“The one Dad helped build?”
Cody’s smile grew. “Yes. I’ll get to help steer its course and oversee that it’s being managed well and growing with the community.”
She leapt back into his arms and hugged him. “That’s amazing. I’m so proud of you.” She leaned back to look him in the eyes. “He’dbe so proud of you.”
“It makes it even better to know that he’d want me to do this.” He gently set her away from him, though it felt a little slower than usual, with a reluctance she was sure couldn’t be real.
She pushed down her skirt, drying her damp palms. “He’d know you’d have the best interest at heart for everyone involved, from the patients to the workers to the community needs. This is amazing.” She lost a bit of her smile. “I bet Kristi is excited.”
“Yes and no. It means I’ll be working even more.”
“For something that is so worthy of your time and attention.”
“I know. And she knows that, too. She just wants us to spend more time together.”
Brooke dropped her gaze to the floor. “She’s here often enough.”
Cody eyed her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shrugged. “It’s just an observation.”
Cody folded his arms over his chest, making his biceps strain his shirt sleeves and stretch over his wide shoulders.Have mercy.“Why don’t you like her?”
“Shedoesn’t likeme. She treats me like an annoying gnat, which I find odd considering I’m the closest person to you.”
Cody’s eyes took on a thoughtful look, like he hadn’t thought about the fact that the woman in his life didn’t want to befriend the person who loved him the most.
Brooke looked at Cody from under her lashes. “Because of how she acts, I’m not inclined to try too hard to like her, because she doesn’t seem right for you.”
They didn’t seem to click. Not in the forever kind of way. He wasn’t desperate to be with her. He didn’t spend all his time talking to her on the phone or texting her.
Maybe that wasn’t their thing.
Still. Where was the need and passion?
She never saw it between them.
Well, except Kristi desperately trying to keep Cody away from Brooke.
And he’d have told her if their relationship was different. Special. He told her everything.
Well, most everything. Cody kept his relationships with women, for the most part, private to spare her feelings.
Feelings they didn’t speak about or acknowledge outright. It was their not-so-secret secret.
And everyone who knew them knew about it.
So embarrassing.
But it didn’t change how she felt. Or some of the impulsive things she did, that in hindsight could be termed cringeworthy.
Cody didn’t meet her gaze when he admitted, “Kristi and I are good together. She gets me and what I can give and what I can’t.”
She wanted to put her hand on his arm in comfort and feel the corded muscles in his forearm bunch beneath her hand, but controlled her impulse. “I assume you’re referring to your insane schedule.”
Cody unfolded his arms and put his hands on either side of his hips on the edge of the desk. “I can’t help that. She knows it. And I like the way things are between us. It’s…uncomplicated. For now, that’s enough.”
Yeah, she and Cody would be all kinds of complicated. But wouldn’t it be worth it if they loved each other?
