She was right to leave. She was right to never come back.
She just hoped she could live with her decision and that somehow her mom would understand.
Maybe, in time, years from now, she’d be able to see Cody and not hurt like this.
Right now, she needed as much distance as she could put between them.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cody spent a very lonely and anguished night in his study while Brooke hid away with her mom upstairs. He couldn’t bust in on that, not without explaining things to Susanne. When he finally emerged early the next morning, hung over and surly because he’d barely slept three hours, he headed straight upstairs to Brooke’s room, hoping to have a private conversation and clear the air.
He didn’t know if it would help or make things worse, but he really needed to know where they stood. He needed to know that she’d always be his friend if they couldn’t be more.
He didn’t want to lose her forever. He couldn’t imagine his life without her in it in some way. He didn’t want his child growing up without Brooke there to spoil him, the way she’d always spoiled him.
It was easier to imagine his life with his child right now than it was to think of his marriage to Kristi. She’d been right last night when she pounded on the door to his study. He couldn’tignore her. He needed to find a way to focus on the baby, the impending wedding, and the birth of his child. But he’d needed Christmas night to himself, so he could drink away his feelings and find that blissful numbness he needed desperately after seeing Brooke with those damn flowers, wondering who sent them to her, and if that guy would make her happy after Cody had crushed her heart.
He couldn’t stand that she could barely look at him.
Watching her staring from the dinner table at his study killed him. He’d sat there, wishing he could go back in time and live in the moment where he and Brooke were in each other’s arms, happy and in love, a world of possibilities in front of them.
But that wasn’t his reality now. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Kristi. He just loved Brooke on a whole other level he never even knew existed.
Kristi was pissed. He owed her an apology and to get on board with the plans for their future. He had the rest of his life to make things up to her.
He’d spend that same lifetime regretting losing Brooke.
But he couldn’t let her leave without them talking things out the way they always did.
He stopped in her open doorway and found her dressed and standing next to her suitcase with her backpack at her feet. “You’re already ready to go?” He thought he’d have more time.
She tapped something on her phone and said without looking at him, “The bus leaves in an hour.”
He stared, dumbstruck that this was happening so fast. “I’ll drive you back.” They’d have a couple hours in the car to talk.
“I’ve already got my ticket. Mom will be ready in a minute to drive me to the bus stop.”
“Seriously, Brooke, this is how you want to leave things?”
She finally met his gaze, hers sad and resigned. “I need to leave. You need me to leave. You know that.”
It gutted him. “That doesn’t mean it’s what I want.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t always get what we want. You made your choice. I’ve made mine.” She picked up her backpack and slung it over one shoulder, then took the suitcase handle and walked past him and out of the room.
He went after her. “I’ll drive you.”
Susanne looked up the stairs at them coming down. “I’m taking her, Cody.”
He couldn’t let her go. Not like this. “Susanne, please, I need to do this.”
“No. You don’t.” Brooke headed for the door.
Susanne frowned at Brooke, then looked at him and read everything he couldn’t bring himself to say to explain to her that losing Brooke was killing him. But she turned for the door, too.
“Brooke, please,” he begged. “Please don’t leave like this.”
Brooke stood with her back to him and sighed so hard her shoulders went up and down. “Nothing we say to each other will change anything.”
