10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
C ody escorted Brooke to her class to take her test, even though she was wiped out. She insisted she needed to finish it before she left to keep her grade and graduate with honors. He begrudgingly left her to it and handed in her term paper to her other professor. Then, he went back to her dorm room and packed her suitcases and as much of her stuff as he could fit into his car.
Ready to take her back to the ranch, he called Susanne to let her know an approximate time to expect them.
“Cody, how is she? Are you on your way home?”
“Soon. She’s finishing a test. We should be there by dinner.”
Susanne let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. Good. Um, you should know, Kristi stayed at the house last night, waiting for you to return.”
Kristi had started staying over more frequently after Christmas, but then it tapered off. She’d claim she was tired. That he was up too late working on cases or board stuff and he didn’t spend time with her anyway. When they were in bed together…the sex lacked the kind of passion he’d gotten a taste of with Brooke. He’d tried harder to coax Kristi to be more…open. Uninhibited. Sometimes she even tried.
You can’t compare her to Brooke. They’re different.
Exactly. One fit him to a T. The other seemed to be a good match, but just wasn’t.
Cody tried to focus. “I take it Kristi is still there.”
“Yes.” The bite in that word told him Susanne didn’t want her there either.
“Do you mind handing her the phone? Or I could call her cell.”
“She’s camped out in the living room working on her laptop. Tell Brooke I love her and I can’t wait to see her, okay?”
“I will.”
Susanne huffed out a breath. “Hold on.”
“Cody.” Kristi’s cheerful voice came over the line. “When will you be home?”
“Tonight.” He needed to handle this delicately. “Brooke is…not doing well. I’m going to have to take care of her until she’s feeling better.” He hoped she got the hint.
“I’m sure Susanne will want to do that once Brooke is home. You have lots of other responsibilities and obligations.” She wasn’t giving up on having him all to herself.
He wasn’t about to have this long-overdue conversation over the phone. “Brooke needs me. She can barely walk on her own.”
“Once you have her here settled, she’ll get all the rest and relaxation she needs.” She sounded so reasonable, even though she was being heartless.
“Kristi.”
“Yes?” Her voice hadn’t changed at all during their discussion. It was like she was purposely avoiding the elephant in the room and the inevitable outcome coming her way.
“I think it would be best if you weren’t there when I bring Brooke home. She doesn’t want to see anyone right now. Your presence will only upset her.”
“Cody. I’m your fiancée. I’m part of your life. Don’t shut me out.” The order came out clipped, with a heaping dose of frustration and anger.
Cody didn’t have time or patience for either. “I’m asking you to think about Brooke and what she needs right now.”
“All you do is think about her, isn’t it?”
“Now is not the time to talk about this.” He didn’t want to do it over the phone. He wanted a clearer head.
“Great. We’ll talk about it when you get home.” She hung up on him.
Fuck!
He didn’t want her there when he brought Brooke home, but he couldn’t do anything about it now. Kristi had left him several messages on his cell phone since this morning. He’d ignored all of them. And now he was paying for it.
Double fuck.
He didn’t want to put Brooke through any more stress or upset.
He hoped Kristi thought better of standing her ground and went home before he and Brooke arrived. He hoped that she’d understand that Brooke had lost something precious and didn’t want to be around anyone right now.
After the loss she’d suffered, she should be more sympathetic. Kristi hadn’t even asked if he was okay.
He didn’t dwell on it or his other thoughts about Kristi right now. He’d get to that soon and used the extra half hour he had while Brooke took her test to call his office and take care of what he could over the phone.
When he walked into the classroom where Brooke sat taking her test almost two hours after she’d started, he expected to find her ready to leave and waiting for him. Instead, he found her sitting and staring into space, her test unfinished. She was far from done.
She didn’t notice him. She held their daughter in her lap and zoned out.
“She’s been like that on and off over the last hour. I’ve been able to talk her back and complete a few more questions. From what I can see, she’s doing well on the exam.” Professor Raymer set down the papers he’d graded and came forward. “Listen, if she can’t finish, I can grade what she’s done and base her grade on her coursework and the number of points accumulated on the test. Dean Fitzpatrick has already said she gets a break. She can have as long as she likes to take the test, but she’s in no condition to do it.”
“Let me see if I can get her to finish. It’s important to her that she does.”
“No problem. I understand.” He went back to his desk and grading papers.
Cody approached Brooke slowly, not wanting to spook her. Although, she was the one who looked like a ghost. “Brooke, honey.”
She flinched and raised her arms to protect herself.
He slowly kneeled in front of her.
Her gaze found his, but she still seemed out of it. “Hi, honey. How’re you doing?”
“Fine,” she said automatically.
“Yeah. Are you tired?”
Her eyes were half-closed. “Mmm hmm.”
“How about we finish this test, so we can go home. You can sleep in the car. I have it all packed and ready to go. Your mom can’t wait to see you.”
“I’m still working on the test.”
“Okay. You finish up, and I’ll just sit here and wait, okay?”
“Okay.” She looked down at the test, marked one of the multiple-choice answers, and went to the next.
Cody watched her. After about five minutes, she slowed down. She seemed to struggle over reading the questions, and then she just stared at the paper. All the while, she kept her hand on their daughter in her lap.
“Honey, I’ll read the question, and you tell me the answer.”
Her sad eyes found him again. “I’m confused. The words are jumbled.”
“Okay. We’ll do this together.” He read the questions and answers to her for half an hour before she drifted again.
She slumped in the chair, her head down, too tired to do more than sit and listen, her face pale with a fine sheen of sweat covering her skin. He rubbed her leg and brought her back each time she spaced out. It took another twenty minutes, but she managed to finish. When they were done, the professor glanced over the test quickly and reassured Brooke, “You definitely passed with flying colors.”
Cody shook the man’s hand. “Thank you for giving her this chance to finish.”
“She’s smart. A great student. She deserves to pass the class and earn her credits.”
Cody helped Brooke to the car, keeping his pace slow and easy, and gave her some meds to ease her pain. They drove over to the dorm. Brooke waited in the car and he texted Mindy Sue. Julie and a few of the other ladies came down to say goodbye. Brooke couldn’t make it inside the building, let alone up to the third floor. All of the women cried as they said their goodbyes. Brooke was so wiped out, only a few tears came.
By the time he reached the interstate, she’d fallen asleep, laid out in the seat he’d leaned back flat. A combination of exhaustion and the medication. She slept fitfully the whole way home, and he was grateful.
The simplest things sapped her energy. Her face turned an awful gray, her cheeks hollow. The dark circles under her eyes and the way she moaned in her sleep worried him the most. She wasn’t getting better and appeared worse as the hours passed. He seriously considered taking her directly to the hospital instead of the ranch. She’d done too much, too soon. At the ranch, she’d get the rest she needed.