Chapter 5 #2
“Glad to hear it. Maybe we could meet up later?” he asked smoothly. “I get off around midnight.”
Brooke swallowed. “Sorry,” she said carefully. “But what happened the other night, it wasn’t . . . I mean, I’m not . . . I’m taking a break from all of that.”
“That?”
“Dating. Men. Drama.”
“I can promise you, I’m about as easy as they come,” Riley promised, and Brooke couldn’t help but laugh.
“I’m sure you are, but I mean it. I’m swearing off men.”
“Are you now?” Riley quirked an eyebrow at her. “Nothing I did, I hope.”
She snorted. “Not everything’s about you, you know.”
“Most things are.” He grinned, too irresistible for his own good. “You staying for karaoke?” She nodded. “Good. You’ll change your mind once you see me do Sinatra. It brings grown men to tears.”
“That’s not always a good thing,” she pointed out, but Riley was unruffled.
“Ye of little faith. Just you wait.” He winked and then sauntered away, over to serve another customer.
Brooke should have been relieved to see him go. After all, she didn’t want him flirting, promising a repeat of the other night.
Did she?
An hour, two glasses of wine, and a bucketful of fries later, Brooke wasn’t so sure. Riley’s performance of “The Best is Yet to Come” wasn’t exactly tuneful, but what he lacked in musicality, he more than made up for with charisma.
“Baby you’re gonna fly.” He sent Brooke a wink from across the room. She glanced away, but not quickly enough.
“Hello.” Eliza gave her a look. “Who’s that guy?”
“Just . . . someone.” Brooke took another sip of wine. “We met the other night.”
“When you were on your date?” Eliza arched an eyebrow. “Multi-tasking, huh?”
“It’s not like that,” Brooke protested, then she stopped. “Who am I kidding? It’s exactly like that,” she admitted. “I don’t know what came over me. One minute I’m heading home, and the next . . . we’re making out in the alleyway,” she said, in a whisper.
Eliza choked on her wine.
“As my editor would say, way to bury the lede!” She grinned. “I guess we know who’s taking you home tonight.”
Brooke shook her head quickly. “No! You don’t understand. I shouldn’t be doing anything with anyone right now. I can’t trust my instincts. Especially not with a guy like that.”
She watched as Riley flirted up a storm with some coeds in the front row. They wore cut-off jeans with tiny cropped tank tops, looking young and toned and annoyingly hot.
She dragged her gaze away. Riley could flirt with whoever he wanted—as long as it wasn’t her. “I’m going to get another drink!” She bounced up. “Want anything?”
“I’m good. But please, take these fries away,” Eliza begged, even as she grabbed another handful. “I swore, I was going to try that whole detox thing for the summer.”
Brooke laughed. “Good luck with that.”
She took the basket out of harm’s way, heading to the bar to get some water. Not that she was getting heated with Riley so close.
Not at all.
“Well?”
There he was again, too close for comfort. Riley leaned against the bar and gave her a rascal grin, “Admit it, you’re ready to throw your panties onstage.”
“You don’t take a hint, do you?”
Brooke hadn’t meant her words to come out so harshly, but as soon as they left her mouth, Riley’s smile slipped.
“Hey, I’m sorry.” He frowned. “If you’re serious about backing off, I will, I promise. But you’ve given me some pretty mixed messages,” he pointed out.
“I know, I’m sorry.” Brooke winced. “I’m just in a weird place right now. I’m still getting over a bad breakup,” she found herself admitting. “And I guess I’m just . . . off balance. I didn’t mean to lead you on,” she said. “I mean, you seem nice?—”
“Ouch.” Riley clutched his chest. “Just what every guy longs to hear. Nice.”
“You know what I mean.” Brooke found herself smiling again. She was relieved Riley was taking it so well, but she guessed a guy like him didn’t need to pine over the occasional rejection. “But I am serious. What happened the other night was . . .”
Hot. Delicious. Impossibly sexy.
“ . . . a mistake,” she said.
“A damn good one,” Riley grinned. “Which I’m happy to repeat, any time you like.”
Brooke shook her head. “Not going to happen. Really, I’m doing you a favor. I should carry a warning sign. Keep away, hazardous ground.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Riley gave her a quizzical look. “You don’t seem too bad to me.”
“That’s because you don’t know me.” Brooke shrugged, embarrassed now. She’d said too much, and now Riley probably thought she was a basket case. “Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your adoring fans.” She nodded to the coeds, who were busy taking selfies. “See you around, maybe.”
She left before she made even more of a fool of herself.
Blurting her romantic history to a complete stranger?
This was why she needed to stay away from temptation.
Everything that happened with Archer had short-circuited her self-control, and she needed to pull it back together before she went making the same mistakes all over again.
Eliza was happy to call it a night, so she drove Brooke back to her place. “What are you up to Sunday?” Eliza asked, as Brooke climbed out. “Want to pretend to get some health shakes, but go get waffles instead?”
Brooke laughed. “Sounds good. I might have some work, but I’ll give you a call.”
“Work, or a hot bartender?” Eliza winked, then drove away before Brooke could protest.
Definitely work.
She opened the gate, maneuvered up the rickety stairs over the garage, and unlocked her apartment door.
Inside, she let out a guilty sigh. The space sat almost exactly as she’d found it: small and empty, with the bare floorboards gleaming under the bare light bulb.
She hadn’t been exaggerating before when she’d told Eliza it wasn’t ready for company.
There was a card table in one corner with a folding chair, an old crushed blue velvet couch she’d found at a garage sale, and a mattress and box spring in the next room, but her life still sat packed in boxes, stacked in corners and spilling clothing and toiletries into piles on the floor.
Brooke thought about the spotless penthouse she’d left behind and winced. She’d spent hours poring over paint samples and fabric swatches, so excited to be building a home with Archer that every little detail had taken on big significance.
These were the coffee mugs they’d be drinking out of every morning, that was the throw blanket they would snuggle beneath together watching a movie late at night. She’d spent her evenings browsing Pinterest and her weekends shopping, but in the end, it had been for nothing.
Brooke sighed. She could have used some of that new furniture right about now—but no, she corrected herself.
She wouldn’t have been able to look at it without thinking of Archer, and he still occupied way too much of her brain.
Better to start fresh, with a massive dent in her savings account, than bring all that stuff with her to pollute her new life.
New possibilities. The freedom of a blank slate…
If she said it often enough, maybe she would believe it would come true.
Brooke dumped her purse on the counter and set the tea kettle on to boil.
It was late, but she was still wide awake, so she went to the windows and flung them wide, leaning out over the small courtyard.
Even though it was dark out, the moon was bright, and the lamps dotting the space cast a warm glow through the dark.
Brooke took in a deep breath, savoring the sweetness of the night-flowering jasmine.
It was the scent that had seduced her, from the start.
When she’d come to view the apartment, Brooke had been exhausted from days on the road—and the other listings she’d already seen: bland, boxy studios off the highway that had made her want to break down in tears all over again.
Then she’d stepped through the peeling, blue-painted gate and found a corner of paradise.
A secret garden, just for her. In the middle of her heartbreak, she’d needed a ray of sunlight, and waking up that first morning to a glorious riot of color—the blue ocean glinting in the distance outside her windows—she finally felt like something close to herself again.
Now, Brooke turned and looked around at the small, empty rooms, and tried to feel determined.
She could do this. Her heart still ached to think of everything she’d left back in Chicago, all her foolish hopes and wasted dreams, but she could do this. It was a second chance to build a life. Something true this time around.
She took a deep breath and reached for the first box.
She had some unpacking to do.