“Well, at least she knows now anyway.”
His eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he finally freed his arm from her grasp. “What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t she tell you that Todd stopped by her clinic the other day? Oops! Oh dear, I hope I haven’t said anything out of order. But I do know that he told her who you were. I’m surprised she didn’t ask you about it or mention Todd’s visit for that matter.”
Thankfully, Lindy came over then and shot a dirty look in Amanda’s direction. “Everything is ready for you, Jared. I picked all the kinds I knew Brooke would love.”
Jared took the basket and pushed past Amanda, not caring anymore if he did knock her to the ground by accident. He had to get away from her. “Thanks, Lindy.” They walked to the counter so he could pay, leaving Amanda standing with a smug look on her face.
“Don’t let her get under your skin. I don’t really know her, but I do know about her. She’s been in a couple of times the past few weeks and honestly, I’d rather not have the business than to have to serve people like her. She makes my skin crawl.”
Jared punched his PIN number into the machine, quickly glancing back at Amanda who was browsing the shelves as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “Yes, she’s definitely the type of woman you don’t want to turn your back on.” He was being polite and not saying the words he wanted to use to describe Amanda. “How Brooke could ever have been best friends with her, I’ll never understand.”
Lindy looked up from stapling his receipt together with wide eyes. “Brooke was friends with her?” She shuddered. “I can’t even imagine how that happened. Sometimes I think Brooke is just too kindhearted and isn’t willing to see the bad in people. I guess being a doctor, she has to have an extra layer of compassion in her that most of us wouldn’t.” She smiled and handed him the receipt.
“Thanks, Lindy. I appreciate your help.”
As he left the shop, he looked one more time at Amanda who gave him an innocent smile and wave. He thought about Lindy’s words, and how Brooke was too kindhearted. She was right about that, but all he could think about at the moment was how he hoped she could be forgiving too.
Because if she thought he was lying to her, he couldn’t stand to think he’d hurt her.
Chapter Seventeen
“I really am sorry, Brooke. It likely wasn’t anything at all, but I thought I should tell you.” Her youngest sister, Vicki, sat across from her on the chair that faced her couch. “And honestly, I spent a lot of time with Jared while we worked on getting that tree set up, so I have a hard time believing he’d do anything like this, but with Amanda, you just never know.”
Brooke pulled Casanova up closer to her chest, squeezing the poor cat so hard he scrambled to be released. “Are you even sure it was him?” She hated how weak her voice sounded.
Vicki nodded slowly. “It was him. I was just walking past Scentiments and I always look in the window to see what new displays they’ve put out. He was in the corner, and Amanda very clearly had her hand on his arm. It looked to me like he was picking things out with her and was even sniffing a bath bomb. But I’m sure there’s a good explanation for it. I just can’t believe he’d do this.”
Brooke’s stomach churned, and her chest was heavy as she put her head into her hands. “Oh, I’m sure there’s a good explanation. There always is. I just thought Jared was different. I didn’t think he would be like the others.” Lifting her head, she wiped at a tear. “But, Renae found out that Jared, or J.D. Webber, which he’s still never told me about, is quite the ladies’ man. I went online myself to see what I could find, and there are at least half a dozen women who claim he led them on and dumped them as soon as they started to have feelings for him.”
Vicki groaned and gently petted Winston who was purring in her lap. “Do you believe them?”
Brooke just shook her head and leaned back into the couch, grabbing her blanket and pulling it up tight around herself. Kiki was immediately there and kneading at the material to make it more comfy to lie down. “I don’t know what to believe anymore. If he had nothing to hide, and if he was feeling the same as I am, wouldn’t he have told me who he was? Does he not trust me? And Amanda, of all people. I feel like I’m going to be sick.” She tugged at the blanket to cover her face. When the buzzer sounded to let them know someone was at the door out back, she quickly peeked out with her eyes wide at Vicki.
Vicki stood up, pushing Winston to the ground, who meowed angrily before jumping back up to take her spot on the chair. “Who is it?”
“Vicki? It’s Jared.”
Vicki’s eyes widened as she waited for Brooke to tell her what to do. Brooke just shook her head. “Tell him I’m not feeling well. I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“Brooke, you have to talk to him. And besides, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Is that really a conversation you want to be having on Christmas?” They were both whispering loudly, as though Jared would be able to hear them from downstairs.
“I don’t care. I’m not ready to see him. Just tell him I’m sick.”
Vicki rolled her eyes in frustration as she pressed the button to speak into the intercom. “Jared, Brooke is pretty sick right now. I think it’s menstrual cramps.”
Brooke dropped her mouth open wide in shock. “Vicki!”
Vicki gave her an innocent smile and shrugged. “You said to tell him you were sick.”
“Well, you didn’t have to add what ailment you believe I am suffering from.”
They were still whispering loudly and if Jared had been standing outside the door upstairs, he’d have been able to hear them perfectly.
His voice crackled through the speaker. “Oh. Well, I could just come up and sit with her then, at least to keep her company.”
Vicki raised her eyebrows at her.
Brooke shook her head emphatically. She could tell her sister was getting annoyed at having to be the one to brush him off like this, but right now, Brooke didn’t care. She wanted to be childish and angry and feel sorry for herself. Having Jared here would make that impossible.
“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. She’s pretty bloated and really cranky too. Trust me, you do not want to be around her right now.” Vicki was grinning as she spoke into the intercom.
She was going to kill her sister once Jared left.
“Um, okay. Just tell her I’ll try calling her later.” Brooke could hear the confusion in Jared’s voice. He knew she wasn’t the type to be knocked out because of menstrual cramps, even if she was bloated and cranky. He likely knew something else was up, but right now she couldn’t be worried about his feelings.
Tonight, she was going to curl up on her couch with her cats and pretend there was no such thing as men in this world.
Brooke, I’m going to keep calling and texting until you talk to me, so you may as well just answer.
He hit send and waited, knowing full well he wouldn’t see the read notification come up. Brooke wasn’t responding to any of his texts or calls and wasn’t even opening them to read them. He’d sat by her apartment waiting for her, knowing she had to come and go at some point but he realized too late she must have snuck out the front.
It was Christmas Eve and everything around town was starting to close up. The businesses and houses had their lights on already in the darkening sky as everyone headed home for their Christmas celebrations. He had planned to spend the evening with Brooke, but now for whatever reason, she wasn’t talking to him.
Well, he had a pretty good idea what had upset her, but he never would have imagined she’d be this upset about it. So, he hadn’t mentioned he was a bit more of a well-known author than he’d let on. He really didn’t think that was any reason to just throw what they had between them away.
He worried that something else was wrong and try as he might, he couldn’t think what it would be. For the first time in his life, he’d found someone he knew he loved and would spend the rest of his life with, if she’d let hi
m. Maybe he hadn’t handled things the way he should have. But he really wasn’t sure how to show someone he loved them. He’d never had it happen before.
He looked down at his phone, seeing it light up with a message.
I don’t want to talk right now. Just leave me alone. We can talk after Christmas.
His chest squeezed in agony at her words. What had he done? He couldn’t imagine not being able to see her or talk to her over Christmas.
But he also knew that if he went over to her parents’ house, she had two brothers who would probably make him pay dearly for whatever transgression they believed he’d done to their sister. He needed to wait until they could be alone, and if that meant after Christmas, then he’d give her that time.
Slowly, he backed his Jeep out of the parking space behind her apartment, looking up briefly and smiling when he noticed her tree had turned on. He realized he’d already fallen in love with her that day, and how he wished now he’d just told her everything—including how he felt about her. Although he wasn’t even sure if that would have been enough.
He wasn’t ready to go home to Maude’s questions, so he just drove around Quinn Valley, enjoying the snow as it fell in large, fluffy flakes and landed on the lights of the buildings. It was a beautiful town, and he’d hoped to perhaps spend his life here. But now he wasn’t even sure if there’d be anything left for him to stay for.
Chapter Eighteen
The lights from her parents’ tree reflected in the glass of the window as she looked out at the empty street. Snow was still slowly drifting down, covering the ground in a blanket of white. It wouldn’t be disturbed until the kids ran outside tomorrow to try out their new sleds, and families hopped into their cars to drive to their Christmas Day festivities. Her family’s voices and laughter spilled down the hallway from the kitchen where they were making food ready for tomorrow. It was the perfect Christmas Eve, the kind she had always loved.
But tonight, instead of taking part in the fun like she normally did, all she could do was sit and think about Jared. They’d planned to walk to the Christmas tree at the senior’s home and then come to her parents’ to take part in the Christmas Eve fun. It was the first Christmas he told her he’d ever looked forward to celebrating.
Now, she didn’t even know where he was. Likely back at Maude’s listening to her grumble about how after all those decorations Jared had put up for her, she still hadn’t won any prizes for the town-wide judging. Brooke smiled as she remembered how miffed Maude had been that she’d gone and broken her hip for nothing, as she’d said. But Jared wasn’t too upset, considering the Mountain View Medical Center had been the best decorated business on Main Street. So he had been immensely proud of himself that he’d won for the effort he’d put in for her clinic.
He’d admitted he might have been tempted to try just a bit harder to make Brooke’s the best because he could pull out his mistletoe while working and be rewarded right away.
Brooke’s heart ached as she thought about him. Her phone lit up and she looked down, knowing it would be him. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could ignore him.
But she was surprised to see it was a phone call from her cousin Dusty instead. When she answered, he didn’t even say hello. “So, I just saw Jared getting a hot chocolate at Fresh Brew. He says he’s not spending Christmas with you. Not sure what’s going on, but he looks miserable.”
Why couldn’t everyone just leave her alone? Why did her family have to care so much? “That’s true, Dusty. Not sure what it has to do with you, though.” She knew she was being snippy, and on Christmas Eve too, but she didn’t care. She was tired of everyone butting their noses in where they didn’t belong.
“Well, I talked to Renae the other day and she told me what she’d told you about Jared. If that’s what’s upsetting you, then I don’t think you’re being fair.”
She tried to speak but he cut her off. “No, listen to me. Do you think I don’t know what people say about me around town? I know I’m not ready to settle down yet, and I’ve been known to flirt with a pretty girl.”
Brooke rolled her eyes at his understatement.
“But that doesn’t mean if I ever found the right woman, all of that wouldn’t change. And everyone who knows you and Jared has seen how he looks at you, Brooke. You’re a fool if you can’t see it for yourself.”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she listened. Of course Dusty would side with Jared. “It’s not just that, Dusty. It’s everything else too. And Vicki saw him with Amanda. I’m not going to let anyone hurt me like that again.”
Dusty just laughed on the other end of the phone. “OK, well you believe whatever you want. You know I’ll always have your back. But I think you’re making a mistake. I don’t believe for a minute Jared would ever be interested in Amanda, and I’m pretty sure if you think back to the man you’ve gotten to know over the past few weeks, you’d see that too. It’s just easier for you to believe he’s like all the others. Or, in your case, like Todd.”
She sat quietly for a second, unsure of what to say. He was right. But she wasn’t about to let him know that. Wishing him a Merry Christmas, they said their goodbyes and she focused her eyes on one of the brightest lights in the tree beside her.
Joel came and sat beside her, plunking himself down so hard she almost fell off the end of the couch. He stuffed one of their mom’s cherry tarts into his mouth and turned to look at her.
She glared at him, knowing he was only coming over to bug her about something.
“Was that Dusty?”
She squinted her eyes in suspicion. “Yes. How did you know that?”
“He texted me first. I told him to call you because it wasn’t any of my business.”
She nodded her head in agreement. “You were right. It isn’t any of your business.”
Joel leaned back and patted the couch beside him for Stanley, who jumped up and plopped down on his lap instead. She tried not to laugh at how ridiculous it looked when the giant dog insisted on being a lap dog. “Well, that’s what I thought too. But when you insist on moping around and ruining Christmas for everyone, then it becomes my business too.”
“I’m not moping. For crying out loud, we only got here half an hour ago. You can hardly say I’ve been moping.”
She had been moping, but she wasn’t going to agree with her brother.
“Listen, I’ve said it before and I’m saying it one last time. Jared loves you. And if you’re willing to throw that away over something as stupid as some miscommunications and accusations on the Internet, without even giving the poor guy a chance to explain, then I hope you’re ready to spend the rest of your life with just your cats for company. Because no one will ever be good enough in your eyes and will never care as much about you as that guy does.” He stood up, leaving poor Stanley to watch him forlornly as he walked away. Finally, the big dog turned and came over to her lap, obviously figuring that if his dad wasn’t coming back, then her lap would have to do.
She scratched the big dog behind his ears and leaned down to kiss his head. “What do you think, Stanley? Am I making a giant mistake by not talking to Jared about this?” She already knew the answer, but somehow taking advice from the big dark eyes staring at her so full of love was just easier than admitting her brother or her cousin might be right about something.
Chapter Nineteen
Brooke pulled her scarf up tighter around her neck to keep the chill out. Her eyes took in all the lights on the tree, warming her heart as she thought about how Jared had brought this here for her. It had to have cost him a fortune to have a massive tree brought in, lifted into place and secured properly, then all the lights and decorations. It had all been from him.
When she’d gone to Maude’s, she’d told Brooke that Jared had gone for a walk earlier. She’d then said that she hoped they could work things out because she’d never seen her nephew so down.
Brooke felt terrible knowing she’d caused him to feel like that, especia
lly since she’d never even given him any chance to talk to her about it. She knew she hadn’t been fair, and now she hoped he could forgive her for acting the way she did.
After driving around town for a while hoping to spot him, she finally realized exactly where she needed to look. And now, as she walked toward the bench in front of the tree and saw Jared sitting with his back to her, she realized just how much she loved this man. How could she ever have thought she could let him just walk out of her life?
The crunching of the snow under her boots was loud in the stillness of the night. Jared turned around, making her footsteps falter. What was she going to say to him? He looked back toward the tree, waiting for her to get to the bench. She knew he was hurt, and she didn’t blame him for not rushing to her with open arms.
“Mind if I join you?” She cringed, rolling her eyes at herself for asking such a silly question. Then she remembered that was the question he’d asked her at the taco truck when they’d met. This time, it was her who had made mistakes that needed to be fixed.
He nodded and motioned with his hand for her to sit down. His empty hot chocolate cup sat on the bench beside him, showing her he’d been sitting here already for a while.
“Jared, I’m sorry for how I’ve acted. And I don’t blame you for not wanting to talk to me. But I hope you’ll just let me explain my side of things.”
When he turned to look at her, she struggled to breathe. The pain in his eyes was real and she knew it was her fault. She had to fix this.
“When you didn’t bother to tell me who you really were, I guess it started to chip away at my confidence and trust, but I know now it wasn’t fair to you. I should have told you how I was feeling as soon as I found out.”
“Brooke, I never lied to you about who I was. I told you my name and what I did for a living. When you didn’t say anything, I just assumed maybe you hadn’t heard of me. What did you want me to say? I’m actually J.D. Webber. I’m a pretty famous author, so you should know who I am.” He shook his head and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. He looked down at his hands and swallowed. “Maybe I could have found a way to let you know, but honestly I just hoped it wouldn’t be a big deal. It shouldn’t be a big deal. I’m still Jared. And sometimes, that’s all I want to be when I meet someone.”
Becoming Brooke (Quinn Valley Ranch Book 6) Page 9
