His fault. She didn’t want to talk to him or her mom or have anything to do with home right now.
Maybe she was too busy being with her boyfriend.
“She’s probably in her three o’clock class,” Susanne murmured.
Cody tried to hold it together. “Try her anyway.”
Susanne already had the phone to her ear. “Damnit. Voicemail.”
Cody silently swore.
“Brooke, honey, it’s Mom. Listen, I just saw on the news there’s been some trouble on campus. I know you’re being safe and staying with your friends. Please be careful, honey. I love you. Miss you, honey. Call me. I’m worried about you.”
Cody stepped closer. “What if something happened to her?” He didn’t want to even think it.
“Someone would have called if Brooke were hurt. She would call.”
Cody hoped so, but couldn’t hide his skepticism. “She hasn’t exactly kept in touch.”
“Did you try to call her?”
“I left her a message about the wedding. She never called me back.” That had been in February. “We started exchanging texts in March about the building renovations. They’re moving along.The last text exchange was last week about bathroom tiles for her apartment.” It was almost May.
He folded his arms across his chest and tried not to show how much it hurt that they couldn’t even talk to each other anymore. Everything was a text. And she kept it all about business. Every time he asked how she was, or about what she was doing at school, she ignored him.
“Look, Cody. You’re both adults and you should work things out between you.”
“But?”
Susanne had blessedly been quiet about the whole thing up until now. Cody wished she’d keep it that way. But how could she when he was the reason her daughter refused to call or come home?
“Are you prepared for her to never set foot on this ranch again?”
No.“I don’t like that she and I…had a falling out. I tried to talk to her…It’s complicated.”
“Love is complicated. You might think about why you end up in her room whenever you’ve had a particularly hard day.”
He went to her room at some point every day. “How did you know I go into her room?”
“Just like you, some nights, I can’t sleep. I’m so worried about her. I sometimes get up and go into her room to be close to her. I can smell her there and touch her things and remember her. The house isn’t the same without her here. It’s been too long since she came home. Every time I offer to drive to campus and see her, she has some excuse. Classes. Homework. A programming project. Study group. She’s busy with friends.” Susanne let out a frustrated sigh. “She’s hurting and she doesn’t want me to see it.”
The guilt sucked him under; it was a wonder he could still stand. “I don’t know how to fix things with her,” he admitted, raking his fingers through his hair.
“You guys never used to have any trouble speaking to each other. I remember you two sitting for hours in the study laughing and talking.”
“I tried talking to her.”
“You left her a message telling her what you’d decided. That isn’t a conversation.”
She was right. But he knew why Brooke had pulled away from him and Susanne didn’t. “Brooke and I will have to work things out our way. So far, both of us seem inclined to give each other some space. It’s for the best. I hope she’ll come home for her birthday and again after the semester ends. If she’s waiting until after the wedding, I can’t say I blame her, and maybe that’s for the best, too.” It didn’t feel that way. At this point, he’d just like to set eyes on her so he could see for himself that she was okay.
“Maybe,” Susanne said, sounding unsure.
“I have to go and get ready for dinner tonight. I’ve got to pick up Kristi in half an hour.”
“Enjoy yourself.”
“You’ll let me know if Brooke calls? I need to know that she’s safe and okay.”
