Page 42 of Coming Unraveled
A few hours later, Everleigh wishes that she had been prepared for the larger questioning when her brother Austin walks in during lunch with questions of his own. Her day has gone from good, to bad, to worse when it seems that the entire town of Carson seems to descend on her pharmacy wanting the scoop on her and Brooks and his mystery date to the wedding.
Through it all though she can’t help picturing Brooks waiting for her as she closes shop for the day, an image she never allowed herself to envision in the past. And she isn’t disappointed as she locks up the shop at 6:30 p.m. and finds him leaning against the rust-colored brick of the building.
“Brooks,” she sighs in relief, not sure if she should be surprised to find him waiting for her as he had promised. He has yet to be anything but sincere with her.
Stepping towards her, his hands reach out and frame her face, seeming so delicate in his palms, and seal his lips with hers. He pours himself into the kiss, letting her feel how much he thought of her through the day, and she mimics his movements, trying to have him feel the same.
“How was your day, beautiful?”
“Busy. Tiring. Everyone and their cousin came by to add to the gossip ring going around Carson.”
“Ah, that explains it. I saw about fourteen new patients today that had nothing wrong with them. It seems their parents were far more interested in my weekend plans than the possibility of their kids being sick.”
“Are you prepared for this? You’ve never felt the full force of the Carson gossip circle. It can be brutal,” she admits remembering how it had almost broken her as a teenager. That familiar ache closes in on her vision, but Brooks’ gentle stroke of his thumbs across her cheeks brings her back to herself.
“As long as I have you their words mean nothing.”
Honesty and genuine love floats through his pledge and its meaning, and she can feel it caress her skin before seeping into her heart.
“I feel the same, Brooks.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he adds as he glides his hand down her arm and tugs her hand.
Only then does she notice Tamara and a few members of the Lady Busy Bees peering around the corner watching them, their chirps of chatter drifting to her ears. And uniquely she doesn’t care what they’re saying about her or Brooks, a first.
LONESOMENESS BEGINS TO SET in. She has been without Brooks for about a week, he had returned to New York with Charleston to film a few live segments and she had overheard that a few entertainment shows requested interviews with Brooks. His celebrity is growing, but he speaks with her every night and explains that he isn’t looking to make a career change. He has been hoping his popularity would soon fizzle out and he can come home for good.
Charleston, someone that has become a good friend to Everleigh in the few days before they left, has assured her that the team is looking to move a crew to town so they can film at Brooks’ practice, but they are still working to convince the network execs. Thinking of the rumored relationship between Charleston and Brooks now seems laughable to Everleigh; the two are so different from each other and he treats her as if she is a little sister. Of course, it does ease her mind that Charlie swings for the other team.
Walking into Angie’s diner she hopes to satisfy her anticipation as she waits for Brooks to come home with some hearty comfort food. She has decided this morning that she is ready to tell him. To tell him all of her secrets; the ones she keeps buried so far inside that there is an inch of dust resting atop of them. And to tell him that she loves him. She can feel it with every fiber of her being, the way just thinking of him has her heart pounding, the way she can smell him on her sheets and it leaves her body yearning for his touch.
She may be inexperienced with relationships, but she isn’t naïve enough to not realize love when it is standing in front of her. She sees it in the way her parents still hold each other when they think no one is watching. Sees it in the way her brothers will move heaven and earth for their wives. And the way her sister’s eyes light up whenever their husbands enter the room. She has never imagined she would ever find a love like theirs, she believed that she had drawn the short end of the stick until Brooks cascaded into her life like he was rappelling down a wall.
The 50’s style diner has her smiling whenever she enters its space. Her family frequents Angie’s often, every Sunday to be exact, and has a standing reservation for the banquet room in the back where a modern addition to the building had been created a decade ago as the town expanded. But the nostalgic diner section has always been her favorite part. She likes to pretend as if she is transported back to a time where chivalry still exists and Elvis is king.
Finding a booth tucked in the back corner, Everleigh heads in that direction. In her peripheral vision, she notices as a few patrons lean into each other whispering wildly but she pays them no mind. Most of the town is busy predicting how long her truce with Brooks will last based on how often they had fought in the past, but since she let her walls down things have been pleasant between the two. Of course, the release of all the pent-up sexual tension has helped smooth things out as well.
She smirks remembering how he had taken her in the shower the day he was scheduled to leave. Brooks had snuck into her bathroom and pressed her against the cold tile, his chest to her back, and took her from behind. Their sudsy lovemaking had been quick and rough and had filled Everleigh with so much passion that she was left gasping for minutes afterward.
The heat begins to rise on her cheeks as the vision of his naked body play through in her mind and she quickly slides into the booth. Ethel, the diner’s main waitress, sidles up to the table and takes Everleigh’s order, the daily special, and then scurries off just as quickly, leaving Everleigh alone with her thoughts.
Fifteen minutes later, just as the meal is placed in front of her a commotion sounds at the front of the diner. Ethel looks at her wearily and asks, “Is there going to be a world war three?”
Confused, Everleigh peeks her head around the plump waitress and gasps when she finds Brooks standing just inside the diner. Their fights had always been notoriously epic, especially when they had stormed out of the diner months earlier and she had given him a black eye, so she understands Ethel’s claim. The problem is she isn’t sure why he is here in the first place; his plane isn’t set to arrive for another six hours.
His eyes search around the diner wildly, like an animal looking for an escape until his gaze lands on her. They instantly calm and then in a flash his protective instincts take over and he rushes towards her, practically knocking Ethel out of her orthopedic shoes, and yanks Everleigh from the table and into his arms.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. So fucking sorry.”
Taken aback she pulls herself away from his arms to find her siblings all rushing into the diner at the same time. As the other patrons begin looking at their phones and then glaring in her direction it doesn’t take long for the situation to dawn on her.
“I’m going to kill him, then you, and then go bury him so far in the ground they’ll never find his body,” her brother Austin bellows as he holds his wife in his arms as tears streak down her face.
“I don’t understand,” Everleigh murmurs, her hunger forgotten.
“Why don’t you explain it, Dr. McCafferty. Since you’re the reason my sister is being dragged through the mud.”
“Come sit down, sweetheart.”
