Chapter 8
Brooke was happy to be home. It was strange she thought, how she now thought of Dallas as home. Karen had just picked her up from the airport and the two were on their way home. A break had been good but she was ready to get back to Jason and Francis. They had called her daily while she had been gone updating her on what was going on. On Christmas Lucas and sent her a video showing them opening up all their toys. There was one thing she didn't miss though, waking up early. Also Haley was coming in just in time for the team's New Years Eve party. Lucas had promised them all a good time and she was going to hold him to it. Nathan had even promised to be her kiss at midnight if Jesse didn't show.
"I am so glad to be back to warm weather. Michigan is way too cold."
"I know what you mean. North Carolina isn't much better. It's odd to think that on Christmas the kids were wearing shorts and t-shirts."
"I was bundled up in 3 sweaters and long underwear and miserable. Glad to be back to the sunshine."
"The kids have been asking every day when you get home. It's safe to say you will be mauled when you get in." Brooke laughed, she couldn't wait to walk through that door and be greeted by her kids.
"How's Max? Was he good?"
"Oh Max. He's a perfect gentleman. He is so protective of Francis though. Dan was chasing her around and he started barking at him and trying to chase him. It's funny."
"Yeah, he does that with me too. He's crazy." The rest of the way the women caught up on what had been happening the past few weeks. Karen was glad Brooke was back; she had missed the bubbly vivacious woman. Even Dan had seemed excited for Brooke to be coming back.
As soon as the car pulled into the driveway people started piling out of the house. First came Francis and Jason followed by Max; next came Nathan with the goofiest grin Brooke had ever seen on his face; by the time she stepped out of the car she was swarmed by people with mouths going a mile a minute.
"Brooke, you HAVE to see what daddy got me for Christmas. He got me that doll I wanted…"
"Brooke I want to show you this new magic trick I learned."
"Well it's about time my New Years Eve date came home," Brooke rolled her eyes at Nathan's comment and gave him a hug anyways. Francis had already had Brooke pick her up and Jason was holding Brooke's hand dragging her into the house. Max unsuccessfully kept trying to get Brooke to pet him.
The rest of the afternoon Brooke spent getting reacquainted with everything. She had wanted to take a nap but the others would not allow it. Francis and Jason were determined to show her everything they had gotten for Christmas that day. Lucas was in Seattle for a game so she wouldn't see him till tomorrow. She was a little sad, but got over it quickly. She hadn't seen her boyfriend in over a week and was looking forward to some alone time with him that night.
As Lucas pulled into the garage he noticed Brooke's car was gone. He then remembered Nathan saying something about her going out with Jesse that night. It was two a.m. and Luke had flown home before the team, with all his family there he wanted to spend as much time as possible with them.
He let himself into the house and made the rounds checking on his kids. He peeked in on Francis and saw Max curled up with her. Jason was asleep in his bed too curled up in the ball he slept in. When Luke was sure everything was okay he went back into the kitchen to get some cereal before bed. He was almost done when he heard the garage door open. A few seconds later Brooke quietly opened the door and crept into the kitchen.
"Hey stranger." Brooke jumped a mile when she heard Luke's voice. She hadn't expected anyone to be up.
"Hey." She walked over to him and gave him a hug. "What are you doing up?"
"Just got home from Seattle. I should be asking you the same thing." Brooke sat down on the stool next to him.
"I hate guys. Let's just put it at that." Luke looked over at her wanting her to explain further and Brooke willingly obliged. "So I go over there tonight AFTER his poker game. I haven't seen the guy in a week and I have to wait for his poker game, yeah okay, whatever. So I go over and we're hanging out and stuff and then his cell phone rings. It's Scott, his best friend. Apparently he's drunk and needs someone to pick him up. So Jesse says he'll be gone 20 minutes and leaves. An hour later he's still not home. Thirty minutes after that he calls me and says that he'll be home soon. An hour after that he's not back so I leave. Screw his couch, I don't deserve this. So on the way home he calls me and asks where I am and we get into a BIG fight. Needless to say we won't be spending New Years together."
"That sucks Brooke, I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well what can a girl do? I know he was just being a good friend and all, but still, we haven't seen each other in forever and he just takes off and expects me to be okay with it. I don't think so. I mean I guess I should be okay with it, he was just helping his friend, but ugh. Am I being an unreasonable girl?"
"Eh, can't really say. I think you do have a right to be mad, but on the other hand you don't. It's a tough call."
"This sucks." Brooke laid her head down on the counter and Lucas started rubbing her back.
"Everything will work out. At least you have something fun to do for New Years and Haley is coming in. Nathan is so ecstatic, he gets to have two dates for New Years."
"Huh?"
"You and Haley are going to be his dates."
"What about you? Don't you need a date?" Brooke asked confused. Last she heard they were all going to go together as a non-quasi-date.
"Well one of the guys on the team set me up with this lady Shannon. I'm going to be going with her tomorrow."
"Oh." This was the first Brooke had heard of Shannon and she wasn't too sure how she felt about it. She knew Lucas needed to move on, but she didn't like the sound of this new woman.
"Come on, let's go to bed. We got a long day ahead of us."
"Yeah yeah." Brooke followed Luke up the stairs deep in her own thoughts. She didn't know why, but she was not happy about Luke's date the next night.