Bad Girlfriend (First & Last #4) (24 page)

“Oh, you know I will.”  I could hear the satisfied smirk in his voice before he hung up.

It was completely dark by now.  I didn’t have to go home yet since I had nowhere to be in the morning.  I considered stopping by the pub for a beer, but what I really wanted to do was see Brooke.  She would find out tomorrow what happened when I didn’t go to work, so I might as well get it all out there.

All the lights were out in Brooke’s house, but her car was in the garage.  It wasn’t that late.  Surely she wasn’t in bed yet.  I planned to drop off my stuff in my apartment and then go in search of her.  But when I approached the stairs, I sa
w a figure huddled on the floor outside my door.  The light outside the door was off, but there was enough moonlight to cast a glow across waves of red hair.

“Brooke?”

When she didn’t move, I hurried up the stairs and knelt in front of her.

“Brooke!”
I said more loudly, giving her shoulder a shake.

She snapped her head up, and her eyes were sleepy.

“Are you okay?  What are you doing out here?”

She stood up and stepped to the railing so I cou
ld unlock my door, but she didn’t answer me.  The distance she put between us as we went inside didn’t go unnoticed.  And when she crossed her arms over her chest and sat down at the table instead of on my bed, I knew something was up.

I dropped into the chair across from her and leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table.

“Is something wrong?” I asked again.

Brooke shrugged.  “I don’t know.  You tell me.”

Leaning back, I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face.  “I’ve been suspended without pay pending a hearing next week.”

Her green eyes widened, and to my horror, started to fill with tears.

“Shit, Brooke.  Don’t cry.  It’ll be okay.  My buddy, Graham, is an attorney and he’s flying out this weekend to represent me.”

“Why?” s
he asked, her voice trembling like her lower lip.

“On Saturday morning, Mrs. Larkin stopped by.  She
’s the President of the PTO at school.”

Brooke’s eyebrows furrowed together.  “She did?”

“Yeah, it was early.  You were still asleep.  Well, she had her son with her, and they both got a good look at me in my boxers and you in bed, clearly wearing nothing under the sheet.  She went straight to the Superintendant’s office and filed a formal complaint.”

Brooke glanced over to the bed and back to me.  “That’s it?”

I threw my hands up in the air.  “I know, right?  It’s the most fucking ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

I was feeling relieved that she got it until I saw her start chewing on her bottom lip.  Then the sad distant look returned to her beautiful face.

“Brooke?”

Her eyes fell to the table in front of her and stayed there as she spoke.  “
Today at work I heard the rumor that Mrs. Larkin had caught you in a compromising position…I thought you were cheating on me.”

“God, no.
  I would never cheat on you.  And I would hardly call it a compromising position.”

Brooke swiped quickly under her eye
s.

“Why are you crying?”

“I don’t like that you’re in trouble because of me,” she said.

I didn’t like the distance between us, so I left my chair and turned hers to the side so I could kneel in front of her.  Taking both her hands in mine, I brushed kisses
across her cheeks and lips.

“It’s not your fault.  It’s Mrs. Larkin’s fault for coming over unannounced
so early on a weekend morning.  At least I’m not cheating on you,” I said, hoping to get a smile out of her.

Not even the corner of her mouth twitched as a single tear fell down her cheek.  I brushed it away with my thumb and cupped her face in my hands.

“Hey, hey,” I murmured against her lips.  She was tense, and it broke my heart to feel her pulling away from me.

I sat back on my heels and put my hands on her knees.  She refused to meet my eyes, and I’d never felt worse.  Not even when I found out my job was on the line.  Hell, I’d resign if it would get Brooke to look at me again.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” I asked.  “I’ve missed you, and I really want to hold you tonight.”

It was an agonizing ten seconds before she nodded her head
once.

Even though it wasn’t late, I was mentally exhausted.  I pulled out a t-shirt for Brooke to wear to bed and changed into my own pajama pants.  We climbed into bed, and I switched on the TV.  I couldn’t tell you what we watched, because my mind was on Brooke and what I could do to bring her back.

She was physically close, with her head on my chest and her arm around my waist.  But she felt so far away, and it was the worst fucking feeling in the world.  I didn’t try to talk anymore about my job, fearing she would get up and leave at any moment.

We watched TV for a while before I realized she was asleep.  Her breathing had evened out, and her eyes were closed, her eyelashes casting shadows on her smooth skin.  Flipping off the TV, I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight.

But it wasn’t tight enough, because I woke up alone the next morning.  The space next to me wasn’t even warm, and I wondered how long ago she had left.  And what I could do to get her back.

Chapter Twenty Five

Brooke

I woke up in my own bed alone after having left Adam’s somewhere around 2:00am. 
If you can call it waking up, considering I had barely slept since I came home.  The house was quiet, but the smell of coffee drifted up the stairs so I knew Gram was up.  She had returned from her trip last night, sometime in the evening when I was with Adam.

I really hoped my mother was still asleep, because I needed to talk to Gram without
Naomi butting into my business.  The advice she had given me the night before to talk to Adam was good, but that didn’t mean I was going to start confiding my deepest, darkest secrets.

Unfortunately her door was open and the room was empty when I walked down the hall.  I was not in the mood to fake pleasantries this morning, and that’s all we had - fake conversations.

But when I got to the kitchen it was just Gram sitting at the table, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper.  I leaned over behind her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

“Good morning, dear.”

“Hi, Gram.  How was your trip?”

“It was good to get away but I’m glad to be home.”  She went on to tell me what she did over the weekend while I poured myself some coffee and grabbed a yogurt from the fridge.

“Where’s Naomi?” I asked.

“She left early this morning.”

“Left?  For the day or for good?”  I really hoped it was the latter.  A hope that obviously wasn’t shared by Gram, whose sad expression gave me the answer I was hoping for.

“She said she needed to get back home and wrap up some loose ends before she could settle in here.”

That sounded reasonable if you didn’t know my mother.  My interpretation of that was she had grown tired of being here after just a few days and would return in six months or a year or whenever the hell she felt like it.  Gram would be in Florida by then, so I’m sure she was sad at the thought of not knowing when she would see her daughter again.  I, on the other hand, was thoroughly relieved that I had my house back to just me and Gram.

But it did piss me off that she had barely spent any time with Gram before she ran off again.  That was just
like her to only think of herself.

Gram shook her head, as if to clear the negativity out of the room, and asked, “How was your weekend?  How is Adam?”

I’m sure my expression told her everything she needed to know about that, but I told her the whole story anyway.  When I was done, Gram looked down-right pissed off.

“I have never heard of such a reason for calling for a resignation.  This town has gone off the deep end if they think Mrs. Larkin has a point.”  She pushed back from the table and began to pace around the kitchen.  “I’m going to call the ladies in the poker club.  I’ll round up people to speak on Adam’s behalf at the hearing.”

She continued to rant until a knock at the back door interrupted her.  When she pulled it open, Adam stood on the other side of the screen door looking like hell.  He was wearing his pajama pants and an old t-shirt.  His feet were bare and his hair was extra crazy this morning.

“Speak of the devil,” Gram said motioning him inside.

“Contrary to popular belief, I am not actually the devil,” Adam said with a weak smile.

Gram waved her hand dismissively. 
“Oh, phooey!  I was just telling Brooke that I’m going to rally the troops on your behalf.  We’ll have so many people supporting you at that hearing that they’ll have no choice but to reinstate you.”

Adam spoke to Gram, but hi
s eyes were on me.  “Thanks, Eleanor.  I really appreciate the support.  And I’m sorry that Brooke has been dragged into this.  I would rather give up my career and work at McDonald’s for the rest of my life than to see her hurt by this in any way.”

Gram patted Adam’s arm.  “That’s a good boy.  Much better than all those other hooligans she’s brought home,” she joked.  “Now have a seat.  Brooke has the day off, and I know you don’t have anywhere to be.  Let’s craft our plan of attack.”

“Gram, I think it might be a better idea if I stayed away from Adam for the time being.  I mean…I know how some people in this town view me….”

“Shut up, Brooke.”

My head snapped up and my eyes went wide at the harshest words Gram had ever spoken to me.  I could only gape at her in shock.

“You’re a smart girl, Brooke.  But when it comes to love, you’ve never been the sharpest crayon in the box.”

Adam looked as shocked as I felt.

“
You’re finally on the right road with this young man here, and I’m not going to let you sabotage your own happiness.  And neither is he.”  Gram gave Adam a pointed look until he snapped to attention.

“Oh, right.  Brooke,” he said pulling me to my feet and wrapping his arms around my waist, “Nothing good will come of us staying apart.  I’ll be miserable, and I’ll have to face this all alone.  And you’ll be heartbroken without me,” he prompted.

I put my hands on his chest and rose up on my tiptoes.  “I would be heartbroken without you,” I whispered, lifting my lips for a kiss.  When I pulled back, I asked, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

Adam leaned down next to my ear to whisper words only I could hear.  “
I want you with me more than I’ve ever wanted anything before.  Saving my job isn’t worth it if you’re not there beside me.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing tight.  His shoulders relaxed beneath my grasp, and his exhale ruffled my hair.

“Okay, love birds.  Break it up.  We have work to do.”  Gram clapped her hands together. 

By the end of the week, Gram had rallied an army.  She had numerous acquaintances lined up to offer their support for Adam at the hearing on Monday.  Adam wanted to do something for Gram to show his gratitude, and she took him up on the offer.  Every day this week while I was at work, he was busy helping Gram sort through the rest of the stuff in the attic and pack up what she wanted to move.  Everything else was hauled to Goodwill by Adam.

Graham, Adam’s attorney friend, was due in town on Friday night, and Adam had gone to the airport to pick him up.  After work I went straight to the
pub to meet up with everyone.  Poppy was the only one there when I arrived, and I joined her at the bar.  Ford was coaching at an away game, so she was flying solo tonight.  At least until after the game.

“Hi, Poppy.”

“Hi!”

Shelly came over and dropped a cocktail napkin in front of me.  “What’ll it be tonight, Brooke?”

I eyed Poppy’s vodka and cranberry with lime.  “The same.”

Shelly nodded and went to mix my drink.

“I can’t believe this thing with Adam.  Did he really get in trouble just for having you sleeping in his bed?  What is this?  1920?”

“I know.  It’s so stupid.  It’s hard to believe someone could be that uptight.”

Poppy shook her head.  “I hope it works out okay for him and he gets to stay here.”

My drink arrived, and I stirred it absentmindedly.  I hadn’t even thought about what would happen if he was forced to resign.  There weren’t many other elementary schools in the area, and probably none of them with an opening for a principal. 
Especially not a principal who was just forced to resign for immoral behavior.  Shit.  One more thing to worry about.  Relationships in general had never been my strong suit - let alone long distance relationships.

I wasn’t able to wallow very long because Leah and Lindsay arrived.  They had arranged a babysitter tonight, so they were
obviously ready for a night out.

“Hey, bitches,” Leah greeted us.

“Hi, girls,” Lindsay said.