Chapter 15 #2
I’m definitely less romantic than he is because I would happily abandon our first date in favor of fondling him in the back seat of his car, but I keep my mouth shut, allowing myself to be marched across the street.
Brooks opens the passenger side door for me and waits until I’ve arranged my fluffy skirts before shutting it and striding around to the driver’s side.
“You did all this today?” I ask as he pulls out into traffic, lacing our fingers together atop the center console.
Brooks smiles, clearly pleased with himself. “I might have called in a few favors. I’d already known it was your birthday, obviously, but my original gift was not romantic. Adjustments needed to be made.”
Now I’m curious. “What was it?”
“A cooking class, with the owners of China Village. They agreed to part with their bacon garlic bread recipe.”
He says it so nonchalantly, as though anyone else could have thought of it, but my jaw drops. “Brooks! That’s crazy romantic! Bacon garlic bread is like, our thing !” I love that even when he was trying to be platonic, this man is still so incredibly sweet and thoughtful.
“Christ, is it?” he winces and I smack his chest playfully, my cheeks aching from smiling so much.
I’ve had moments before where I felt happy, but it wasn’t like this, and it wasn’t an entire day of can’t stop smiling, heart might explode, the man I love loves me back, happy.
Glancing at me as he turns onto a side street, Brooks squeezes my hand.
“I’ll remember for next year. I’m afraid you’re stuck with an intimate candle-lit dinner with your boyfriend at a place that does not sell any such monstrosities. ”
I drop my head onto his shoulder, my heart doing flip-flops at how easily he called himself my boyfriend. “Sounds lame. I’ll try it, though.”
“You’ll enjoy yourself. I checked that they had at least one cheese-stuffed entrée before bribing Jenna for her reservation.”
This guy loves the crap out of me. It’s the best.
The restaurant turns out to be a brand new, trendy steakhouse downtown with a line of fancy cars waiting at the valet stand. There are tiny fairy lights strung through the trees lining the sidewalk, and I feel like I’m glowing when Brooks smoothly cuts off the valet, who attempts to help me out.
I’d been wondering if he would want to take it slow, or if there would be a period where we kept our relationship quiet for the sake of his career.
Apparently, discretion isn’t a concern to Brooks, because he walks into the restaurant with his hand pressed firmly against the small of my back and helps me with my coat in front of all the people waiting in the lobby.
We look like a couple, and when the hostess welcomes us as “Doctor and Mrs. Harrison,” his fingers dig possessively into my waist. He likes the sound of that.
Then again, so do I.
My buoyant mood lasts until we get into the dining room. At first, I don’t notice him, too preoccupied with listening to Brooks murmur in my ear how unbelievably stunning I look, but then I turn slightly to avoid knocking into a table, and my steps falter because there he is.
My father.
Until now, it’s felt a bit like I’ve shoved River Jacobs away in the boxes with all my snowboarding stuff, out of the way and contained.
I didn’t think about it, didn’t want to think about it, and the ups and downs of my relationship with Brooks were consuming enough to let me avoid facing it for the time being.
A part of me expected I would have to see him again someday, but I pictured it being on my terms, not randomly bumping into him at a steakhouse on my birthday.
He’s sitting at a table across from a tall, beautiful woman with dark hair and skin.
She’s talking animatedly about something, but he isn’t listening, staring over her shoulder right at me.
Every muscle in my body tenses like I’m ready for a fight, the sounds around us seem to have died away, and for a moment we just stare at each other.
Brooks leans down to speak into my ear, his voice a quiet rush.
“Let’s go home, Delta. Or to another restaurant. ”
I shake my head. “No. We’re here. It’s okay, Brooks. I had to see him sometime.”
The hostess has halted a few yards ahead of us, bemused. “Is everything alright?”
I nod, hitching my trusty PR smile on my face, and it feels rusty and awkward after so long. We follow her past where my father and his date are sitting, right to the furthest corner of the restaurant where we’re almost hidden behind a massive metal sculpture.
The moment we sit down and the hostess has gone, we stare at each other in numb disbelief.
“Shit,” Brooks curses under his breath, obviously furious. “I can’t believe this. What are the chances?”
“It’s okay,” I repeat, trying to shake off the numb shock. “It’s just… weird, you know? I walked away and never looked back. Apart from my brothers, my life is totally different now. I haven’t even been keeping up on what’s happened with the club after Bay, Lake and I left.”
Brooks hesitates. “I might have read some stuff. I didn’t want to mention it, while you were focusing on recovering.
” I raise my eyebrows expectantly and he sighs, running a hand through his hair, effectively ruining the attempt at tidiness.
“Let’s just say River is getting a lot of bad press right now, and rightfully so.
I did some digging, after your accident.
Athletes who train under your father statistically perform well but retire sooner, and have a considerably higher rate of career-ending injuries. ”
A gaping hole has opened up in my chest. “Like me.”
“Yes,” Brooks confirms, looking tortured. “Like you. Your accident got a lot of attention. Bay felt very strongly that you didn’t need to be exposed to the media storm, and I agreed. You could have looked any of this up on your own?—”
“I didn’t want to.”
He winces apologetically. “Needless to say, I’m glad.
When it was made public that your brothers had left Blue Pike, people assumed that they felt River had caused your accident.
The circumstances certainly don’t look good for him.
Nothing concrete has been published, though.
It’s mostly industry speculation, but his reputation isn’t quite as shiny as it once was. ”
I don’t reply. Since leaving the hospital, I’ve gone out of my way to not think about the accident a lot, but when have, it’s been in the context of being my fault . I was the one on the snowboard. I was the one who had reservations and chose to push through.
Was it , though?
Dad didn’t force me over the edge, but he wouldn’t let me back down, either.
Then there’s that moment, right before my accident, when I didn’t want to do it.
I told him I didn’t want to do it. The Everwater reps were watching.
His reputation, mine, and a pile of money were on the line, and he cared more about all that than he did about me.
If he’d told me to listen to my instincts, I’m not sure we would be here right now.
“I think maybe he did cause the accident,” I admit, my throat tight, and Brooks reaches over the table to take my hand just as our server appears.
He orders us a bottle of wine, that I don’t dare look at the price of, before dragging his chair to the side of the table closest to me and pressing a kiss to my temple.
“I’m sorry this all came up tonight of all nights,” he mumbles against my skin, and I lean into him, feeling the tension ebb from my body just from being close to him.
“I’m okay.” Brooks raises his eyebrows skeptically, and I smile. “I am. Especially now.” I reach up to play with his now-messy curls. “I love your hair, have I ever told you that? You’re always so clean and put together, but your curls stick up all over the place.”
“It’s going gray.” He looks embarrassed, as though the reminder he’s so much older than me will suddenly be an issue.
I smile, tracing my fingers through the silver strands on his temples. “I know. I’m into it.”
He takes my wandering hand in his, kissing the delicate skin of my inner wrist, when a nearby movement makes us both look up. My father is looking down at us, his expression grave.
“Happy birthday, DJ.” He gestures to an empty chair at the table next to ours. “Do you mind if I sit?”
“Yes,” Brooks snarls, not bothering with pleasantries. “ We absolutely do mind.”
Dad’s eyes narrow on him. “This is unexpected, Doctor Harrison. Do you entertain all your patients like this?”
“Dad.” My voice cracks, and glare up at him. “If I wanted to speak to you, I would have reached out. You pushed too hard, and I think you know that. You don’t get to ambush me today of all days. I need some time .”
I expect him to fight back. That was always what happened when I exerted the tiniest amount of pushback in our relationship, but he doesn’t. We stare at each other for a long moment, then, slowly, nods. “Okay.” Stepping away from the table, he gives me a quick, tight smile. “Happy birthday, kid.”
The second he’s vanished from sight, I feel my shoulders slump, and I look at Brooks. “Can we get cheeseburgers and eat them in bed?”
He immediately raises his hand to get our server’s attention, looking relieved. “Yeah. That sounds great.”