He took Kristi’s hand and squeezed it. “We will have beautiful babies someday,” he said and tried to smile, but he couldn’t quite pull it off.
They’d have beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed babies. Not dark-haired, green-eyed ones.
He tossed that thought out of his mind and tried to eat his meal. It was no use. His appetite disappeared along with his good mood. Kristi seemed to sense it in him and made the rest of the evening easier by keeping things lighthearted. If he missed a beat in the conversation, she covered for him. He could rely on her in situations like this. She got him through the next hour by charming their friends and his colleagues. No one seemed to notice his distraction.
He took Kristi home the next morning after a quiet breakfast in the hotel’s café.
He didn’t stop by the university to check on Brooke, deciding instead to live with the choices he’d made and give Brooke the space she so obviously wanted.
He’d committed to Kristi and a life with her.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Fate brought him and Brooke together tonight of all nights. Her birthday. Twenty-one.
On his way to complete his next objective, he came around the corner on the way to the bar and there she was walking with Mindy Sue and some other friends headed in the same direction.
Why was she always wearing that baggy sweater?
Mindy Sue and Julie were with their boyfriends, Tony and Jeremiah, leaving Brooke still waiting on him to come to her and join their group.
Tonight had to be the night.
It felt right.
He’d wait until she had a drink or two, then approach her. Maybe when her friends were on the dance floor and Brooke was alone.
Yeah. They could share a private, intimate moment.
But Brooke and the others didn’t continue on to the bar; instead they went into the packed ice cream parlor. On ahot night like tonight, the place was filled with families and university students.
It was bright and cheerful with no place for him to blend into the background without looking like he didn’t quite belong.
He’d gotten good at watching Brooke and the others without being seen, mostly because no one ever really noticed him.
But this didn’t feel right.
He had it all planned out in his mind. An intimate evening alone with her, so they could talk and be together.
This wasn’t how he planned for it to happen. But it gave him an opportunity to leave Brooke the special gift he got for her very special birthday.
You could make tonight the night with her!
No. Mindy Sue would spend the whole night with her because it’s her birthday.
If he hadn’t been interrupted with the last girl, maybe he’d have been ready by tonight. With campus police upping their patrols after the last girl, he had to wait, so he didn’t get caught.
It made him angry that he’d screwed this up.
Brooke is waiting for you and alone on her birthday and it’s your fault.
He’d make it up to her. He’d finish tonight and be with her soon.
But first, if he couldn’t be by her side, he could still be a part of her special day.
He delayed his plans at the bar, turned back the other way, and went to his car, where he had her gift ready in the trunk. A necklace to match the bracelet he’d already given her.
He drove to her dorm, pulled on his black hoodie, and walked in behind a group of students who’d used their security badge to get in.
