“I ran away. That’s not so remarkable. Heck, I still fight a lot of panic when I go into town. Waiting in line anywhere is torture. And I have a handful of places I like to go and that’s it. I’m still horribly afraid.”
“You also live on this island by yourself, run your own business and are as competent a person as I’ve ever met. Maybe certain situations trigger you, but I promise you, they don’t define who you are. The way you stood up to me when I arrived...”
She laughed, a sound thick with emotion. “Oh, Cole. I thought I was going to throw up the whole time. But this plac
e means so much to me. There was no way I was going to give it up without a fight.”
He thought for a moment, then turned a bit and made her face him. “You listen to me,” he said. “You are brave. Being brave doesn’t mean not being afraid. It means being afraid and doing it anyway. There is nothing I respect more, Brooklyn. And I’m honored that you shared it with me.” Honored and a bit terrified, but he’d work through that.
She looked down and bit her lip. He didn’t want to make her cry, but couldn’t she see how remarkable she was? “What were you taking in school?”
“Chemistry. I was trying to get into the pharmacy program.”
He grinned. “Smarty-pants.”
She finally smiled. “Whatever.”
The wind howled around the windows and Cole realized that at some point it had gotten dark outside. “Looks like we’re stormed in for sure, now,” he commented. “I’m glad you came. I’m glad that my house is a place you feel safe.”
She turned her liquid eyes to his and said simply, “You love my dog. That’s my first litmus test.”
Did he? Did he love Marvin? He looked down at the yellow fur and big brown eyes and realized he did, in fact, love this dog. He was friendship and loyalty and love all wrapped up in one four-legged package. He was the friend that Cole had wanted his whole life, and Cole was even more glad that Brooklyn had him to keep her from being lonely. Maybe moving to the island had been an extreme reaction on her part, but she’d been through something rather extreme. Who was he to judge?
After all, he wasn’t the king of perfect life choices, was he?
“Rae and Dan will be coming over soon for dinner. You don’t mind, do you?”
Her face brightened. “No, not at all! I like them both, very much. It was one of the reasons I came up here today. I kind of liked the thought of, well, everyone together.”
“Me, too,” he said, and realized it was true. Raelynn and Dan were employees, but they were more than that to Cole.
“Hey, Cole?”
He looked into her face. Her tears had dried, but her eyes remained that steady, piercing blue that had reached in and grabbed him from day one, when he’d expected an old lady and was met with her instead.
“Thank you for listening. And for letting go of the idea of buying me out. It means a lot.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, unsure of what else to say. He had never agreed to let go of his desire to purchase her property, but now that she’d said it, he knew he could not pressure her to sell and take away her safe place. Even if it was a place to hide.
Everyone had a right to hide if they wanted to. He looked around the huge living room. Even him.
CHAPTER NINE
THE RAIN SLASHED and the windows rattled, but Cole’s kitchen was the port in the storm for the four occupants of the island. Brooklyn looked around and felt a warmth that had eluded her for a long, long time. These people felt like her friends. The class difference didn’t seem to matter, even though Brooklyn was always aware of the opulence around her.
Cole had spared no expense in updating the house, and she’d caught a glimpse of his sweater tag before dinner. She was pretty sure that it cost as much as most of her wardrobe put together. The towel he’d given her earlier had been of the finest, plushiest cotton. Cole Abbott was a man used to the best.
But he was also a lot more fun than she’d imagined.
The four of them had eaten a delicious meal of carbonara and salad that Raelynn had prepared, eating in the kitchen rather than the formal dining room. Once the mess was cleaned up, Cole had opened up another bottle of wine and suggested they play cards. Brooklyn wondered if he’d done that because of what she’d said earlier, and making her want to feel at home. Either way, the result was that they were now sitting around the kitchen table. Rae, as she asked Brooklyn to call her, and Brooklyn had glasses of Shiraz at their elbows, while the men had switched to scotch.
The game they all agreed on was hearts, and so far Dan was trouncing everyone. He never seemed to end up with the queen of spades, and as the evening progressed, the storm howled and shook the house, and Raelynn topped up their glasses once more, Brooklyn couldn’t remember a time when she’d had so much fun.
Cole’s eyes were the color of cornflowers as they twinkled at her over his cards, and she grinned back. The smile playing on his lips was mesmerizing, and she found herself staring at his mouth for too long as she remembered kissing him on the beach.
“Your turn,” Raelynn said, and Brooklyn dragged her gaze away and back to the cards in her hand.
This was the one hand where she couldn’t pass three cards to anyone. She was stuck with what she had, and she was getting tired of always ending up with a mitt full of hearts counting against her. She also had the two of clubs, so she started the hand and placed each card carefully. One after the other she ended up with hearts, and the other three were teasing her about how badly she was playing. But in the end, she played the queen of spades and reveled in the shock on their faces when they all realized she’d taken every single heart and the queen, too.