Chapter 5 Brooke
FIVE
Brooke
Brooke let herself into the house a little after six. The drink with JJ had been interesting. She’d never planned someone else’s trip before, only ever looking after herself. There were times she’d travel with friends or in groups, but that was different, a shared experience.
She passed the kitchen. Marie was stirring a pot on the stove while Hayley prepped vegetables on the kitchen island.
“Hi,” she murmured.
Hayley stopped chopping her onion and looked up. “Are you having dinner with us tonight?”
“Probably.” Brooke still couldn’t speak in full sentences around her sister. She scratched at her arm and kept moving to the stairs.
“Can we not do this?” Hayley waved her hand between them.
Brooke stopped walking, jaw stiff. “Do what?”
“Whatever—this—is. Ignoring us, treating us like you couldn’t care less.
Each time we try to instigate a conversation with you, it’s either a brush off or a one-word response.
I don’t know what happened overseas. I didn’t force you to tell me.
I just let you in. Let you stay. I know we aren’t close, but that doesn’t mean you get to treat us like shit. ”
Brooke’s stomach dropped. Staying out of their way was meant to make things easier for them. Apparently it was only fucking things up worse.
Hayley’s hand was visibly shaking on the counter as she tried to press her palms down.
“It’s okay.” Marie stepped next to her, a hand slipping over Hayley’s and squeezing.
“I’m not…” Brooke’s lips pressed together, jaw quivering as she tried to set it. Tried to keep her head held high. She blinked rapidly, taking in the scene before her and trying to come up with the words. It was all too big. Too much.
The bright downlights overhead were like a spotlight, beating down on her and burning her eyes.
Suddenly she was seven again, trailing home with Steven and Hayley from their school sports day.
She couldn’t contain her grin, so wide and so proud.
Pinned to her shirt were a rainbow of ribbons that shimmered as the breeze caught them with every step she took.
Her parents had greeted them at the door, her mum twirling Hayley on the spot, her dad clapping Steven on back—a row of solid blues pinned to each of them.
When they’d stopped celebrating their wins, her mum had bent down to Brooke with a small smile and said, “Better luck next year, Sweet Bee.” That night, those colourful ribbons had laid flat on her bedside table, stripped to a dull grey in the darkness.
Brooke stared at her sister now, her tongue dry, unmoving.
She dropped her gaze, turned on her heel and left the house.
The itch was back, gnawing at her. Grating on her.
She couldn’t stay any longer and burden them further.
She couldn’t be around Hayley without hurting herself, but she couldn’t keep out of the way without hurting Hayley.
So she ran down the street again, travelling the well-worn path and found herself at the riverbank once more. With the reeds. The rocks.
One. Two. Three—Four.
She smoothed her hand over the large rock’s gash as she sat down.
How could Brooke explain to Hayley the weight since being back?
It had been building ever since she’d stepped off the plane.
Old baggage she’d long thought had disappeared, but those memories kept resurfacing.
And so did the emotions, making her tear up one moment and grind her teeth the next; reliving them like they’d only happened yesterday—not years ago.
She hadn’t experienced anything like it overseas.
It had all been left behind, but clearly, it hadn’t left her.
Coming back was a mistake. She couldn’t stay.
Her phone stared back at her, JJ’s number on the screen.
She hit call.
“That was quick,” JJ answered after the first ring.
“I’ve thought about what you said, and I have a different idea.”
“Go on.”
“What if, instead of being your travel agent, we took it one step further and I was your tour guide? I’ve just got back from overseas, so I don’t have a job and I’d much prefer to be on the road than under my sister’s roof.
I’d take care of the lot. The itinerary, the accommodation, the food…
everything from the packing list to the driving.
You’d just sit back and relax. I wouldn’t charge anything, you’d just cover the trip. ”
JJ laughed. “What? I don’t even know you.”
Brooke shrugged, forgetting JJ couldn’t see her.
Well, that wasn’t a no. She needed to take a leaf out of JJ’s book and keep pushing.
“So? I’ve known people for a lot less time and ended up on all sorts of trips with them.
I met one guy on a train and we ended up travelling and meeting up through three different countries.
You and I have already shared a beer; we’re practically best friends at this stage. ”
“What happened to ‘I hate South Australia’?”
Brooke sighed and flicked in a rock. “I don’t hate it—I just think it’s boring. However, before you say what I think you’ll say, I’d still rather be on a boring road trip than stuck back ho—at Hayley’s house.”
She could plan the shit out of this holiday, no matter how crap the destination. It would buy her time to decide her next steps, get her out of the house to clear her head without spending more money and she’d make sure it was a memorable trip for JJ. Even if it was forgettable for her.
“Fine. You should come then.”
Brooke shot to her feet. “What? That was a quick turnaround. Why?” She scuffed at the rock with her foot.
“Because I’d love nothing more than to prove you wrong.”
Brooke scoffed. “I highly doubt that.” It was fine. JJ would enjoy the trip if Brooke was planning it. But her? No. She’d play the perfect tour guide and come along for the ride, but this wasn’t her holiday. This was her escape.
“Aside from making sure you love this trip just as much as I do,” JJ continued, “I actually wouldn’t mind the company and making a new friend.
Working for yourself gets kinda lonely. Plus, my friend Remi made us watch Wolf Creek the other night, so if you’re along for the trip, I can sacrifice you first if we get taken. ”
“How kind of you.”
JJ chuckled, the sound causing a small smile to form on Brooke’s lips.
“Okay…” JJ said. “Just so I have this straight—you want to join me on a two-week road trip to travel places you don’t want to go, and you’d organise the entire thing from start to finish if I pay?”
“That about sums it up.”
She picked up a gum leaf, crunching it in her hand. It fell in brittle pieces onto the ground. Was this the right decision? Was leaving again really the best option to solve her problems?
Brooke wiped her hands on her pants. “So, is that a yes?”
“Looks like you’ve got a road trip to organise, tour guide,” JJ replied.
Brooke grinned.
And just like that, she’d found herself the time she needed.