“Well, good morning, sunshine,” he said cheerfully, as he turned and saw her standing in the hallway.
“It’s only eight in the morning, why are you so happy?” she asked, as she took a seat on one of the bar stools. Her eyes lit up as he slid a cup of coffee towards her.
“Because today is my day off and you’re here with me. What could be better?” he asked, as he flipped an egg in the sizzling skillet.
“Well, nothing of course,” she teased, cradling the cup of coffee in her hand and letting the aroma zap the drowsiness away. “But, breakfast does smell good. I’m starving.”
“I can make eggs and bacon without burning them,” he said, as he piled two eggs and three pieces of bacon on a plate. He slid it to her and winked, his green eyes sparkling in the morning light.
“Yum,” she said, around a mouthful of egg.
He laughed as he sat beside her, taking a huge bite himself. He took a sip of coffee and then asked, “Anything you want to do today, since it’s a rare occasion for us both to be off on the same day?”
She frowned as she thought about it. “Give me a minute and I’m sure I can come up with something,” she said.
They ate the rest of their meal in silence, and then agreed to sit outside on the patio. She kicked her legs up on the rail and leaned back in the chair as she enjoyed the view. “This is nice,” she said, cocking her head and studying him. His hair was still messy from sleep and he had thrown on a pair of grey lounge pants and a plain, blue t-shirt, and he looked relaxed.
“Yes, it is. I love my days off. I can sit and de-stress and regroup from the stressful week I’ve had.” He ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier, which made him even sexier.
“I bet. I know what we can do today. It’ll be relaxing and stress free,” she said.
“And what would that be?” he asked, one eyebrow raised in question.
“Let’s just go country cruising. Maybe take some food and have a picnic somewhere. It’ll be fun.”
“That does sound relaxing,” he said.
“I’ll go home and get ready,” Brooke said, not giving him time to answer. “Be back in an hour.” After giving him a quick kiss, she swung the patio door open and headed inside to grab her keys.
An hour later they were cruising down a winding, country road in Ethan’s Porsche, the music blasting an old rock song, with all four windows down to let the warm air in. Brooke had her hair pulled up into a bun, with little loose strands blowing in her face, very little make up on, and a simple t-shirt with jean shorts and flip flops. She looked over at Ethan through her tinted sunglasses. He had on khaki shorts with a royal blue t-shirt, his beautiful green eyes were temporarily hidden by sunglasses, and his dress shoes were replaced by a comfortable pair of Nike tennis shoes. They were definitely ready for a relaxing day of doing nothing.
Tired of the radio, she plugged in her iPhone, thumbed through her music, and decided on something that she knew would throw him completely off guard. She giggled as she pressed play and Eminem came blaring through the speakers. She saw Ethan from the corner of her eye giving her a confused look, but ignored him. She began rapping in unison with Eminem, never missing a word, and throwing her hand in the air to play the part of a rapper. She rapped the whole song and threw her head back and began laughing when it finally ended.
“Whew!” she yelled, struggling to catch her breath. She looked over at Ethan, loving the bewildered expression on his face. He was trying to hide his smile as he shook his head, but she saw it.
“You are one of a kind, Brooke,” he said. “Who was that anyway?”
Her mouth dropped at his question. “You’re telling me you don’t know who Eminem is?”
Shaking his head and shrugging, he said, “Nope, can’t say that I do. Rap isn’t really my genre.”
Rolling her eyes, she said, “He’s like one of the most famous rappers of all time,” she pulled up a picture of him and held it up for him to see.
Ethan continued to shake his head. “Still doesn’t look familiar.”
“Well, holy hell, where have you been hiding? Under a rock?” She laughed and hit shuffle, letting another one of his songs play. She turned it down slightly but continued to sing the words. “I need to get you to loosen up a little, doc,” she teased, pinching his side.
He laughed and squirmed. “Hey, I’m driving. That means, hands to yourself. Well, only until we park.” He shot her a quick glance and wiggled his eyebrows.
“Mmm, I like this playful side of you,” she said, tilting her sunglasses down so he could see her wink.
“I like any side of you,” he said, reaching down and squeezing her thigh.
She squealed playfully and pushed his hand away. “Calm down big boy, you can have more of that later.”
They didn’t have anywhere in particular that they were going and Brooke looked up from her music selection to see that they were heading into the mountains. “Ah, one of the things I love about Tennessee is the mountain view,” she said, with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
“Yeah, me, too. When I first moved here from Chicago, one of the first things I did was take a drive through the mountains and walk some of the trails. I love hiking up them,” he said, as he turned his turn signal on and headed up a narrow road that went straight up the side of a mountain.
“Well, we should find a trail and take a hike, then” she said, then laughed at how that sounded.
“Okay, I didn’t think that would be something you’d like to do,” he said, as he slammed on his brakes and veered into a small parking lot.
“Whoa,” Brooke yelled as she grabbed the dash. “Why does everyone not know how to drive?” she said, with a shake of her head. “And I’m not a big nature person, but I do enjoy getting out and doing things, sometimes.”
Chuckling, he put the car in park and took a look at their surroundings. “That sign says this trail is only four miles each way with a waterfall. That should be fun,” he said.
“Let’s go,” Brooke said, as she jumped out of the car, raised her arms and stretched.
Heading into the woods, they began following the small trail, and as they got to a steep incline, Ethan reached around and took her hand to make sure she didn’t fall.
“If I would have known I’d be trekking into the wilderness, I wouldn’t have worn flip flops,” she said with a laugh.
“You’ll be fine, the trail is pretty clear and I don’t think we’re planning on veering off it.”
“Lord, no, I don’t want to get lost out there. I’d die in a day from something stupid, like falling off the cliff or a bear attacking me.”
Ethan looked over his shoulder at her. “I don’t think they have too many bear attacks here,” he said laughing.
“Well, if it were to happen, it would happen to me,” she said, raising her phone and snapping a picture of him. She laughed when he frowned.
“I wasn’t ready,” he said.
“Yeah, those are the best kinds of pictures,” she said, giggling.
As they continued up the mountain, the woods began to get thicker and she could hear the sound of water running in the distance. The waterfall wasn’t far and she couldn’t wait to see it. There was something so peaceful about a waterfall hidden deep in the woods or mountains.
Ethan suddenly came to an abrupt stop and, looking out into the woods, she almost ran into his back. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“There’s the waterfall. It’s breathtaking,” he said.
She peered around him and gasped. “It’s so beautiful and huge!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting it to be this big,” Ethan said, as he began walking towards it.
Brooke followed him, smiling as the dampness from the waterfall clung to her warm skin. She took a few pictures of the waterfall and managed to talk Ethan into taking
a selfie with the waterfall behind them. A nice lady offered to take a picture of the two of them together, and it ended up being her favorite one. They had posed on a large fallen tree trunk that was halfway across the river. She was sitting on Ethan’s lap, and as the sun barely peeked through the tops of the trees and hit the waterfall, it had created a small glimmer of a rainbow directly behind them. It was a beautiful picture. She studied the picture, ecstatic at how good it had turned out. Despite their opposite personalities, they really looked like the perfect couple, and it had her wondering what their future had in store for them.
“Are you ready to continue up the mountain so we can see the view before it gets too late?” Ethan asked as he peered over her shoulder to look at the picture. “Hey, that one turned out pretty good,” he said.
“Yes, it’s my favorite one,” she agreed, as she stuffed her phone into her back pocket. “Yeah, we’d better get going, it kinda looks like rain out that direction,” she said, as she studied the sky.
Squinting from the sun, Ethan looked up and said, “It does, but I bet we can beat it.” He gave her a wink and reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her up the trail behind him.
Twenty minutes later, Brooke clutched her thighs and groaned. “Are we almost there, my legs are beginning to kill me.”
Laughing, Ethan said, “Almost, I see an open spot up ahead. I’m pretty sure it’s the top.”
“Good,” Brooke replied, as she wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead.
As they stepped out of the canopy of trees, the sun bombarded them with its bright light. Brooke gasped, “Wow, that view is amazing!”
Wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close, Ethan said, “Yes, it is. It was worth the four-mile trek up here, wasn’t it?”
Leaning her head against his chest, she agreed, “Yes, it was.”
They saw a large boulder hanging part way off the cliff and decided to sit, rest up, and enjoy the view for the moment. The majority of the boulder was still on the ground and it was sturdy and safe enough for them to sit there without worrying about it falling over the side of the mountain.
“Wow, this is so nice,” Brooke said, as she leaned her head on Ethan’s shoulder. “So, what made you decide to move from Chicago to here? I don’t think you’ve ever said, and Chicago is very different from Tennessee,” she asked.
He licked his lips as he said, “Well, I believe with my whole heart that I came here to meet you.”
Her mouth parted at his words before a smile slowly appeared. “Are you flirting with me, Ethan?” she teased.
“Yes,” he admitted. “But, I do believe that. I had applied for a job in New York City. It was my dream job, and Sweet Haven was my second choice. One that I hoped I didn’t get because, at the time, I didn’t think I wanted to move to a small town. But, I knew I needed to leave Chicago because there were just too many memories. And then I received the rejection letter from New York and got the call for an interview for Sweet Haven. Then when I met you, I couldn’t believe that a simple letter was all that changed my course to meeting the love of my life.”
“Ah, that would be fate, Ethan,” she said.
“Yes, a little red string of fate.”
“A what?” she asked.
“It comes from Chinese legend that the deity in charge of people meeting their soulmates ties a red string to their ankles, or in Japanese and Korean culture, it’s the little pinky. And this red string will never break no matter how much distance comes between the couple, because they’re destined to be together.
“That’s beautiful,” she breathed, fascinated by the whole idea of it.
“It is,” he agreed as he took her hand in his, holding her pinky next to his. “So, my guess is we have an invisible red string attached to each of us.” He gave her hand a kiss before releasing it.
She studied their hands as she thought about the legend. “I believe that, too,” she finally said, after a moment.
Ethan smiled as he pulled her in for a kiss. “I love you, Brooke,” he said softly.
“I love you, too, Ethan,” she said, as she let herself melt into the softness of his kiss.
After a few seconds, he pulled away and stretched his legs out in front of him. “So, tell me, what made you decide to become a nurse, anyway?” he asked, as he threw a rock over the hill. It took several seconds before they even heard it hit anything and she knew it wasn’t the ground, with how high they were up.
Pushing loose pieces of hair out of her face, she knew without hesitation what made her decide to become a nurse. “My grandma was my inspiration,” she said. “She was a nurse for thirty years at Anderson Hospital,” Brooke said with admiration. She loved her grandma and missed her. It had been a couple of weeks since she had visited her and she knew a visit soon was mandatory
“That’s great that she was such an inspiration to you,” Ethan said. “What about your parents, where are they now? You’ve never mentioned them,” he asked.
“My parents passed away, so it’s just me and my sister, now.”
She regretted saying that as soon as it was out of her mouth. She didn’t want to talk about Casey.
“Oh, so you have a sister? You’ve never mentioned her, either. Does she live here in Sweet Haven?” he asked.
Rolling her eyes, she said, “I haven’t mentioned her because I try to not think about her. We’re estranged.” She let out a sigh as she stared off into the distance, thinking about her sister. “Her name is Casey and I haven’t spoken to her in three years, and I have no reason to. I’m guessing she still lives in New York City, but who knows,” she said with a shrug.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” he asked hesitantly.
She pursed her lips together as she considered it. He had opened up to her so it was only fair that she did the same. If they were going to be together, he deserved to know everything about her.
“Yeah, I’ll tell you what happened.” She paused as she gathered her thoughts. “I had been seeing this guy, Sam, for a while. And after he said he was sick for a week, I had decided to stop by his house to bring him some soup. Well, I walk in and find him and my sister together.”
“Brooke, I’m so sorry,” Ethan said, as he gave her hand a squeeze.
“Yeah, it was pretty bad, but it’s in the past and I’m over it. But she never apologized, so I’m still holding resentment over that.”
“Well, that’s understandable,” Ethan said.
“They left after that and moved up to New York City to start their lives together. She calls Gram every once in a while, but that’s about it.”
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I do hope you guys can work things out one day.” He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and lightly kissed her cheek.
She smiled up at him, her eyes glistening from unwanted memories, and said, “It would be nice, but I’m not expecting it to happen. I’ve come to accept it for what it is.”
“Okay, enough of that,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
Brooke watched him walk off, assuming he was giving her a moment to get her emotions back in check, so she decided to take some pictures to get her mind off her sister. She hadn’t talked about Casey in years, yet everything lately was reminding her of her. Shaking her head, she stood, held her phone up, and began snapping pictures. Lost in the beauty of the landscape, she jumped when she felt Ethan’s warm body behind her, one arm slowly winding around her waist and the other one holding up a deep, dark red rose in front of her. Smiling, she squealed, yanked the rose from his hand, and whirled around. Green eyes full of playfulness peered down at her, and a shy smile greeted her. She clutched his shirt and pulled him to her for a kiss. It was just a simple wild rose with a few damaged petals and a slight wilt from the lack of rain lately, but the notion touched her heart.
“It’s
so pretty, Ethan,” she said as she lifted the rose to her nose and took in the lovely smell.
“There’s a big rose bush over there, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to pick it for you, to revive the bad mood we almost had going on. It’s not blue, though,” he said as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she kissed him back. His tongue barely teased hers before he pulled back and grinned. “The rain is on its way,” he said, as he pointed to their left.
Brooke angled her head towards the sky and frowned. “Dammit, we were having so much fun, too,” she said, pouting her lips.
A flirtatious smile filled his face as he said, “Don’t worry; we’ll have plenty of fun when we get back to my place.”
Brooke’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, really?” she teased.
“Oh, yes, that’s why we need to get going,” he said, cupping her cheeks with his hands to plant one last kiss on her lips.
Sliding into the passenger’s seat, Brooke sighed with relief. “My legs feel like Jell-O, but at least coming down the hill was a lot easier than going up, if it hadn’t been, you’d probably have had to carry me,” she said.
Starting the car, Ethan peered up through the windshield. “Well, looks like we made it just in time. The rain is going to start any minute now.”
Just as they began heading down the narrow, winding road that took them away from the mountain, drops of rain began hitting the windshield.
“That was a close one,” Brooke said, “you know how crazy my hair gets when it’s wet.” She laughed, and it started pouring down even harder. “Oh my!” she shrieked. Ethan had to turn the wipers on full blast, just to be able to see.
The bright sky was now a looming dark mass of storm clouds hovering over them as they drove home. Brooke stared out the window, watching the rain spill down the glass, and thought about her sister. She still wondered how her sister could have done that to her all those years ago, but as she looked over at Ethan sitting beside her she knew things had worked out as they should have.
When Love Ignites Page 18
