“Where have you been?” he asked in a softer tone but still demanded an answer.
She could go where she pleased, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Her mother apparently kept the information about her calling and checking in to herself. Her way of letting Cody know he should be the one to suffer for whatever he’d done to Brooke. She hadn’t explained anything to her mom, only that she couldn’t be around Cody and Kristi right now. The engagement was enough of an explanation for her mother to understand Brooke needed time alone.
Brooke refused to tell him she’d gotten a hotel room and stayed in bed crying for the last few days. She wasn’t going to tell him how she’d wallowed in her misery, not eating, and barely sleeping. She’d taken the time she needed to grieve for him and a dream that would never come true.
She’d grieved the death of a wish and the death of their friendship because nothing would ever be the same again. He’d never be a part of her life like he’d been for all these years.
He had someone else. He belonged to Kristi and their baby. Nothing would change that now.
Instead of answering him, she turned to go to the kitchen, but stopped short when she spotted the picture frame ornament on the tree with their ultrasound photo.
There it was in black-and-white.
Tears threatened to gush once again, but she choked them back as the ache in her chest consumed her.
“Brooke.” Cody’s soft voice nearly broke her.
She couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t seem to pull her gaze from that picture hanging on the tree. “Smells like Janie hasbeen cooking up a storm. I’m starved.” She really wasn’t. “I’ll go see about dinner.”
“Don’t you want to open your gifts?” Kristi’s voice had become nails on a chalkboard. Every time she spoke to Brooke in that perky,everything is wonderfulvoice, Brooke wanted to cover her ears and scream.
“Come on, darling, open your gifts.” Her mom nudged her toward the tree.
All the gifts had been opened, except for Brooke’s.
The briefcase she bought Cody sat next to the tree, along with several other things he’d received from her mom, friends, and no doubt Kristi. She’d spent a small fortune to replace his old battered and scuffed one. His career had taken off and he needed something that showed his success.
“You’ll love what Cody got you,” Kristi said. “It’ll keep you warm at school.”
She couldn’t help but glance over at Cody and yearn for him to be the one who always kept her safe and warm.
She couldn’t sit through opening the gifts and pretending to be happy and appreciative for all she’d received when the only thing she wanted, she couldn’t have.
“I don’t want to hold up the dinner Janie spent so much time preparing. I’ll open them later.” She turned for the kitchen.
“Who gave you flowers?”
She stopped in her tracks, and looked down at the gold box filled with dead roses and the card she thought came from Cody that she’d totally forgotten was still tucked under her arm. She’d completely forgotten about them in the truck until she finally found the strength to get out of bed, shower, put on the clothes she’d worn for four days, and come home to a reality she didn’t want to face. A life without Cody in it.
Why would he ask her who sent them when it only made sense that he ordered them for her?
A cold shiver raced up her spine.
She turned and faced him, looking for any sign that he had and was just trying to get her to acknowledge it. But all she saw in his eyes was a genuine question and maybe jealousy that someone else sent them to her.
“Actually, I don’t know.” Could it have been @youseeme? No.
How would he know where she lived?
How had she made his night remarkable?
Was he at the party?
In her house?
She thought about the silhouette of a man in her bedroom window the night of the picnic as the fireworks went off.
The chill inside her froze her bones.
