Page 76 of Brooke
She stood and toed on her heels. “Yes, but in some ways that makes her even more my mother—since it seems they plan to live together. I mean, my dad wants to marry her! That would make her my mother for real. When I think about it, my heart wants to fly out of my chest.”
Much like she felt about Axel, if she were confessing all.
“Yes, but she has pulled back from being that mother, that confidant, for the moment, for you and your roommates. Perhaps she wants to focus on being a woman and a lover again. Her life has changed so much. I would add your father to the list here. He’s moved to Paris to create a new life, one he will now share with Nanine. He also seems to have found a new niche helping out PRG when it comes to wine.”
“You know I’m really happy about all of that, but you’re right.” She met his eyes. “It is different.”
He crossed and took her in his arms. “You are all reaching a new level of your relationships. Life evolves, and we with it. Like your friendship with Thea and Dean, you and Nanine and your father will have to figure out a new way of being. But you will manage it. Because you love each other, and that is what people who love each other do.”
She paused at the deep tenor of his voice, sensing something in his last words. Her heart started to race.
“It is time for me to tell you, my Brooke.” His smile lit up his beautiful face, his glacier blue eyes shining with light. “I love you. Thank you for coming into my life and enriching it so.”
The fire in her heart seemed to shoot out until it warmed every part of her. She bit her lip, feeling raw tears filling her eyes before she shook her head and smiled. This was not a moment for tears. It was a moment for joy. She wrapped her arms around his massive frame, laying her head against his chest. “I love you too, even though I can’t believe it’s only been three weeks since we met.”
His hands twined around her, enveloping her against him. “I told you time has no place when it comes to the dictates of the heart. I knew the first moment I saw you washing that silly parrot that I was going to love you. Since that moment, I have often brought the image up and chuckled. I could not have scripted a better moment to meet you.”
She tightened her grip and looked up to see his blue eyes dancing with mirth. “Dripping wet?—”
“You know how much I like you thus.”
“I was going to say my bangs and my clothes,” she added with a laugh. “Dean would ramble on about the Universe and kismet. Axel, I’d never imagined feeling like this. I’m so happy you’ve come into my life too.”
He leaned down and kissed her swiftly. As if they were sealing an accord of sorts. “Shall we continue our adventure? I believe we have more items to discuss for the Concept Board. In fact, I have a color I want to run by you—the one I believe embodies you and your roommates—which your initial abstract mood board helped me reach.”
Her gaze found their current draft board resting on an easel in his office, where they’d put it before they stopped for lunch. “I have a color in mind too, by the way.”
They both paused and then said, “Purple.”
She started laughing and then his booming gale joined in. “You’re kidding! I never thought we’d agree on this.”
He rocked her in his arms. “We agree on many things, do we not?”
“But purple!” She rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t believe it myself. But I kept coming back to it. It seemed like the one color that had everyone’s energy in it. Thea’s heart. Dean’s dreaminess. Sawyer’s philosophicalness, if that’s a word. Kyle’s leadership, which is a little kingly?—”
“Making purple perfect as it is the color of royals,” he finished her thought.
“And somehow Madison and her blacks and red. Blacks for what she wears on the outside, but red is the passion she seems to…I don’t know, spew.”
“Like an erupting volcano.” Axel walked over to her initial mood board, which they’d printed and hung up, and pointed to every color she’d chosen for her roommates. “I came to purple because it really isn’t represented on the colorspectrum, contrary to public perception. It is actually a mixture of colors, you could say, something I thought suited you as a group. I thought it ingenious to choose a color that no one has mentioned to us in our individual meetings—you included—and yet somehow it embodies all of your warm, playful, and loyal attributes.”
She rose on her tiptoes and twined her arms around his neck, enjoying the smile spreading on her face. He was always making her smile or laugh, and she loved being this happy.
God, when had Brooke Adams ever imagined such joy in her life when she was power walking to a meeting or checking things off her to-do list?
“Your reasoning is spectacular, as are you. I think it’s the perfect color for shared spaces.”
“With the gold and cream, it will be quite striking in the entryway and salon,” he said, taking her hand and leading her over to their array of design boards. “Let’s talk about how we want it to flow out of those areas toward Madison’s kitchen.”
A challenge, she thought. They put their heads together for the next couple of hours, discussing it. When she finally checked her phone, it was nearly five o’clock, later than she’d thought. But she also had a rare text from Nanine. She clicked on it.
My dear Third Course. We are just back from our trip. I would like to see you before this evening’s event if you are able. Yours truly, Nanine.
Even in a text, she signed her name, a touch so very Nanine that she pressed her fingers to the words before lifting her head. “Axel, Nanine wants to see me before tonight. Would it be all right if we meet at the restaurant at seven?”
He picked up a swatch of green and smiled. “Absolutely. Iam glad she reached out to you. I will keep working if that is all right with you. Tomorrow, when we begin anew, I will show you what I have amassed.”
His complete and total sharing was a revelation in a working partnership. They were designing the house together, bit by bit. She couldn’t be happier with that side of their relationship as well. “I’ll wait with bated breath.”
