Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Leif
Brooke wanted to meet me at the restaurant, rather than having me pick her up.
Honestly, I was shocked she had even agreed to the date in the first place, so I wasn’t going to be picky about it.
She had a kid to worry about, and though I had been in her house, and knew where she lived, there were boundaries. And I understood them.
But I still wanted to know why.
Why she’d given up on us before we had even had a chance all those years ago.
Had she found someone else? Well, clearly, she had because she was a mom, after all. But had she found someone else right after Paris? While we were still in Paris?
Had she realized that she wanted someone different and I wasn’t it?
Our time in Paris had meant something to me.
Clearly, it had meant something different to her, and maybe tonight we would actually figure out what that was.
Or we could move on from who we had been, something I was trying to do now that I wasn’t a teenager or twentysomething anymore. Maybe ignoring our pasts and moving on was the best bet. She had said yes to this date, after all—that counted for something.
And I was going to make sure it did because I needed it to.
I wanted her, and I wanted to see what could happen if we finally did take that chance.
I pulled into the casual American cuisine restaurant and got out of the car, not at all surprised to see that Brooke was already there.
She stood by the entrance in a pretty dress, high heels, and frowned down at her phone.
That little V between her brows deepened and I wondered if she was worried about something, or if she was already regretting this.
I cleared my throat. “I should have remembered that you like to be earlier than anybody else. I’m sorry I’m late.”
Brooke looked up, her eyes wide, and she slid her phone into her purse and smiled at me.
My heart sped up with that smile. I got lost in those eyes, and it was hard for me to even think.
She had always done that to me, and here she was, doing it again.
“I’m just perpetually early. My sitter and Luke were having such a grand old time, that they didn’t need me to stay and interrupt their evening any longer than I was.
” She rolled her eyes, grinning. She wasn’t worried about the sitter spending so much time with her kid that it changed her dynamic.
She was self-assured when she came to being a mother; I liked that about her.
“Luke’s a great kid, I could see why he gets along with everybody that he meets.”
Brooke beamed as if I had told her that she just won a million dollars. “He really is the best. And he loves his nanny already. I was a little worried about starting off a whole new relationship when we moved out here, but they clicked right away, and I’m forever grateful for her.”
“I’m glad that you’re able to get childcare worked out.”
I gestured towards the restaurant, placed my hand at the small of her back, and tried to ignore the warmth emanating off of her as she stiffened ever so slightly, before relaxing into my touch.
I counted that as a win because she hadn’t pulled away. I might’ve surprised her, but she wasn’t pulling away.
“I’m glad that I was able to work everything out as well. The school has some childcare, but not exactly what I wanted. I never want Luke to feel like a burden.”
I nodded and gave my name to the hostess as she looked for our reservation. We followed the woman quickly to the table. I sat across from Brooke, trying not to get lost in her eyes, and to remember what we were talking about.
“My family decided around the time that they were all having kids to create a childcare facility for all the Montgomerys. It started off as a room in the back of the tattoo shop and turned into something a bit bigger. With so many cousins, it made sense. Now there are Montgomery family childcare services in four cities.”
Brooke leaned forward, grinning. “Is it just for Montgomerys? Or do you guys have an actual business for people with Montgomery connections?”
“We’re a business, in that we have all the paperwork and it is legal, but really only family and friends of the Montgomerys, and those who work for Montgomery-owned businesses can keep their kids there.
We’re talking about more than a dozen or so kids at a time, especially back when all my siblings were younger.
I don’t think they could handle much more. ”
Brooke’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “All I have is Luke, so it’s kind of unimaginable that you have so many family members. Though I felt that way when we first met. You had this huge family, and I had only had my parents.”
Something crossed her features, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to dive too deep into all that pain and loss. And from the way that she closed up, neither was she. I had to keep this casual at first, go slow.
As in, don’t scare her with promises of forever because I wasn’t sure that’s what I had to offer. I had to make sure that’s what either of us would want in the first place.
“I still can’t believe I said yes,” Brooke blurted, and I threw my head back and laughed.
I noticed a few stares our way, but I shrugged them off. I was used to people staring. I was a big guy, had tattoos and piercings, and grew up with people who had even more than I did.
Staring was the usual.
“Honestly, I’m surprised you said yes.” I grinned as I said it, and she smiled right back before looking contemplative.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
I didn’t have a chance to answer because our waiter was there, taking our order. By the time they were gone, Brooke was staring at me, her gaze nervous.
“I wanted to take you out to dinner, Brooke. There’s something here. You can feel it, can’t you?”
I wasn’t good about being open like this, honest. But it felt like I had known Brooke forever, not just I had known her forever ago.
“I don’t know, Leif. I’m just trying to get my life in order. Start a new career, be a good mom. I don’t know if I have time for dating.”
I looked around. “We have time right now. Have a delicious dinner. You tell me about your work, I’ll tell you about mine. If we start talking about my family, that will take hours, and there you go, a whole date.”
Brooke’s brows rose. “You think a date is going to take hours?”
I smiled; I couldn’t help it. “If you do it right.”
“You’re ridiculous, Montgomery.”
“I try. No seriously, tell me about work. Luke. Anything.” I paused. “Wait. What if you don’t want to talk about Luke? Is he off-limits? I understand if he is. I’ve never actually dated a single mom before.”
She gave me a small smile, playing with the edge of her water glass. “I haven’t dated much as a single mom.”
“Can you talk about his father?” I hadn’t meant to ask that because I figured it was a touchy subject. I had just said we could talk about anything else and to keep things from getting complicated. Yet here I was, making things complicated.
“Luke’s father passed away.” She let out a breath as I reached forward and gripped her hand.
“I’m sorry. Let’s talk about anything else. Let’s talk about cheese.” I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and since I was Montgomery, of course it was cheese.
Brooke’s eyes widened before she burst out laughing. “I had forgotten your love of cheese. Okay, we’re not surrounded by French cheeses, so I know you must be sad, but let’s talk about cheese.”
I shook my head. “If that’s what you want.” My lips twitched, as did hers.
She met my gaze, then shrugged. “I never married Henry, Luke’s father.
He was an English professor, and quite a bit older than me.
We had a glorious affair, that was never meant to last, and then I got pregnant.
” She shrugged, but I knew there’s a lot more to that.
“I was in my twenties, he was nearly forty.”
My brows rose. “Are you serious?”
She gave me a defiant look, even though I saw the hurt in them.
“I was an adult, making my own choices, but he was having a midlife crisis, and I was letting myself have fun for the first time in a long while. Either way, I got Luke out of the deal. When I was heading into my third trimester, Henry was killed in a botched robbery attempt. They found the guy. He’s in jail now and will be for a long, long time.
But Henry never got to meet his son, and Luke never got to meet his father.
” She let out a slow breath. “I was never going to marry Henry. But we would’ve been good friends raising him.
And that is my tragic story. I’m a single mom with no parents, with no one.
But I moved back to Colorado because I wanted a new chance to live life to its fullest, in a place that I used to love.
In a place that I want my son to love. California worked for us before, but the job that I have now at the university is going to bring more opportunities for me and my son. And that’s all that matters.”
I reached out once more, gripped her hand, and squeezed. “I’m sorry. That you went through all of that, and that you have to explain all of that to random dudes you go on dates with. I’m sorry that Luke lost him. I’m sorry that you did, too.”
She met my gaze again, smiling softly. “I know you lost your mom at a young age and didn’t find your father until you were older, so I know you sort of have an idea what Luke is dealing with.
But he is strong, and I remind him of his father as much as I can, even though they never met.
I’m trying to give him everything that I possibly can.
That way he never feels like he’s lacking anything. ”
“I know you, Brooke. Or, at least, I knew you before. I’m starting to know the woman in front of me. You would never make him feel like he’s missing out on anything. You’re doing everything you can for him.”
“You can tell that from just looking at me?” she asked, studying my face.