Like He Never Left

chapter 21

I follow SueEllen out of the makeshift coat room because I know that if I take her offer of giving me time, I'll have stooped down to a new low. I need to face my past and my future at the same time, together. If I can't do that, then all of the morals and beliefs instilled in me from the beginning as a child will mean nothing to me. I need to stop running.

Although it hurt and was a sucker punch, SueEllen's words hit every nail on the head. If I didn't know it before, I certainly know it now. 

Brooke, my father, and Johnny are exactly where SueEllen said they'd be, in the kitchen, laughing together at something Dad said. Probably about some embarrassing childhood memory of mine. 

"I'm back," I say, coming up to stand beside my father on his side of the island, facing Brooke. 

"How was your talk? You were only in there for a few minutes," Brooke questions.

"Fine." The lie comes out easily as I put on a tight smile. I'm certainly not going to get into what happened with Brooke, or with anybody. It's between SueEllen and me only. 

Brooke accepts the facade without further questioning and gestures to Travis. "He was just telling me about how you fell out of a tree. Is that why you're so against heights now?" she snickers.

I roll my eyes and shrug and shoot a pointed look at my father. "Really? It's not because I'm too scared to climb down my high horse that I happen to be on all the damn time?"

He shrugs lightheartedly with amusement twinkling in his eyes, waving a hand in the air as he talks. "That's true. I do say that."

"I know you do," I mutter. I look to Brooke, who's enjoyment of seeing the banter between my father and me is clearly obvious. "Let's go meet everyone. We still have some time before dinner."

"Okay," she agrees. When my father doesn't move, she tosses a look back at him and asks, "Aren't you coming?"

"Nah," he dismisses, "I'm here to make sure nothing burns and that no one messes with the birthday cake."

Brooke giggles and nods. She reaches for my hand and squeezes it.

I look down at our joined hands and shrug off my conflicting emotions. 

"Let's go," I say, and I tug her into the living room where most of the commotion is happening after gathering our two presents. 

We walk in the room, and I bend down to unclip Johnny's leash, and he instantly bounds into the fray, effectively gathering attention from everyone else.

"Colt!" Tommy yells, and he leaps over the couch to me, crushing me into a hug, making me drop the presents. "God, it's great to see you!" He pulls away, and I don't even get a word in before he sees Brooke, who is visibly shying away from the sudden attention. "You must be Brooke. I'm Tommy Turner. I hear you've already met SueEllen. I hope she didn't scare you away because she can be a real bi—meany," he jokes loudly, earning a throw pillow aimed for his head courtesy of SueEllen. 

Brooke's eyes widen in shock at the action, but Tommy doesn't even flinch from it as it bounces off his side.

"See what I mean? And I have to live with that!" he cajoles, and Brooke covers her mouth with her hand to hide her amused smile. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Colt's told us all about you," he continues.

"It's great to finally meet you as well. Colt's told me about all of you, and I'm ecstatic to finally put some faces to names that aren't just from photographs," she responds, looking at not only Tommy, but all of the faces in the crowd in front of us.

"See," SueEllen quips, "Smooth talker."

"Well you two have a seat, and we'll get some proper introductions going," Tommy advises, and I gesture for Brooke to go first in a 'ladies first' manner. Tommy follows her, but I tug on his bicep so he faces me.