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Chapter 4
Sunday morning, Brooke pushed the double stroller along the Tree Hill promenade overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It was hard not to remember all the times she'd been here with Julian. The twins had dozed and were snuggled with their baby blankets, which gave Brooke more time to remember Julian. She was so lost in thought, she didn't notice Jake Jagielski jogging along in the opposite direction until he was calling her name.
"Brooke," he greeted her, wearing a new white tracksuit and air pods. He flashed her his perfect smile.
"Oh, hi Ju-Jake," she replied. She cursed herself for almost calling him Julian. Jake had become a realtor after Nikki moved to Raleigh and married a hedge-fund manager at a bank. She'd taken primary custody of Jenny from what Brooke remembered. Jake had been their real estate agent when Julian and Brooke purchased their home.
"Brooke, I feel I should give my condolences again. What a terrible loss," Jake said, reaching to touch her arm with sympathy.
"Thanks everything feels different," Brooke sighed sadly. She gripped the stroller tighter to keep from crying. "How have you and Jenny been?"
"Jenny will be visiting this summer, she's pretty attached to her step-sisters and friends in Raleigh. I don't like it, Nikki is the same self-absorbed person she's always been, but Jenny might have to find that out the hard way. I see now there is no way I can shield her from that."
Brooke nodded. "Must be tough to not see her very often."
"It is, but I have so much going on with real estate work and I still dabble in guitar. I do some wedding gigs and sometimes play at Karen's café on music night. Hey, you should come watch me some time," he suggested.
"Mmmm, I don't know," Brooke hesitated. Most days she didn't even want to leave the house.
"When you're up to it of course," Jake added.
"Oh," Brooke doubted that day would ever come.
"Give me your number and I'll text you mine. If you ever need anything or want to get a drink and talk, I'm there."
"Okay," Brooke reluctantly agreed, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
Jake typed into his phone and seconds later there was a ding on Brooke's phone.
"I'm glad I ran into you Brooke," he smiled and Brooke offered a half-smile in return.
Jake checked his apple watch. "I better get back into it, don't want to throw my time off," he smiled again.
Brooke nodded.
"Talk soon!" Jake waved as he eased into a light jog.
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Nathan walked out onto his parents' vinyl deck with his coffee. The Himalayan cat, Cally, whom his mother had insisted on getting James last year was his only companion and she was hiding under the shade of a lounge chair. His dad had gone golfing at the lodge and his mother had taken James along to play in the pool with the other kids and have lunch, as was their typical Sunday routine. He had been procrastinating calling Haley long enough. He rang her phone once until it went to voicemail. The second time she picked up.
"What?" Haley asked, she was lying in bed naked next to Chris. They hadn't gotten home from the music festival until 4am and hadn't fallen asleep until around 5am. Haley had slept in all her makeup and she was pretty sure she had mascara in her eye.
Chris was almost ten years older than her. He was more experienced with the music industry and had many connections. He came into her life at the time she needed him most.
Life in Memphis was amazing, although, the night life had taken its toll. She found herself in a routine of sleeping all day and being up half the night. Chris had introduced her to Xanax to help her sleep and Adderall which gave her a ton of energy. Adderall had taken her from ordinary to extraordinary, but she wasn't sure she trusted herself around James when taking it. Adderall sometimes came with a big crash that left her feeling disoriented at after parties and falling asleep in her drink. She couldn't remember when she'd started popping them as if they were motrin or vitamins. She had also borrowed some of the child support money Nathan deposited in her account to pay for them. She tuned back into Nathan's voice, struggling to focus.
"I've been trying to call you about James. My mom's throwing him a birthday party and wondered what day works for you." That was a lie, Dan and Deb seemed to forget Hailey existed most of the time.
"No time works for me," Hailey snapped.
"What am I supposed to tell our son?"
"He's our son when it's convenient to you right, Nate, but he was my problem when you ran off to Duke to major in basketball and bimbos."
"You throw that in my face every opportunity. How else was I supposed to get a job to support us? Besides my parents were watching him."
"Oh! Thank Goodness. There's nothing they wouldn't do for their golden boy," Haley responded as Chris awoke next to her. Hailey felt desire course through her body as he ran his hands up her stomach cupping her breasts.
"I can't believe you have not seen James in a year," Nathan was still talking to her.
"He's been in school Nathan! Am I supposed to take him on tour with me? Chris and I have a lot of upcoming performances and are working on a new record. I'm too busy for you," Haley said self-righteously. Chris was rubbing and massaging her breasts and Hailey tried to ignore it.
"You mean you're too busy for James. I can see James has taken a backseat to your singing career now," Nathan stated.
"Your dreams were always more important than everyone else's. This is where my career has taken me and you, if anyone, should understand," Haley argued. Chris slipped his tongue into her mouth, making her drop the phone.
"James asks about you and I don't know what you expect me to say," Nathan wondered.
There was no response from Hailey as Chris was all over her with passionate kisses.
"Hello?" Nathan asked after a few moments went by, "Hailey?" More silence that sounded like static.
"I get it you found a higher calling than being there for James," Nathan said flatly.
Hailey pushed Chris off and reached for her phone, "I finally found someone that's pays attention to me instead of living in your shadow."
"I'm going to text you an invitation anyway in case you change your mind."
"Don't bother," Haley said.
"I should tell you Peyton and I are expecting a baby together," he said. The call wasn't going well anyway, he might as well put it out there.
"You're a real stud," Hailey said sarcastically.
"Look, I just didn't want you to be caught off guard. I know James really wants to see you. It would be nice if you came," Nathan told her.
Chris began sucking hard on Hailey's neck. She moaned with pleasure.
"Are you okay?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah." She ended the call and silenced her phone. Giving in to Chris, she traced the muscles along his back with her fingernails. Who cared what Nathan wanted anyway?
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"Hey, it's been a minute," Peyton answered seeing Luke's number pop up on her screen.
"I know, sorry. Can I come crash in your spare bedroom for a few days?" he asked.
"Are you coming alone?"
"Oh..yeah," he answered, he was definitely coming alone after Lindsay demanded on a divorce.
Peyton glanced down at her growing belly, "Ok, come, what the hell."
"Thanks, see ya soon."
"How soon?" Peyton asked.
"About twenty minutes, I'm at a gas station just outside of Tree Hill. Luke's plan was to go first to Brooke and explain he'd told Lindsay the truth about the twin's paternity. He wanted to be there for her, but after driving all day and night from New York he felt unsure. Brooke was so self-sufficient and may see him as over-stepping. They all agreed to never share that he was the biological dad. Maybe Brooke would want to stick to the original plan to honor Julian.
He ran up the steps to Peyton's second floor apartment. Knocking on her door, he recalled the last time he had been there. He couldn't take his eyes off Peyton that night. They'd had sex in the shower to ring in the New Year, slept until noon, and he woke up wanting her again. They'd left it there. They connected in so many undeniable ways, but the deepest part of his heart always belonged to Brooke. Maybe that's why he volunteered to contribute his DNA so she could become a mother. Truthfully, he wouldn't have done it for anyone else.
When Peyton answered the door, wearing a red tank top, his jaw hit the floor.
"Am I seeing things?" he asked, his breath caught in his throat. "Since when are you having a baby?"
Peyton arched an eyebrow at him. "I'm not sure exactly when this happened," she said resting a hand on her stomach. "It could be Nathan's."
"You and Nathan are having a baby?" Luke was stunned. "What do you mean could be Nathan's?"
"To be honest, it could be yours too. You're married, though. Even though I'm no fan of Lindsay, I couldn't live with being the reason your marriage ended. Especially, since I'm not sure who's the father. Anyway, I thought about raising the baby alone before Nathan came back."
The realization hit Lucas like a ton of bricks. Not so long ago he was a father to none, now to three potentially.
"Wow! I wasn't expecting this. Only your baby would have such a unique conception story," Luke said, trying to process the news.
"Luke, if you write a book about this, I swear I'll beat you with it," Peyton said.
"You'll have to get in line behind Lindsay then," Luke said, amused by Peyton's threat.
"That doesn't sound like your blushing bride," Peyton said.
"Actually, we're separated. We filed the papers last week. She kicked me out."
Peyton started laughing so hard she began to cry.
"It's not funny," Luke said, grimacing at the ordeal.
"I know. Sorry. It's the pregnancy hormones," Peyton explained. "I don't know how Brooke carried two babies, one feels like more than I can handle most days."
"You look great though. You've got that glow everyone raves about," he said. He was in awe staring at her stomach. He couldn't believe that was his son or daughter or niece or nephew.
"Thanks Luke. I'm glad you're staying a few days."
"Are you and my brother really an item now?" he asked.
"It looks like its going that way, but nothing official," Peyton didn't want to get her hopes up yet. She'd lost too many people in her life for that.
Luke shook his head, not sure what to say about that. "You know, I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd told me sooner about this baby. My marriage was on the rocks before we slept together.
"Maybe this split is for the best," Peyton said.
Luke nodded. "The last time Lindsay and I went out to dinner, we ended up fighting all night because she thought I left the waitress too big a tip because I wanted to take her to bed. She checks my emails, my text messages, she handles all the calls with our publisher." Luke could go on, but what was the point? He'd thought Lindsay was a keeper, but she'd become so possessive it was suffocating. He thought his feelings for Brooke were all in the past. He didn't know when that started to change.
"How's Brooke holding up these days?" he asked.
"She's in a dark place. She isn't her normal self, she seems lost," Peyton said.
"I can't imagine. No one can replace Julian in her life," Luke said thoughtfully. "I thought about going to see her, but I don't know if she wants to see me."
"She's hurting, but you two always had a special bond. I think it would be good for her," Peyton suggested.
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When Luke walked out on her, something inside Lindsay had snapped. She studied the dissolution of marriage contract that had arrived earlier via certified mail. She thought she knew how to achieve what she wanted. She was a Yale grad for goodness sake. Walking around their apartment over the cherry hardwood floors, she viewed the framed artwork they'd collected on their honeymoon from abroad. Their white leather sofa sat vacant in the living room. The California king bed where she'd expected to make a baby or two, years from now with Lucas was empty. She wanted to wait until they were established in their careers. She would hire a nanny that would teach them Latin, she thought of the ballet recitals, Lucas coaching his son's basketball team to victory. Maybe, she mused, those dreams weren't quite out of the cards.
They could take the twins if it meant so much to Lucas. They could go to boarding school when they decided to start their real family. She didn't fancy herself a stepmother, but they could become a minor inconvenience.
She looked again at the dissolution of marriage contract and tossed it into their ornate fireplace. It would make for nice kindling when they brought the twins home.