Home for Love (An Adult Contemporary Romance) (14 page)

“Well, good luck with that, honey,”
Shelly, chirped. “The two of you looked about ready to explode with sexual
frustration tonight. But, I get what you’re saying and can’t say that I
disagree with your thinking. I just don’t know how practical that’s going to
be. You know, Bree, sex is good, fun, and normal, so you shouldn’t repress
those feelings either. Just learn to have a bit more balance.”

Bree cocked her head, considering.
“Makes sense and I admit to a bit of relief. Well, a whole lot of relief,
really,” Bree grinned, wickedly. “But, we’re talking as though Todd’s going to
be agreeable about us getting back together. We don’t know if things will work
out that way.”

“Trust me,” Shelly stated firmly, “that
man wants you in his bed and his heart. I sell high fashion, remember.” They
chuckled at the odd rightness of that statement.

Feeling more hopeful, Bree hugged Shelly
in thanks. “I get it. You’re telling me to go for it with him - to win him
back.”

“I said no such thing,” Shelly replied
stiffly, “far be it from to meddle.”

Grinning widely, because Shelly was a
relentless meddler and always had been, Bree went to have a long soak in a hot,
fragrant bath. She’d been through a lot that day and she figured she deserved
it. Finally.

They elected to have breakfast in their
room the next morning so that they could raid the meager supply of clothing
they’d brought in preparation for Bree’s discussion with Todd. Thankfully,
she’d bought a new pair of jeans and a smart casual sweater to wear to the
town’s picnic because nothing Shelly had fit her figure or her complexion.

“This’ll have to do.” Bree studied the
dark blue denim and black light-knit sweater. “It seems a bit boring though.”

“Nothing, the right accessories can’t
fix,” Shelly offered, quizzically studying Bree in the mirror from behind. “And
fortunately for you, short pants, they’re one size fits all.”

Bree picked up the nearby cushion off a
chair and threw it at Shelly. “Yes, giraffe is so last season.”

“Cow,” Shelly retorted mockingly,
sending them into more giggles.

Moments later, when reception called to
notify her that Todd was waiting in the lobby, Bree did another quick study.
With the added make-up, lip gloss, and jewelry, she looked good and ready for
battle. She was going to win this man over once and for all - starting today.

With each step taken down the elegant
stairs, Bree became more and more nervous. Hands clammy, she grabbed the
balustrade, to steady herself. Get a grip Bree, she admonished, where is all
your talk of fighting and courage. At the end of the landing, she spotted Todd,
leafing through an outdoors magazine while lounging in the ample sofa. The sofa
might be large but tall and masculine; Todd didn’t allow it to dwarf him.

Like her, he was dressed in denim and a
sweater; casual summer picnic wear, very unlike the smart, sophisticated look
he sported when they’d last been together at The Lodge. Bree didn’t care what
he wore; he looked good in just about anything. Just as she got to the landing,
he looked up and smiled at her in greeting and Bree felt a million fluttering
wings of butterflies in her tummy.

Glancing around the lobby, she noted
that it was a hive of activity as people prepared to set off for their day’s
planned activities. Many of them were dressed in jeans, shorts, and sweaters
and carrying picnic blankets. Bree’s lips curved, if the picnic drew in a good
number of tourists, it would be added confirmation that the town was well on
its way to establishing its place on the Alaskan tourism map. Not to mention
that her gran would be thrilled as the chairperson of the Devil’s Peak Cares
Association. Her gran and fellow association members had been planning the
picnic for months, which was an added reason to be grateful for her
grandparents’ gift of the room. With both Bree and Shelly out of the picture to
help pitch in with the last-minute arrangements and her granddad no doubt looking
after Amber, her gran must’ve had her hands full. Bree made a mental note to
get her grandparents a gift to say thanks and to give them the night and the
next day off from farm and house work. They all normally pitched in and did
their bit, but they deserved to put their feet up. She’d rope in Shelly and
they’d turn it into a game for Amber; have some fun doing work.

Todd met her in the middle of the lobby
by a large table bearing an oversized arrangement of flowers. “Hi,” she said,
“thanks for coming. I really appreciate it, especially since the shop must be
busy.”

“I closed for today,” Todd shrugged. “I
thought that if I did, it would give the picnic a fair shot, so no problem.
Wanna get some coffee?”

Bree peered past his shoulder into the
exceptionally busy entrance of the dining room. Children ran in and out of the
room, babies cried from beyond and the clinking sound of crockery and cutlery
intermingled with excited breakfast chatter made it noisy. It was a great place
to go if you wanted to get into a vacation mood but not one for a private,
serious conversation.

“Uh… it’s kinda loud in there,” Bree
stated. “If you want coffee, I could go and ask if they could bring us some out
to the veranda instead? There are tables and chairs out there that we could sit
at.”

“I’m okay,” Todd replied. “You know that
I’m a bit of a coffee snob and I’ve already had a few cups this morning. The
ads for this place said that it had ‘beautiful gardens.’ Should we go for a
walk and see if Jack has put his money where his mouth is?”

A bit jealous, aren’t we, Bree thought
satisfactorily. “The gardens would be fine. And from what I’ve seen, I’m sure
that Jack’s delivered on his promise.” Bree couldn’t resist stoking that flame.
A little bit of jealousy wouldn’t hurt. At least it indicated that he was
feeling something!

After consulting reception on the
allocation of the gardens, they navigated the outside of the hotel, around the
lake and found a rather unimpressive sign stating, “Gardens." Bree and
Todd looked at each other and grinned. “Delivering on his promise, you said?”
Todd quirked a brow at her jokingly.

Bree shrugged, “Let’s go find a bench,
assuming that this piece of forest has one.”

“You noticed that did you?” Todd asked.

“Yes,” replied Bree. “It’s very clever
of Jack if you think about it. The locals wouldn’t come here for a walk in the
gardens. We’d just walk around the forests surrounding the town. But folk who
aren’t from here wouldn’t necessarily know better, so I imagine that to them,
this would be spectacular.”

Todd looked around, noticing the lush
green leaves of the trees, the wild berry trees bearing colorful abundance of
fruit, heard the birds chirp in chorus. “I see what you mean and even though
it’s what we’re used to, if you stop and think about it, it is pretty
impressive.”

“Well you know,” Bree, stated, “you
explore our surroundings as a career. A pretty good career if you ask me.”

Todd inclined his head in
acknowledgement of the compliment, “thank you. And there’s you a bench.” He
pointed towards a fallen log that lay along the man-made path.

“So,” he began, turning around to face
her as she seated herself next to him on the log, “what did you want to talk to
me about?”

This close to his face, Bree noticed
that he looked tired and drawn, as though he wasn’t getting much sleep. It
tugged at her heart and she resisted the urge to wrap her arms around him, ask
him about it, and comfort him.

Taking a breath to steal a moment and
gather her thoughts, she looked in front of herself and blurted out, “I went to
see Doctor Roz on Friday.”

“Are you ill?” Todd asked, his voice
laced with concern.

“No,” Bree shook her head, “she’s not a
medical doctor, and she’s a psychologist.”

“Oh,” Todd relaxed and waited for her to
continue.

“It was Shelly and my gran’s idea,” she
explained, twining the hem of her sweater around her fingers. “I’d been feeling
down and neglecting myself and those around me. They noticed and sprung an
intervention on me. Unfortunately, Amber picked up on it.”

That confession made Todd sit up
straighter. “Not in a way that I think harmed her,” Bree quickly spelled out,
“but she’d picked up on something and thought I was sick. I wanted you to know
that because we’re parents together and whatever affects Amber, however little
it is, you deserve to know.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Todd said
sincerely. “It means that you trust me as a parent and I appreciate that. But
are you okay?”

“I’m much better now,” Bree affirmed.
“Doctor Roz diagnosed me with an episode of depression, which means that it’s
not permanent and with the right treatment such as medication and a healthy
lifestyle, I should be okay in a few months and able to go off the medication.
I’ll also be going for weekly therapy sessions with Doctor Roz.”

“To be honest,” Bree confessed, “I think
that I just needed the kick in my behind to pull myself together. I know that
it sounds optimistic and because of that, and because I don’t want to take
chances and get sucked into that black hole again, I’m going to follow the
treatment to the letter. But, my grandparents and Shelly have been great. Even
Amber,” Bree took out Amber’s card and her grandparent’s letter and handed it
to him. Nervous again, she chattered on, “So, all will work out in the end.
It’s already better. I actually went from not wanting to see anyone to having a
blast last night.”

Todd folded the card and letter and
returned it to her, then scooted over and pulled her into a hug. Bree was so
startled that she didn’t know how to react and remained frozen in his arms.
Pulling away, she looked up at him quizzically.

His arm around her shoulders, he looked
at her, sincere concern showing in his expression, “Regardless of all that’s
gone wrong in our relationship, there was a lot of right too. And, regardless
of us having a daughter together, you were my friend for a very long time. I’ll
always care for you Bree. I can’t ignore the fact that you were a major part of
my life before and will be going forward. So, I’m sorry for what you’ve been
going through and I can’t help but feel as though this mess we got ourselves
into helped put you there. I’m not taking the blame entirely because I feel
that there’s enough for both of us, but I’m sorry for my part in it and want
you to know, as the mother of my child and as my friend, if you need anything,
I’ll be there.”

Bree looked up at him in surprise,
touched by how easily he uttered those words and meant them. Then again, Todd
had always been quick to rescue and help out; it was how he was made.
Remembering her conversation with Shelly the previous night, she noted that
again, here was a classic example of what they did and Todd was doing it now.
He was putting his feelings away in his pocket and focusing on what needed to
be done.

Bree wiggled out from under his arm and
took his hands in hers instead. “Your offer means a lot to me and I want you to
know that. I also want you to know that if I do need your help I will ask. But
I first need to try to get through this on my own. I need to not hide what’s
really wrong away and face this head on. Does that make any sense?”

Todd nodded, “Sure, I can appreciate
that. So, I’ll give you the room to do what you have to as long as you shout
when you need me. Deal?”

Bree took the hand he held out to her
and shook it, lips curved in relief. “Deal,” she affirmed.

“Now, the next confession,” she
declared.

“That sounds ominous,” Todd stated,
seriously.

“It’s about the fight we had,” Bree
ventured. “No, nothing to worry about, I think,” she rushed in when she caught
him dragging a hand over his face.

“Do you think that now’s the time to
discuss that with what you’re going through?” he questioned.

Bree tipped her head, “Yes.”

“Okay,” Todd waved a hand to illustrate
his agreement, “what about that night?”

“I need to apologize to you,” she began
this new, difficult topic. “I realize now that I hadn’t dealt with what we’d
both gone through. More specifically, I hadn’t dealt with me leaving Devil’s
Peak, my feelings about that, about us and then returning. It wasn’t just sex
that night, Todd. I panicked and used the sex, the lovemaking,” Bree corrected,
“as an excuse to not have to deal with the feelings I had from the past. The
anger, the hurt, and the disappointment I felt in both of us. Talking with
Shelly last night, I acknowledge that those feelings are normal but because I
hadn’t dealt with them, they were bottled up and after the kind of lovemaking
we had, it kind of burst the bottle.”

“What are you saying,” Todd asked.

“I’m saying that I’m sorry,” Bree
professed. “I care for you too, Todd and always will and I’m sorry that I
deliberately hurt you.”

“Come here,” Todd exclaimed and pulled
her to his side. “Jeesh, you’ve had a hectic time!” He took a moment, rubbing
his hand through his hair and over his face. Glancing at her, he noticed the
pensive look in her eyes. “Since we’re being honest with each other, I might as
well add that I’m sorry, too. I was mad as hell at you. We’d had an amazing
night together and then that fight just ruined it. But, I said some pretty
harsh things myself and I guess that I was trying to hurt you back. I do still
get a twinge when I think of what I’ve missed in Amber’s life and I do hurt
when I think that you didn’t trust me enough to come back for you. But in
reality, it is what it is and no moping is going to change the circumstances. I
knew that when I agreed to go ahead with this amicable co-parenting idea of
yours. So, when I said what I did, I said it out of spite.”

“Apology accepted,” Bree said after a
few minutes of contemplative silence, relief coursing through her and renewed
hope that they could work things out.

“Ditto,” Todd replied, playing on older,
fonder memories.

For the first time since Bree had
returned to Devil’s Peak, the grins they shared were pure and honest.