“Let me see if I can get her to finish. It’s important to her that she does.”
“No problem. I understand.” He went back to his desk and grading papers.
Cody approached Brooke slowly, not wanting to spook her. Although, she was the one who looked like a ghost. “Brooke, honey.”
She flinched and raised her arms to protect herself.
He slowly kneeled in front of her.
Her gaze found his, but she still seemed out of it. “Hi, honey. How’re you doing?”
“Fine,” she said automatically.
“Yeah. Are you tired?”
Her eyes were half-closed. “Mmm hmm.”
“How about we finish this test, so we can go home. You can sleep in the car. I have it all packed and ready to go. Your mom can’t wait to see you.”
“I’m still working on the test.”
“Okay. You finish up, and I’ll just sit here and wait, okay?”
“Okay.” She looked down at the test, marked one of the multiple-choice answers, and went to the next.
Cody watched her. After about five minutes, she slowed down. She seemed to struggle over reading the questions, and then she just stared at the paper. All the while, she kept her hand on their daughter in her lap.
“Honey, I’ll read the question, and you tell me the answer.”
Her sad eyes found him again. “I’m confused. The words are jumbled.”
“Okay. We’ll do this together.” He read the questions and answers to her for half an hour before she drifted again.
She slumped in the chair, her head down, too tired to do more than sit and listen, her face pale with a fine sheen of sweat covering her skin. He rubbed her leg and brought her back each time she spaced out. It took another twenty minutes, but she managed to finish. When they were done, the professor glanced over the test quickly and reassured Brooke, “You definitely passed with flying colors.”
Cody shook the man’s hand. “Thank you for giving her this chance to finish.”
“She’s smart. A great student. She deserves to pass the class and earn her credits.”
Cody helped Brooke to the car, keeping his pace slow and easy, and gave her some meds to ease her pain. They drove over to the dorm. Brooke waited in the car and he texted Mindy Sue. Julie and a few of the other ladies came down to say goodbye. Brooke couldn’t make it inside the building, let alone up to the third floor. All of the women cried as they said their goodbyes. Brooke was so wiped out, only a few tears came.
By the time he reached the interstate, she’d fallen asleep, laid out in the seat he’d leaned back flat. A combination of exhaustion and the medication. She slept fitfully the whole way home, and he was grateful.
The simplest things sapped her energy. Her face turned an awful gray, her cheeks hollow. The dark circles under her eyes and the way she moaned in her sleep worried him the most. She wasn’t getting better and appeared worse as the hours passed. He seriously considered taking her directly to the hospital instead of the ranch. She’d done too much, too soon. At the ranch, she’d get the rest she needed.
Chapter Eleven
Cody breathed a huge sigh of relief when he took the turnoff for the ranch. Brooke squirmed in her seat for several miles, trying to get comfortable. A fine sheen of sweat broke out on her skin. He felt sick to his stomach every time he hit a bump in the road and she moaned in pain. Not really asleep or awake, fighting the pain and the long drive exhausted her.
The porch lights lit up the front of the house. He shut off the car and sat for a moment. Home, but still so much he needed to do.
Kristi’s car sat in the driveway. A wave of anger and resentment swept through him.
Why was she being so selfish? Why couldn’t she understand he and Brooke had lost a child and needed some time alone together? No. She had to stay and make it clear, he belonged to her and not Brooke.
That wasn’t the case—never was. Not really. He belonged to Brooke—always had. Always would. He was too stupid to seeit, or scared to admit it before. Brooke had gotten under his skin the moment she’d come to the ranch as a young girl. Over the years, she’d become so important to him, he couldn’t live without her. That had never been more apparent than over the last six months, his thoughts always turning back to her.
He’d even been out to her favorite spot at the creek more times than he could count. He’d never tell anyone he’d gone there to think and feel close to her. He hadn’t wanted to admit it to himself, just convinced himself he needed a quiet place to think.
