By the time Brooke went to meet Haley for lunch, she was such in a happier mood. She couldn't stop smiling. She was just bursting with joy as she spotted Haley at their table and Haley smiled in return. Haley didn't even have to ask whether the meeting went well or not. She had already heard Lucas's side of the story, and he was raving about Ethan.
"You have no idea how much it meant for Lucas to meet Ethan," Haley said as a waitress appeared with their drinks. They thanked her as they went back to their conversation. "He's so grateful that you are allowing him to take part in Ethan's life. And I can't wait to meet him myself. There's no rush on that. We're all willing to wait until you're ready for us to meet him."
Brooke's smile disappeared a little. "So the whole family knows about Ethan?"
Haley gave her an apologetic look. "With the wedding suddenly getting postponed indefinitely, we couldn't keep it quiet for long."
Brooke let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I guess I should have expected that. So how much do they hate me?"
Haley gave her a gentle smile. "Nobody hates you." Those words didn't seem to comfort Brooke. Haley quickly realized Brooke wasn't talking about Lucas's family. Her voice became soft. "Peyton doesn't hate you, okay? I promise."
Brooke kept quiet as she took a sip of her coffee. She wanted to believe her new friend. She was grateful Haley had been so open and friendly towards her, but she also couldn't blame the woman if she did hate her for ruining her wedding day.
Haley continued to try and cheer her up. "Look on the bright side. Whenever you're ready for Ethan to meet the rest of the family, Keith and Karen are so looking forward to meeting their grandson," she said. "They never have been grandparents before."
Brooke was taken back. "Oh, you and Nathan don't have any kids?"
"No, but that doesn't mean we haven't been trying," Haley said as she took a sip of her glass of water. "It would be nice to be parents, but we know we can't rush the process." There was a short pause. "Please don't think this as an excuse to meet Ethan. I would love to meet my nephew, but this is just me having baby fever."
"I know what you mean," Brooke said. "Ethan is going to be four at the end of the year, and I wish I could go back when he was just a baby."
"That's right. You told me he was born in early December," Haley said. "I'm sure he loves that his birthday is before Christmas."
Brooke smiled. "Yeah, he's certainly spoiled in that way. I start shopping for him months in advance, and then I try to split his presents between his birthday and Christmas. I go all out for his birthday, and then we have a nice quiet Christmas. Well, I try to do that, but my mother and Paul love spoiling him."
"That's really sweet," Haley said. "I'd prefer a nice small gathering over the house full of people. That's why I hung with Lucas and Nathan all the time when we were growing up. Lucas's house was so quiet compared to mine. I'm the youngest of seven."
"Seven?" Brooke asked. "Wow, that's definitely a full house."
Haley nodded. "Yeah, my parents were high school sweethearts and got married right after their graduation. It didn't take them long before they had my oldest sister Vivian. I guess I followed in their footsteps since I married my high school sweetheart. Although, we didn't do it until after college since we went to separate colleges. I went to Stanford and Nathan went to Duke."
Brooke smiled again. "Well, I always say people who are meant to be together always find their way in the end."
Haley smiled in return. "I love that."
They continued their conversation as their lunches were brought out to their table. Haley happily told her about the successful house hunt. Even her husband Nathan was starting to understand why Haley fell in love with Tree Hill, and Brooke promised to bring over Ethan to meet his aunt and uncle as soon as they could get settled.
Haley suddenly cut off Brooke in midsentence. "Oh, I almost forgot something." She opened her purse and pulled out something small. She handed the mysterious object over to Brooke as Brooke realized they were three tickets to an event. "I am very good friends with Mia Catalano and her tour is coming through Wilmington next weekend. I know this is late minute, but I managed to snag a couple of VIP and extra backstage passes for you and a couple of friends. You can invite Julian. Or maybe your sister Sam."
Brooke just looked at her surprised. "Wow, that's so nice of you. Thank you." There was hesitancy before she spoke again. "I just don't know if I will be able to go. We just moved into a new house and I want to make sure Ethan's adjusted well to the change."
Haley stopped her before she could go any further. "Hey, you don't have to decide right now, but I would understand if you can't go. After all, you are a mom and your kid come first." She changed the subject. "Now I was giving Nathan a tour of the town, and he was asking me about that huge warehouse over on Front Street."
Brooke knew exactly what building she was referring to. "It's abandoned right now. It has been for years," she said. "Nobody has been interested in buying it. Why do you ask?"
"Actually, there are now two people interested," Haley said. "Nathan and I are thinking about turning it into a nightclub."
"We have a few fun events throughout the year, but it would be nice to have great music in Tree Hill," Brooke said.
"Exactly," Haley agreed. "I have a lot of connections with people in the music industry. This town will be rocking in no time."
As they wrapped up their lunch date, Brooke couldn't stop thinking about her offer as they finished up their lunch and said their goodbyes. They promised to meet up one more time before Nathan and Haley had to return home.
Once she arrived back at the bridal shop, she was able to focus enough to work on her next couple of projects. That included working on the little tux that Ethan was going to wear for Mouth's and Millie's wedding.
"What's this?" Sam asked as Brooke realized one of the tickets was sticking out of her purse. She didn't have a chance to answer as Sam's eyes went wide. "Whoa, you got VIP tickets and backstage passes for Mia Catalano next weekend?" she squealed. "Nice!"
"Actually, Haley got them for me," Brooke said. "But I don't think I'm going to go."
"Ethan will be fine without you for one night," Sam said, as if she was reading her mind. "When was the last time you took some time away for yourself? And I'm not talking about going to New York for a business trip. I'm talking about a night where you don't have to focus on being a mom."
"Are you trying to be helpful or are you trying to butter me up so I can talk to Mom in letting you go to the concert?" Brooke asked in annoyance. She took the ticket back from her sister and shoved it back in her purse. "Because I think you have helped me enough."
Sam frowned. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Brooke gave her a look. "Come on, Sam. I know you told Owen about me wanting Ethan to meet Lucas. Thanks to you, I not only have to figure out an arrangement with Lucas, but Owen is now wanting to spend more time with Ethan."
"Can you blame him? You're replacing him with a stranger," Sam exclaimed. "By the way, I didn't tell him. When would I have had the chance? Mom has been on my case ever since I skipped out on work the other day. Maybe she told him. I'm sure she would do anything to make sure Lucas stays out of your life." Brooke gave her a look. "What? It's true."
"I know she's upset that I have chosen to allow Lucas have a relationship with Ethan, but I don't see a problem with it," Brooke said. She realized she didn't owe Sam an explanation. It was her mother who still wasn't happy about it.
Brooke realized she had too much to worry about to focus on the drama with her mother right now. "I'll make you a deal. If you keep an eye out for trouble when it comes to Mother interfering with my decision to allow Lucas to know his son, I'll talk her into allowing you to go to the concert with me."
Sam raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" Brooke nodded. Sam gave her a wide smile. "You got yourself a deal."
"Great. Now please let me get back to work," Brooke said as she turned back to the mannequin. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to redo these measurements with the way Ethan has been growing."
"Did you mean what you said? You're really going to the concert?" Sam asked. "Just tell me the truth so I don't set myself up for disappointment."
Brooke tried not to laugh. "I think you're confusing me with Mom. When have I ever let you down?"
"You promised to chaperone my Los Angeles trip," Sam reminded her. "Then your business trip came up and Sylvia had to accompany me instead. I know Mom said she would have loved to go with me, but she just wanted to look good in front of Sylvia. She knew I wanted you to go with me."
Brooke sighed as she turned back to her sister. "I know, and I'm really sorry about that. You know I was looking forward to going with you, but you know how Mom has a hard time when I put Millie in charge. I had to go with her to the bridal expo."
"You still haven't answered my question," Sam said. "Are you serious when you say that you are going to go to the concert?"
Before Brooke could answer, they heard faint voices signaling someone had come into the shop. As Brooke sent Sam back to the front to greet customers, the person came into the workroom. The redhead wasn't looking amused.
"You know, I really thought my best friend would call me and give me the juicy details," Rachel said as she stood in the doorway. "But you must have forgotten now that you have a new best friend."
Brooke gave her an apologetic look. "Would VIP and backstage passes to Mia Catalano's concert next weekend make up for it?"
The frown didn't leave Rachel's face. "Did your new best friend give them to you?" she asked.
"You're still my best friend," Brooke insisted as she looked straight into her eyes. She wanted to show Rachel how serious she was. "I'm just trying to get to know Haley. I want to make sure I can trust Lucas and his family before I introduce Ethan to them."
"Speaking of introductions, I'm dying to know what happened between Lucas and Ethan," Rachel said anxiously.
Brooke gave her a smile. "It went really well. Ethan was really nervous about meeting him, but then Lucas gave him a present. That broke the ice, and Ethan wanted him to read his new book to him."
Rachel smiled in return. "That's so sweet of him." Brooke just nodded. However, Rachel could sense something was still bothering her. "What's wrong? I thought this was what you wanted. I thought you wanted Lucas to get to know Ethan."
"Owen stopped by right before Lucas did," Brooke told her. The anger was coming back. "He somehow found out about Lucas and he now wants to spend some time with Ethan. What the hell? He has been absent for two months and he just now wants to come back and try to have a relationship with Ethan."
Rachel gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, Brooke. What are you going to do? Are you going to let Owen be involved again?"
"I don't know," Brooke admitted as her voice softened. "Ethan is already feeling abandoned by him, and that's why I'm taking it slow with Lucas. I need him to earn my trust before I allow him to spend time with Ethan alone. I don't know whether I should do it with Owen too. He has already hurt Ethan once. I don't want him to do it again."
"Maybe you should give him a second chance," Rachel suggested. "I know he really cares about Ethan. He just has a hard time showing it. Maybe he can look after Ethan while we're out at the concert."
"Does this mean you want to go with me and Sam?" Brooke asked.
Rachel's smile turned to disappointment. "We're going with Sam? On second thought, I think I'll pass and let you give my ticket to Julian. And I'll stay home with Ethan. I can handle my godson, but your sister is a different story."
Brooke wasn't offended. "I'll take you up on the offer then."