25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
B rooke met Mindy Sue and Julie at their favorite café just as Adam, Jeremiah, and Simon walked in. “Come and join us.”
“Are you sure?” Jeremiah asked.
“We can get another table,” Adam said.
“No. Don’t be silly.” Brooke smiled at Adam, hoping he saw the sincerity she put into her gaze and relaxed.
Julie held her hand out to the empty seats at their table, encouraging the guys more. “We haven’t gotten together in a while.”
“We saw Brooke at her Christmas party last month.” Simon took a seat at the table.
Jeremiah and Adam followed suit.
This was the first time Brooke had been out with anyone other than Mindy Sue after returning to school. She’d been too lost in her grief to want to do anything more than drag her ass to her classes each day, then back to her dorm room to wallow in her nest of blankets and pillows, avoiding her feelings about Cody and her stalker.
This morning she hadn’t felt well, but whatever bug caught her didn’t last, and she was feeling better this evening. Well enough to go out at Mindy Sue’s insistence that she couldn’t spend her senior year as a hermit.
“What brought you guys here tonight?” Mindy Sue had a strange look in her eyes when she studied the three guys.
Jeremiah answered for them. “Adam and I were studying in the library when Simon texted that he was hungry.”
“I’m always hungry.”
Jeremiah rolled his eyes. “We know. Anyway, we met up at the quad and headed over here.”
“Do you guys eat here often?” Mindy Sue asked.
“It’s one of my favorites,” Jeremiah said.
“Me, too,” Brooke agreed. “They have the best fried chicken salad.”
Jeremiah scrunched his nose. “I like the French dip sandwich. They also have the best fries in town.”
“Totally,” Adam and Simon said at the same time.
The waitress arrived and took their drink and food order.
“How are all your classes going?” she asked the guys, trying to keep the conversation going.
They all took a turn complaining about their classes, sprinkled with a few things they liked about them, too. All of them were as anxious as her to graduate.
She couldn’t wait to be on her own and be her own boss. She was excited to get started on the building. In just a couple of months, she’d own it.
And since Cody and Kristi would be living in the ranch house, she’d set herself up in one of the apartments on the third floor. She’d decorate it with bright colors and soft furnishings.
It would be a new start.
“Did you guys hear about the dude on campus who’s running around flashing girls?” Julie scrunched her lips. “Yuck. Like we want to see a dude’s junk while walking to class.”
Adam cringed. “That’s weird.”
Simon leaned in. “I have a friend who goes to UT Austin. Three girls have been attacked by some guy while they’re walking home from local bars.”
“That’s so fucked up.” Mindy Sue shook her head. “Did any of the women ID him?”
“Nope. Dude hits them on the head, knocks them out, then does stuff to them.” Simon cringed.
Brooke shivered with revulsion and the same chill that ran up her spine every time she thought about her stalker. She didn’t say anything to the group about him, because all of these guys had been to her house multiple times. They’d hung out on campus while Mindy Sue was seeing Marco even before the picnic. “Let’s talk about something else.”
Mindy Sue must have been thinking along the lines Brooke’s mind had gone because she stared at the three guys, wondering like her.
No. No way.
It couldn’t be one of them. They were so nice. And they spent time together. They had plenty of opportunity to ask her out.
The waitress brought their food and distributed it to the table and everyone eagerly dug in. Brooke was the last to be served. The second the smell of the fried chicken in her salad hit her nose, her mouth watered and her stomach turned.
She leaped up and ran to the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before she threw up what little she had in her stomach.
Someone rubbed their hand up and down her back. “Hey. You okay? That’s the second time you threw up today.” Mindy Sue pulled her hair back into a ponytail and used her free hand to touch Brooke’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever.”
“I must have some bug.” She pulled a bunch of toilet paper from the dispenser and wiped her mouth.
Mindy Sue hooked her hand under Brooke’s arm and helped her up. “Maybe. But I’ve noticed you’ve seemed…off for a couple weeks. We should stop at the drugstore on the way home.”
Brooke went utterly still. “No.” She shook her head, but that night with Cody came back in vivid detail. The way they’d been so consumed with being together they’d forgotten all about using protection. “No. I can’t be…” She tried to take in a calming breath. “She’s already… No. This can’t be happening.”
“I think it is.” Mindy Sue pulled her into a hug. “No matter what, it’s going to be okay.”
She held her amazing friend even tighter. “I’m not so sure.”
Am I pregnant?
Am I going to be a mom?
How will I tell Cody?
What will he do?
“Oh God. This is bad.”
Mindy Sue leaned back and shook her head. “No. It’s not. This is Cody’s baby. You wanted him in your life forever. Now you’ve got it.”
Her heart pounded in her chest. “Not this way. Not like this.”
“I know. But if this is the only way, then take it, Brooke. Be happy with this little piece of him you get to keep. Enjoy the moments you’ll get to share with him watching your child grow up together, even if he is with her. Let it be enough.”
“It’s better than nothing,” she reluctantly admitted.
Mindy Sue put her hand on Brooke’s shoulder. “When you tell him, maybe he’ll choose you.”
“He already chose her.” She couldn’t even hope for a different outcome.
Cody wouldn’t go back on the promise he made to Kristi.
“She’s wearing his ring. He’ll remind me we’re friends and that we can raise the child together in that way.”
Mindy Sue pressed her lips tight. “I think he’d choose you. Give him a chance to make that decision.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I can’t take the chance he still chooses her and it breaks my heart all over again.”
Mindy Sue cupped her face and brushed the tears away with her thumbs. “Then he doesn’t deserve you, because you’re awesomer than all the rest of us.”
“Not true. I have the most awesomest friend ever!”
“Okay. Then let’s get our food to go and hit the drugstore. You need to know, so you can plan what comes next.”
Brooke washed her hands and rinsed her mouth in the bathroom sink while Mindy Sue went out to deal with their food and tell their friends they had to leave because she wasn’t feeling well. She’d keep the why of it to herself for now.
She took a deep breath, then went out to face everyone.
“Are you okay?” Jeremiah asked.
“You look pale,” Adam added.
“I think it’s just a bug. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, but thought it had passed. Guess not. Sorry to spoil the evening. You guys stay and have a good time.”
Julie stood and hugged her. “I’m going to hang out. Jeremiah and I are going to play video games after dinner.”
“Have fun. Mindy Sue and I will see you tomorrow.”
Her friend arrived with the food bagged up and they headed out. Within twenty minutes they’d gone to the drugstore, purchased a test, and made their way into their dorm. They went to the bathroom and Mindy Sue waited outside the stall while Brooke peed on the stick. Since it needed several minutes to do its thing, they took it back to their dorm room and waited, neither of them saying a thing as the timer on Brooke’s phone counted down.
When it chimed, they both leaned over the desk and stared at the double pink lines on the test.
Mindy Sue grinned.
She found herself grinning back, despite how scared she was about how she was going to do this mostly on her own. “Oh my God.”
“You’re having a baby.” Mindy Sue’s glee was infectious.
“I don’t…I don’t know what to even say or do.”
“Now that you know for sure,” Mindy Sue began and left a pregnant pause. “What are you going to do?”
It didn’t even enter her mind that she wouldn’t keep it. Mindy Sue had been right. This was a piece of Cody. Maybe the only one she’d ever get to truly hold close. “I’m going to love them with everything I am. I think I already do.” She pressed her hands over her belly, a smile blooming on her face that made her cheeks hurt.
Mindy Sue leaned down and said, “Hello in there! I’m your Auntie Mindy Sue.”
Brooke laughed with her friend and they hugged each other tight. “Thank you for being here with me.”
Mindy Sue hugged her harder. “I wish he could be here with you.”
“Me, too.” What else was there to say?
She’d have to tell him. Soon. After the wedding. She didn’t want to put him in a tough spot. She wanted him to enjoy his happy day, even if it was killing her to keep it to herself and not share this wonderful news with him.