone in disbelief. “I do have to get Tess to her car at some point.”
“Just do what you need to do,” Rachel said. “I was just checking in.”
“Call me if you need me,” Brooke said as a smiling Tess placed a plate of pancakes in front of her.
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll see you Monday then,” Rachel said.
“Sounds good,” Brooke replied. “Thanks, Rach.”
“Anytime,” Rachel said as she hung up the phone. What is going on with you, Brooke?
“Everything okay?” Tess asked.
“Yep,” Brooke answered.
“Listen, you don’t need to get me to the car. I can call…”
The truth was that Brooke did not want her time with Tess to end. It seemed crazy to think that she was having fun. Only you would find puking children, strange houses, chaste sleepovers, and embarrassing breakfast a source of fun, Campbell. Only you. “If you would rather call someone else…”
“No,” Tess responded more quickly that she would have liked and blushed. “It’s not that,” she said. “You just have gone out of your way already. I’m sure you have things you would rather be doing.”
Not really, no. “I could be roaming the hospital hallways,” Brooke said. “Jay is looking in on Murphy. So, no big deal,” she downplayed the situation as much as she could.
“Who is Murphy?” Dani asked.
“My dog,” Brooke said with a huge grin. She loved Murphy. He was a playful, yet sometimes dopey black lab. Other than Rachel, he was Brooke’s best friend. Unlike Rachel, he never talked back.
“You have a dog?” Davey asked excitedly.
“Yep.”
“Can we meet him?” Dani asked hopefully.
“Guys, give Brooke a break,” Tess implored her children.
Brooke smiled. “Sure, you can. Maybe we can bring him to get your mom’s car later. I could use to change my clothes. He loves kids and he loves car rides,” Brooke said. “That is if your mom says it’s okay and you are up to it, D.”
Tess looked at Brooke in moderate disbelief. She was beginning to think the attractive doctor was her fairy godmother. Either that or Tess was staring to worry that she had hit her head and slipped into some strange alternate reality or coma. Brooke was too good to be true. Yet, Tess felt secure in the notion that Brooke was being herself. “It’s fine with me,” Tess said. “But, I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“About Murphy?” Brooke asked, taking a bite of her pancakes. “These are really good,” she said through a mouthful.
“No, about taking me to get the car. And, don’t talk with your mouthful,” Tess said.
Brooke’s mouth opened with her fork hanging out partially and her eyes grew wide. Both Dani and Davey started giggling at their mother’s reprimand of the doctor. “She’s a stickler,” Dani told the doctor.
Tess started laughing and shook her head at Brooke. Oh, God. Triple, triple trouble, Tess. Face it, you love every minute of it.
Tess turned back to the stove and Brooke returned to eating her breakfast. What are you doing, Campbell? This has no good place to go, none at all. Brooke looked over at Dani who was sticking her tongue out at her brother and she smirked. She looked back up and caught Tess’s gaze. Oh, no. No. No. No. No. Brooke. Brooke’s heart fluttered perceptibly. Friends. Keep this cool. The last thing she needs is your shit, Campbell. You want her friendship? Keep it that way.
Tess. Tess began a mental reprimand of herself. You barely know her. Okay, she is attractive. Oh, who am I kidding! She is more than attractive. Yes, she is nice. She seems nice. Friends. Right? That’s what she said. Friends. Who are you kidding? You so want to kiss her. No, Tess. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea. You know where that will lead. Then you will lose a friend. Bad, bad, bad idea. Dani and Davey like her. Just get that out of your head. Tess managed an uncomfortable grin. Ignore it, Tess. It will pass. I hope.
***
Brooke laughed when she opened the door to her condo and Murphy nearly knocked her over. “You fool,” she chuckled, rubbing behind his ears. “Calm down, boy,” she laughed harder at the panting dog. “Let me go grab a quick shower and then we will go for a ride.” Murphy trotted behind his owner. Brooke made her way through the small condo and into the bathroom. She started the shower and slipped out of her clothes from the day before, Murphy watching her every move.
“Well, Murph, I am going to take you to meet some new friends,” she told the dog as she stepped into the shower. God, I needed this. Murphy sprawled across the navy blue bath mat that sat outside the shower. He tipped his head from side to side as Brooke regaled him with her story.
“So, Murph…We’re going to go help out my friends. I think you will like them. I showed D. and Dani your picture. They’re anxious to play with you, but Murph, you have to go easy on D. He thinks he’s feeling better. Well, he is, but he shouldn’t be running around a lot,” Brooke said. She opened her eyes from underneath the hot spray of water and looked at the lab on the floor. “Listen. Murph, take it easy on him. Okay? I mean it,” she warned. Murphy’s tail wagged at the sound of Brooke’s voice. She closed her eyes again, reached for the shampoo, and let the hot water wash over her. Her thoughts were spinning. Tess had protested more than once about Brooke coming back to help her get the car at the hospital. Brooke insisted. She felt comfortable with Tess. Tess made her laugh and Tess listened as much as she talked. Brooke had friends, but most were casual. She had Rachel, and she loved Rachel, but they kept completely opposite schedules much of the time. Between work commitments and Rachel’s family, Brooke did not get to spend much time talking with her best friend. There was only one potential complication in Brooke’s new friendship—attraction.
“I don’t know Murph,” Brooke mumbled as she shut off the shower. I really am not sure what to do about that. Nothing, Campbell. You do nothing about it. “Exactly!” Brooke answered the voice in her head. Murphy tipped his head in question. “Well? You weren’t giving me any advice,” she scolded her dog. Which is why I love you so much, you mutt.
***
Tess leaned against Brooke’s car and crossed her arms over her chest. “No.”
“Tess, come on. You don’t seriously want to drive that car until it is cleaned. You surely do not want the kids to do a repeat Exorcist performance this afternoon. Just
drive the SUV back to your house with the kids,” Brooke prodded.
“No.”
“Tess!”
“Brooke!” Tess was teetering between amused and annoyed. She took a deep breath. What is it with her? Is she trying to get canonized or something? “Brooke? Are you Catholic?”
“What?”
“Well? Are you?” Tess pushed.
“Why on earth would you ask me that?” Brooke threw her hands up.
“Because no one I know would offer to drive that car in its current condition unless they were looking to be sainted by His Holiness,” Tess said flatly.
Brooke rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Tess,” she said with a sigh. “I deal with disgusting things daily.” Tess tipped her head in question. “Well, I do!” Brooke insisted.
Tess huffed. “I’ll make you a deal,” she said. Brooke waited. “I will drive my car and you drive the kids in your SUV with Murphy. God knows, they don’t want to leave that dog anyway.”
Brooke narrowed her gaze at Tess. She sensed that there was no way she was going to win this argument. She was quickly learning that Tess Sinclair was at least as stubborn as she was. That made Tess infinitely more interesting to Brooke. “Okay. As long as you agree to let me clean it when we get back to the house.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“Brooke, I appreciate everything you have done for us. Seriously, this is not your problem.” Tess could tell that Brooke was adamant about cleaning Tess’s car. She was having difficulty grasping why Brooke was so willing to go out of her way—again. She liked Brooke and the last thing she wanted to do was take advantage of the doctor’s kindness. Well, that and I don’t want any expectations. Tess sighed deeply and tried to gather her thoughts.
Brooke sensed that Tess was uncomfortable. She didn’t understand why. She liked Tess. She liked Tess’s kids. Tess needed some help. Not that Tess wasn’t capable of handling her problems. She was. While Tess didn’t complain, Brooke could see the strain on her in her demeanor at times. And, Davey and Dani were more than forthcoming with information and opinions about their mother whether Tess was present or not. The kids seemed to think Tess could use a friend. Brooke remembered the long hours her mother had endured working, taking care of a house, and dealing with all of Brooke’s needs. It had never been lost on her, the strain on her mother. Brooke could help Tess. Moreover, that’s what she wanted to do. The more time she spent with the affable courier and her family, the more Brooke was forced to face the fact that she needed some companionship. She needed a friend that she could both laugh with and confide in. Maybe Tess was someone who needed the same from her.
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