“Because Brooke isn’t real,” Danielle scoffed.
“No—”
A loud eruption of blood curdling cries interrupted him.
“Dang,” Danielle muttered. “I let their pacifiers slip out of their mouths right when they were dozing off. I need to go—” She continued to speak but the babies’ wails made it hard to hear what she said.
“Can you repeat that?”
“It’s not important,” she shouted. More screams, more cries. Logan heard Danielle attempting to soothe the twins. “I can’t wait to meet this mysterious Brooke.”
“She’s fantastic. You’ll love her.”
It wasn’t even a lie.
“Fine.”
“Fine.” Logan hung up and tossed his phone on his couch.
He rubbed the length of his jaw raw as he contemplated his predicament. If he didn’t bring Brooke around to his parents eventually, Danielle would scheme and find a way for him to see Shelby again. Sure, he could bow out a few times, but Danielle had a knack for sniffing out a lie. He had a month, tops, to show up with Brooke. An idea sprung into his head, and he smiled to himself. Something beneficial for him and Brooke.
Brooke rounded the corner to the nurses’ station. Aubrey sat behind the computer. When Brooke arrived, she placed the stack of patient files in her arms onto the top of the counter. “Hey, there.” She let out a long exhale.
Aubrey cocked an eyebrow. “Bad day?” Her fingers stalled in place over the keyboard.
The dinner with Logan last week had been a bright spot in the lackluster life. Because last night after work, she spent the evening stalking Justin and his new girlfriend on social media.After a wasted hour, she forced herself to close the app and delete it from her home screen.
“You have no idea.”
Ten minutes ago, she had run into Justin again. They both mumbled their hurried hellos before he booked it in the opposite direction. She wondered how long his presence would invade every part of her life. Would it ever get easier? Then she reminded herself, he should be the one who was embarrassed, not her. He cheated on her. “I bumped into Justin a few minutes ago. Awkward,” she grimaced.
Aubrey scrunched up her nose. “I’m sorry. I’m sure dinner the other night wasn’t great either.”
“Yeah, please don’t remind me.” Brooke forced herself to open the top file of her stack. “I don’t think I can do another thing socially with him there for a while, at least until I’m in a better head space.”
“I understand.” Aubrey nodded. “I hate that he’s put you in this position, but I hope with time you might feel more comfortable around him.” She leaned back in her chair.
“Maybe, someday.” She forced herself to make a note on the open file.
Aubrey typed again then stopped. “It seemed like you and Logan were hitting it off. How did it go after we left?”
“Logan is nice.” Brooke popped a hip and rested it against the station. She gnawed on the inside of her cheek. The fact he asked for her number and had yet to text her made her realize the guy had taken pity on her. He mentioned multiple times he wanted to be friends, aka, I’m not attracted to you, you’re a bread-and Oreo-eating weirdo. “He says he would like to be friends.”
“Oh,” Aubrey popped an eyebrow, “friends, you say.”
“Yes,” she practically hissed back.
Aubrey held up her hands in defeat. The subject of Logan dropped.
They worked in tandem. Aubrey clacked the keyboard of the computer. Brooke filtered through her stack of patient files. As she made a note on a file toward the end of her stack, Brooke kept her gaze on the paperwork when she asked, “What did you think of Justin’s girlfriend?”
The keyboard clacking stopped. Aubrey paused. Brooke clocked her back stiffen.
“Umm,” Aubrey cleared her throat, “maybe we shouldn’t talk about Justin and his new relationship. It might be for the best.”
“Okay, if that’s how you want it.” Brooke forced herself to make a note on the chart, but a tremor ran through her hand making it shaky. “I’m assuming this is because you think his new relationship is more than a fling for him?”
Her mind flashed through a series of important life events. Ones where Justin was there with the new girl, and Brooke was nowhere to be seen. She was losing everything, not just Justin, but her entire circle of friends. As Aubrey sat in front of her, she saw the gap between them widen. Boundaries were being created where neither could venture outside them and stay friends.
