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He sighs, seemingly flustered. “I’ll move.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I keep walking back toward the elevators. “It’s not like we are in the same room. Besides, I should meet Elizabeth.”
Brooks’ response is swift and firm. “No. There’s no reason for you to meet her.”
Confused by his resistance, I ask, “But why? Brooks, we share a son. For Tobias’ sake, I can be nice.”
He purses his lips, then walks ahead of me back to the elevator. Standing next to him, I notice a vein throbbing in his temple, a sign of his emotions. The tension between us seems to have no end in sight.
“I’ll move. You and Elizabeth can stay in the motel. It’s not a big deal.”
Brooks’ head drops to his chest, and he mutters, “You’ve been there longer than us. We’ll move.”
Reaching out, I touch his arm. “Brooks, I don’t understand why we can’t stay in the same motel.”
The elevator doors open, and we step inside. He takes a sip of his coffee, then another while I wait for him to answer.
“It’s just easier if you two don’t meet,” he admits with a frown.
Unwilling to give up, I express my willingness to mend fences. “I know we haven’t always gotten along, but Brooks, I’m willing to try.”
He shakes his head, his tone final. “Let’s focus on Tobias and leave all the personal stuff alone.”
As the elevator carries us back to the hospital room, the unresolved tension between us lingers oppressively. Brooks gestures for me to walk in front of him as we exit the elevator.
“I need to speak with Dirt and Zeke.”
He huffs out a laugh, shakes his head, and quickly walks away from me. With a sigh, I walk into the waiting room. Zeke is nowhere to be seen, but Dirt is leaning back in a chair, legs stretched out, crossed at the ankles.
“From the look on your face, I can tell the family reunion didn’t go well,” Dirt observes.
Sitting next to him, I absently take his hand in mine. “If we hadn’t had Tobias, we wouldn’t even know each other now. Brooks seems determined to make this as difficult as possible.”
“There’s a fine line between love and hate,” Dirt offers.
With a small shake of my head, I turn to look at him. “I never loved Brooks. He is, I mean was... hell, I don’t know anymore. I thought he was a good man, but now, at the very sight of me, he does a complete one-eighty. He never even told me he’d gotten married.”
Dirt raises an eyebrow and suggests, “Maybe he still holds a torch for you?”
Frowning, I dismiss the idea with a wave of my hand. “Lord, no. After Tobias was born, he made it his mission in front of Tobias to always be sweet to me, but if he wasn’t in the room, Brooks was awful. The only good thing he ever did was not try to turn Tobias against me. I’ve never heard him say a bad word about me in front of our son, and I try to do the same.”
“Tobias is a grown-assed man. You can’t tell me he doesn’t know how his parents feel about each other. Did he know his dad had remarried?”
“Brooks told him not to tell me.”
“So Tobias knows. The man is very good at reading people. It makes him invaluable at his job.”
“Our shared concern for Tobias has always outweighed the bitterness of our past, and we’ve both strived to keep any disagreements or animosity away from him. It’s the one thing we’ve maintained as a semblance of unity in our separate lives.”
Dirt rubs a thumb over the top of my hand. “Tobias will know how Brooks treats you. He’s a master when it comes to seeing people for who they really are.”
“I should get back.”
He raises my hand to his lips, gently placing a kiss. “I’ll be here when you’re done.”
“It could be hours.”
Dirt’s smile is warm and reassuring. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
