30. Lucas
30
LUCAS
Tonight is the dress rehearsal for the play. And tomorrow is the play’s opening night.
If Serena and Brooke are right, something big should be happening soon.
Brooke has spent the last couple of days in a frenzy of work on the backdrops, painting wood and canvas until midnight and leaving the house at eight a.m. to get started again.
When I search the theater for her before the rehearsal starts, I find her standing backstage in the wing area, where the scenery is stored. Serena is standing next to her, taking notes in her notebook. Cast and crew are milling around.
Brooke’s eyes are closed and she’s talking out loud. “Coffee, cream with two sugars. Chocolate chip cookies. The smell of fresh paint. Lloyd Langley. Tara. That bookstore in the Village.”
It sounds like a list of things from our real life that she’s trying to remind herself of.
“Brooke?”
Her eyes open and she gives me a startled look. There’s a long, long pause as she stares at me questioningly. I could swear for a minute she doesn’t recognize me .
“Hey, Lucas,” she says finally. “Lucas Sheffield. How’s it going?”
“Is everything okay?” I ask her.
She manages a smile. “Everything’s great. I saw Officer Hernandez and Brenda a little while ago, and they were holding hands. Everyone was talking about it.” She blinks rapidly. “I’m fine.”
I glance over at Serena. She narrows her eyes at me. “What is that look?”
“It’s a look of relief. Your makeup looks decent today and your clothes match.”
Serena’s eyes narrow as she looks at Brooke. “Is he always this much of a...”
“An alpha-hole? You wrote him that way.” Brooke’s smile is faint, and I think she looks kind of pale. Maybe she’s coming down with something? She’s been at the theater, which I’ve learned is her happy place. I don’t know why she looks like this.
“I’m saying that you are holding it together and not reverting to your Green Acres character, okay?” I say to Serena, while casting a worried glance at Brooke.
Serena replies with a grim smile. “Thank you. Sorry, I’m stressed and it’s making me cranky. I’m not used to depending on other people, but my entire fate depends on you guys acting out your parts and... anyway, you did a great job getting Brenda and Officer Hernandez together. We’re making good progress.”
“Thank you.” I nod in appreciation. “Brooke, want to go take our seats?”
She and Serena follow me out to the audience area. There are about thirty people there.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to hit the men’s room before the play starts. Save me a seat, will you?”
I duck into the men’s room to take care of business. As I’m washing my hands, Theodore emerges from a stall, and oddly, he’s got crumbs all over his face and his shirt.
“Dick move, serving Carmel with a restraining order,” I say coolly. “Hey, what is that I smell?”
He looks at me askance. “Well, we’re in a bathroom, so...” He sidles away from me.
“No, not that kind of smell. Do I smell cinnamon? And what kinds of crumbs are those?” I demand.
His eyes widen. He tries to pass me, and I block him.
“You’ve been eating Carmel’s muffins!” I yell at him.
Okay, that may have sounded dirtier than I meant it to.
“Liar! No, I haven’t! Carmel who?” His face reddens as he dodges around me and flees the room.
Shaking my head, I go to find Brooke, who’s sitting next to Serena a few rows away from the front. Officer Hernandez and Christopher are sitting in the row ahead of us, and it’s clear they’ve worked out their differences.
And Brenda is backstage getting ready to make her debut as Juliet.
“Hey, guys. I’m glad you worked everything out,” I say to Christopher, leaning forward.
“Susie and Jasper are quite the matchmakers, aren’t they?” Serena speaks up.
“Uhhh...” Officer Hernandez trails off. “They’re quite something, anyway.”
“We weren’t that great,” I admit.
“We were pretty bad, actually.” Brooke nods in agreement.
“The worst,” Officer Hernandez says. “But they had good intentions, and it worked out in the end.”
The end.
I long to see those words in Brooke’s magic book. I wonder when this particular novel will come to the end, or if it ever will.
I glance at my watch. The rehearsal starts soon .
Brooke grips my hand. “Tell me something about back home,” she says, in a tone of sudden urgency.
“Uh, your favorite take-out food to order at the office was mac and cheese from that bougie deli around the corner from our office building. It cost like thirty bucks, which even I thought was ridiculous, and I’m richer than God.”
“It was?” She swallows hard.
“Of course it was; you’ve had it a million times. Brooke, what’s wrong?”
She stands up abruptly.
Before she can answer, Henry storms over to me. ”You son of a bitch,” he snarls at me. “Lying bastard!”
“Quiet!” Officer Hernandez snaps at him. “What’s your problem? The rehearsal’s about to start.”
Henry glares at me, his lip curling back in contempt. “I should have known you were a fraud. Dorian’s not fired. The company’s investors flew into town, and he’s taking them on a tour of our business.”
“Oh my God. Seriously? This has to happen now?” I shoot a murderous stare at Serena, who’s opened her mouth to speak. “If you say plot twist, I swear to God, my head will explode and then you will have no romance and be stuck here forever,” I growl at her.
“Shhh!” Officer Hernandez hisses at me. “Take it outside, guys!”
“I need a minute. I’ll... I’ll be here for the play tomorrow,” Brooke says, and she quickly makes her way down the aisle.
I follow her, and Henry follows me.
When we get outside, she says to me, “I’m going home. I don’t feel great right now.”
Worry clenches my insides.
“Do you need a doctor?” Brooke never, ever gets sick.
“No, it’s not that bad. I’ve just had a long day. My head hurts. Excuse me.” She turns and hurries off, breaking into a jog.
“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” Henry snaps at me.
“Not now, Henry.” I stalk after Brooke. Henry keeps following me.
I slow down and shoot him an exasperated look. “Look, he’s lying, okay? Dorian is a liar. I run the company, not him, and I don’t give a damn what he says. I will straighten this out in the morning. Right now, I need to see what’s wrong with—with Susie.”
“You’ll straighten it out, will you?” He snorts in contempt. “Well, I want to be there to hear that.”
“Fine. Meet me at our offices at nine a.m. Now leave me be.”
Brooke’s a couple of blocks ahead of me now.
I have to run to catch up with her. She runs all the way back to the house, and I’m thinking she must feel nauseous.
When we get inside, she rushes to the bathroom. I wonder where we can find a doctor at this time of night.
A couple of minutes later, she emerges and gives me a puzzled look. “Jasper, what’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or Pri-Annelise.”
I give her a puzzled look. She’s acting extremely strange, especially given that minutes ago, I thought I’d be calling an ambulance for her.
“What? I’m not jealous. Not anymore. Come on, I can laugh about it.” She grins at me.
I frown. “We’re in private, so you don’t have to call me Jasper. In fact, it’s better if you don’t. We have to make sure our characters don’t take over.”
“Our characters? Say what?” She cocks her head to the side, looking puzzled.
There’s something different about her, the way she stands, the way she’s looking at me. It’s like there’s a different person in Brooke’s body.
“Brooke?” I say cautiously.
“Who?” Her brows draw together in annoyance. “I don’t know if you’re trying to make some kind of joke, but after the whole Pri-Annelise thing, okay, I guess maybe I am a little sensitive. It’s my fault for making a joke about it.”
“Susie McGillicuddy?”
“That’s my name; don’t wear it out.” She smiles sadly. “My dad always used to say that when my mother said his name. Ultimate dad joke. I wish he was still with us. I think he’d like you a lot. Well, he’d like you now that you’ve come to your senses.”
A chill sweeps over me.
Susie, not Brooke, frowns and rubs her fingers on her temples. “My headache’s gone. Haven’t gotten one of those in ages. I don’t know if I should go back to see the rehearsal tonight, or just watch the play tomorrow. I guess I don’t want to walk in on the rehearsal after it’s started. Should we go during the intermission?”
“I don’t know.” I feel sick to my stomach.
I don’t know what to do here. I don’t know how to wake Brooke up.
“What was your favorite food in Manhattan?” I ask.
She gives me a puzzled look. “Manhattan? I’ve never been. I was in LA after I left here. Never got a chance to go to New York.”
“Mac and cheese from the bougie deli?” I prod her. “Remember?”
She shakes her head and smiles. “You’re being even weirder than usual, Jasper, but that’s okay—you’re my kind of weird.”
Ice water is running through my veins. My heart is thundering in panic. “Lloyd Langley. Do you remember him? ”
She blinks, looking puzzled. “Doesn’t ring a bell. Did we go to school with him?”
“We... we should go to the play during intermission.” I desperately need to talk to Serena. Maybe she’ll have some idea of what to do.
“You know, now that I think about it, I’m going to take a couple of aspirin and lie down. You go if you want to. I don’t mind.” She smiles, wincing a little. “I’ll be fine by the time you get back. Can you believe I made all of that scenery? I don’t know what got into me. Art was never really my thing, but I just felt inspired. I think I’ll go back to acting now that I’m here, though. Are you all right?”
I take a couple of steps back.
I am far from all right. I am sick, panicked, freaking out.
“Hey, sweetie?” Brooke never calls me sweetie .
“Yes?” I say faintly.
“Give me a kiss before you go,” she says.
“I... I’ll see you when I get back.”
I turn and flee without looking back.
Brooke is gone. I’ve lost Brooke. There’s nothing left of her.