Peyton stepped off the plane her eyes squinting looking for the bubbly brunette. Brooke called immediately once she got Peyton's RSVP and arranged to pick her up. Scanning the crowd she found Haley James Scott. Holding hands with a small little boy, James Scott. Over the years, Haley had sent her pictures of Jamie trying to keep her involved living so far away.
"Peyton over here!" Haley yelled waving her over. Peyton navigated through the crowd once getting to Haley bear hugged her. "Peyton Sawyer it's been too long". Once they parted she looked down, "And you must be," cut off by the boy, "James Lucas Scott and you're my aunt Peyton! My aunt Brooke has showed me so many pictures of you." Hearing Brooke's name enraged her a little. Just another person who loved Brooke.
"Where's Brooke?"
"She got caught up at the store. But we are going to go to her."
"Mama can we hurry up Grandma Victoria and Grandpa Ted said we can have lunch at Grandma Karen's cafe," Jaime said pulling on his mothers hand. Peyton gave Haley a confused look, "I'll tell you in the car." Once everything was in the trunk and Jamie put his dvd in Peyton spoke.
"So Victoria and Ted?"
Haley chuckled, "yea so it's actually pretty crazy. A few years back Brooke had been at the store and someone broke in and attacked her. It was the one time Ted and Victoria had been in Tree Hill. You should have seen what those 2 did to find out who attacked Brooke. They were relentless and got a private eye and everything. It was scary she was in the hospital for a while, but those 2 made a promise to be better parents. And they've been so involved since."
"Why didn't anyone tell me ? How did they keep that off the news?" Peyton interjected. How out of the loop was she?
"Brooke didn't even want us to know, but Nathan had found her." Haley teared up a little bit. Peyton rolled her eyes. Pathetic we cry about Brooke. "Lucas was away for the book tour. He called Nathan because Brooke wasn't picking up the phone. He walked into the store and she was knocked out. She had a black eye, a few broken ribs, and a concussion. It was such a sad time. She didn't see Jamie for a month because she didn't want him to see her the way she was. Her face was so bruised." All Peyton heard was a book tour. Book tour? What book tour?
Haley continued, "And then when we went through a rough patch with money problems Victoria and Ted as they like to call it "adopted us" and helped us out. Deb divorced Dan so at the time her assets were frozen and she couldn't help us. Well now they are grandma and grandpa to Jamie and we are family."
Peyton scoffed at the thought of Victoria Davis caring about anyone but herself. Haley laughed knowing exactly what Peyton was thinking. "Hey you laugh now but they even helped Karen pay off the cafe. They said it was an early Christmas present as they were in laws. Victoria even helps out at the cafe for free who would have thought the ice princess had a heart."
"Mommy who's an ice princess?"
"Jamie go back to your dvd mama and Aunt Peyton are having adult talk."
"As terrible as it was that the store situation happened, a lot of good came out of it. You should see their relationship with Luke too. It's so weird in high school Victoria wanted to snap him like a twig,"
"And now?" Peyton asked.
"And now they refer to him as son. And they found him a better publisher and fronted the money for his second book."
Peyton raised an eyebrow, "book?"
"Oh Peyton you don't know? Lucas has a times best selling book and he's working on his second. He had got signed by a publishing company, but Ted had someone better who would always advocate for Luke's books. When Ted Davis is funding you, you are not saying no to Mr. Brooke Davis," she chuckled every time she referred to Lucas like that. "He promised to pay Victoria and Ted back but they said any money he gave them would go to their future grandchildren so don't even bother."
Children? Peyton thought. Brooke hates children. What world were they in?
"What is his book about?" She didn't care but she didn't want to talk about Brooke and Lucas having kids anymore.
Jamie screamed from the back, "Aunt Peyton you never read Uncle Lucas's books? It's his love story about him and Aunt Brooke! They read it to me at bedtime but have to skip some parts because Aunt Brooke was naughty at times and made Uncle Lucas naughty. Mommy says PG only and Aunt Brooke says mommy was just as bad as her."
"James Lucas Scott you have big ears and talk too much like your aunt."
"That's what grandma Karen, grandma deb, and grandma Victoria said." He beamed talking about his aunt Brooke and being just like her. He went back to his dvd.
Haley gave an itinerary of the events for the week. For the first few days she would be staying with Naley because Victoria and Karen insisted they stay with Brooke and Lucas to make sure no one is stressed. Haley said Brooke argued and said we have an active sex life and Victoria said that's what the guest house is for. Guest house? How much money did Brooke and Lucas have.
Then Haley proceeded to tell about the girls spa day on Tuesday, bridal brunch on Wednesday at the cafe also the mini bridal shower since Peyton was back and missed the extravagant one Victoria threw Brooke, dinner at Naleys on Thursday being the SIL and BIL, Friday rehearsal dinner at TRIC, and Saturday was the day. There was so much to do and Peyton needed sometime to figure out what she was going to do. She could probably get out the spa day because did she really want to spend the afternoon with Brooke and Haley alone? She'd have to figure it out.
"And we are here." Peyton looked up at the sign Clothes Over Bros. She could see from the street the store was packed. People everywhere taking things off the rack and people outside for the sidewalk sale.
"Mama I'm going to the cafe. I love you."
"Hey mister kiss before you go in. Tell grandma Victoria to text me what time she wants me to grab you." Jamie ran off to the cafe next door.
Peyton was in awe of the building.
"So Brooke originally had just the one store and then had to knock down the wall in between because things just got so big. This is the single store right now with online shopping, but after the wedding they are hoping for an expansion."
Peyton didn't care. She didn't want to hear any of this. She was sick. Sick to her stomach. How is it Brooke got all of this. Her man. Her career. And a book about her? What the fuck a book? Lucas Scott wrote a book about Brooke fucking Davis. She wasn't sure if this day could get any worse.
Haley opened the door grabbing Peyton's hand to navigate to the back. She stood on her tippy toes, "Millie!" Haley shouted. Peyton saw a petite woman with glasses turn around. She looked like someone Brooke would never be friends with. She still had to be a superficial bitch and not kind to this Millie. She probably was using her. She was trying to convince herself that Brooke was still horrible.
She waved them over to the back room. "Haley oh my god the store is so crazy. With Brooke closing it for the week everyone is getting their shopping done."
Haley turned and pointed to the curly blonde next to her. "Millie this is Peyton. Peyton this is Millie, Brooke's right hand man." Millie narrowed her eyes. She stuck out her hand, "nice to meet you Peyton, I've heard so much about you." Peyton shook her hand uneasy. Clearly someone had been telling this Millie stuff because she could feel the coldness radiating off the woman. She wasn't as warm to her as she had been to Haley.
"Millie keeps our Brookie sane and tells her when she's being a bitch," Haley laughed.
Millie shook her head with a smile, "Im grateful for that bitch. Without her I would never have this job and never met Marvin." Millie put her hands together and Peyton could see a rock on her finger.
"Mouth? You're with Mouth?" She questioned.
Millie stuck out her hand showing off the diamond. "He proposed last month. Brooke introduced us in California and then when she was moving back she offered me a job and set Marvin and I up on a date. She's the best boss and friend ever." She could hear the emphasis on the last sentence knowing Millie was trying to make a point.
Haley looked around, "speaking of where is our little Brookie?"
"Ok so you know how he wanted to give her a letter everyday for the last month before they were married …" Peyton wanted to gag hearing this. The letter thing still was happening? What are we in high school? "Well he came today to drop it off, noticed the chaos, asked if I could be in charge and dragged her out saying she needs to be relaxed this week and brought her next door. It melts my heart seeing how he wants this to be perfect for her. And so do I, and one more day of this chaos I'll take on to make sure boss lady is good for Saturday."
Haley grabbed Peyton's hand and walked towards the door, "Millie we will see you later!" "Let's go next door Peyton."