After Brooke paid for her purchases, they left the mall. Gabe hated that she refused to let him pay, but what he hated even more was how she insisted they drive separate cars. He’d offered to pick her up. She’d said no. Now, Gabe followed her down the street toward her mother’s house.
He parked his car beside the curb while Brooke parked in the driveway and then grabbed her packages out of the backseat. As he headed in her direction, he looked the house over.
He was happy to discover it was in a nice enough neighborhood, but this house stood out from all the others on the block. Driving up to the property, he’d noticed it hadn’t been maintained. It made sense with her mother’s deteriorating health.
Walking up the driveway, he took stock of everything that hadn’t been kept up. The garage door needed a new coat of paint. The patches of grass that weren’t yellow were in bad need of attention from a lawn mower. He couldn’t be sure which of the plants in the garden were supposed to be the flowers and which ones were weeds. It resembled a jungle rather than a flowerbed.
Together, they walked up the path to the front door. As Gabe waited for Brooke to unlock the door, he saw the mold growing on a few boards on the porch. Was Brooke expected to take care of all those things now?
“Mom, I’m home,” she called into the house while pushing the front door open.
At least the door didn’t squeak, Gabe thought as he followed her in and closed it behind them.
Brooke led him through the front hall. They stopped briefly in the kitchen so she could put her purse on the counter. Gabe leaned close to the big bouquet. “These are nice.”
“Thanks.” Brooke barely looked over. “Kevin sent them for Mom. I’m going to go see where she is.”
Gabe nodded. The second she was gone, he plucked the card from the greenery. Disgusted with the jealousy he felt, he stuffed it back between the leaves.
Soon, he followed Brooke into the living room, where her mother rested in an easy chair. The reality of the situation hit him when he first looked at the older woman. Pale and sunken, Marilyn Holter struggled to move. She had a hell of a time trying to get comfortable. She’d shift around in the seat while Brooke fussed over her, but she eventually settled.
Gabe did his best to keep his grief from showing. When she was seated, Gabe reached out his hand and gently shook hers in greeting. “Hello, Mrs. Holter, how are you?”
“You guys aren’t teens anymore, call me Marilyn.” She motioned for them to sit. “You weren’t at the mall very long.”
“Nope.” Brooke sat with him on the couch. “I was just popping in for a few things.”
“So, Gabe, Brooke tells me you’re an architect now.”
“Yep.” Brooke smiled at him when he clasped her hand. He glanced back at Marilyn. “I started up my own business a while ago, but mostly, I just do designs for my dad’s construction company.”
“Everyone has to start somewhere. It’s all about networking.”
“I’ve done a few freelance jobs for other firms, and I’ve recently had my first contract with the city.”
“That’s wonderful.”
The conversation continued. Mostly, Brooke and her mother would tell him about things that had happened in their lives. Marilyn told him a few stories from when Brooke was a child, long before they’d moved here. Brooke went into greater detail about her job. Gabe enjoyed learning more about her.
“Honey, could you put on a pot of tea?” Marilyn suggested about ten minutes later. “And I think Dan bought some cookies when he went grocery shopping earlier. Could you put something together?”
Brooke put a hand to her mother’s arm. “Sure. Gabe and I will be leaving soon for dinner with his parents, but did you have lunch? Would you like me to make you a sandwich or something?”
“No, no. Dan’s gone back to check on his apartment, but he promised to bring back dinner. He should be home before long.”
Brooke nodded, then turned to Gabe. “Want to come with me?”
“No, no…” Marilyn protested. “He’s fine. Won’t bother me.”
“But you should rest.”
Marilyn blinked and, with frustrated venom, said, “I’m fine, Brooke.”
Brooke sucked in a breath and appeared conflicted.
Marilyn closed her eyes and rested her head against the back of the armchair. Brooke’s gaze lingered on her before flicking over to Gabe. He was taken aback by the frown she sent his way.
A silent warning not to bug her mother?
Not for the world would he do anything to further her mother’s suffering.
A second later, Brooke left the room. At first, Gabe studied Marilyn as she reclined. He wondered if she might have even fallen asleep.
He couldn’t get over how different she seemed now. His memories from high school didn’t match with the fragile woman before him. Her hair had lost all its color and had thinned dramatically. She’d lost body weight, too. He always remembered her as being a little on the heavy side, but her illness had taken her physical appearance and warped it into a harsh extreme.
Disgusted with the way life could suddenly turn on people, Gabe looked away, instead choosing to study the house Brooke had grown up in. Just like the outside, the inside was in a bad way and sorely needed an update. It looked like Marilyn had been in the process of painting the living room before her diagnosis had crippled her. Green tape lined the electrical outlets, and a few spots had been worked over with primer.
Gabe’s gaze wandered around the room but stopped when he saw Marilyn studying him. It was kind of creepy the way her eyes had hardened, a stark contrast to her pale, shallow skin.
“Don’t you dare hurt her again,” she warned.
Gabe stuttered, “Pardon?”
“My daughter. I don’t want to see her heartbroken over you again.”
“I had little to do with what happened the first time.” Gabe frowned. If he recalled correctly, Marilyn had never once blamed him for what happened. He remembered Brooke getting chewed out by her mother when she’d been picked up at the police station.
“And I understand that.” Slowly, Marilyn adjusted in her chair, inching closer to him. “But as far as Brooke was concerned, you hung the moon and the stars. Don’t get me wrong, she’s changed, but I see how she looks at you now—with a woman’s interest. You have the power to destroy her all over again. And she worked so hard to get her head straight.”
Gabe didn’t know what to say. In the kitchen, he could hear Brooke preparing food. Over the sound of the boiling kettle, she called out, “Gabe, do you want a tea, or would you prefer a soda or water? Sorry, no beer.”
Gabe hastened to clear his throat but didn’t look away from Marilyn. “Uh, soda would be great. Thanks.”
Marilyn pointed a gnarled finger toward him and, in a low voice, hissed, “So I’m warning you, mister, if you crush her soul again, I’m coming for you. And don’t think death will stop me from protecting my little girl. I’ll go all poltergeist on your ass.”
Wow, morbid!
Gabe couldn’t stop his mouth from hanging open. At least now, he was starting to get an idea of where Brooke got her outspoken nature. It took him a moment to think of a response, which was twice as hard with that threat and the grim look she’d fastened on him.
“Okay, listen. There is no way I’m taking the blame for what happened between Brooke and me back in high school.” Marilyn narrowed her eyes but thankfully didn’t argue. He didn’t understand everyone’s need to blame him. “But what I can tell you is this. Whatever happens between us now is between Brooke and me and no one else.”
Marilyn opened her mouth to speak, but Gabe beat her to it. “Brooke is the most capable woman I’ve ever met. She’s got it together in a way I never would have thought possible. She’s not afraid to speak her mind, and if something were to happen that she didn’t like, she sure as hell won’t need any help to get payback. Hell, she’s chewed me out more times in the last few weeks than I can remember.”
Marilyn shrewdly examined him, measuring his speech. Finally, she relented. “Now that I can believe.” She sat back in the chair, resting her body once more. With a fond little smile, she explained a few things to Gabe. “I’m so proud of what Brooke’s accomplished, and I’m not talking about her job or her college degree. Of course, I’m proud of those things, but I’m most proud of how she overcame her demons.”
Gabe wasn’t following.
Marilyn laughed. “She never told you?”
Gabe shook his head. He had no idea what she was talking about.
“And Kevin didn’t say anything? That boy’s more loyal than I thought.” While Marilyn considered Kevin’s more redeeming qualities, Gabe stewed. What hadn’t Brooke told him? Then Marilyn broke the news to him. “She was hospitalized for a long time.”
“What? When?” She seemed fine now. It couldn’t have been recent.
Again, Marilyn laughed at his ignorance. “Where do you think she went during your third year of high school? While you all were goofing around in your victory lap, Brooke was working extra hard at passing her classes so she’d graduate only a year behind everyone else.”
“What was she sick with?” Surely, if she’d had cancer or something life-threatening, Kevin would have told them.
Marilyn scoffed, all signs of humor vanishing. “You really have no idea, do you?”
Gabe didn’t answer.
“Did you ever wonder why she was so skinny? Did you ever stop to think, why me? Why is she bugging me? After everything that happened that day…”
Marilyn trailed off, her mind wandering back to that horrible moment. Gabe wanted to give her time. He didn’t want to push her, but when he heard the pop can tab snap open, he knew their privacy was limited. “What happened, Marilyn?”
A tear slipped down her hollow cheeks. “After her first counseling appointment, I found her asleep in her bedroom. I couldn’t wake her up. She’d stolen pain meds from my bathroom. When I found the empty bottle, I called 911. That was the first time she tried to kill herself.”
Stunned into silence, Gabe stared at Marilyn.
Brooke returned carrying a tray loaded with goodies. As Marilyn had suggested, there were store-bought cookies, but there also looked to be some type of lemon dessert squares. Brooke placed a glass filled with Coke over ice on the table in front of Gabe. She passed a mug of tea to her mother before settling beside Gabe on the sofa, her own mug cradled in her hands.
Confused and a little hurt that he’d never been told something that seemed so vital, Gabe tried not to stare at Brooke. An awkward silence lingered over them, and after being caught studying her more than once, she asked, “What?”
Shaking off his discomfort, Gabe tried for a reassuring smile before sipping his drink. Marilyn had quickly dried her eyes when Brooke joined them. The sorrow that had etched her face was replaced with physical pain once more as she attempted to relax into the easy chair.
For a moment longer, Brooke seemed as though she might question what they’d been talking about, but she must have decided against it. The next time they were alone, she’d probably ask him, and that suited him just fine because he had a hell of a lot of unanswered questions to ask her.