“We’ll agree to disagree on that,” she snapped. “Anyway, Brooke understood you wanted to do the right thing by Kristi and the baby. It hurt. But those were the circumstances, and Brooke made it easy for you by stepping out of the picture.”
“When did she find out she was pregnant?”
“I imagine she figured it out when she started throwing up, then feeling fine, then feeling sick again. But she realized she didn’t just have a bug one afternoon when we went out with Julie for lunch.” Mindy Sue turned thoughtful for a moment. “Adam, Jeremiah, and Simon showed up and joined us. She ordered the fried chicken salad. Her favorite. But when the waitress set it in front of her…the smell made her sick. She ran to the bathroom. I followed her to make sure she was okay. We both suspected she was pregnant. We left the restaurant, hit the drugstore, went back to the dorms, she peed on the stick, we celebrated.”
He would have loved to be there for that.
Mindy Sue smiled softly over the memory. “Beyond excited, she didn’t care about feeling sick or tired all the time. Even in her sadness over you, she was happy about the baby.” Mindy Sue met his gaze. “Really, really happy, Cody.”
His heart ached with that news. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She expected you to get married within a few weeks of her discovering she was carrying your child. She didn’t want to ruinyour wedding to Kristi, so she planned to tell you when you returned from your honeymoon.”
“She had to know I’d have changed my plans and been there for her and the baby.”
“She didn’t know that. She thought you loved Kristi more because you chose her,” Mindy Sue shot back, staring him down. “You and Brooke had an amazing night. You knew she was in love with you, but you never said anything about how you really felt about her. Kristi turns up the next morning pregnant, you bought her a ring, told her parents, and started planning your wedding within hours. You told Brooke that’s the way it had to be and sent her back to school.”
“I didn’t want to. I wanted her.”I still want her.He fisted his hands again, feeling like he should have done something. He would have if he’d known any of this.
“She woke up to you telling her you’d figure everything out, so you could be together, and then you put a ring on Kristi’s finger. But for you, Brooke held off telling you about the baby, so thatyoudidn’t feel like you had to choose between her and Kristi. She didn’t want to put you through that, and she didn’t want to put herself through hearing you choose Kristi.Again.” Mindy Sue smacked her hand on the table. “You can’t blame her for trying to salvage a little of her pride.”
No. He couldn’t. He didn’t know what he’d have done in her place. “I hoped we could work things out. That’s why I texted her after Kristi lost the baby, asking if we could talk. But she said she was already having enough trouble with her boyfriend and didn’t want any more Kristi drama.”
Mindy Sue’s eyes went wide. “She told you she had a boyfriend? That can’t be right.”
“She said something about having trouble with someone else. I just assumed that’s what she meant.”
Mindy Sue shook her head. “I’m guessing she said someone else instead of stalker to tell you something was going on without lying to you outright. She hasn’t been seeing anyone. Not while pregnant with your baby.”
“Well, I didn’t fucking know that because she wouldn’t talk to me,” he snapped and ran his fingers roughly through his hair. “Fuck. If she hadn’t said that, I wouldn’t have stayed with Kristi. I wanted to ask if she still loved me. If she wanted us to try again.”
Tears welled in Mindy Sue’s eyes. “Text messages are not how you ask that.”
“She wouldn’t answer my calls.”
Mindy Sue stared up at the ceiling for a moment and let out a heavy sigh. “All this over a miscommunication.” Mindy Sue shook her head. “You two could have been together all this time. She would have opened up to you about what was happening.”
Cody scrubbed his hands over his face. “All I had to go on was what she said in those messages.”
“Yeah, well, you were very clear when you said you were still marrying Kristi. Brooke didn’t fit in your world. Right?” She rolled her eyes.
Cody had to admit, it sounded rather lame. Another excuse.
But he’d stopped making those five days ago when he had that bad dream and decided to end things with Kristi.
Wait.
Five days ago.
The night Brooke was attacked.
Fuck.
That was some kind of kismet or cosmic nudge.
He felt more connected to Brooke than ever.
He hated that she thought he loved Kristi more than he loved her. And why wouldn’t she? He’d made it seem that way bycontinuing his relationship with Kristi for all the wrong reasons when deep down he wanted to be with Brooke.
