AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His chest rose and fell several times. “I don’t know, but do we need to focus on that right now? I only want to spend time with you and figure things out as we go.”
I inched back away from him. “Fifteen years ago, that would have been great. Now, honestly, it may sound cliché, but my biological clock is tick, tick, ticking like a bomb ready to explode. I don’t have a lot of time left before the pin is pulled and I lose my chance to have a family. I want babies and a man who wants to be their daddy and my husband.”
He swallowed hard, making his Adam’s apple bob. “Grace, the night you took me to the movie in the park . . .”
I froze, having an idea what he was going to say and kicking myself for being so honest with him that night.
“You mentioned,” he continued, “that you knew who the one was for you.” He pointed at my heart. “That it came from a place deep inside.”
I bit my lip. “What’s your point?”
“Was it me?” he whispered as if he were making a wish.
I cleared my throat. “Wow. You threw that right out there.”
“Grace, you’re not answering me.”
I tried to avoid eye contact.
“Grace.” He pressed his forehead against mine.
“Brooks, I’ve known you were the one from the first moment I saw your head peek over the fence,” I whispered. “You don’t know how much I wanted you to recognize me as the one for you. But you never did. And then you disappeared.”
His hand cupped my neck. “I was a teenager. My frontal lobe wasn’t connected yet.”
“It seemed to work for Morgan. And maybe it always will. Maybe she is your one, or someone like her.” The thought made me ill.
He leaned back, his eyes ablaze. “How can you say that?”
“Brooks, whether you want to believe it or not, you like the pomp and circumstance of women like Morgan. Think about it. I was the one cheering for you at track meets and doing all the cutesy things like decorating your truck and baking you cupcakes with little mini tracks on them. And you liked it, even appreciated it, but you never wanted me. On the other hand, Morgan never did anything for you, never even came to your meets. Yet when she came calling, all she had to do was flash you a charming smile and say something like she wanted to study for the SAT. I saw in your eyes how much she excited you. How quick you were to ditch Carly and me for her.” My stupid eyes betrayed me with a sheen of tears.
I composed myself before I full on started to bawl. “Even now, you like her bold, out-of-the-box thinking. It fits with your narrative, your world. I don’t. I didn’t even go to college, and I still live at home. Do you really want to introduce someone like me to your colleagues? Do you see yourself living somewhere like Poplar Lane and raising babies and weeding the flower beds for the rest of your life?”
He looked as if I had sucker punched him. He’d even placed a hand across his defined abs. “Grace, I would never be ashamed of you. You’re an accomplished woman.”
I laughed. “No one has ever accused me of that before. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ashamed of who I am or what I do. In fact, I’m proud of Serenity Spa. But I know I’m loud and sometimes obnoxious. Occasionally I snort when I laugh, and I’m obsessed with soap operas and an old teen idol. However, I want to be loved for all those things. I want a man who gets ridiculously happy when he sees me and wants to wife the heck out of me.”
Brooks ran the back of his hand down my cheek. “You make me happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
“That may be, but for how long? What happens when you wake up and realize I wasn’t the one?”
I could see the wheels spinning behind Brooks’s eyes, but he didn’t seem to have an answer.
Hurt, I turned from him and grabbed my remote to turn up the TV. Dr. Noah Drake was about to play his real-life self, Springfield, and sing “Jessie’s Girl” at the nurses’ ball. I slid down onto the floor and retrieved my glue gun so I could get back to work, acting as if I didn’t have a handsome man staring at me. As if my heart weren’t breaking in two.
“I didn’t know Rick Springfield came back on the show,” Brooks commented. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted him to tell me I was wrong, then take me into his arms and kiss me until we were both breathless.
“He did for a short while.”
