Page 61 of His Heart

The way she was talking about Brooke made my hackles rise. I didn’t like it. But I was also raised to never be rude to my mother, and I didn’t want her to worry. I’d already given her enough worry for a lifetime.

“I know. I get it. This is a weird situation. But you always taught me to be willing to help other people if I could. Brooke has been through a lot. She just needs a chance.”

She took a deep breath. “Be careful. I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

“I know, Mom. I’ll be careful. I always am.”

“I suppose I should go,” she said, although I could hear the reluctance in her voice. “I have my appointment to get to. But come home for dinner soon and tell us about your trip. The rest of it, I mean.”

“Yeah, I will.”

Mom and I said our goodbyes, and I went back into the kitchen.

“That was awesome,” Charlie said with a laugh.

“Thanks for that, asshole,” I said.

“Come on, man,” Charlie said. “You can’t expect me not to make things awkward. It’s what I do.”

“You’re a dick.”

“I’m sorry,” Brooke said. “Is your mom upset that I’m here?”

“No, she’s fine,” I said. “You just took her by surprise. And she worries a lot.”

“And there’s also the fact that this whole thing is insane,” Charlie said. “Even if Brooke does make good waffles.”

“You’re right,” Brooke said with a shrug. “Coming here with you guys was nuts.”

“At least you admit it,” Charlie said. He pointed to me. “And you. Come to Iowa with us? Who does that?”

“Yeah, well, maybe it is crazy, but we’re here now.” I turned to Brooke. “I’ll grab you my laptop and then I’m going to hit the shower. I’m free all day, so let me know what you need and we’ll make it happen.”

“Thank you,” Brooke said.

“I should get moving too,” Charlie said. “I guess I need to go see Kimmie.”

“Have fun with that,” I said.

Charlie grunted as he got up from the table, then went upstairs.

“You good for now?” I asked.

Brooke met my eyes. God, she was beautiful. I needed to be careful with her. I was going to get myself into trouble.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m good now.”

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