Anna stepped in. She had come to help Brooke with exactly this.“I’m her girlfriend. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Harold.”
Mr. Harold beamed as he shook Anna’s hand with both of his.“It’s so nice to meet you, Dearie.” He released Anna’s hand to clap Brooke on the shoulder good naturedly.“Brilliant work. She seems lovely.”
Brooke blushed even deeper. She shot Anna an apologetic smile, but it was just met with a warmth in Anna’s eyes that Brooke just added to her list. She didn’t know what to do with the way that Anna was looking at her. It was as if she had hung the moon, when all she had done was trip over her words.“She’s amazing, Mr. Harold.” And Brooke meant it.
Chapter Eleven:
The rest of the day went by much the same. They wandered the streets of Brooke and Nathaniel’s childhood, pointing out different memories. Brooke’s first kiss, a boy named Walter. It was bad, both the kiss and the situation. Yes, she already thought she liked girls. Yes, she still feels guilty for knowing that and kissing him. Yes, that did confirm the last piece of the puzzle for her. They were boyfriend and girlfriend for three whole days until he broke up with her for not kissing him again.
Nathaniel’s first kiss. Which, even learning about, had horrified Brooke to no end. He was thirteen and it was a girl named Lucy. Apparently, Nathaniel was pretty sure that meant that they were going to get married until she loudly declared that Tim Wellingham was a better kisser and never spoke to him again.
Anna told him not to worry, she didn’t even have her first kiss until she was nineteen and it was to a gay man who felt sorry for her.
Mel didn’t try to top that one. It was the group’s unanimous conclusion that Anna took the cake there.
Brooke recognized all too suddenly what street they had turned down. Her feet came to a startling stop. Her eyes scanned the street, a feeling bordering on terror seized her lungs. Anna stopped walking when her hand slid out of Brooke's, spinning quickly to see what had happened. Brooke swallowed nervously, suddenly very interested in the ground at her feet.
“Honey-B? You okay?” Anna stepped closer, much closer, right into Brooke's bubble.“Talk to me,” she whispered, so quietly Nate and Melanie wouldn’t be able to hear.
“My childhood home is the big red brick house halfway down the street on the left,” Brooke said without looking up.
Anna spun, clearly trying to look for it.“We don’t have to walk down this street if you don’t want to, B. We can go a different way.”
There was a ringing in Brooke’s ears. She thought she was ready to face them. She really did. but now that she was here she wasn’t so sure. She couldn’t chicken out. She had come for Nate and Mel’s wedding. She wasn’t going to let her mother win. She took a steadying breath and shook her head.“I can do this.” She took another breath.“I can, really.” She looked up and met Anna’s eyes.
Anna held her hand out and intentionally put herself in between Brooke and the house. She smiled at Brooke softly. Brooke glanced up and over Anna’s shoulder. She saw that Nate and Mel were letting them have their moment from a few feet away. They probably already realized what had been the problem without needing to ask.
Brooke took Anna’s hand and pulled her in close, admittedly probably closer than necessary.
Anna leaned in even closer.“Don’t worry, B. I won’t let go.” It was a gentle whisper, barely loud enough for Brooke to hear over the sounds of their footsteps. She followed her words with a soft kiss to Brooke's cheek.
Brooke immediately scanned the street again, somehow simultaneously wishing her mother had seen the kiss and that her mother wouldn’t even be home at the same time. Anna threaded their fingers together as they walked. Brooke focused on slow and steady breathing.
She stared up at her childhood home when they finally reached it.“It’s not as scary as it was in my head,” she wondered aloud. Susan, her therapist, would be pleased about that.
“Which room was yours?” Anna asked, a small, somewhat shy smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
“She had that front room, there,” Nate answered on Brooke's behalf.
He had come to stand on Brooke’s other side. Clearly there for support.
“Really?” Anna asked, intrigued.
Brooke just nodded, wondering what her childhood bedroom looked like now. Nathaniel would probably know the answer, but as much as she wanted to know, she was too afraid to find out that they had repurposed it the day after she left or something horrendous like that.
“Did you ever sneak out?” Anna asked.
Her questions were gentle and teasing, clearly trying to make Brooke smile. Brooke just bit out a rough laugh.“Nah. Probably should have though, looking back on it.” She hated to think about what if’s, but it was in moments like this that she couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if she and Holly had just snuck out to fool around instead of trying to keep quiet in their bedrooms.
Nathaniel let out a low chuckle, knowing all too well what she was thinking.“That was dark, B.” He nodded down the street.“Come on. You know how Mother is, constant vigilance.” He rolled his eyes.
Brooke hadn’t thought about that phrase in a long time. Her mother, probably due to being a public figure, bordered on paranoia. She probably had a few security cameras on them right now. Brooke wondered how she might feel to see Brooke there, staring at the house. It made Brooke want to do something wild, like heave a brick towards a window. She didn’t though, instead she just clenched her jaw and looked down at Anna.
“Thank you for coming with me,” she said, not worrying about Nate or Mel being able to hear her. She meant it. In this moment, for the first time in her life, she felt like she held the upper hand over her mother. She was grown, independent, and holding Anna Fourchette’s hand in front of her mother’s house. And there wasn’t a damn thing her mother could do to stop her.
They continued their walk, passing by the little ballet studio where Brooke first took lessons, and the football fields where she and Nate had both played football as kids. She got to learn then that Nate had continued to play, even up into university. That filled her with a sense of pride. She had been the one to show him how to kick a ball properly in the first place.
When they made it back to Nate and Mel’s flat, it had already gotten dark outside. Nate pulled Brooke aside right when they walked through the front door.
