Chapter Six:
"I'm going to Palm Springs with my girlfriends," said Brooke two mornings later at the otherwise silent breakfast table. Nathan's paper went down, and his face came in to view.
"Have fun. I'll call the housekeeper and have them open up the beach house," he said. The Nathan Scotts owned the apartment in New York, the beach house in Palm Springs, a house in Tree Hill, and a condo in California.
"I'm going shopping to get some new things," she said, hoping in vain to catch his attention. He looked up and smiled mildly.
"That's great. Use the Visa," he suggested. "Oh, and Lucas' down there. Maybe you could stop by his place and say hello."
Brooke nodded as his face disappeared behind his paper again. Once upon a time, he'd have cared about a weekend long absence of his wife.
After the remorseful feelings of the day, Brooke felt remorseful when night fell and they climbed into their wide bed. Nathan, with his back to Brooke, was on the right side. Brooke, on the left, remembered the days when she'd cuddle up to her husband and feel his strong arms around her.
Nathan was feeling guilty.
His wife had just announced that she was vacationing, and all he'd managed to say was something about a credit card. Somehow the knowledge that she knew what he was up to made their relations more strained. And he'd never believed they could possibly grow stranger.
He was bad for Brooke. He cheated shamelessly on her, but he wasn't nice to her to make up for it. He wasn't even nice to his mistress. He wasn't nice to anyone anymore.
Peyton and Haley didn't visibly seem upset at one another. They talked, they laughed, they delighted over Haley's daughter. But Peyton was seething, and Haley was made to feel like the worst person she'd ever been. She'd lied to Peyton, the one person that was always been there for her.
Brooke kissed her husband when she left him behind, but didn't bother to look back. She shuddered to think of him in the arms of a beautiful young thing, supple and adoring. But she wasn't blameless. No one, anymore, was blameless.
Nathan idly flicked the television channels, bored out of his mind. It wasn't because Brooke was gone-it was because remorse was eating him alive. He had two women in his life, one he'd once loved, one he lusted for, and he deserved neither of them. There was nothing he could do any more to make Brooke deserving. There was only one more left.
Haley sighed in relief when Peyton and Taylor left. They left to visit Peyton's father. Taylor only accompanied Peyton out of boredom, and Haley was glad to have the apartment almost to herself.
Always proactive, she decided that sitting around was not her forte. Haley went out and decided to paint her bedroom and came back a half hour later, and within hours she was splattered with paint, making faces at her daughter and having, oddly enough, the time of her life.
Nathan didn't exactly know where he was going. He didn't know he knew where he was going. But underneath, he did.
His footsteps took him up three floors of the high rise apartment and to door 37. He was surprised when Haley answered, clad in a pair of boxers and an overused camisole. She blushed immediately.
"Mr. Scott, what are you doing here? I'm busy… I can't…" she said awkwardly.
"Calm down. I'm just here to hang out," he said calmly, entering and looking around.
Author's note: It's late. I'm tired. The next chapter will more than make up for it, I promise.