Page 64 of Doctor Daddy

I grunted noncommittally. I was definitely not going to be looking Brooke up, no matter how much her parents might want me to.

Karen called up the stairs and said that dinner was ready. Peyton was the first one out of the room.

“Hey, before I forget,” Howard stopped me. “You remember Mimi, right?”

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“I just wanted to let you know that we’ve been seeing each other.”

“Good for you.” I patted him on the shoulder.

“I wanted you to hear it from me and not find out from Karen, or some other surprising way. You know, to make sure I wasn’t stepping on toes or anything. I know Mimi thought there might be something brewing between the two of you over the summer.”

There had never been anything brewing between us, but if that was her delusion…

“Howard, I’m glad the two of you have managed to get together. I always thought you were a much better match for her. I would never have made her happy the way she deserves to be happy. In this case, I think the better man won.” In this case, I would have handed Mimi and her attention over to Howard back when we first met. Back before things had fallen apart between me and Brooke.

Maybe had I been more honest with my friends, that my affections were actively elsewhere, Mimi never would have tried to slip her claws into me. She and Howard could have gotten together months earlier.

“Glad to hear that.” He said as he headed down the stairs.

I paused and let my gaze drift over the family portrait hanging over the sofa. It had been taken some time in the past five years or so. Brooke looked young, but it was easy to see the beautiful woman she would become in her smiling face. I needed to do something to exorcise Brooke from my memory. I didn’t necessarily want to forget about her, but I wouldn’t mind forgetting how I had felt about her. By the time I joined everyone in the dining room, Howard was sitting in Brooke's old place. I felt a twinge of regret. I hadn’t realized how difficult it was to get over someone, I had never had a difficult time before. Then again, I hadn’t really admitted to myself the extent of my feelings for Brooke.

Had I been honest with myself over what I was feeling for her and had I said something to her at any point while we were together, maybe I wouldn’t still feel this way. Thoughts of Brooke made me sad, happy and angry all at once. I don’t know when I realized I had fallen in love with her, but it had been too late to make a difference.

30

BROOKE

Icounted rows and rows of bottles and jars and checked them against the clipboard in my hand as I moved through shelf after shelf of supplies taking inventory. I was down in the housekeeping area, tunnels of back hallways that led to work rooms and storage rooms. The hotel didn’t pump any air conditioning into the back halls. They didn’t need heating; everything was warmed by the washers and dryers that constantly ran. It was hot and humid back there.

Even though the work wasn’t as taxing as having to scrub toilets, make beds, or clean up after horrifically gross guests, I was still sweating. I was on my second rotation of housekeeping, and glad to no longer have to wheel a trolley down the room halls. No more knocking on doors, no more being exposed to things I could go a lifetime not seeing. My first rotation had been a real eye-opener to how horrible people were in hotels. It seemed like the more money they paid for a room the more they trashed and ruined the room, and the greater the chances of them being complete exhibitionists. This rotation, I was learning, hands-on, about inventory and maintaining supplies. Maybe in January and February when it got really cold outside, I’d want to come to hide down here. But right now, I had more than enough body heat with my two extra parasites taking up room in my body.

“Oh, there you are. Brooke,” Professor Patrick, my program manager said.

She was a combination mentor, lecturer, and on-site job manager. She was the one responsible for the schedule and the rotation for which departments we were assigned to. And she is who we turned in our written reports after each rotation.

“Hi, Professor Patrick,” I said. “What’s up?”

I put my hand on a bottle so that I could remember where I was when I returned to my inventory.

“I’m checking in on everybody and wanted to see how you were doing today.”

“Doing great, taking inventory.” I nodded to the shelves of supplies next to me.

“How are you enjoying household management?”

I smiled and chuckled. “I’m not,” I confessed.

“I know you were expecting to rotate back into food service next. But we’ve had to shift schedules around and with you being as pregnant as you are, I thought it might be best to put you into event planning. If that’s okay with you?”

I broke out into a huge smile. My eyes must have gone a million miles. I loved event planning.

“You look pleased,” she said.

“I am. I really enjoyed event planning and was looking forward to it again.”

“That’s good to hear.”

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