Page 30 of Brooke
“Albert Camus.” Sawyer’s awestruck sigh followed before he gave a slight bow in return. “I can work with this. Axel, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you can redecorate my room.”
“You traitor!” Madison strode over and put her finger on Sawyer’s chest. “I thought we were a unified force.”
He danced back and held up his hands. “I can’t turn away someone who hears a Camus quote like that, Madison. He gets it. Me! Maybe you should give the guy a chance.”
Brooke wanted to cheer Sawyer on, but she knew better. Madison would only get her back up more.
“Madison does not have to change her mind about me and this process,” Axel said in that deep voice of his. “I only hope she can keep an open mind and see for herself if she is making a decision based on real emotion or old experiences.”
Brooke held her breath.Please don’t flip him off.
The way her friend’s mouth tightened indicated she didn’t like his response, but thankfully she only nodded crisply in return. “Fine. Open mind. Or Kyle can hypnotize me again.”
“Wait!” Thea turned. “You can do that?”
Kyle waved his hand dismissively. “She’s exaggerating. Axel, please continue.”
“Now, Brooke,” Axel said, “as my partner, do you have a place you’d prefer for our meeting?”
When he turned and shared a collaborative smile, she felt like her insides were a ballpark and the stadium lights had been turned on. “I thought the kitchen. It’s become the heart of the house.”
“Yeah, how did that happen exactly?” Madison pointed to the salon with an eye roll. “The couches in there are so much more comfortable than the barstools.”
Brooke knew she mostly was joking, but she glared at her all the same. Madison glared back. Suddenly both of them were fighting laughter.
“I know why we hang in your hood, Madison.” Dean ticked off the reasons on his fingers. “Food, coffee, and the countertop. It’s like sitting at a bar in your favorite restaurant.”
“Except I’m not a bartender, Dean,” Madison said before throwing up her hands and walking back into the kitchen.
“She’ll come around.” Dean winced. “Maybe. Hard to call with Madison. I’m totally psyched about this process, although Jacqueline and I might have found an apartment we like. So I’m for the guest room, I’m afraid.”
Before Brooke could offer up her congratulations, Thea broke in, “Like me. And Nanine. We can’t forget about Nanine.”
The sad tone in her voice resounded with Brooke. While she was so relieved Dean had gotten her out of Paris because it sounded like she’d had a good time, no one could deny Nanine was struggling with the new status quo.
“We all know Nanine will never stay here.” Sawyer played with a button on his shirt. “She likes to have Bernard’s energy around her.”
“As one does when one loves deeply.” Axel’s voice was quiet as he said it, but everyone bobbed their heads.
Her heart picked up its pace at his words. He seemed to understand that kind of love. Did she? The kind of love Nanine had had with Bernard was the gold standard, but Brooke had always seen it as rare. Not for regular people. Not for her. Despite Nanine telling her otherwise on many occasions.
“Let us go and try this incredible bread Thea has made for us.” Axel’s voice was more commanding this time. “Brooke, I’ve done most of the talking. Do you have anything else you’d like to say? I promise I don’t usually talk this much. I’m afraid it’s part of setting the stage before Brooke and I start the concept and material boards with you. Although perhapsBrooke will want to do a mood board as well, per her own process.”
The kind look he gave her was assuring, and she believed him. Truthfully, she’d planned to let him take the lead because he was the decorating god and she the apprentice of sorts. Responding to his ideas first had seemed like a good idea. Except when she met his searching gaze, she could feel he wanted her to take his hand and be his equal. So she said, “I have my initial ideas written down upstairs, and yes, I was thinking it might be easier for all of us to agree on the mood of the house and its individual spaces. Of course, I do have a draft mood board started. Abstract concepts only.”
A huge smile spread across his face until she could practically feel the warmth of it reaching through her skin, to the heart of her. “Excellent. Bring it down. I am eager to see and hear your ideas. Like I am sure your friends are.”
Starting for the stairs, she felt his eyes on her. Looking back over her shoulder, she gave him another smile before heading up, not caring that her roommates had seen the exchange.
Arriving in the kitchen with her tablet, she drew her shoulders back and marched forward. There was a seat open next to Axel, which he angled her way when she arrived. She positioned the tablet in the center of the countertop everyone had clustered around, munching on Thea’s bread.
She didn’t watch their faces as they studied the screen. She watched Axel’s. When he leaned closer, she caught the tug of a smile on his sculpted lips before he turned in his barstool to face her.
“You did each person by color and shapes, I see,” he mused, stroking his jaw. “I like it. I like it a lot.”
“Why am I a balloon?” Dean asked, peering closer and squinting. “I get the blue. I love blue.”
“Dude, it works since your feet are never on the ground,”Sawyer surmised correctly. “Brooke, the dark green tone totally works for me, and the professor in me loves that you see me as a rhombicosidodecahedron.”
