by Ann, Natalie
“Good morning to you, too,” Brooke replied dryly. She stepped aside to let Cori in. “Let me guess—Mac sent you.”
“Nope, though he did send me a text last night asking if I had heard from you. I told him you were with Lucas and to try his phone. I didn’t think anything of it until an hour ago when my phone went off and it was Lucas asking if I’d talked to you. That got me nervous.” She followed Brooke into the kitchen and groaned with relief when she saw her powering on the one-cup coffee machine.
Cori sat down at the island. “Anyway, I replied back to him that I hadn’t spoken to you and asked why. Of course he wouldn’t tell me anything. No amount of nagging via text was going to make him give up any information. Thanks,” she replied when Brooke handed her a full cup of coffee.
Brooke started her own cup while she watched Cori add her normal five spoons of sugar and then creamer. “No, Lucas wouldn’t tell you anything. He’s loyal that way.”
Cori’s snort told her that she didn’t appreciate that quality of Lucas’s. “Well, I finally fall back to sleep and my phone beeps again. And it’s Lucas.” She dug her phone out of her pocket and shoved it under Brooke’s nose. “Here, read it yourself.”
Brooke pushed the phone down a bit so she could focus on the words. I need a big favor, Cori. Please go check on Brooke this morning. Don’t ask any questions. Just go see if she is okay. And tell her I won’t give up on her. Ever.
Brooke didn’t think she had any more tears left to shed, but she was wrong. They started to fill in her eyes.
Cori looked on in shock. “Please tell me what is going on,” she begged.
Brooke blinked the tears out of her eyes, shook her head wordlessly and walked back into her living room, leaving Cori to follow. Slowly lowering her achy body onto the couch, she placed her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. “I ruined everything,” Brooke murmured.
“What is going on?” Cori asked again, her voice rising higher than normal. No answer came forth. After a minute of silence Cori said, “Fine, don’t tell me. But go fix it then.”
Cori’s words finally registered, causing Brooke to look up and ask, “How?”
“How do I know?” Cori threw her hands in the air. “I don’t even know what’s going on.”
Suddenly Brooke realized she had to fix it, no matter what. She caused this mess, so it was up to her to fix it. With more determination than ever before, she stood up and walked to the door to get her keys. “You’re right, it’s up to me. I need to go to him for once. I need to take the step.”
Cori rushed after her. “Wait!” She grabbed Brooke’s arm. “Have you seen yourself this morning? Don’t you even want to take a shower, or at least change your clothes? Comb your hair—something?”
Brooke brushed Cori’s hand off, shook her head. “No time. It has to be now.” She slipped her feet into her flip-flops by the door, not caring what she looked like, and walked out calling over her shoulder, “Lock up for me.”
***
Lucas stood on his deck staring at the water, but not really seeing. He didn’t know how long he stood there. The time blurred together.
He needed to know Brooke was okay, but he didn’t dare call Cori again. He knew she would follow through for him. Cori was good that way.
It was up to Brooke to decide what to do. As much as he wanted to rush over this morning—especially after Mac contacted him last night to say Brooke wasn’t responding—he couldn’t continue to be the one to always take the first step. At some point she needed to do it. They would never be able to make it work if he always had to push her to do things. She needed to do it on her own, needed to make her own decisions. Her whole life was all about someone else making her decisions. He wouldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t do that to her.
With a ragged breath, he lowered his head, closed his eyes and began to wish with everything he had that she would come to him.
He didn’t know if it was his wishful thinking, or voices in his head, but he swore he heard her call his name.
“Lucas?” he heard again—and realized it wasn’t in his head.
***
Brooke made the drive to Lucas’s in a haze. She still had no idea what she was going to say when she got there. She couldn’t even think of that right now. For once in her life, she wasn’t going to overthink something. She wasn’t going to plan it all out. She was going to go with her gut and see where it took her.
Parking in the driveway, she saw the garage door was shut. The clock on the dashboard read 9:00 a.m. and she wondered how fast she actually drove, since she made it here in record time. She took a deep breath and pulled the visor down in the car to look at herself, then cringed at the image looking back at her. Cori was right. She looked like hell.
With her limited resources, the best she could do was to fix her ponytail. Then she noticed she was still in her tank top and pajama pants, wasn’t even wearing a bra. She didn’t know if she had ever in her life left the house without proper undergarments on.
Shoving embarrassment about her clothing aside, she climbed out of the car and made a split second decision to walk around to the back of the house. She hoped the view of the lake would calm her like it normally did.
As she neared the deck she saw Lucas standing there with his shoulders slumped and head bowed, almost in prayer. When she heard his ragged sigh, she called his name without thought. When he didn’t respond, she walked closer and called it a bit louder. He whipped his head around that time and pinned her with a stare. Not moving an inch.
She knew in her heart he wasn’t going to come to her. She had to make her way to him.
Her eyes locked on his while she walked around to the stairs that led to the deck, led her right to Lucas. She didn’t stop until she was standing right in front of him.
Without a word she reached out and ran her hand down his unshaven cheek, loved the contrast of the rough-looking side of him, mixed with the charming side that she fell in love with.
She said the only thing that came to mind, what she had known all along but refused to acknowledge until last night—when she thought she threw it all away. “You didn’t give up on me.”
He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “Never,” he whispered into her hair. “Ever.”
With her head on his chest, his heart beating under her ear, she finally said what she had been holding back all along. “I love you.”
Releasing the breath he had been holding, he replied, “I know.”
She snorted out a laugh. “You aren’t supposed to gloat.”
“No? What am I supposed to do then?” he asked with a grin.
“You’re supposed to say it back to me,” she said in all seriousness.
He lifted her off the ground in a huge hug that caused her to laugh. Then set her back down, framed her face in both of his hands, placed a kiss on her lips, his pale blue eyes drilling into her whiskey-colored ones, then said, “I. Love. You.” Punctuating each word with a kiss on the lips.
Epilogue
Three months later, December 12th
Brooke was finishing up dinner preparations. Lucas would be over any minute and she wanted tonight to be special.
The last few months had been the best of her life and she had him to thank for it. She finally let go of all her pain and anger and she felt lighter. She smiled more, she laughed more, and she loved more.
She still was as logical and practical as ever, still organized everything just right, and maintained all her lists. Some habits were too hard to break. Besides, just because she was happier, didn’t mean she didn’t like everything in an orderly manner. It all seemed different though, carefree.
She even made progress with her father. After the weekend of her birthday months ago, Lucas urged her to take the step with him too. She was finding that her father had as many regrets about her upbringing as she did. And he was trying his best to make it up to her.
Her mother on the other hand hadn’t changed, a
nd most likely never would. But at least she knew she had her father in her corner. And Mac. Always Mac.
Spreading the last of the cheese on her lasagna dish, she opened the oven and slid it in. She was putting a salad together when the front door opened. Lucas walked in holding a bottle of wine in his hands. He set it down and leaned in for quick hello kiss. “Sorry I’m late. Mike stopped me as I was leaving.”
Brooke frowned. “What did Dr. Lester want this time?”
Lucas chuckled. “Guess Mike was a little behind on the hospital gossip. He wanted to apologize to me.”
She raised her eyebrow, but he smiled. “For what?” She could only imagine. Mike wasn’t her favorite person.
“Nothing important,” he assured her. “A momentary lapse in judgment on his part when speaking about an employee a few months ago.”
“Oh really?” She decided she didn’t want to know. “Well, he’s a smooth talker. Guess he decided he needs you on his side for the next time he has a momentary lapse in judgment and needs legal advice.”
“Hmmm.” He turned and pulled her close, gave her a hug. “Something smells good.”
“That’s dinner,” she explained, letting him have his way with the subject change.
“No, it’s you,” he clarified, then reached in the drawer to get the wine opener.
“Here, let me pour that. You sit down. It’s your birthday. Relax, and let me wait on you.” She loved looking at him, sitting there in her kitchen looking sexy as ever in his tailored suit. He had loosened his tie and his hair was windblown, just the way she liked it.
“You’re staring at me. Do I have something on my face?” he asked, reminding her of their first encounter in the elevator.
“No. Just like looking at you,” she replied with a grin. “Dinner should be ready in about twenty minutes. So, you never told me what you wanted for your birthday.”
“I already got what I wanted for my birthday.” He leaned over and kissed her again.
“You did?”
“Yep,” he answered with his famous grin.
“Well, what is it?” she asked, confused.
He got off the stool, reached in his pocket and pulled out a ring box. Flipping the lid back, he looked into her eyes. “You.”
Her breath was coming fast, her eyes filled with tears. She had cried more in the last few months than she had in her entire life.
He took the two-carat solitaire ring set in platinum out of the box. Just her style, simple and classy. Lifting her shaky hand, he slid the ring onto her finger. “I should ask you, but I’m not going to, because I always get what I want on my birthday. Always.” He smiled brightly, his own eyes shimmering with tears.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him softly and whispered against his lips, “Yes, you do.”
More Books
Road to Redemption—Book 2— buy here on Amazon
Relocating to Albany, New York, after the death of his wife, Dr. Jack Reynolds has decided he is better off alone. No worries, no headaches, no stress. The last thing he needs is the complication of a tiny redheaded nurse who has her sights set on making him see that life isn’t meant to be lonely.
Cori Summers thinks life is a bowl of cherries––covered in chocolate, that is. She’s fast moving, witty and the life of the party. Why can’t everyone smile throughout the day, just like her? Life is easier that way. No worries, no headaches and no stress.
Yes, opposites really do attract, but is Cori’s big personality enough to overcome all the obstacles that Jack is determined to put in her way?
Road to Reality—Book 3 Buy here on Amazon
Beth Campbell grew up poor. The kind of poor that people only hear of but never actually see—the dirty-no-electricity-in-the-winter kind of poor. But she had brains, grit, and determination. She was making a better life for herself, until she met a man—and made a mistake.
Now at age twenty-five she’s a single mother working hard once again, making a better life for herself and her three-year-old daughter, Zoe. She’s learned from her mistakes and is focusing on the right things. No more wishful dreams for her.
Dr. Mac Malone was minding his own business on his daily run when he heard a child’s scream. Before he knew it, he was Zoe Campbell’s savior. Falling in love with the little girl was easy. Convincing her mother he really was a good guy was something altogether different. Can he help Beth learn to trust again?
