Chapter 11
CADE
While I still found solace in watching my weekly baseball games—the Jays were struggling, but they might actually have a shot at the postseason—I began to browse the channels airing romance movies as well.
The guys at the firehouse would give me endless grief if they found out, but I needed a playbook, and I was open to any research to guide me.
Girls liked these movies for a reason, right?
According to Val, I had one real shot left, and I was not going to mess this up. I wasn’t one to waste time feeling sorry for myself, preferring instead to set a goal and put my mind to achieving it.
Titanic had been a bust for me, but The Notebook hit me surprisingly hard.
The old guy reminded me of my dad, the steady way he’d always helped my mom with anything she needed.
When we were kids, I’d often wished Brooke had had a dad as supportive as mine.
It wasn’t an overwhelmingly affectionate relationship I’d seen at home, but it was balanced and secure, and I’d always instinctively known my parents loved each other and would always take care of each other.
What really hit me, though, was the fire between young Noah and Allie.
The obstacles they’d faced, and how she almost settled for a different dude.
Their fights were kind of unhinged, but for some reason, the story still tugged at my heartstrings.
He really never gave up on her, all those years. I felt a kinship there.
I’d always felt like Brooke and I were tethered by an invisible string. Even as it unspooled and we went through phases where we were further apart (emotionally or geographically), the connection was still there.
Two weeks and two days after my original call, heart in my throat, I picked up my phone and hit dial on the contact for Brooke’s place.
Once again, her roommate answered.
I tried to stay positive.
“Hi, Whitney, right? This is Cade. Look—I know maybe she doesn’t want to talk to me.
I don’t know exactly what she’s going through, or what she’s told you about me.
I don’t want to pile on, but I’ve known her a long time and—I can tell something is going on with her.
Do you think she’d be up for talking to me? ”
Whitney took a breath. “Well, Cade, your instincts aren’t off base.
She’s definitely battling some demons, though I won’t get into specifics without her permission.
I can’t honestly say whether talking to you at this point will help or hurt.
She’s not here right now, anyway. She has a standing Thursday night date night with Brock. ”
I’d be lying if I said hearing that she was out with another guy wasn’t a gut punch, but I swallowed my pride and pressed on.
Friends, I reminded myself.
“How long have you known her?” I asked, curious.
“We interned together as nurses a couple years ago. We hit it off right away and decided to room together. Boston’s expensive, ya know.”
“Yeah—same with California. My place is what the realtors like to call ‘cozy.’ I think I can lay down and touch every wall of my living room at once.”
She chuckled. “Brooke—she’s my soulmate, in a friend kind of way. I don’t have many friends. I don’t think Brooke does either anymore. When we hang out, or talk, there’s no pretense, if that makes sense. I’d do anything for her.”
“Not that you’d have reason to believe this, but . . . I would, too,” I admitted.
“I do believe it,” Whitney acknowledged quietly. Hope expanded in my chest—Brooke clearly hadn’t thrown me under the bus too badly with her friend.
“Whitney, I don’t know how to get her to talk to me.
I think part of her wants to, and I don’t think that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
I screwed up when we were teens, and I asked for more than she was able to give me.
And I screwed up again at the reunion. But I’m not asking her for anything now.
I really do just want to be there for her. ”
“What did you do before when she wouldn’t talk to you? Back in school? Surely you pissed her off a time or two in ten years.”
I thought for a minute, my mind reaching back into the past. “I wrote her notes.”
Her reply came almost instantly.
“Then write her notes.”
I thought about Noah and his letters. “Whitney, do you think—would Brooke mind if I had your address? I think I have a plan.”