Two of a kind, p.7
Two of a Kind, page 7
“Ten,” he said. “But it’s just a starting point.”
She nodded and held out her hand. “May I read it?”
He handed the paper over and watched as she grew more and more pale, but then her chin jutted out and her shoulders squared, that stubborn streak rearing its head.
“Where would you recommend I start?”
“Uh…” The question was so unexpected he didn’t have an answer. The way she’d been crumpling in on herself, he’d expected her to tell him his list was crazy. “If I were you, I’d start with a short hike.”
That was the easiest item on his list, and something he didn’t expect her to particularly struggle with.
“Okay.” Her tone was decisive. “What should I do to prepare?”
He wracked his brain. “You’ll want a new pair of boots, but before you invest in those, I’d suggest you make an appointment with Bex at The Hideaway and get her to write an exercise plan for you. She can help you build up muscle in your legs and shoulders.”
“True. I’ll do that tomorrow.”
Shit, this conversation was not going as he’d intended. He’d expected her to be daunted. Had prepared himself for a heart to heart about starting with small goals before leaping to the big ones.
“That’s a great idea,” he said. She smiled, and he found himself adding, “Maybe we can do a few private trips together when I don’t have anything else booked.”
“Really?” She lit up like someone had turned on a lamp inside her soul. She was radiant, and he felt it like a kick in the solar plexus. “You’d do that for me?”
He wanted to bury his face in his hands. Why had he opened his big stupid mouth and made an offer like that? He could hardly take it back. Not when she was looking at him like she was a five-year-old and he’d promised her a new kitten.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He didn’t like the way her smile made him feel. Getting up, he brushed himself off. “I’d better get going. Bye, Brooke.”
Without a backward glance, he left, wondering why it was that he couldn’t behave like a normal person around this woman.
7
Confused by Jack’s abrupt exit, Brooke glanced around to confirm that no one had chased him away. Nope. Weird. She reread the list of challenges he’d given her. Some would be very difficult. Thirty minutes on a stair climber with a thirty-pound bag? She could barely manage five minutes without a weight last time she’d tried, which had been a good eighteen months ago. But she wouldn’t let this list defeat her. She’d known achieving her mission wouldn’t be easy, and now she had a series of steps to get her there. Nothing motivated her like the satisfaction of crossing something off a list. Except, perhaps, the satisfaction of proving someone wrong. She’d spent her whole life doing that, and didn’t intend to stop now. Especially not when her legion of readers were counting on her to pave the way and show them what they were capable of.
She made her way to her bedroom, unloaded her backpack, and tidied her gear away. Then she shrugged into a light jersey and returned to the garden with her phone, tapping in Bex’s number. While the phone rang, she plucked weeds from amongst the roses.
“Hi, Brooke,” Bex said when she answered.
“Hey!” Brooke winced at the high note in her voice and dialed it back a notch. “I have a favor to ask. I’d like some help with a personal training program.”
“Okay, sure thing. Have you run this by a doctor?”
“Yes, months ago, and it’s fine, as long as someone monitors me. What time does Izzy go to bed?” Izzy was Bex’s epically cute diva of a daughter. Six-years-old and enough sass to give any Hollywood leading lady a run for her money. “Perhaps I can come over and we can talk?”
“Better idea,” Bex said. “I’m teaching an art class at Sanctuary tomorrow. I can come over early, drop Izzy off with Shane and Hunter for DIY Saturday, and we can catch up then.”
Brooke would rather do it tonight, but she also didn’t want to be pushy. “That sounds great.”
Bex chuckled, the sound low and husky. “Girl, the best things come to those who wait.”
Apparently, her low-key act wasn’t fooling anyone. “If you say so. I’ll see you tomorrow. Kiss that sweet girl of yours for me.”
“Bye, now.”
They hung up and Brooke stayed in the garden for a while longer, until it was time for dinner. She inserted herself into a group of travelers—the better to distract herself—and later worked on her thesis before bed. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to matter how tired her body or her mind was, she was too worked up about the coming day to fall asleep.
Jack was the last to arrive at Logan’s apartment above The Den for poker night. Seated around the table were Logan, Sterling, Tione, Shane, and Kyle. Logan, with his shaggy mane of gold hair, owned the pub and was Jack’s best friend. Shane taught at the local school, and was permanently frazzled. Jack dropped into the empty chair between Shane and Kyle—Logan’s younger brother. The men fell silent.
“What is it?” he asked, glancing from one face to another.
Logan cleared his throat. “We were just congratulating Sterling on how well things are going with Kat,” he said, looking awkward.
Oh. Suddenly the furtive expressions and lowered voices made sense. They feared he’d take it badly because he’d never made a secret of the fact that he wanted a chance with Kat if she was ever on the market. Fortunately, he was long past any misguided thoughts of he and Kat as a couple. They had a lot in common and got along well, but the truth was, she didn’t set him on fire. Not like her frustratingly unsuitable friend did.
“Yeah, congrats,” he said, reaching out to grab Sterling’s hand and give it a brisk shake. “Good for you. You’d better treat her well.”
“I will,” Sterling said, expression earnest. He’d changed so much since the first time he’d come to poker night, all closed off and icy. “I know how lucky I am.”
Tione clapped him on the shoulder. “He also knows that he’ll answer to us if he doesn’t. Right, mate?”
“It won’t come to that,” Kyle said. “He knows a good thing when he’s got it.”
“Great.” Logan held up the pack of cards. “Now that the celebration is over, who’s dealing?”
Shane took them and started shuffling. “You’re seriously not bothered about Kat and Sterling?” he asked Jack, quietly enough to avoid being heard by anyone else. Not that they were listening. Logan was handing out beers while Tione emptied bags of popcorn and pretzels into bowls.
Jack shrugged. “Nah, I’m really not. Shocker, right?”
Shane smiled. “Glad to hear it. Couldn’t tell if you were putting on a brave face.”
“Can we not talk about our feelings please?”
“You’d rather just grunt and drink beer?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Suit yourself.” Shane dealt the cards, and Jack and Kyle laid out the small and big blind. Then the game began. Three hands later, only Kyle and Sterling remained in play. Giving into impulse, Jack finally asked the question he’d been dying to since he arrived.
“Hey, Kyle, I saw you out with that pretty blonde the other day. Is she your girlfriend?”
Four pairs of eyes shifted to Kyle, who stared at Jack in the strangest way. Almost like he could see right into his mind.
“You mean Brooke?” he asked.
Jack sensed Tione peering at him and ignored it. “That’s right.”
“We’re not dating,” Kyle said. “We’re just friends.”
Just friends. Yeah, how many times had he heard that before? Usually when one of the people in question had been hopelessly friend-zoned by the other. He wondered, in this case, who’d friend-zoned who.
“You seemed pretty close.”
“We’re close friends,” Kyle said, his gaze becoming wary. “We’re both addicted to sci-fi shows, so we like to watch them together.” Some of the tension eased from Jack’s shoulders, then Kyle added, “And we did share a place for a while, which is a surefire way to either cement a friendship or end it.”
They’d lived together? Why hadn’t he heard about this? Surely he’d have known if Kyle was rooming with a woman. Heck, the whole town would have known.
“Are you pulling my leg?”
Kyle’s head tilted to the side and he studied Jack. Behind his wire-framed glasses, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. “Why would I do that?”
“For the hell of it,” Tione suggested.
“Brooke and I roomed at university,” Kyle explained. “We were in the same hall of residence and a group of us moved in with each other afterward.”
“Kyle, it’s your turn,” Shane prompted. Kyle called, and so did Sterling.
“Kyle’s playing the long game,” Logan said, snatching a handful of pretzels and crunching into them. “The really long game.”
“I’m not playing the long game,” Kyle muttered as he turned over his cards.
“Then why did you forbid me from making a move on her?” Logan demanded. “Wasn’t that you staking your claim?”
Jack’s stomach lurched and his beer bottle slipped from his grip. He caught it before it hit the floor, and when he looked up, Kyle was staring at him again.
“You know,” Kyle said, not taking his eyes off Jack, “maybe you’re right. She’s an awesome girl. Beautiful, too.”
Logan swilled beer and nodded. “If I had a friend who looked like her and was half as sweet, I’d snatch her up before someone else did.”
“Good point, man,” Kyle said, as if the thought had never crossed his mind. “You’re right. I should take a shot with her.”
Jack ground his back teeth together. How could any man be friends with Brooke and not want to touch her, kiss her, or taste her? He couldn’t, simple as that. Which meant that Kyle really was playing the long game, and Jack, with his stupid questions, might have just pushed him into action. How typical. He’d accidentally encouraged another man to ask out the girl he was lusting after. He cracked his knuckles and forced his jaw to unclench. Tione frowned at him.
“What?” Jack snapped.
“Nothing.” Tione held his palms up in a gesture of peace. Jack glared at him, then glared at Kyle for good measure. Kyle held his gaze with something a lot like defiance. What was that about?
“Sterling, what have you got?” Shane asked.
Sterling turned over his cards, and everyone groaned. He’d won, as was becoming the norm. They continued playing for a while, and no one mentioned Brooke again. Jack drank more than usual, determined to wipe the image of her flushed face this afternoon from his memory, and determined not to care if Kyle decided to pursue her. She was all wrong for him anyway—she had a blog for God’s sake, and that alone made her far too similar to Claudia for his peace of mind. He wasn’t about to chase after her because of a short-term infatuation. Especially not when she hadn’t given any indication she wanted him to.
By the time they wrapped up, he was unsteady as he staggered down the stairs and made the short walk home.
8
Since Brooke had been too excited to sleep, she was up at dawn. She made herself a coffee, reheated one of Tione’s muffins from yesterday’s breakfast, and dressed in leggings and a tank top. Then she headed outside and inhaled a lungful of fresh morning air.
“What a beautiful day,” she said, to no one in particular.
Bella wandered across the lawn and Brooke knelt to ruffle her fur and scratch the scruff of her neck, her favorite place to be petted.
“Good girl,” she crooned. “Do you want to come for a walk with me?”
She knocked on Tione’s door and told him she was taking Bella up to the waterfall. He grunted something unintelligible in response. She grinned. Yesterday had been the men’s weekly poker night and he was usually a little worse for wear the next morning. She and Bella started into the forest together. Her muscles were stiff, and it was slow going, but she persisted and after ten minutes, they’d loosened up enough for her to enjoy herself.
Dawn in the forest was a glorious experience. Birds tweeted and chirped from above, and crepuscular insects and animals—those that were active at the beginning and end of the day—rustled in the undergrowth. Light filtered through the branches and speckled the track with patches of gold. It felt like a new beginning.
She sat beside the waterfall pool while Bella leapt in, spraying water everywhere. The border collie’s head broke the surface and she paddled across the pond, staying well away from the waterfall, emerging on the other side to shake herself dry. She sniffed a few rocks, then trotted into the bush. Brooke wasn’t worried about her straying. Bella probably knew the way to Sanctuary better than she did. Tione never bothered to keep her fenced in, and she still found her way back to him every night.
Eventually, Brooke rose and headed back. A moment later, a twig cracked, and then Bella rejoined her. Once at Sanctuary, she left the dog in the garden and went to her room, where she decided to investigate how to build her core strength. She switched on her computer and watched a demonstration video about how to do a prone hold. It looked easy enough. She set a timer for three minutes, assumed the position, raised her knees from the floor, and flattened her back. Almost immediately, her abdominal muscles started to burn. Squeezing her eyes shut, she held the position until she didn’t think she could stand it any longer, then opened them. Twenty seconds had passed. Apparently, her core needed a lot of strengthening.
Her phone rang, and she dropped out of the prone hold with a sigh of relief. Excellent timing.
“Good morning,” she said into the speaker.
“You’re welcome,” Kyle replied enigmatically.
“Huh?”
“You owe me,” he continued, as she shifted onto the bed and kicked her feet up. “Last night, Jack was angling for information about you. I think he was trying to work out if we’re a couple.”
Her heart gave a skip and a hop. What would have given Jack that idea, and why would he care?
“I said we weren’t, but I may have given him the impression I was interested in you, so if you could just go along with that and hang on my every word, it would be great.”
She hid her face in a pillow and groaned. “Why would you do that?”
“Because it seemed like he was trying to scope you out.”
She straightened. “I think you misread the situation. He couldn’t be less interested in me if he tried. Even if, by some miracle, he was, he’s not going to do anything about it now that he thinks you and I might be together.”
Kyle laughed, and her hands twitched with the urge to strangle him. “I beg to differ. Men love a bit of healthy competition.”
She gaped. “Excuse me? I’m a woman, not some trophy for you and your friends to arm-wrestle over.”
He stopped laughing. “I know. You’re an intelligent, classy woman with good taste in friends.”
Classy? That was pushing it. He’d seen her shoveling lime-swirl ice cream into her mouth while wearing fluffy slippers and a baggy hoody, her hair unwashed and eyes red-rimmed after a breakup. How could he possibly consider that classy?
“Whatever,” she muttered.
“You’re not really annoyed with me,” he said with the confidence of a longtime friend. “You should come over for Game of Thrones later. It’s been a while since we watched season two.”
She bit her lip. “Much as I’d like to, I’m busy today. I’m seeing Bex about a workout plan and I’m falling behind on my thesis. Maybe we could do something in a couple of days?”
“You’re on. Hey, what do you say we have a public outing? Get Jack’s attention. Make him jealous.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re being ridiculous. He’s not interested in me.” Pain pinched at her chest even as she tried to tell herself she didn’t care. “Anyway, I’m not the type to play silly jealousy games, so drop it, okay?”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “It would just be nice if one of us were seeing some action.”
Inwardly, she sighed. She couldn’t disagree with that. “You’re more likely to get action than me, hot librarian.”
Bex studied Brooke from above, mirth dancing in her eyes. “Brooke doing a sit-up. That’s something I never thought I’d see.”
Brooke groaned midway through and collapsed onto the floor. She plucked at her tank top, which was plastered to her chest, and tried to let her skin breathe. Everything was sweaty, even her hair.
“Heeeelp,” she pleaded. “I have zero core strength.” She tried to get up, but her legs wobbled, tired from the walk earlier. “Okay, make that zero strength anywhere.”
Bex chuckled and helped her to her feet. “What else is new? And why the sudden interest in an exercise plan?”
Brooke lowered herself, bit by bit, onto a seat and swung around to face her friend. “Have I said you look great today?”
To be fair, Bex always looked good. It was the perk of having a flawless bronze complexion, a fit body and lustrous black hair. Even when she was worn out after a full day of work and single-mothering, she possessed a radiance other women could only dream of.
“Don’t change the subject. You’re up to something, I can smell it. Spill the beans.”
“I think what you smell is sweat. Maybe a little dirt, too.”
Bex crossed her arms. “I’m a mum, Brooke. Don’t think you can play coy with me.”
Brooke took a breath. She needed to just blurt it out. In theory, the more often she said it, the easier it would become. “I want to go to Mount Everest Base Camp.”
She waited for Bex to laugh, or for her brow to furrow in concern as Kat’s had, but instead she hummed deep in her throat and said, “Good for you, girlfriend. That’s awesome.”
Brooke stared. “You don’t think I’m deluding myself?”
“Hell, no.” She held a hand up for a high five, and Brooke obliged. Their palms smacked together loudly. “I think that’s a kickass plan and I’m totally on board.”
