Road to Recovery (18 page)

How long he stood there and watched, he
didn’t know. All he knew was that at that moment he was lost. Right
there in front of him was everything he had ever been looking for
and never knew.

This big empty house, that he always
loved but never felt right, suddenly did. It felt exactly right. It
felt like a home. A home he wanted with Brooke. A life he wanted
with Brooke.

He heard her yelp in surprise when she
became aware of his presence. Trying to mentally shake off his
thoughts, not wanting to frighten her and say something stupid like
what he was actually thinking, he continued to stare at her,
racking his brain for something to break the silence.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
wake you,” she said, lifting her arms over her head, clasping them
together and stretching upward.

Relieved he at least had something to
say, he smiled. “You didn’t. The sun did. When I looked over you
were gone. I was going to look for you when I saw you down there.”
Grinning ruefully now, he added, “I was enjoying the show. You can
keep going if you want. I never realized how flexible you were.” He
wiggled his eyebrows.

She ducked her head bashfully. “I’m
done. I really wanted to stretch a bit. I can’t do much without a
mat on these floors anyway.”

Frowning with concern, he started to
walk down the stairs toward her, then he asked in response to her
comment about wanting to stretch, “Are you sore? From
running?”

“
No. Not at all. I like to
stretch in the mornings,” she assured him. “And I really couldn’t
resist this spot. It’s so calm and peaceful to stand here and look
at the water when the rest of the world is still asleep. I could
never grow tired of this.”

He stopped in front of her, ran his
hand across her cheek and looked at her. His gaze moving from her
eyes, to her mouth, as he lowered his lips to hers and murmured,
“And I could never grow tired of this.”

She stood still as his lips moved over
hers. Her arms stiff, body rigid, he could almost hear the thudding
of her heart. Too soon, he reminded himself, too soon. He didn’t
want to scare her any more than she seemed to be.

His lips moved over hers again and
again, softly kissing her, not deepening it, continuing until she
relaxed. Relaxed enough that she reached up and put her arms around
his neck. He broke the kiss and continued to stand there, with her
letting him hold her.

He knew she was fighting for something
deep within. He just didn’t know what. And frankly he was afraid to
ask. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know right now. Not when he
realized this was what he wanted. She held him for a minute more,
something she never did. Ever. He was going to take that victory,
however small it was, and go with it for now.

Pulling away from him and putting a
smile on her face, she asked, “Hungry? I was going to make you
breakfast when I was done. Try to surprise you, but you ruined
it.”

Returning her tentative smile he asked
boyishly, “Really? Pancakes?”

“
Sure, why not? If you have
the ingredients.”

“
I bought everything this
week, actually. Hoping I could convince you. But guess I don’t need
to do that now.” He gave her a quick kiss on the mouth, then pulled
her into the kitchen to show her where everything was. He reached
over and gave her ponytail a quick tug. “I’m going to take a
shower. Be back in a few.”

***

Later that night, Brooke rested
comfortably on the chaise lounge, her ankles crossed in front of
her and her head laid back to stare at the stars on the deck. It
was a beautiful night. Cool enough to sit out under the stars with
a light sweater and enjoy the peace and quiet. Let her thoughts
settle in her mind a bit.

It had been a great day. After
breakfast and a quick shower of her own, they headed for Lake
George. Once they were in the car she turned to him. “So what are
our plans for the day?”

“
No plans. That’s the beauty
of today. Just what we feel like.” Then he amended. “Well, I do
have to stop at a local brewery and pick up some beer for tomorrow.
But other than that, whatever we’re in the mood for.”

That was the start of their day. No
plans. And it was the most carefree day Brooke had ever had. She
couldn’t remember ever waking up and just going. Doing whatever she
wanted for the moment. She always had an agenda. But not today. And
it was fun.

He had caught her gazing at a miniature
golf course along the road, enough so that she turned her head to
look a bit more as they passed by. Before she knew it, he had
turned the Range Rover around and pulled into the parking lot.
“Let’s go. Loser buys lunch,” he announced.

The boyish grin of his didn’t last long
when she beat him by four strokes. Good-natured as always, he
conceded the defeat. But not before he gave her a big kiss right on
the eighteenth hole when she scored a hole in one.

When they were back in the car, he
suggested they could either go to the outdoor outlets or to the
little boardwalk by the water. On impulse she said, “Outlets first,
then boardwalk.”

So he indulged her with a little bit of
shopping. Much to his disgust there hadn’t been a single lingerie
shop. But she only laughed at him when he voiced his frustration.
She thought it was sweet that he bought her a yoga mat at one of
the sporting stores. “No excuses now. I get to see how flexible you
really are,” he said, which caused an immediate blush to spread
across her face. She was starting to think he said those things to
see how fast she could blush.

The weather had been perfect for an
outdoor lunch at the brewery when he stopped for beer. But the best
part of the entire day was the stroll on the boardwalk. The small
quaint shops, filled with tourists walking in and out carrying
their souvenirs, the children laughing and running around. Stopping
for an ice cream cone. Lucas holding her hand while they walked in
and out of the shops browsing. It was like a day out of a romance
novel—one of her guilty pleasures she enjoyed alone.

Earlier that morning, when Lucas leaned
in for that kiss and said he could never grow tired of it, it had
scared her. She hoped he didn’t notice her stiffen—it was a gut
reaction—but she was sure he felt it.

She was trying to relax, trying to
enjoy her time with him, trying not to look too far ahead. It was
exhausting to fight so hard. She enjoyed him so much. But there was
a lot he didn’t know. So much he didn’t know about her and her
past. And she was afraid he wouldn’t feel the same way about her if
he did.

She was startled out of her thoughts
when Lucas stood next to her and handed her a glass of wine. “Sorry
about that. I didn’t think I would be on the phone so
long.”

Accepting the glass from him, she sat
up a bit more. “No problem. I’m enjoying the calm.”

He looked at her a few seconds with a
frown, but in the end accepted her answer. “Good. I’m
glad.”

Noticing he didn’t have his usual smile
in place, she asked, “Everything okay?”

“
Yeah. Just looking at you.
I like looking at you sometimes.” She tilted her head at him,
caused him to laugh. “Sometimes I can hear your brain working. It’s
good to know you are at least trying to relax.”

A grimace crossed her face at his
statement, but he ignored her. “What, you think I can’t figure out
you’re sitting here thinking? The question is what were you
thinking about?”

Pushing her earlier fears aside, she
reached over and laid her hand on his. “Thinking about how much fun
I had today. That’s it. It probably doesn’t say much about me, or
my exciting existence, but this was one of the best days I’ve had
in a long time.”

He looked touched by her declaration,
then pulled her onto his lounge chair and arranged her next to him,
tucking her under his arm, her head against his heart. He kissed
her forehead. “Let’s relax together then.”

“
I never asked where your
parents live,” Brooke said the next morning as she leaned down to
apply lotion to her legs. They had just gotten out of the shower,
together.

Peeking at her bent over in a bra and
matching silk panties, running her hands up and down her legs was
giving him ideas. Ideas that had nothing to do with their plans for
the day. He suddenly had a hard time focusing on her question.
“What?”

Smirking at him, indicating that she
knew exactly where his mind had drifted to, she grabbed her blue
and white striped shirt, pulled it over her head, then pulled on
her slim fit khaki shorts. Once she was fully covered, she asked
again, “Where do your parents live?”

Sighing with disappointment, he
reluctantly pulled his own shorts on over the boxer briefs he had
been standing in. Might as well get dressed too, then, since she
seemed to not be as affected as he was.

Picking up his razor, he began to shave
while he looked at her through the mirror. “Just down the road a
few miles.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I didn’t know
they lived on the lake, too.”

“
Yeah. We all do. My
brother, Ryan, is on the opposite side of the lake from my parents.
I’m in the middle.”

“
That has to be rough,” she
said, her eyes slowly watching him shave. His fingers held his
chin, while he tilted his head to the side, the other hand slowly
gliding the razor down through the white cream, leaving soft smooth
skin behind.

The razor stopped abruptly mid stroke,
and he asked, “What do you mean?”

She looked confused. Her eyebrows rose,
and her lips pursed. “It doesn’t bother you living so close to your
family?”

“
Not at all. Why would it? I
wouldn’t have built my house here if it did.” Then he remembered
all she’d said so far about her own parents, causing him to soften
his tone. “We’re all really close, not only location-wise. But we
also give each other plenty of space.”

He finished up that side of his face
and continued to watch her through the mirror as he started to run
the razor down the other cheek. She seemed to enjoy watching him as
much as he did her earlier when she moistened her legs.

When she didn’t comment, he asked,
“Doesn’t Mac live close to your parents? You and he are pretty
close, right?”

“
Yes. To both. He lives
close to my parents. And we’re close.” At the mention of her
brother, her face softened, her eyes lit up. “I miss him. I don’t
know how he does it, lives so close to them. I couldn’t anymore.
But I still miss him a lot.”

“
I thought you talked every
week.” He grabbed the towel and dried off his face.

“
We do, if not talk, at
least text. He likes to check up on me. But we’ve always been
close, relying on each other. The constant in our dysfunction,” she
replied, chuckling.

Seeing her laugh, and wanting to keep
her happy, he indulged her memories of Mac. “Protective of his baby
sister, huh?”

She cleared her throat. “Something like
that.” Then she walked out of the bathroom.

Lucas watched her retreating form while
he rinsed out the sink. He couldn’t figure out what caused her mood
to change that quickly.

***

The drive to the Mathews’ house took
less than five minutes. Pulling up to the big brick home, Brooke
could easily see Lucas growing up here. The land was neatly
manicured, yet didn’t seem professionally maintained. Everything
looked homey. Like someone had a gardening hobby and enjoyed every
bit of the time planting and nurturing.

There was a wide assortment of colors
and sizes of flowerbeds haphazardly placed along the property. It
shouldn’t have worked, yet it did. It looked happy and welcoming.
The complete opposite of the carefully manicured property she grew
up on. The one maintained by a service. It had never experienced
any children running around on it, only adults strolling through
admiring the landscaping.

“
Can I leave my purse here?”
She gestured toward the front seat when she climbed out.

“
Sure, it’ll be fine. Want
to close the back for me, please?” he asked after grabbing both
cases of beer.

Following him around the side of the
house, Brooke took notice of even more flowers and flowering shrubs
lining the length of the house. She assumed the other side of the
house looked the same and marveled at the amount of time and energy
it must’ve taken. “Does your mother like to garden?”

He laughed. “How’d you
guess?”

“
It must take a huge amount
of time. How does she manage it all by herself?”

“
I told you she’s a teacher,
right? So she has the summer to spend all the time she wants. And
she does. But don’t be fooled.” He turned his head and smiled at
her longing gaze at the landscaping. “My father gets roped into
helping on the weekends. And Ryan and I have put in our fair share
of time. But what you’re seeing right now is mainly perennials and
shrubbery. Just wait a few more weeks. That’s when everything seems
to come to life.”

“
What?” he continued
indignantly when she gave him a surprised look. “I told you we put
in our fair share of time out here. She’s a teacher—don’t you think
she’d want to teach us all about it? Hands on learning,” he mocked
in what Brooke assumed was his mother’s tone.