Mindy Sue looked up and softly smiled. “It was nothing. It’s late. I bet you’re tired. You’ve barely been able to keep your eyes open lately.”
Brooke pointed to the book on pregnancy beside her bed. “First trimester is the hardest. The second is supposed to be better.”
“I bet you can’t wait until next month.”
“You bet. Now, tell me about your date with Tony, and why you came in smiling like a maniac and dancing.”
“You don’t want to hear about my date.” Mindy Sue stood to get ready for bed.
“Tell me. I want details.” Brooke sat up and caught Mindy Sue’s hand to turn her back. “Did he kiss you?” Brooke smiled mischievously.
“Did he kiss me? I thought my hair was going to catch fire.” She sat beside Brooke again and they laughed.
They spent the next hour devouring a pint of vanilla bean ice cream and talking about Tony, his kissing ability, and what Mindy Sue would wear on her next date. For an hour, Brooke managed to put her stalker who wouldn’t quit, being pregnant, and Cody’s message on the back burner.
Tonight was about being a college coed and sitting with her friend and talking about boys and clothes.
Life was too short to spend worrying about what might have been, and what could never be. She’d take ice cream and girl talk over thinking about her obsessed stalker and a man who didn’t want her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
BROOKE: Thank you for completing the purchase of the building and working with Danny at Quinn Construction to get a project manager in place immediately.
CODY: Hi
CODY: How are you?
CODY: I’m excited the building is yours and renovations are starting. You’re on your way!
She ignored the first two texts and stuck to business.
BROOKE: I need the project manager’s number so I can make some priority changes.
CODY: You signed off on the project, including completion dates for each stage of the renovation.
BROOKE: I know. But I need one of the apartments upstairs completed by May instead of the end of July.
CODY: Why?
Why do you think?She wanted to scream at him.
BROOKE: Because I need a place to live when school ends and I want to have time to furnish and decorate before I officially move in, come June.
CODY: You have a place. Here. On the ranch you own.
BROOKE: I don't belong there anymore.
CODY: You will always belong here.
CODY: Please Brooke. Don’t do this.
BROOKE: It’s already done. I own the building. I want the three-bedroom place.
CODY: You’d get more rent for it than the two-bedroom units.
BROOKE: I need an office, so I can work from home, and a guest room so my friends can visit.
Lie. She needed the spare room for the baby.
