Someone likes you but isn’t sure how to approach you and is taking the long way around. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Right?
The only man Brooke wanted was seated at the head of the table, looking anything but happy about Kristi pointing that out.
And was that some sort of compliment? That Brooke could get anyone she wanted.
Except Cody.
Kristi made sure of that.
She didn’t have anything else to say about anything, so she took a seat at the table. Not the seat on Cody’s right where she normally sat, but the one her mom usually sat in. She didn’t want to be that close to him. She didn’t want to look up and stare across at the triumphant look in Kristi’s eyes that she didn’t even bother to hide. Instead, she put the scrumptious food Janie had spent more than an hour cooking for them on her plate, and managed to get a few bites down before Kristi launched into a whole bunch of chatter about wedding dresses and baby clothes and if it would be a boy or a girl and what color they should paint the baby’s room upstairs.
Brooke sat silently enduring it for her mom’s sake, but she couldn’t eat past the lump in her throat or fill her tight stomach. She found herself staring out across the living room and right into Cody’s office. The lights were out. She couldn’t see anything past the edge of the rug on the hardwood floor. All she saw was what they’d had and what they’d never share again.
“Brooke. Do you want dessert?” Cody’s deep voice brought her out of her stupor.
Dessert? She didn’t think she’d ever eat cake again.
Her mom touched her shoulder. “It’s your favorite.”
Brooke hadn’t even realized dinner had been cleared from the table. “Um. I’m not hungry. I think I’ll go upstairs and pack before we…” She tore her gaze from the study and looked at her mom.
“I’ll get the hot chocolate. We’ll have dessert later.”
Brooke nodded, stood, and walked away from the table and Cody’s gaze that she could feel on her back.
“Cody, honey, where are you going?” Kristi demanded.
Brooke was at the top of the stairs when she heard the study door close and Cody throw the lock.
“Cody, let me in,” Kristi pleaded.
Brooke knew exactly what Cody was doing. She’d found him in his office many times, bourbon in hand, worrying about a problem or situation that upset him. He’d never locked her out.
Apparently Kristi wasn’t welcome to join his brooding party.
Or maybe Cody just wanted to get drunk and forget what happened between them.
She really didn’t know anymore.
Not her problem, even if it put a heavy stone in her gut.
Packing didn’t take very long. She basically just tossed everything into her backpack and suitcase haphazardly and called it done.
She walked back toward the stairs and her mother’s side of the house. Just as she crossed the landing over the foyer, Kristi turned from the study door she’d been knocking on and asked, “How do you get him out of there?”
She didn’t miss a step or even look at Kristi and just said, “That’s your job now.”
She kept on walking when Kristi pounded a fist on the door and demanded, “You can’t ignore me like this, Cody.”
Apparently he could, because Brooke didn’t hear the door open. But she did hear the front door slam when Kristi left.
She wanted to go to Cody. She wanted to prove to herself and Kristi that he wouldn’t shut her out of his life. But that was petty.
And for the first time in her life, she wasn’t sure Cody would open the door for her. And if he did, what did that mean? That he loved her, too?
Knowing that would only make things worse.
Him opening the door would only complicate matters more.
