Facial Recognition

by Jennifer Peel

  Brooks, without getting too close, took a peek.

  Tom’s fingers moved.

  “I saw that,” Brooks whispered.

  I took Tom’s hand. “Tom, squeeze my hand.” I waited. “Please, Tom.” I looked at Brooks. “Talk to him.”

  Brooks’s eyes resembled a deer in headlights.

  “Please, Brooks.”

  Brooks cleared his throat. “Tom,” he stammered.

  “Come on, Brooks, you can do better than that.”

  Brooks crept closer. “Father.”

  I threw him a crusty look, then softened it once I registered the fear in Brooks’s eyes. “Brooks,” I whispered, “I’m not going to pretend I understand what you went through or how you feel, but try to remember the man who came to every track meet and debate and cheered louder than anyone. The man who paid for every bit of your higher education, even though you loathed him. The man who gets tears in his eyes every time he talks about you. He loves you, and I know deep down you love him, or you wouldn’t have even bothered coming here.”

  I reached out my free hand. “I’ll help you.”

  Brooks reluctantly took a few steps toward me. “Grace . . .”

  “I know. Forgiveness is a beast, and it scares me half to death. But we used to be able to conquer anything together,” my voice cracked. “We can do this too.”

  Brooks gripped my hand and knelt near me. Tears pooled in his eyes. He swallowed hard. “Daddy, it’s Brooks.” He smiled up at me. “And Grace.” He rested his hand over mine and his daddy’s.

  With Brooks’s touch, Tom squeezed my hand. Joy pulsed through me, and tears poured down my cheeks. I knew it wasn’t inevitable that Tom would recover, but it was a step in the right direction. I was so happy I lost myself. Without thinking, I grabbed Brooks’s stubbled cheeks and pressed my lips against his. Oh. Wow. Like, snap, crackle, pop, wow. It felt like I had found the missing key to the lock I’d been trying to open for years. I should have backed away. Or he should have. But neither one of us made a move. Thankfully, my head kicked in and reminded me he was dating Morgan. Yet I only moved an inch, allowing us to share the same breaths. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “You’re welcome.” He leaned away, his eyes blinking rapidly.

  “I’m sorry. Sometimes I get carried away. But, I mean, friends kiss, right?” I spit out in a rush, sounding foolish again.

  “Are we friends, Grace?” he asked, pleading.

  My head was telling me to say no, but my heart—my heart had other ideas. “Um . . . yes.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I fidgeted with the sleeves on my sundress, pulling them onto and then down below my shoulders while I peeked out my window at the scene next door. Brooks was playing football with his nephews on the front lawn of his daddy’s house. To my knowledge, he hadn’t entered the house yet, but I supposed this was a good start.

  Daddy came and stood next to me. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thanks, Daddy.” I kept my eyes on the man I had kissed a week ago. So much had happened since then. Tom had woken up and was out of the ICU but was still being monitored closely. He had a long road ahead of him, but his prognosis was good. He had no memory of the incident and was honestly quite incensed they were making him stay in the hospital, even though he was having a hard time remembering some words and he couldn’t walk by himself to the bathroom. On top of that, he was having surgery in a few days to have a cardioverter-defibrillator implanted in his heart to correct an arrhythmia.

  While Tom’s heart was on the mend, mine was calling out for Brooks. It didn’t help when he was behaving so adorably with his nephews, chasing them around the yard and letting them tackle him. I would have loved to get in on that action, but duty called.

  “I should probably get going or I’m going to be late for my date.” It felt weird going out at a time like this, but June was keeping Tom company tonight. Tom was thrilled. I wasn’t sure if anything would come of it, but June seemed determined to make amends and bring her family together.

  Daddy gave me a knowing smile. “You don’t seem all that excited for it.”

  I stepped away from the window and smoothed my unruly hair that was making me look like a wannabe eighties music video star. “I’m sure it will be fun.”

  Daddy rested his hand on my cheek. “You deserve the break. You’ve been amazing these past couple of weeks, which is no surprise.”

  “You’re biased.”

  “No, my dear, I’m truthful. I don’t think Tom would be here if it weren’t for you. He told me he could hear your voice in his head yelling at him to wake up and fight.”

  I smiled. “As much as I would love to take credit, I think it has more to do with his family.”

  Daddy patted my cheek. “You are his family.”

  That brought a tear to my eye. “Don’t go messing up my makeup now. You never know, I could be meeting your future son-in-law tonight, and I want to make a good impression.”

  Dad glanced out the window. “Are you sure you haven’t already met him?”

  My eyes popped. “And who would that be?” I played coy.

  Dad gave me a mischievous grin, which was unusual for him. “I was thinking about a young man who used to sneak into my daughter’s room at night.”

  My jaw dropped to the floor. “You knew?”

  “You weren’t exactly quiet.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Or ground me for going against your rules?”

  Daddy tapped my nose. “Because I trusted both of you. And after your mother died, I knew you needed him, just like he needed you. Just like you need each other now.”

  A lump formed in my throat. “Daddy, he’s dating Morgan.” And he had been avoiding me since the night I kissed him. Though he had held my hand while the doctor assessed Tom after Tom had begun to stir. However, he hadn’t been to see his daddy since Tom had woken up, and I had a feeling it had more to do with me than his issues with Tom. I had no idea what had come over me that night—it had just seemed so natural to kiss him. Part of me felt guilty since he was dating someone. Despite my not liking Morgan, I was never one to steal another woman’s boyfriend. Although technically he did say they weren’t exclusively dating each other, my guess was Brooks wasn’t dating anyone but her.

  “That can always change. Have a lovely time tonight.” Daddy walked off, whistling to himself.

  Right, tonight. A date with Peter, an insurance agent from Cherry Hills and a friend of Colette’s. Dane, the guy Lorelai had offered up to me, wasn’t interested in blind dates. Which was fine, but what was weird was Lorelai had seemed relieved. When I pressed her about it, she waved off my concern. I had a feeling there was a story to be told, but I would let her tell me when she was ready.

  I took several deep breaths in and out, preparing myself to walk out the front door. I was berating myself for not parking my car in the garage earlier when I had come back from buying the perfect shade of nail polish to match my coral sundress. Laziness always had a way of biting me in the butt. Perhaps, though, Brooks would pretend not to see me.

  “Bye, Daddy,” I yelled up the stairs.

  “Bye, honey.”

  I grabbed my purse and opened the door with gusto. Perhaps the voice would come back tonight. Hopefully a different voice, since the previous one was a big fat liar. I walked out into the warm May evening. The air smelled like lilacs and barbecue. It was a fantastic combination. It made me both hungry and nostalgic. My grandma used to wear a lilac-scented perfume.

  I hustled to my car, trying to go unnoticed, but Ryker saw me and shouted, “Gracie!” That’s what I got for buying the boys a boatload of Nerf and water guns during their stay.

  I had no choice but to take a detour and walk over to the neatly trimmed hedges that separated our yard from the Hamiltons’.

  Brooks dropped the football and stood frozen near the pecan tree in their yard while he stared at me.

  Both boys ran my way. Axel, the youngest, was sporting a different sm
ile. “I lost my two front teeth.” He proudly showed off the gaping hole in his mouth. “The tooth fairy gave me ten dollars last night.”

  Whoa. That was a nice tooth fairy. I only used to get a dollar per tooth. “Wow. What are you going to do with all that money?”

  “I’m going to take my dad out to get ice cream when we get home tomorrow.”

  That was sweet. Their dad had gone home a few days ago to get back to work. Carly and the boys were leaving tomorrow so the boys could finish out the last few weeks of school. They would come back after school was out. Tom should be home by then.

  “That’s very nice. I’m sure your daddy will love that.”

  “He will,” Axel informed me.

  “Are you excited to go home?” I asked Ryker.

  “Yeah, but I’m going to miss Uncle Brooks and Grandma.”

  Brooks had decided to saunter our way by this point. He ruffled his nephew’s blond hair. “We’ll see each other soon, buddy.” Brooks gave me a good once-over. “How are you, Grace?”

  “Good. I’m headed out—on a date,” I made sure to mention so he didn’t think I was getting any more than friendly ideas. Not that I didn’t have them, but he didn’t need to know that. “How are you?”

  He blinked several times as if he were trying to comprehend what I had said. It was odd, considering his profession, and I knew he had the skills to think on his toes. I’d watched every debate he’d ever participated in back in the day.

  “I’m good,” he stuttered after a long pause. “Morgan and I are going out later too,” he threw in. “She’s taking me to a human cadaver art exhibit.”

  “Um . . . that sounds kind of disturbing.”

  His tan cheeks pinked. “It’s science.”

  “Well, you have fun with that. I’ll see you later. Bye, boys.” I waved to Ryker and Axel before turning around.

  “Hold up, Grace.” Brooks, in a surprising move, hopped over the hedge like he was seventeen again. He made my heart skip a beat or two. “Ryker and Axel, give me a minute to talk to Grace.”

  The boys took off, tossing the football between them. That left me stunned, staring at Brooks in his tight hug-my-butt jeans. He looked better now than back in high school. Which wasn’t helping my situation any. I was supposed to be looking forward to Peter, but all I could think about was Brooks.

  I bit my lip. “Can I help you with something?”

  He let out a heavy sigh. “As a matter of fact, I was hoping you would meet me at the hospital tomorrow morning while my mother takes Carly and the boys to the airport.”

  I tilted my head. “Is everything okay?”

  He swallowed hard. “I haven’t seen my father and . . .”

  “You want someone to hold your hand?” I guessed, giving him a crooked grin.

  “Yes. I mean, figuratively, yes.”

  Ugh. Of course. These dang F words were getting on my nerves. “Why don’t you take Morgan with you?” After all, they were dating, and since they loved going to see cadavers, the hospital should be a real treat for them.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Morgan doesn’t understand the intricacies of it all. And my parents never understood her, so bringing her would add more tension to the situation.”

  Oh, his parents understood her all right, that’s why they didn’t like her. It was Brooks who’d never understood her and how manipulative she was. For being so smart, Brooks was an idiot. If his girlfriend couldn’t understand the details or importance of him trying to mend his relationship with his father, I would say it was time for him to get a new girlfriend. I had a suggestion of who that could be, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to date an idiot.

  He stepped closer. “Please, Grace, you understand the situation better than anyone. And since you’re so close to Tom, I thought it would be best to have you there. I promise not to keep you long.”

  “Well, I was planning on spending most of my Sunday there to read Twilight to him; I suppose I could meet you there. What time?” I must be a masochist at heart.

  “Nine? Is that too early? We could make it later, if you plan on having a late night tonight,” he asked nonchalantly.

  “We can only hope it will be a late night, but nine will work either way.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Er . . . Great. Thank you.”

  “See you tomorrow.”

  “Is this another blind date?” he asked, seeming reluctant to say goodbye.

  “They always are.”

  “Testing your facial recognition theory?”

  I wrung my hands together. “Yep.”

  “What is that again?”

  “I don’t want to bore you with the details.” Because they made me sound like a whack job. “I need to get going.”

  “Of course. Sorry I kept you.”

  “No problem. Good night.” I turned to go.

  “Grace, you look great. Your date is a lucky man,” he rushed to say before hopping back over the hedge.

  I turned back to face him, but he was already jogging toward his nephews. I watched him for a moment. He picked up Axel and swung him around. It was too adorable for words. Unfortunately, the dang voice was not as at a loss for words as I was. He’s the one.

  Please stop saying that! I marched toward my car, determined to hear a saner voice tonight.

  All the way to the restaurant, I blared Rick Springfield, trying to get Brooks off my mind. Unfortunately, Rick was singing Brooks’s and my song, “Affair of the Heart.” It should be noted that Brooks didn’t know we already had a song. I found myself playing it more times than I should have. I knew how silly it was. It had been twenty years, and I knew nothing about him now. Even so, I felt like I knew him better than most people in my life, and somewhere inside of him lived the boy I’d loved. Obviously, though, he loved Morgan. Why else would he agree to check out dead bodies?

  I had to push him from my mind. I needed to focus on Peter. I changed the song to “Jessie’s Girl” and instead sang “Peter’s Girl” to see if it had a ring to it. I wasn’t feeling it, but who knew, this date could be life changing for me.

  ~*~

  I sat across from Peter at this fantastic burger place in downtown Fort Worth. It wasn’t too far from our spa and happened to be a favorite restaurant of mine. This was no run-of-the-mill burger place. We are talking they put fried mac and cheese on top of burgers. It was genius, and it spoke to Peter being fun. It was better than checking out cadavers. And they had the Texas Rangers game playing on ten screens. Total score. Although it did remind me of a certain someone who shall not be named who got me hooked on baseball and the Rangers when we were in high school. To be honest, I was surprised He Who Shall Not Be Named was watching cadavers over his beloved Rangers. Not thinking about it.

  I glanced up from my menu and took in my date. He was handsome, with dirty-blond hair that was parted with precision. He had brown eyes with a touch of green and a round face that gave him a boyish sort of charm. He’d pulled out my chair when I’d arrived and complimented my dress and hair. He wasn’t Brooks gorgeous, but he was easy on the eyes and had been polite. No voice yet, though the night was still young, so I was holding out some hope.

  “Do you come here often?” I asked.

  He looked up from his menu and smiled. “Never been here, but Colette mentioned it was one of your favorite places.”

  I liked that. It was thoughtful of him.

  “She would be right. I hope you like it; everything here is fantastic.”

  “What would you recommend?”

  “That depends—do like spicy or sweet?”

  “Both,” he said with a crooked grin.

  Hmm. That was an excellent answer. I was liking him even more. “In that case, I would go with the sweet-and-spicy Hawaiian burger.”

  He set his menu down. “Sounds perfect. Have you been to Hawaii?”

  I nodded. “Colette, Lorelai, and I took a girls’ trip there a few years ago. It was amazing. We went snorkeling and jumped off
waterfalls—”

  He held up his hand. “I hate to tell you, but that kind of risky behavior isn’t good for life insurance rates. You should probably consider some new hobbies.”

  “Uh . . .” I wasn’t quite sure what to say.

  Apparently I didn’t need to respond, because he reached down and grabbed a tablet out of his attaché case and said, “Let me show you what I mean.”

  I had noticed the attaché earlier when I’d arrived. I had just thought he was metrosexual and comfortable with his feminine side, which was fine by me. However, I wasn’t expecting what came next.

  He pulled up a PowerPoint presentation on his tablet. “This is important information I give all my clients. It could save you thousands of dollars over the years. How old are you?”

  “Thirty-eight.”

  “So, you basically have forty years left to live, if you go by the United States average for women.” He pointed at a brightly colored chart.

  Was this really happening? He was making me wish for hobbit man.

  “Do you have life insurance?” he point-blank asked before reaching for a brochure. “If you don’t, you should really think about it. You’re still relatively young, and you look healthy. You don’t smoke, I hope.”

  I didn’t, but this date was going up in smoke fast.

  He fanned out several brochures in front of me. “Take a look at these. I’m sure I can find the perfect plan for you.”

  No, Peter. I don’t think so. On to date number thirty-seven.

  Chapter Twelve

  I was downing Diet Pepsi and popping chocolate donut holes into my mouth on the drive over to the hospital to meet Brooks. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but after my date—I mean insurance appointment—I’d stayed up half the night bingeing General Hospital clips of Rick Springfield and my favorite couple ever, Frisco and Felicia. Sadly, Frisco and Felicia didn’t make it on the show or in real life, but, man, were they the cutest. And oh, could they do a good kissing scene. Why couldn’t I find someone to kiss me so passionately? Or kiss me at all, for that matter?

  Brooks had probably had a better time looking at dead bodies. In fact, I would have had a better time looking at dead bodies than attending the insurance seminar disguised as a date. And can you really call it a date when you pay for yourself? Peter believed that all dates should be dutch unless you were sleeping together. So not happening. I needed to have a serious talk with my best friends about the guys they were setting me up with. I mean, I totally appreciated their efforts, and I understood they only knew so many single men. However, we needed to come up with a better screening process—feet hair check included.