Brooke
Chapter
Thirty-One
Today is weird.
I woke up like normal, but instead of being in bed, I was on Dutton’s couch. So, okay, not normal, but I did wake up with Dutton next to me.
He didn’t even flinch at the sound of my alarm, and for that, I’m grateful.
I still don’t really know what to say to him after last night.
For starters, is he going to remember telling me about his dad and my mom?
I stop kneading the dough for the sourdough bread I’m making and pinch my eyes together.
I can’t … I just can’t believe it.
But in a way, I can.
My mom was never a great person. The fact that she so freely left her husband and kids is a dead giveaway that she has no problem cheating on her husband.
Ugh.
My poor father.
So much of the past makes sense now, and I feel for him more, but it only goes so far. He still should have been there for me. I’m his daughter.
Not to mention, Dutton had nothing to do with all of that as a kid or even as an adult, and Dad has just written him off.
That’s not okay.
But I get it. I don’t agree with it, but I get it.
Can I keep seeing a man whose father has slept with my mother?
A chill runs through me.
How do we even deal with this?
If we stay together, what do holiday dinners look like? Separate dinners for life, I’d guess.
“Everything okay, boss?” Sammie asks, snapping me back to reality.
I nod.
I have so much on my mind, I’m not very productive this morning.
I need to talk this out with someone.
“I think I’m going to head out,” I say. Sammie gives me a sympathetic smile.
How does something like this even happen to me? To us.
I wash my hands, gather my purse, and head out the door.
I need to talk to Dutton.
What happens when his mom finds out that my mom was one of them? Will she hate me?
It’d be a natural reaction toward the daughter of your husband's mistress. Or one of them. I don’t know.
I don’t want Dutton to have to pick between his mother and me.
I don’t know what I'm doing.
I take a few more steps and stop. I’m right in front of the police station.
I could avoid this for another day or two, maybe more. Pretend like I don’t know anything and go back to my bubble, where I was about to tell the wonderful man I'm with that I love him, and we can both pretend our parents don’t exist.
Or I can walk in there and demand that my father talk to me so that I can have a better idea of what to do with Dutton and move on with my life.
I was finally happy.
I am finally happy.
In a way I never thought I could be.
I pull the door open and walk in. Kimmy smiles when she sees me.
“Hi, hun, what can I do for you?"
“Is my dad here?”
I fully expect her to say no, because that’s the answer I always get, but she just smiles wider and nods.
“He sure is.”
The sound of the buzzer fills the room, and I walk straight to his office before I lose my nerve.
He’s got his head down, papers in front of him, when I walk in. He doesn’t look up, but he does know I’m here.
“Brooke,” he says. “I didn’t expect you this morning.”
“I know why you don’t like Dutton,” I blurt out.
He sets the paper down and focuses on me.
“It’s because of Mom, isn’t it? Mom and Mr. Richford.”
He lets out a big breath and leans back.
“Who told you?”
“Dutton. Last night. He came home unwell, and it seems the entire family now knows about Mr. Richford's extracurricular activities.”
Dad just stares at me.
“Dutton just found out about it last night. As did I.”
He doesn't say anything, so I don’t let silence fill the space. I keep talking.
“It’s not Dutton's fault that Mom and Henry made the choice they did, and it’s wrong of you to hold that against him.”
“I don’t hold that against him, Brooke. I hold his past crimes against him.”
“Crimes he committed to retaliate against his dad after he caught him cheating on his mom.”
My father's eyes narrow in confusion.
“It’s really Dutton’s story to tell, but you won’t know it unless you give him a chance.”
“I can’t, Brooke.”
“Yes, you can.”
“No, I can't."
“Yes, you—”
“I can’t lose you to a Richford the way I lost her!” he snaps. “She left me for him, and then when he didn't want her, she left us all. And I blame Henry, I really do. I can’t … I can't go through it again.”
“You’re not going to lose me to a Richford, Dad.
You're going to lose me because you gave up on me when I needed you. You didn’t check on me or console me.
You didn’t trust me and my judgment, and you sure as hell didn’t trust me to stick around.
I’m in love with Dutton, but I’m also not going anywhere.
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not Mom. ”
I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
“Sheriff.”
My father and I both look at Kimmy.
Her face morphs into worry.
“There is a call for a disturbance at the lodge.”
“The lodge?” I repeat as if I didn’t hear her right.
She nods. “It’s between Dutton and his father.”
“Goddamnit.” My father groans and then heads for the door.
“Get moving, Brooke. You’re coming with me. We aren’t done talking yet.”
I’m stunned. I never thought he’d say those words to me.
A smile touches my lips.
We might not be done talking, but he’s been listening. And for once, he’s not telling me to go home.
I rush behind him and climb into the passenger side of his truck before he can change his mind.
“I …” is all he says as we start the five-minute drive to the lodge.
It’s literally nothing, but the way he looks over at me says more than enough.
He parks right in front of the doors, and we both get out. The deputy car pulls up behind us.
We haven’t even entered the lobby when the sound of yelling steals our attention.
Henry is standing by himself across from his kids and Preston. He’s yelling quite loudly, his finger pointing at Dutton.
“You did this. You ruined everything!”
“How is this my fault? You're the one who tried to sell this place out from under your own family.” Dutton is calm and firm. He doesn't need to yell to get his point across.
“Oh, I know you, and you have no respect for anything that doesn't belong to you. I have no doubt you pried my plans out of Preston and forced him to change the paperwork.”
“Ah, no, he didn't. I’m actually hard to intimidate, and I’m not fucking stupid,” Preston enters the argument. “This lodge belongs to Grace. It always has.”
“You don't know what you're fucking talking about,” Henry holds his hand up in Preston’s face.
“Can I get a comment on what you mean by your plans to sell the lodge without your family knowing?” a man with a mic asks and holds it out to Henry.
Henry shoves the cameraman.
Dutton reaches for his dad before he can hurt the guy more, but Henry jerks himself back.
His eyes collide with mine.
A devilish smile touches his lips.
“Ah, look at that, your girlfriend has arrived. Enjoy the little slut while you can, because—”
No one gets a chance to hear what more he was going to say. Dutton punches him hard enough to knock him to the ground.
Blood pours from Henry’s nose onto the hard floor.
He wipes it away and looks up at my father.
“Arrest him!” he yells, pointing at Dutton.
My dad is looking up at the ceiling.
“Sheriff Sloan,” Henry repeats. “He assaulted me. Arrest him.”
“Me?” my dad asks with a hand on his chest. “I didn’t see anything.”
Relief consumes Dutton’s face, and mine lights up with a smile.
My dad looks at me. “Did you see anything?”
I shake my head.
He then looks at a few of the employees who have stopped to watch the scene unfold. “Did any of you see anything?”
Everyone shakes their heads.
“This is absurd. Check the cameras.”
“Ah,” Dutton says. “You'll need the owner's permission for that.”
Grace crosses her arms. “I think they are broken. Things around here have been … weird.”
Grace is the new owner? Jesus. How much did I miss in a day? It’s not even ten o'clock in the morning yet.
“Sheriff Sloan, since I’m the owner of this establishment,” Grace says, “please remove that man from my property.”
“With pleasure,” my father says, then nods at his deputy.
The deputy pulls Henry to his feet, but the profanities as he’s forced out the door are never-ending.
Once he’s gone, the people in the lobby don't know what to do first. It’s a lot of awkward glances, and I spot my dad pulling out his notepad as he walks us to Grace and Gavin.
Then my eyes land on Dutton.
I really don’t know what this means for us, but I do know that I don’t want to give him up. It might get a little complicated, but as long as I’m with him, we’ll figure it out. We shouldn't have to pay the price for our parents’ mistakes.
Not anymore.
“Hi, Books,” he says quietly so only I can hear him.
“Hey, Big D.” I bite my lip.
He chuckles lightly.
“Look, I …” He rubs the back of his neck.
“Last night was bad, and I shouldn’t have drunk so much.
I should have stayed sober so we could have talked this out.
But even though I still don’t know what to say about it, I know this: please don’t give up on us.
This whole thing is just nuts, but I don't want to ever have to imagine my life without you. I love you so fucking much. Please tell me what I need to do to keep you.”
Well, shit.
I already knew I loved this man, but that was some romance-novel worthy stuff right there.
“Well, for starters, you can start by providing me declarations of love like that every morning.”
His lips break out into a grin.
“I can do that.”
“Then, you can keep being exactly who you are, but don’t keep secrets from me, no matter how hard it might be to tell me. Drunk or sober, you tell me everything.”
He nods.
“I can do that, too.”
“Next, you can kiss me, because I love you, too.”
His arms wrap around me, I lock mine around his neck to hold on, and his lips crash to mine as he spins us.
How the couples in my romance novels can go days without communication before they get their happy ending blows my mind. Twelve hours of not knowing where Dutton and I stand was pure torture.
A throat clears next to us.
Dutton pulls his lips from mine and sets me on my feet. We turn to face my father; Dutton straightens his back and nods.
“Sheriff Sloan."
“Dutton.”
It’s my father who breaks their stare first.
“I’m going to need your statement, but why don’t you come to the station later?” Dad’s attention turns to me. “The same goes for you. I want to finish our conversation.”
“We’ll be there,” I tell him.
He holds his hand out to Dutton.
“Thank you for taking care of my daughter when I didn’t.”
Dutton places his hand in my dad’s. “I’ll be here for her for as long as she lets me.”
Dad sighs. “Sounds like that could be forever.”
“I sure hope so,” Dutton says.
I lean more into his side and rest my head on his chest.
“Well, I’m off to get more statements. See you both later.”
As soon as my father walks off, Dutton grabs my hand and pulls me to the front doors.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Home.”
Home.
I like the way he says it.
We exit the doors and Dutton stops.
“Holy shit.”
“What?”
“I’m pretty sure I quit my job before all of that went down.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sure if you want to keep working here, Grace will hire you back.”
“Yeah, that’s the thing. I don’t think I do.”
Oh wow, this is huge for him. All of this between us started because he wanted to own the lodge. But I guess it was to protect his family, and now that the secret's out. What does that mean?
“What do you want to do now?” I ask.
He looks at me and smirks.
“I want to hear you say it again.”
“Say what?”
“Say you love me.”
I wrap my arms around his midsection and give him my best smile.
“I love you, Dutton Richford.”
His lips find mine and although there might be things we still need to figure out, one thing is for absolute certain. The two of us are meant to be together. Forever.
I pull back with a gasp.
“Well, since you're pretty well stuck with me, I have an idea.”
“Books, I’m not stuck with you. I’m meant to be with you. Always.”
“Good, so what if we owned the bakery together?”
The few seconds while he thinks over his answer make me nervous.
“It’s perfect.”
He swings me into his arms and carries me to the truck.
I laugh the entire way.
“Now, where were we?” he says, setting me to my feet and opening my door.
“We were going home,” I tell him.
“Home,” he repeats. “Yes, we were.”
We get in the truck and head to his place, because, come on, it’s not like I’ll ever be going back to my house.
The only place I belong now is with Dutton.