by Easton, Meg
“His friendship means a lot to me. I can’t risk that.”
“Okay,” Tory said, “let’s say you didn’t date for fear of ruining a friendship. Do you think your friendship would continue on like it has been for years to come?”
“Of course.”
Whitney shook her head. “No. Not with him being as in love with you as he’s always been.”
“Wait, what?”
“Brooke.” Whitney chuckled. “With as good as you are at reading people, you have quite the blind spot when it comes to reading Cole’s feelings toward you. And now that you’ve discovered you have feelings for him, too, you’ve crossed a point of no return. Your friendship will never be the same.”
Brooke’s eyes flashed to Tory’s to see if it was true. Tory shrugged and nodded.
If that was true, she needed to figure out how she really felt about Cole and decide what she was willing to risk and what she was willing to do about it.
Chapter Eleven
Cole worked inside of the square formed by long banquet tables placed right in the intersection of Center and Main, cooking burgers on one of a half-dozen outdoor grills. He had gotten together with the Keetchs and Joey to plan an easy-to-hold menu for the Take Flight Festival, and they all, including a couple dozen employees pulled from all three businesses, were preparing meals for the people who would be lining up on both sides of the street any moment now.
When he got the chance to glance up, he looked toward Snowdrift Springs Park—the kites were still in the air, so they had at least a few more minutes. He instructed two of his employees to make sure that the burger and hot dog stations on both sides of the road were ready, two to help with preparing the sub sandwiches, one to check on the vegetable wraps, and a couple to head over to Joey’s Pizza and Subs to help haul the first batch of pizzas from his store to the tables.
“They’re headed our way,” Ed Keetch said, and Cole glanced up just as the last kite he could see in the park nose-dived toward the ground.
A couple of minutes later, all the people who had been at the festivities in the park rounded the corner onto Main Street in a long parade of people holding their kites in the air and shaking them to the beat of the music. As they came down his side of Main Street, he saw Samantha in the parade, dancing with her purple and green kite, her grandma walking alongside her.
She smiled and waved to him as they passed, then called out, “When we come back around, we’re going to sit right in front of Best Dressed, okay?”
He gave her two thumbs up and checked on the last of the preparations. After the parade went down Main Street on one side of the creek, then up it on the other side, everyone scattered to find places to sit and watch on the sidewalks in front of the stores and beside the booths. From his station by the food, he searched for Sam in front of Best Dressed, and found her saying goodbye to her grandma, Brooke at her side. Then the two of them sat down to watch.
The colorful kites for the synchronized kite show rose into the air at First Street, and even Cole and everyone in the food area stopped to watch. The kite fliers made their way down both sides of Main Street, their kites weaving back and forth high in the air, circling into different shapes before scattering and forming something new. He always forgot how impressive the show was every year.
The moment the show finished, the crowds headed to all the activity booths, filling the streets, and the lines at the food area were so long he couldn’t see beyond them. Sam and Brooke came through the line, but he barely had a moment to wave hello while trying to keep up with the demand.
When things finally slowed down, he caught a glimpse of Samantha and Brooke playing some kind of game at a booth, and he stopped what he was doing and just watched. The smile that always lit up Sam’s face whenever she was around Brooke made his heart happy. And Brooke seemed to genuinely enjoy being around Sam.
Maybe a relationship with Brooke could work. Did he dare try? What if he and Brooke started dating and things didn’t work out? Could things just go back to the way they were now? For a moment as he watched the two of them step up to the next booth, he imagined what life might be like with Brooke. What it would be like to sit down at the dinner table with Brooke and Sam. To curl up on the couch with Brooke in his arms. To share a kiss on that sidewalk every morning before they both parted to go to their own businesses.
“Boss.”
He didn’t know how it would all turn out. All he knew was that he wanted to try.
“Boss,” Hani said more insistently, and Cole realized he had been trying to get his attention.
Hani reached behind his back to tie his apron straps. “I’m here to take over. You ready?”
He really was. He gave Hani a few last minute directions, then made his way out of the food area and jogged down the street to meet up with Sam and Brooke.
“Daddy!” Sam said as he neared. “How do you like my face?”
“It’s beautiful. I can’t believe you waited in such a long line to have it painted.”
She reached out and grabbed hold of Brooke’s hand. “Me and Brooke told each other stories to pass the time. I chose to have them paint it like a butterfly, because when I was flying my kite, it felt like a butterfly to me. Well, except for all the times I kept crashing it.”
Cole met Brooke’s eyes and said, “Thank you.” The words weren’t enough to convey his gratitude for all she did to make Sam’s life happier, but he hoped that she understood.
“You’re welcome,” Brooke said. She seemed to be trying to say more with her words, too, but he couldn’t decipher exactly what it was. Then she fumbled in her bag. “I almost forgot—I got a present for you. It finally came today.”
She handed him a brown paper gift bag, and he reached inside and pulled out a toy figurine of a dragon wearing a chef’s hat. “Oh, wow. I—Brooke, this is quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever owned.”
“Let me see, Daddy.”
Cole handed the dragon to Sam and she held it cupped in her hands. “He’s adorable! Where are you going to put him?”
“Right next to where I work in the kitchen. Thank you, Brooke.” Brooke’s smile was so beautiful he had a hard time pulling his eyes away from it.
“Grandma says she’s coming back to pick me up at eight thirty,” Sam said. “I told her we’d be waiting in front of the restaurant.”
Cole glanced at his watch. “It looks like we have time to hit a couple more booths if you’d like.”
“Yes!” Sam shouted, jumping a few times, and he suspected that she had won candy at a few of the booths and had already eaten some. “Can Brooke come too?”
Cole looked at his friend. “Do you need to get back to your office?”
She gave him a smile bigger than he’d seen in a couple of weeks. “We made such great progress that we all decided to take the night off.”
The three of them walked down Main Street with Sam in the middle, holding both of their hands like they were a family. He shouldn’t have been surprised at how right it felt.
They made it to the very last booth before it was time to walk back to the Back Porch Grill. When Susan arrived, Cole gave Sam a hug, asked her to go to bed as soon as her grandma asked her to, then thanked Susan for taking her to the park earlier and for watching her until he got home tonight.
The responsible part of him, the part that always won out, felt like he should head back to the food area and help clean up. But the part of him that wanted to go to the lantern festival with Brooke was stronger. The night was beautiful, and he wanted nothing more than to be near her. The two of them headed to the food area to check with his employees to make sure they were all good to finish without him.
As they were walking back down Main toward First, Brooke said, “So tell me, Cole Iverson, when you woke up this morning, did your schedule say to help clean up afterward or to delegate?”
He might have blushed a little. “Clean up,” he admitted. “Although my employees didn’t know that. They were al
l planning to stay after to get everything put away. Should I have stayed?”
She shook her head. “You shouldn’t be at work right now any more than I should.” As they reached First, she looked the direction the crowds were heading on their trek back to Snowdrift Springs Park for the lantern festival. “I’ll race you there.”
“After I just showed a remarkable feat of spontaneity by going to this instead of cleaning up?”
“If I had a trophy of someone flinging the ripped up pieces of a calendar into the air like confetti, I’d award it to you and not make you run. But I’ve been working too much and not getting enough exercise or fresh air. Race me.”
“I’ve got longer legs, so you won’t be able to win.”
“I’ve got...” Brooke seemed to search for anything that might give her the advantage, but couldn’t come up with anything. Then her face brightened and she said, “Extra energy fueled by giddiness at finally having a free night. Plus,” she held up a finger, “a willingness to cut corners. Go!”
Brooke took off running and Cole chased after her. Instead of heading up the road with the crowds and across to the upper part of park on lighted streets, she went straight ahead and cut between the Davis’s and the Boulters’ houses and into an empty field in the dark. As she ran across the open space, he caught up with her and they ran side-by-side. Then she ran down a small incline, jumped over a short stone wall, and through the weeds at the bottom of the park.
After crossing through the middle of Main Street, Snowdrift Springs meandered its way back and forth through Snowdrift Springs Park, and he could see that Brooke was headed straight for it, even though there weren’t any pedestrian bridges nearby.
“Risky,” he said between panting breaths.
“Feels like a good night for it,” Brooke said, followed by a burst of speed.
Cole ran faster too, sprinting to make it to the creek before her. When he got to the edge, he leaped across, landing on the other side. He turned to see Brooke just as she leaped across too, except she didn’t land on the other side as solidly as he did and nearly fell backwards into the water. He reached out, wrapping his arms around her waist, keeping her from falling.
She breathed fast and heavy from the run, her forearms against his chest, her hands clutching his shirt. “Thanks.”
Her closeness felt dangerous to their friendship at the same time it felt so right for the relationship they’d spent three years building. The smell of her perfume and her warm breath against his neck made his skin buzz with energy. He never wanted to let go, but still managed to release her as soon as she got her footing. “These longer legs can’t be discounted so easily.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But neither can this giddiness that’s powering me. It’s stronger than one of Tory’s quad-shot caramel macchiatos.”
“Good, because we’re at the wrong side of the park to get a lantern.”
As they walked to the upper park and the place where all the people who took the normal path were filing in, Cole asked, “When do you leave for L.A.?”
“In three days. It’s not the best timing. There’s still so much to do for that presentation I’m giving in New York in a week and a half, but this trip was planned long before I knew they’d ask me to come present.”
“Can you cancel this trip or reschedule?”
She shook her head. “If I was just going for the meetings I had set up, then rescheduling might be an option. But I have a friend who is having his first solo fashion show, and I promised I would help.”
As they neared the gathering place for the lantern festival, Brooke put a little more space between them, even though the night was getting chilly. Maybe that almost-kiss between the two of them had been a fluke and he’d read it all wrong.
But when they were getting their paper lantern and opening it up, she scooted closer again. The more time they spent together, the more confused he became.
“When you’re ready with your lantern,” Mayor Stone called out, “gather over here.”
Dozens of people gathered on the grass next to Snowdrift Springs, each pair with a paper lantern. Gloria wove in and out of people, handing out fireplace lighters for everyone to share.
“Paper lanterns have meant a lot of things to a lot of people,” the mayor said. “To us here in Nestled Hollow, they’ve traditionally meant ‘When fears are grounded, opportunities take flight.’ Our little ones experienced it today with their kites, and now we are with the lanterns. We don’t need to hold onto our fears—let them fall to the ground, and we’ll spot those opportunities right in front of us.” The mayor looked around the group. “Now is everyone ready?”
“Do you want to hold it up and I’ll light it?” Brooke asked.
Cole nodded and held it high, and Brooke crouched down under it, lighter poised below the fuel cell.
“Go ahead and light them!”
Brooke looked up at Cole. “Do you have your fears properly grounded?”
He made a show of dropping an invisible something, then stepping on it. She pretended to drop something too, and then ground it into the grass with her shoe. Then she flicked on the lighter and lit the cell before standing up.
They both watched their lantern as the heat from the fire inflated the paper, making the sides expand wider and wider by the moment. The weight in Cole’s hand lessened as the lantern swelled, until he could feel it pressing against his fingers. Then he let go and they watched as it floated up into the air, glowing in the night sky as it went.
Brooke grabbed his hand and ran, and he followed after. “We have to watch it from a bridge over the water,” she said.
When they reached the pedestrian bridge, they stood in the middle, looking up at all the sky lanterns glimmering in the darkness, their lights reflecting in the stream below them.
“It’s so beautiful,” Brooke breathed.
It was. But not as beautiful as she was. He wished he could tell her that. He had wished for years. But even though he’d made a show of stomping on his fears just barely, he was afraid of starting a conversation about them becoming more than friends, because what if that ended their friendship?
It had been a good two and a half years since realizing he was in love with Brooke. It was tough to keep a secret, but it was worth her friendship. He could do it again. He tucked away the dreams of her one day being a wife to him and a mother to Sam, of kissing her goodbye every morning, of eating dinner together in their home at night, and of falling asleep with her in his arms. He would just brush their almost-kiss off as a fluke, apologize for his part in it, and go back to just being friends.
He turned to face Brooke, leaning against the railing of the pedestrian bridge. “Listen, Brooke,” he started, and they met eyes, hers piercing his, the moonlight making her eyes sparkle, the light bathing her cheeks in silver, and she looked so beautiful and perfect, exactly right, that he nearly lost his nerve. He swallowed hard and tried again. “About the other night under the slide, when we almost kissed—”
Brooke stepped right in front of him, her feet in the space between his, and he lost the ability to form words. She reached out and put both hands on the sides of his face, her eyes searching his for something he desperately hoped she was finding.
Then she leaned forward, slowly at first, like she was afraid, then she closed the gap quickly, her lips meeting his with an intensity he hadn’t expected. He put his hands around her waist, pulling her closer, his lips matching hers in intensity, pouring all of his hopes into the kiss.
Then her kiss changed to something sweet and tender. Something that years of friendship had cultivated and tended. All of the moments they’d spent together—all the laughing, working, consoling, comforting, listening, playing, and talking—had found their way into this one moment. As her lips moved against his, he knew that whatever fear had sent her rushing into this kiss was gone, replaced with hope, confidence, and a longing that he felt every bit as strongly himself.
She slid her hands down to
his neck, and warmth spread throughout his body when her fingertips touched the back of his neck. He could kiss this woman for hours and never let go.
Brooke pulled back from the kiss first, and she let out a happy sigh.
“Wow. This,” he whispered, “was not the direction I thought this conversation would go.”
Chapter Twelve
Never had Brooke been so nervous to kiss a man before. And never had a man’s arms around her waist felt so caring and sweet, strong and protective, essential and right. This man had been such a huge, important part of her life for so long, and now she’d kissed him—for real. From this side of their kiss looking back, it seemed strange that she’d never realized how inevitable it was. How every moment had been leading to this?
Why had she let fear stop her from this for so long?
Like every big risk she’d taken, it left her feeling an intoxicating mix of brave and powerful. But unlike every other risk she’d taken, it felt like the most right choice she’d made in her life. She sighed and leaned into his side, her head resting on his shoulder, his arms around her.
Cole shifted so she could see his face. “Brooke, this is...pretty monumental. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
She gave him a smile that she felt with her whole body. “I am.”
* * *
Brooke fell asleep flooded with euphoria and woke that next morning with a start. She hurried in to work, managed to get there by seven a.m., and immediately looked up her flight and hotel to see what changes could be made.
Back Porch Grill didn’t open until ten, but she knew that Cole showed up to start prepping as soon as he dropped Sam off at school at eight thirty. She attempted to work on a proposal for her sewing manufacturer, but she found herself mostly pacing and looking at the clock every two minutes.
The moment she knew Cole would be at the restaurant, she walked a block through the back parking lots between Best Dressed in the middle of Main to Back Porch Grill on the corner of First and Main.
