Chapter 26- It's Not All Fun and Games

Brooke and Nathan had been living together for a little over three months now. Brooke loved her new job, he first line had done remarkably well. She couldn't be happier.

The transition from living two hours apart to living together wasn't as difficult for Brooke and Nathan as they had worried it might be. Nathan was out of town at least one night every weekend, so Brooke still got the alone time she needed to stay sane, but she didn't have to be alone all the time like she had been in Tampa.

As promised, the two had worked out a way that Brooke could contribute to the household. It took a while to figure out, because Nathan had paid for his house up front, so that didn't leave too many bills. Nathan hadn't even tried to persuade Brooke to let him pay anything, he knew it wasn't worth it and understood that it was important to her to contribute. So, after much discussion, they had agreed that Brooke would pay for all of the groceries and handle all of the cleaning. Anything else, any utility bill, and home repairs, all of it Nathan wanted to take responsibility for.

Brooke was secretly relieved at the agreement. She wanted to contribute, but for a little while she knew that she would be far from rolling in the dough, so to speak. Brooke knew that Nathan was well aware of this and appreciated him not rubbing it into her face or anything like that.

All Nathan wanted Brooke to do was be comfortable. He knew that this move was a big step for her, for them, and he didn't want her to feel like he was trying to take too much control. It all seemed that he was having a lot of success with this goal, because they had yet to argue about anything having to do with money.

Any argument that they had had was not about anything particularly important, just little everyday things. Unsurprisingly their first argument had been about closet space. Brooke needed much more than Nathan had to offer. Nathan was pretty sure that she overreacted over the whole thing, but he wasn't about to tell her that. Instead he had called in a consultant and had one of the spare rooms turned into a large closet. As soon as Brooke saw it any frustration had melted away. It was a gesture like that that made Brooke realize just how much Nathan wanted her to be there.

One Wednesday night Brooke was sitting around enjoying her free night. She had gotten caught up on the massive load of work she wanted to get accomplished and was enjoying just sitting, relaxing and watching a movie. Nathan was out of town for a game and wouldn't be back until tomorrow.

Brooke had been a little freaked out, in this huge house all alone, when he took his first few trips for away games, but now she was used to it. She was cautious to always lock the door and she was prone to take a walk around the house checking the closets, but after that she was just fine.

Brooke paused the DVD she was watching to go and make some popcorn. Just as she got up her cell phone rang. Scooping it up she checked the caller ID, she was surprised to see the number, it was her mother.

"Hi Mom, this is a surprise, is everything okay?"

"Why yes Brookie, of course it is. It is just that your father and I thought it would be nice if I headed over to Miami to see where your living, and your store and everything."

"I haven't seen you in months Mom, why now?"

"For exactly that reason, it has been far too long since I have seen you. You are my only daughter Brooke, I miss you. I would love nothing more than to come and see what your life is like there."

"Okay. When?" Brooke was too shocked to say much else.

"I was thinking this coming weekend, if you don't have any previous engagements that is."

Brooked headed over to Nathan's game schedule. He had a home game Saturday night, so he would be home all weekend. "Sure, this weekend is fine. Nathan even has a game Saturday night, maybe we could go and watch him play."

"Whatever you would like dear. I will have your father's secretary make all the arrangements tomorrow, she will contact you with my flight information."

"Okay Mom."

"Now Brookie, just please try to be on time picking me up at the airport." With that, Brooke's mom hung up.

Brooke was fuming. How dare her mother talk down to her like that! Be on time Brookie. She hated it when she called her Brookie. She hated when she backed her into a corner like that. This weekend, that gave Brooke only a few days to prepare for the massacre. At least she would get it over with quickly, no sense having this visit mill around over her head. Saying she missed her, ha, Brooke knew what this was about, this was finally the chance for her mother to come here and critique her life.

Never mind the popcorn, Brooke thought, she wanted chocolate cake.

ooooOoooo

"Hey baby, did you miss me?" Nathan asked as he scooped Brooke into his arms when he finally got home from his trip Thursday night.

"Of course I did. I watched your game though, you played great." Brooke never missed a game, if worst game to worst the DVR'd his game and watched it the second she could.

"Thanks babe. So what did I miss while I was gone?"

"Well, you will love this," Brooke's voice dripped with sarcasm, "Mommy dearest is coming to visit me this weekend."

"That's great babe. It has been a long time since you saw her."

"This is anything but great. Her purpose for this visit is nothing more than to come here and tell me all of the things that I am doing wrong with my life. She is going to sit there and tell me that this isn't good enough, or that isn't good enough. Ugh, it will be horrible." Brooke exhaled dramatically as she flung herself onto the bed.

Nathan had to laugh at all the dramatics, "Aren't you overreacting a little bit? Maybe, just a little?"

Brooke flew off the bed and stormed over to Nathan, wagging her finger she let loose, "You have no right to tell me that I am overreacting. You have no idea about what I have gone through with my mother, no idea. You couldn't possibly understand."

"What? How dare you say that to me? How could I not understand drama with parents, look at who my father is. The first sixteen years of my life were filled with drama. Drama like you wouldn't believe." Nathan felt the anger rising inside of him.

"Way to make this all about you Nathan, but listen to me, this has nothing to do with you. This is about me, about me and my relationship with my mother, a relationship that you know nothing about. A relationship that I would tell you about if you would shut up for one second and listen, instead of going off on how terrible your father is."

"I just think that you are overreacting." Nathan bit his tongue as soon as he said it, he knew she was going to lose it.

"I'll show you overreacting. I'm leaving Nathan. I need to get away from you right now." Brooke started to head down the stairs towards the front door, she could tell that Nathan was following behind her. "And don't you dare follow me."

With that Brooke stormed out the door, slamming it behind her. A few seconds later Nathan heard her car squeal out of the driveway.