Authors: Rose Wulf
“Hell, it’s more than we had twenty minutes ago. I wish I’d
thought to look at his plates.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Blake stepped back from
the bed and crossed his arms thoughtfully. “I’m going to call Dean before I
head back down. Even if he doesn’t get the message right away, at least he’ll
know what we do.”
Logan nodded. “Good idea.” Then he turned and walked around
the bed, slipping from Nate’s room.
****
Brooke tucked her notepad into a front pocket and stepped
into the main room. The diner was moderately busy for mid-morning on a Friday,
but even so, Brooke was intercepted before she could reach her first table.
“Brooke!” Shelly, the hostess, called from another table
she was sitting. She gestured to the phone on the counter, which was ringing.
“Could you get that, please?”
With a silent nod, Brooke turned and moved quickly to the
phone. “Earl’s Diner, this is Brooke, how can I help you?”
The voice on the other end hesitated a beat, and the signal
was slightly scratchy, but the woman’s voice was still easily discernable as
she spoke. “Yes, hello, is Earl available? Or Paula?” The slightest of accents
flavored the woman’s voice, though Brooke couldn’t identify it specifically.
Brooke’s eyes flicked around, though she knew she wouldn’t
see either of them. She knew for a fact that Earl was in the kitchen that day,
but where Paula was, she had no idea. “I’m sorry,” she replied. “They’re busy
at the moment. Can I take a message for you?”
“Oh, I see.” Disappointment laced the unknown woman’s
voice. “Well, could you tell them Missy called? I talked to Paula a few days
ago about that new chef position.”
By now, Shelly had returned to the front and was standing
beside Brooke with a curious expression. Brooke’s eyebrows shot up, and she
said quickly, “Actually, if you can hold on a second, I might be able to get
Paula for you.”
“Yes, please,” the woman replied immediately, the tone of
disappointment gone.
Putting her hand over the mouthpiece, Brooke whispered,
“Take this, I’m going to find Paula. She’s calling about the job.”
Shelly nodded and switched places with Brooke.
As soon as Brooke was free of the phone, she moved swiftly
toward the back again in search of Paula. The older woman hadn’t been in the
back room earlier, but it was possible she was there now. Or in the kitchen
with her husband. A quick survey assured Brooke that she wasn’t in the drink
station, so Brooke pushed open the door to the back room. When she found it
empty, she turned and crossed to the kitchen door.
She found Paula standing at the half-wall, talking with
Earl. Ordinarily, she was opposed to interrupting a conversation between the
two people who signed her paychecks, but she knew they would understand. Still,
she cleared her throat first to gain their attention. When the couple had
turned their eyes toward her, Brooke hurriedly said, “I’m sorry, Paula, but a
woman named Missy is on the phone for you?”
“Oh, thank goodness!” Paula exclaimed, immediately starting
forward. She smiled in silent gratitude to Brooke even as she brushed past her
and out of the room.
Brooke just stood there for a moment and watched the door
swing shut.
I guess this Missy woman is
someone they were hoping to hear from…
Deep, gravelly chuckling from behind her drew her
attention, and Brooke turned to properly face her boss. Earl Sanders was the
official owner of Earl’s Diner—he’d had the restaurant nearly two years longer
than he had been married. He was a good, if not overly straightforward, man; a
good man who had been incredibly upset about his previous chef’s inappropriate
departure.
With a lopsided grin, Earl said, “Missy’s an old friend of
Paula’s. They’ve kept in touch, an’ it turns out Missy’s little girl took a couple
years of culinary school. She also happens to be
lookin
’
for a job, so we thought we’d reach out an’ see if we couldn’t help each
other.”
Brooke nodded slowly. “
Gotcha
.”
With a genuine smile, she added, “Well, I for one hope she comes through.”
Earl held up his hands, which were covered in spice-rub,
and said, “Me, too.”
Chapter Nineteen
“It turns out Missy’s daughter, Madison, is working a
temporary job right now,” Brooke was explaining as Blake turned onto his
parent’s street Saturday afternoon. “It should be done in a couple of weeks,
and she doesn’t like it so she’s definitely not staying longer, and then she’s
going to be moving up here after that’s over.”
“She’s moving all the way up here for a ‘probably’?” Blake
asked with a raised eyebrow. He slowed the car as he approached the driveway.
“Earl and Paula have promised her a job,” Brooke said. “The
only part that’s not for sure is whether it’ll be as Ed’s replacement or as a
sous chef. They finally talked one of the guys into stepping up if she doesn’t
work out.”
Blake nodded, pulling in behind Logan’s truck. “That makes
more sense. Well, I hope she works out. I know you’ve all been a little more
frazzled since Ed ditched.”
Releasing a frustrated sigh, Brooke replied, “That’s one
way to put it.”
They fell silent for a moment as Blake turned off the car
and tugged the keys easily out of the ignition. He released his seat belt and
looked over as Brooke did the same. “You ready?”
“I was hoping this would be easy, since I’ve already
technically met the parents,” she declared. Her eyes flicked to the house
visible beyond the windshield, and she added, “But it’s still a little
daunting.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Blake replied, reaching over and
wrapping a hand around one of hers. Their eyes met. “They already know and like
you, remember? It
will
be easy.”
Brooke leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on his lips
before pulling back and saying, “I’m certainly hoping so.”
Without another word, the couple stepped from the car, and
Brooke self-consciously smoothed out her new light blue, loose-collared
t-shirt. When she’d raided her closet for something other than regular denim to
wear with it, she’d discovered a pair of ivory pants that she had thought lost
the year before. Now she was fairly confident that she looked fine, but she was
still worried about making a good impression. This was actually her first time
interacting with the Hawkes as a family, all at once, in a non-emergency.
Blake’s chuckling drew her attention, and she realized he
was standing before her. “You look great,” he promised, his eyes only briefly
skimming over her before returning to hers. “Come on.”
She took his proffered hand and allowed him to lead her up
to the house.
As they stepped into the foyer and Blake paused to ease the
door shut, Brooke realized that she could hear talking coming from down the
hall. Multiple voices—which didn’t surprise her, considering the truck they’d
parked behind.
“Sorry we’re a little late,” Blake declared as he and
Brooke stepped into the large living room.
Christopher and Lillian were spread out in two of the three
armchairs, and Eric and Angela were settled in the loveseat. Nate and Logan had
claimed two spots on the oversized couch. The family looked over when Blake
spoke, and multiple smiles were aimed their way.
Angela’s smile of greeting morphed into a grin. “The only
one who’s late is
Dean
. Again.”
“Brooke.” Lillian rose to her feet and moved toward them, a
smile on her face. “I’m so glad you could come.”
Brooke returned the smile and let herself be pulled into
the loose embrace. “Thank you for inviting me.”
“Of course we’d invite you.” Nate shifted closer to Logan
in order to make more room on the couch for the couple. “We get tired of
teasing Angie all the time.”
Logan reached up silently and smacked his brother upside
the head.
Guilt washed over Brooke as she followed Blake to the
couch, realizing she had completely forgotten that Nate had been injured just a
couple of days prior. She couldn’t believe the attack had slipped her mind
after how shaken up Blake had seemed. Still, she knew she had no real reason to
be feeling guilty, so she smiled and said, “Hey, guys.”
As they settled on the couch, Blake looked over at Nate
seriously. “How’re you doing?”
Nate’s face scrunched unhappily. “My bike’s in the shop,
and probably will be for a
while
. I’m
grumpy.”
Blake lifted an eyebrow. And from what Brooke remembered of
his story, she understood why. Apparently, Nate’s bike had been pretty well
totaled. “Why not just buy a new one?”
“I liked that one!” Nate’s tone indicated that he had
clearly already had this conversation a time or two.
Before another word could be said, Dean’s voice called from
the hallway. “You can start the party now!”
“You’re too late!” Angela called back quickly. “We started
without you!”
Dean ambled into the living room a moment later, one hand
in his pocket. “Then you’ll just have to start over again.” He smirked and
crossed the living room to drop a hand on his sister’s head teasingly. “You wouldn’t
want us to start without
you
one day,
would you?”
Angela dragged his hand off of her hair with one hand,
reaching up to try to smooth it back down with the other. “That would never
happen. I know how to read my watch.”
“Ha!” Dean exclaimed even as Nate burst into laughter.
Blake and Logan chuckled quietly, and Dean sighed dramatically, turning and
moving to the couch to claim a seat between Nate and Blake. After he’d settled,
he leaned forward to look around Blake and grinned at Brooke. “Hope you’re
ready for this,” he said with a wink.
“Bring it on.”
They talked only a little about their still-unknown
enemies, mostly to make sure that Dean had gotten Blake’s message about the
second man. The group then spent the majority of the rest of the time talking
about other things and arguing over which game they should play after dinner.
When dinner was just about ready, Brooke found herself
making her way through a side hall in search of a bathroom. She’d gotten
directions from Blake, but she was afraid she might have forgotten a detail.
She sure felt lost.
“… more careful, mostly.” The whispered words drifted to
Brooke from a partially open door to her right. After a moment, she realized
the speaker was Eric. Though why he would be hiding out in some random room,
and who he was talking to, she had no idea.
Maybe that’s the
bathroom?
Brooke wondered. She hesitated a moment before stepping up and
tapping her knuckles lightly along the doorframe. Since the door was slightly
open, she wasn’t worried about catching him in an awkward position, but she
didn’t want to startle him by opening the door.
“
Obv
—” Eric began, cutting
himself off when he registered the light sound of Brooke’s knock.
The door was pulled open, and even as Eric gave her a
curious, slightly embarrassed look, Brooke realized that the room behind him
was, in fact, not the bathroom. It looked like a home office. “Sorry!” Brooke
stage-whispered with an awkward smile.
Eric’s lips curved up at the corners, and he held up one
finger as he said into the phone, “Sorry, I have to go, I think dinner’s ready.
Talk to you later.” He pulled the phone away from his ear, then, and slid it
shut. To Brooke, he said, “Um, sorry… I know it’s kind of weird that I was on
the phone in Mr. Hawke’s office, but it gets really good reception.” He paused
and gestured to the large window wall behind him. “I think it’s the window.”
Brooke nodded and stepped back so that he could leave the
room. “No, it’s fine… I was actually sort of hoping you could point me toward
the bathroom. I think I took a wrong turn after the family-photo wall.”
Eric grinned and pointed down the hall. “You didn’t,” he
said. “It’s that door there, on the left.”
Of course, it’s
barely ten feet away,
Brooke admonished herself.
How embarrassing.
“Thanks,” she said. “Dinner’s about ready, by the
way.”
“Cool,” he replied, slipping his hands in his pockets and
turning back the way she’d just come, toward the rest of the family.
****
“So, was it very bad?” Blake asked as he eased to a stop
behind Brooke’s Civic in her driveway later that night. They had stayed for
several hours after dinner, so it was nearly eleven o’clock by the time they
arrived at her apartment.
Brooke laughed and shook her head. “No, you were right, it
was fine.”
“Good,” Blake replied with a chuckle of his own. He turned
the car off before shifting in his seat to face her better. “What’s your
schedule tomorrow?”
“I work at four,” she said after a moment’s thought. “But I
was planning to finish a paper that’s due before I went in.” She paused, one
eyebrow curving up. “Why?”
“I haven’t had any time alone with you in days.”
Brooke smiled and released her seat belt. “I suppose you
can come in if you’d like, Mr. Hawke.” She popped open her door with a wink and
climbed out.
“Do you want some coffee or something?” Brooke offered as
she flipped the lock behind them after they had slipped inside the apartment.
“I’m thinking about making some for myself, so it’d be fine.”
“I’ll take a cup if you’re making it anyway,” Blake stated,
watching her as she moved past her table and into the kitchen. His eyes never
left her. The way she looked in those ivory pants, and the way her shirt rode
up just enough to tease him when she stretched to reach—and later return—the
coffee. He had to restrain himself from going up behind her and sliding his
hands beneath her shirt.
“Can I ask you another question?” Brooke suddenly said,
pulling Blake from his distracting thoughts. Somewhat.
Blake rested his hip against her table even as she turned
to face him. “Of course.”
Brooke took a deep breath and Blake recognized the signs of
embarrassment in her eyes. “I had this crazy thought,” she began, “and I’ve
actually been wondering it for a while, but … when I’m, like, swimming in the
ocean or something … can you feel me?”
Blake did his best to fight the grin that immediately
wanted to curve his lips, but he didn’t quite succeed. “I can,” he said. “But
only if I’m trying to. So, most of the time, no, I can’t. But that’s because
I’m not trying.”
Brooke pursed her lips before turning and moving to her
sink. She lifted the lever enough to create a small but steady stream. “So then
you can feel my hand if I do this…?” She stuck her hand beneath the water,
wiggling her fingers a little even as she turned back to grin at him.
Blake matched her grin and nodded. “I can,” he replied. His
eyes crinkled with laughter as the water dripping from her hand curved up and
swirled over her forearm slowly. “And I can feel you when I do that, too.”
Her attention had returned to her arm when the water began
curving along it, defying gravity as it circled her skin up to the elbow.
“Of course,” Blake began, moving to stand in front of her
and reaching out to trail his fingers along her dry arm. “I get a better image
if you’re fully submerged, like if you’re swimming.”
Brooke allowed a secret smile to slowly curve her lips and
she pulled her arm from the water, which immediately fell back to the sink, as
she said, “That could be considered sort of perverted, you know.”
Blake reached past her and lowered the lever, shutting off
the water flow and giving him a good excuse to trail the fingers of his other
hand along her arm. “That’s why I don’t usually do it. Although, with you, I
might start making an exception.”
He leaned in and she let her eyes flutter closed as their
lips met. His arms curved around her loosely, and her hands came to rest on his
chest.
Brooke pulled away after a long moment, mischief lighting
her eyes. “Seeing as how I just made coffee, why don’t we watch a movie?”
Blake smiled and fought down the heat rushing through his
veins. His hands settled lightly over her waist. “I’m game for that. Lead the
way, beautiful.”
It took her no time at all to find a decent movie and set
it up. Then she lowered herself directly beside Blake, shifting so that she
could curl into him and use his shoulder as her pillow. His arm came around her
automatically, his hand resting over her abdomen as a smile lifted his lips. He
could easily get used to this.
With the exception of when they got up to get the coffee,
Brooke spent the movie curled up against him, and he was ridiculously
comfortable.
He was almost disturbed at how easy it was to do nothing
with her and enjoy it. While he’d never been the type who always needed to be
doing
something
, he had also never
really been the type to enjoy just sitting around for long periods of time. And
yet he could sit in one position for nearly two hours, with Brooke curled into
his side, and feel as if everything was right with the world. It was a nice
feeling. The kind he wanted to hold on to for as long as he was able.
So when Brooke fell asleep shortly before the end of the
movie, Blake happily took advantage of the opportunity to stay a little longer.
After all, he couldn’t in good conscience leave her alone in an unlocked
apartment.
****
“Come on,
Brooke,
pick up,” Blake pleaded under his breath as he sped toward her apartment. His
hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. He
was close enough now that he could see the thick plume of smoke as it reached
for the sky. In his ear, the line kept ringing.
It had been nearly a week since she’d come to their monthly
family dinner—just over a week since Nate had driven into the hail storm. Blake
and Brooke had spent what time they could together, though between their
conflicting work schedules and end-of-the-semester school projects, there
hadn’t been as much time as either would have liked. He wasn’t expecting to see
her again until Sunday.