Chapter Six #2
“I don’t think it would work. I don’t think they will
settle,” Brooke admitted. “I think they would know I’m playing chicken with
them since if I actually took it to trial, my brothers and more importantly, my
sister-in-law and niece and nephews get dragged in. So does this town. But he’s
going to blackball me. They basically said good luck finding something new.”
“I can file some paperwork and we could see how they
respond. We can gauge where to go from there. But if it goes anywhere, you’ll
need counsel in Manhattan. I don’t have those connections anymore. I’m still
licensed to practice there, but this was not my specialty. But I can start the
initial work if you want to.”
“I can give you some money.”
Gemma waved her off. “No. I’ll handle it pro bono, but I
want you to have realistic expectations. It’s going to take a couple of weeks.
This is not a quick process.”
Brooke wiped away a tear and swore she wasn’t going to cry.
“I will. I feel like I should do something. Fight for my career.”
“Do you want your job back?”
“No. I could never work there again, but how can I let them
get away with it?”
“Then we’ll start the process, but it’s an uphill fight.
Have you thought about trying to find a job in LA? Or London, maybe? You know
you have some impressive connections. Stef alone could get you on somewhere.”
There was a reason she hadn’t wanted Stef to help. “Then I’m
the nepo hire or the girl whose rich uncle bought her a spot.”
“And you prove yourself,” Gemma countered. “Look, Brooke,
I’ve literally been on the other side of this. I was pushed out of a job for a
person who had way less talent than I had. Less education. Less work ethic.
What she did have was a very wealthy dad. So I loathe people like that, but I
don’t know what I would have done if I had connections. You have the right to
use what you have as long as you prove yourself once you’re there.”
“And if I need some time to think about what I want to do? I
know I should find another job as quickly as possible,” Brooke began.
“Or you could give yourself the summer to figure things out.
What’s your lease situation?”
“Oh, Ami sent me a text late last night asking if I was
staying because she’s got someone willing to pay three hundred more than me,”
Brooke explained. It was one of the many revelations waiting for her this
morning.
“We’ll send someone to pack you up.” Gemma started making
notes in a small book. “I’ll call Seth. I assure you he can have someone over
there by this evening. Give me a list of things, or do you trust this
roommate?”
“Ami doesn’t want anything I own. She’ll point it all out. I
can pay…”
Gemma groaned. “Stop. See, this is the independent woman
trap. I’m going to tell you the secret I’ve learned. You can be independent and
need help. Your friends and family aiding you isn’t about you being weak. It’s
about your family being strong. So toss those thoughts right out, and now we’re
full circle and you’ve answered your own question about how you can have liked
the sexual encounter and still hold your head up as a woman. Because it has
nothing to do with your independence. It has to do with your needs. There is
nothing stronger than being open and honest about your needs. You found two men
who made you feel safe enough to let go.”
Nope. She was crying. Damn it. Gemma was right. “They did. I
felt free.”
“Because you found something good. Do not let anyone take
that from you. Don’t let shame lead you. Tell your brothers what happened and
why you feel like you can’t fight. Let it be their choice to give you
permission to move forward or to ask for you to sacrifice this for their kids.
And then when you know what you want, we go to Stef or Seth and make a plan.”
It felt like failure, but she wasn’t going to argue with
Gemma. “You came here after you got fired. How long was it before you knew it
was right to stay?”
Gemma seemed to think about it for a moment. “I suppose when
I looked up at the stars and I really saw them for the first time. I laid back
on the grass outside of Jesse and Cade’s cabin and I realized I never looked
up. I never let myself be. I was so worried about the future that I had never
once enjoyed the moment. The present is all we truly have. The past is sweet
memories and the future, well, it comes faster and faster now, and then it’s
the present, and I was still moving the goal posts. I’m still ambitious, but my
ambitions are about helping people more than acquiring a bunch of stuff that
won’t make me happy in the end. I love this town. I love my husbands. I love
that my mom is healthy and happy. And I love me now in a way I did not before,
and D/s helped me find all of those things. Because D/s taught me to trust not
only my partners, but myself. Tell me something, and be honest about it. Even
if it’s only with yourself. How did it make you feel?”
“Powerful. Beautiful. Worthy.” She dabbed at her eyes with
her napkin. “But I don’t see how I could make it work with them.”
“You don’t have to. Sweetie, when was the last time you
weren’t working toward a goal?”
You are going to college, kiddo. I do not put on that
sheriff’s uniform so you can work at Stella’s.
Don’t you worry about a thing, Brooke. Rye and I will
make sure everything is okay. All you need to worry about is getting into a
good school and getting a good job.
Oh, they hadn’t meant to do it, but her brothers had flipped
a switch inside her with the words. They were trying to let her be who she
wanted to be, but in trying to do that, she’d simply wanted to make them proud,
and that had become her ambition. “I don’t remember.”
“Then breathe, Brooke. You are in a unique position. You
don’t need a job right this second. You can take some time and enjoy a summer.”
“I kind of have a job, not that it pays much. Cleo asked me
to take over the wardrobe department for the rep theater. She’s under the
impression that I’ll be gone in a couple of weeks, but I don’t think she’d be
upset if I stuck around.”
“And how does that make you feel?”
Brooke shrugged. “I used to love costume design, but by the
time I got into Parson’s, I was set on high fashion.”
“Because you loved it?”
“Because it was the best.”
“The best for who?” Gemma asked, but kindly. She reached out
and put a hand on Brooke’s. “I have seen so many people come to Bliss to find
themselves. Stop listening to the negative voices in your head. Stop listening
to a society that will never serve you properly. I wanted to be the best. The
best lawyer. The most successful person my family had ever produced. I figured
out the only thing that matters is being the best Gemma I can be. The best
friend and partner and daughter. The best me possible, and I work on it every
day. And I’m still sarcastic and I still don’t want kids, even though I love my
friends’ kids to death. I didn’t fall into some small-town dream life. Bliss
helped me make my own paradise, one I built from the ground up, but it started
by figuring out who I really was. Who I am. Just because you grew up here
doesn’t mean you’ve ever once given in to the real magic of this place. So take
the summer and see Bliss through new eyes, and maybe you’ll find a new you,
too.”
She squeezed Gemma’s hand. “Do you think I should suck it up
and apologize to my brothers?”
Gemma shuddered like that was the worst plan ever. “Why
would you do that? They sicced a PI on you. They need to apologize.”
They weren’t known for apologies. They would think they were
in the right, and the fact that she was in trouble proved it. “So I can have a
place to stay.”
Gemma leaned forward, putting her other hand over Brooke’s.
“Oh, no. You have a place to stay. You have the foreman’s house.”
“But it’s not mine, and I don’t want to put Beth and Hope
out.”
“I need you to think about why Beth leapt on the opportunity
to steal you right out from under Rachel. She didn’t have to offer that house
up. They use it as their playroom. I assure you they’ll cut back with the three
of you living there. So why would she do it?”
“To help out Shane and Bay.” Oh, she was being dumb. “She
knows I’ll babysit.”
Gemma chuckled and sat back. “And there we are. She’s not
planning on taking advantage, but Hope’s in her last months, and they depend on
each other to help with the kids. I need to emphasize that she is not bringing
you in as an unpaid nanny, but I know she’ll feel better if there’s a competent
woman she can leave her babies with if she needs to take Hope somewhere.”
She actually felt better knowing she could help. “Well, I
will have to split my time then because I think that’s why my sister-in-law was
excited to have me here. The good news is the G is a great place to hold a play
group. Between that and my theater job, I’ll have plenty to do.” It felt good
to make some choices. It felt good to get rid of that stupid timer on her
relationship with Bay and Shane. “Could you please ask Seth to send someone to
my old place and do the paperwork?”
“I’ll need a formal interview, but not today.” She closed
her notebook. “Today we’re going to talk about sex and kink, and how there’s
nothing shameful about it.”
“I am here for this talk.” Lucy Carson was suddenly at the
table, and she hadn’t come alone.
Brooke had texted her when Gemma changed the meet spot to
the lodge. She couldn’t walk into Lucy’s workplace without at least giving her
a hug. Apparently Lucy had called River Lee, because she was here, too.
Brooke got up and got those hugs. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Lucy held her close. “We’re happy you’re home.”
River got in on the affection. “So happy.”
River sniffled as she stepped back. “Now Luce texted me and
told me you were coming, so we’re crashing your lunch. And I heard something
about an engagement.”
Lucy snorted. “I told you. She got caught with her hands in
the ménage jar and her brothers were obnoxious, so she tossed that out thinking