Page 52 of Endlessly Yours
Because the last time someone had rang her doorbell near the end of the night, people showed up to tell her that her parents were gone.
Cameron’s eyes went impossibly large, grief tinging edges, and I reached out, wanting to comfort her. She immediately took a step back, the connection between us broken, as Alice ran towards the door.
“I’ll get it!”
Alarmed, considering the sun had set and it could have been anyone at the door, I ran behind her.
“No, wait! You know the rules. You make sure I answer the door first.”
But Alice was already there, swinging the door open.
“Brooks! You’re here. Aunt Rory wasn’t sure when you were going to be here. But now that you’re here. I’m so glad.” She wrapped her arms around his legs, and he leaned down to pick her up and plop her on his hip like he had done so many times prior.
“Well, hi there. That’s a welcome.” He rubbed his cheek on the top of Alice’s head, and she laughed, even though Alice was far too big to be carried like that. I didn’t think either one of them cared.
Brooks met my gaze, and I swallowed hard, wanting to reach out and touch him, wanting to reach out and push him away.
That was the problem, wasn’t it? I never knew what to do when it came to Brooks Wilder. And seeing him with that other woman had broken something inside me. I had already told myself that this was too much. That I wouldn’t continue to make poor decisions. And now here I was, in such a vulnerable position that there was no coming back from it.
“So, can you come over tomorrow so we can talk about sports? I also want to learn how to draw like Aunt Rory, but Aunt Rory said that girls are allowed to play football. Is that really true?”
He blinked at me as if pulling himself out of his thoughts like I was trying to do and then looked down at Alice. “That’s right. You can play football if you want.”
For some reason, that inevitably made me think of the last time I had seen Brooks play football. Shirtless, sweaty, and I was losing my damn mind all over again.
I swallowed hard, pushing all thoughts of him out of my mind, even though it literally couldn’t happen since he was in front of me.
This man was a menace to my self-control.
“What are you doing here?” Cameron asked as the young girl stood by my side and folded her arms over her chest.
Apparently, Cameron was going to defend me over whatever she thought had happened, and part of me wanted to warm up at that moment. Maybe it was the first time we were on the same side. However, there shouldn’t be sides at this moment. Because I didn’t want the girls to get in the middle of this. And this is why I shouldn’t have gotten involved with Brooks. Everything was such a mess.
But he had let that other woman touch him. It looked as if they were on a date or at least comfortable enough to be around his family.
And I hadn’t been there. Had I even been invited? I wasn’t sure. I was too focused on so many other things, but I couldn’t help but let that image of that beautiful woman and Brooks sitting so close to one another ingrain itself onto my memory. I just wanted him to leave. So it would be easier to forget him. And maybe easier to breathe.
“Cameron, watch your tone, please,” I said after a moment, realizing that Cameron had been just as rude as I wanted to be at that moment.
Brooks raised a brow but cleared his throat as he set Alice down. “I’m here to talk to your aunt. I think we have a few things to say to one another.”
“It’s late, and I need to get the girls ready for bed.”
“Then I’ll wait in the living room.”
“Oh, you should read a story with us. Please?” Alice asked as she tugged him in.
Alice was seven now and still liked being read to. I didn’t know if my sister had done this for her. They had mentioned casually that she had used to. But I didn’t know what my sister and brother-in-law had done for the girls in the years we had been apart from each other. I didn’t know what had changed, other than we were finding our own rhythm. One where sometimes we cried, sometimes we broke down, sometimes we failed, but we were figuring it out.
Only I wasn’t sure I was doing it well enough at this moment.
“Oh, Brooks, you don’t?—”
“I’d be honored to,” Brooks interrupted as he looked down at Alice and then at me. “Cameron, do you get a story, too?”
“I’m twelve. I can read on my own.”
“I can read, too, but it’s fun to hear Aunt Rory do the voices. Do you do the voices?” Alice asked Brooks.
