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“How could you have? I made Brooks swear not to tell his sister. She’d always had more delicate feelings, and we wanted her to enjoy the last bit of her senior year. It was a huge burden for Brooks to carry. One I still feel guilty about. And you . . .” She brushed my cheek. “You must have been so hurt. I knew how excited you were. I knew how much you liked my son.” She gave me a knowing look.
I bit my lip. “It was only a silly high school crush,” I lied. It was a good lie, though. I wanted to spare June some guilt, but she was smart.
“I don’t think so. You treated Brooks as if you expected a future with him.”
Heat flooded my cheeks.
“Don’t be embarrassed.”
This was way more than embarrassment. I wasn’t even sure there was a word for how embarrassed I was. “It was a long time ago. I was young. Too young. I moved on forever ago. So far back I don’t even remember how long. And I date a lot. Like a lot, a lot,” I rambled like an idiot.
She gave me a sad smile. “I’m sure you do. You’re a gorgeous woman inside and out.”
“I wish Brooks would have told me. You know, after we graduated.”
“Darlin’, we were all hurting so much. Sometimes when you’re in that kind of pain, it’s the ones you’re closest to who you fear being around the most.”
“Why?”
She thought for a moment. “That kind of pain brings a vulnerability that will scare the living daylights out of you. And I don’t think Brooks, even on a good day, was ever good with owning his feelings. I think that’s why he keeps going back to that woman. Morgan’s so emotionally closed off, Brooks feels safe around her.”
“See, I always thought it was her voluptuous chest.” I stared down at my mostly flat one.
June chuckled and swatted my arm. “Darlin’, I do love you. I hope you can forgive me. I hope Brooks will too. I have a feeling when he finally wises up, he’s going to realize what I made him miss out on.” She tapped my nose. “Yes, I’m talking about you.”
I shook my head. “No. No. Like I said, we were only friends. And he and Morgan, well . . . I don’t know what they are, but apparently they are meant to be.” Those words tasted bitter, like a mouthful of coffee grounds.
“You think so?”
I shrugged half-heartedly, wishing it wasn’t true.
“Take it from his momma, that woman is not meant for my boy. Why do you think I came to Dallas? When he told me he was dating her again, I jumped in my Caddy and burned some rubber. I drove nonstop from Little Rock, prepared with note cards and charts.”
“I’d love to see those.”
“Name the time, darlin’.”
I wrapped my arms around her. “I love you, Miss June.”
“Oh, sweet girl, I love you more than you’ll know,” she choked up. “I’m going to make it right, for everyone, even Tom. He’s going to wake up, or so help me there is going to be hell to pay.”
“He’s going to need our fighting spirits. The odds aren’t good,” I stuttered.
“Honey, if there is one thing I know about Hamilton men, it’s that they don’t put stock in the odds, only themselves. Tom’s a fighter. We just have to let him know we are all cheering him on.”
“You know me—I love being a cheerleader.”
“Dust off your pom-poms. We all have some tough games ahead of us.”
“Games?” As in plural.
She wagged her brows. “Just promise me you’re in it to win it.”
“Win what?”
Her lips curled into a Cheshire grin. “What you know is yours.”
I rubbed my chest. The voice couldn’t be right. Could it?Chapter SevenDaddy brought me a change of clothes and a smoothie early the next morning. I couldn’t bear to leave Tom alone. I knew he wouldn’t be waking up, as he was in an induced coma; however, I worried about him dying all by himself.
It felt good to be in some warmer clothes: a pair of jeans and a mint pleated, flutter-sleeved blouse. Daddy had even thought to bring me a jacket. Bless him. It was freezing in here, though the nurse had brought me a blanket last night. Not that I’d slept much. There had been nurses in and out all night, checking his vitals and his temperature, even taking his blood. I would be living off adrenaline and Diet Pepsi for the rest of the day.
Daddy took a sip of his coffee while staring with concerned eyes at his best friend. “How long did June and Brooks stay?”
“They left around one a.m. June wanted to stay, but Brooks insisted she get some rest.” More like he couldn’t take the pressure any longer. He was fighting himself something fierce staying away from his daddy. He’d never ended up coming in.
