Brooke was just leaving the ice cream shop when he returned for one last glimpse of her, feeling like he finally knew everything he needed to know to make her happy.
She passed right by him. He turned and whispered, “Happy birthday, Brooke. You’ll definitely get your wish. We’ll be together soon.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Brooke walked out of the ice cream shop with her friends, all laughing at a funny story Mindy Sue told about them at summer camp when they were twelve, when Brooke had fallen off the dock and into the lake and got pecked a dozen times by a mama duck protecting her ducklings.
She rolled her eyes and stared up at the night sky, wishing she was on the ranch and could see the stars better. Wishing she was spending her birthday with Cody.
Her phone chimed with an incoming text just as she slid her hand over her baby bump and promised her daughter next year they’d eat ice cream together.
The notification on her phone surprised her.
CODY: Please answer your phone.
It rang in her hand. “Give me a sec, guys.” She stepped away from the group and leaned against a large flowerpot next to the curb outside the ice cream parlor. “Hi.”
Cody let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you for answering.”
“Cody.” That’s all she could get out. She missed him so much.
“Happy birthday.” Caution and wariness filled his voice. It shouldn’t be like this.
“Thank you.”
“I hope it’s a good one.”
Not without you.
“I’m out with friends.”
“I hope you’re being safe and not drinking too much.”
Not at all, actually.
But she couldn’t tell him that because then he’d ask why. This wasn’t the time to tell him about their daughter, though she wanted to more than anything. So she lied to him again but gave him a partial truth, too. “We’re looking out for each other and making it an early night. I’m headed back to the dorm now, actually.”
“Oh, well, that’s good.” Silence for the next minute made things feel as strained as ever. Finally he said, “I’m so glad you liked your gift.”
First thing this morning, a messenger had arrived outside her building, texting her that he had a special delivery. The peridot stud earrings were the same color as her green eyes and bigger than a pencil eraser. She was wearing them right now. A littlepiece of him with her today. “I love them.” She’d texted him a thank-you before she went to class this morning.
“Brooke?”
“Yeah?”
“I miss you.”
Her heart swelled with joy and sorrow.
Cody went on like that simple statement didn’t gut her. “And I know now isn’t the time to talk about…everything. I just wanted you to know that.”
Choked up, she wanted to blame her hormones for the emotions clogging her throat, but the reality was that she loved him. She’d always love him. And this hurt like hell. “I miss you, too. And I’ll be home soon. Just a few weeks. We can talk face-to-face.” They’d figure out a way to go forward as co-parents. “And everything will be all right. Different, but all right.” They wouldn’t be the family she hoped they could be, but they could still be friends and love their daughter together.
“Promise?” It sounded like Cody choked out that word, as emotional as she was about him.
“I want to, but the truth is, we both have to figure out how to live with the choices we’ve made.” And she vowed to herself that she’d let him marry the woman he loved and not interfere.
“I want you to be happy, Brooke.”
