Deeper Than Love (Brooks Family Book 6) Page 10

Nina boldly faced the woman she admired. “With all due respect, I don’t believe you understand how incompatible Reese and I are. We’re better off as friends, and if we can’t be friends, then…”

  She swallowed hard. The thought of him never being a part of her life ever again—even in a friendship role—was hard to fathom.

  Sylvie smiled slowly, knowingly. “We make decisions based on our life experiences. As individuals, we see the world through different lenses. Do not make a decision about the rest of your life based on consensus or what other people deem right or wrong or acceptable.”

  She paused to let the words sink in.

  “You owe Reese nothing, and the two of you may never speak again. But if you marry this Andy...” She emphasized his name in a disparaging way as if those two syllables soiled her tongue. “Make sure you do so for the right reasons. Because when you’re with the one you love—” She glanced to where her husband stood and then returned her gaze to Nina. “It’s the best feeling in the world. There truly is nothing better.”

  Nina straightened her spine. “Thank you, but I know what I’m doing.”

  “Do you? You’re young, you’re rich, you’re idealistic. A word of advice: beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing, Nina. Sometimes the wolves are much closer than you think.”

  What did that mean? “Are you suggesting that Andy—”

  Gloria came to stand next to Nina and gave Sylvie a venomous look that let her know in no uncertain terms that she wished she were not there.

  “Sylvie,” Gloria said coolly by way of greeting.

  “Gloria,” Sylvie said, with equal frost.

  Neither woman seemed capable of exchanging pleasantries.

  There had always been tension between them, and not long ago, Nina learned why. Lindsay divulged a secret their mother had been hiding for years. Lindsay had read Gloria’s journal and discovered that she’d had her heart broken by none other than Cyrus Johnson—Sylvie Johnson’s older brother—when he married another woman.

  “I hope you’re not filling my daughter’s head with nonsense.”

  Sylvie gave a short, airy laugh. “Me? Of course not, Gloria. I leave that distasteful task to you.” While Gloria quietly seethed, Sylvie gave Nina a fond smile. “Have a lovely evening, my darling, and remember what I said.” She went in the direction of her husband.

  “I can’t stand that old bitch,” Gloria muttered.

  “Mom!” Nina exclaimed in a mortified whisper.

  “She’s horrible. She thinks she’s better than everyone else and is so damn fake. Always with her ‘my darling’ this and ‘my darling’ that. And what exactly did she mean by that last remark, anyway? What do you need to remember?”

  Sylvie sidled up to her husband as she joined him to chat with the organizer.

  Nina turned away. “Nothing important.” She took a sip of her chocolate martini.

  Gloria’s eyebrows lowered over her eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive.” A blatant lie, because Sylvie had reminded her of a niggling question that she’d wondered about ever since brunch at her home.

  Tonight she would ask the question and insist on getting an answer.

  Chapter 15

  His body language gave him away.

  Andy’s eyes widened slightly, and his shoulders stiffened as if he were going into defense mode, fingers frozen on the knot in his tie in the middle of tugging it from around his neck.

  Nina had wanted an unguarded reaction. That’s why she had asked the question so abruptly, throwing it at him with no warning in the middle of his bedroom as he began to undress.

  “Did you or did you not arrange the meeting with me in New Zealand? Meeting me wasn’t a coincidence, was it?” she asked in a harder voice.

  He kept busy removing his tie. “What made you ask me that out of the blue?”

  “Answer the question, Andy,” Nina commanded, though she had already guessed the answer.

  Their whole “accidental” meeting had been planned. So much for kismet. So much for the notion of Fate stepping in to bring her a man who was safe.

  “Nina, listen to me.” Andy’s eyes held urgency as he came toward her, reaching.

  She sidestepped him. “Answer the question.”

  Running his fingers through his dark hair, Andy let his shoulders drop. His body language signaled his deception, but he wouldn’t vocalize it.

  “How could you?”

  His face crumbled in distress before clearing so quickly she almost thought she’d imagined the pained expression.

  “Do you want to know the truth? I had my eyes on you for a long time, and I didn’t know how to approach you. Then I heard you’d left the country, and I panicked. I had to do something to get your attention.”

  “Was anything you told me the truth? About your favorite color being green like mine, or that you have the same desire to make a difference in the world…?” Her voice trailed off because she read his expression and the clear truth. “All lies?” she whispered.

  “Not all. I do admire your work and want to change the world with you. That’s something we can do as a married couple.”

  “But philanthropy was never your calling, was it?”

  “No,” he admitted in a low voice.

  “We spent a year and a half doing all that work. Did you enjoy what you did?”

  “Some, but not most,” he admitted reluctantly.

  “So you were being fake. You’re not the person I thought you were.”

  “There are a few differences from the man I presented myself to be, but I’m the same man. A man who loves you and admires you. I am the man who thinks you’re beautiful and caring, and unlike any woman I’ve ever met. I’m the man you fell in love with and agreed to marry.”

  “Do you really want kids? Do you really want to have a family?” His answers were terribly important to her. A deal breaker if he answered in the negative.

  “Of course. And I want those things with you.”

  Andy walked over slowly, tentatively, as if he suspected Nina would reject him. She searched his face and wondered if she’d made another mistake.

  Andy stopped inches away and cupped her shoulders. “The way I went about winning your heart was not totally honest, but my intentions were pure. I knew you were the woman for me.”

  Conflicted, Nina stepped away, and his hands fell to his sides.

  “I don’t know how I feel right now,” she said.

  He swallowed. “I understand, but please don’t leave me. Don’t throw away everything we’ve shared over the past year and a half because of a few…”

  “Lies?” she supplied since he seemed reluctant to say the word.

  He winced. “Nina, we’ve had plenty of good times and can have many more. We can get past this.”

  She sure knew how to pick men. The two men she’d loved had deceived her. First, Reese had made her fall in love with his charm and good looks. Then he’d broken her heart by insisting he wasn’t ready to be in a serious relationship and rubbed salt in the wound by sleeping with a woman who despised her. Now here was Andy, her perfect man, her mature relationship. Except, he’d misrepresented himself.

  She pressed a hand to her pounding temple. “I’m not staying here tonight.”

  “Nina, please.”

  She turned away from his aggrieved expression and scanned the room for the purse she brought with her. Spotting it on the dresser, she picked it up.

  “I love you, Nina.”

  He wasn’t playing fair.

  “I love you, too,” she replied, but the words didn’t fall as easily from her lips as they’d done in the past.

  She tucked the purse under her arm and walked out of the bedroom. Andy followed her to the front without a word. The only noise was the soft sound of their footsteps sinking into the thick carpet.

  Before walking out, Nina turned to face him. He’d stopped a few feet away, hands in his pockets, worry etched in the lines across his forehead.


  “How did you find out I was in New Zealand?” she asked.

  He hesitated. Finally, he answered, “Gloria told me.”

  No surprise. Her mother thought they were a good match.

  Wait a minute, that didn’t make sense.

  “How did you and my mother end up talking?” As far as she knew, Gloria had gotten to know the von Trapps because of her.

  “Our mothers were acquaintances before you and I became friends. They struck up a friendship after going to the same spa and decided to play matchmaker. Gloria thought it would be better if I acted as if our meeting was by chance.”

  “Did she ask you to tell all those other lies, too?”

  He winced at the harsh question. “We discussed tweaking my interests to align with yours.”

  “Wonderful.”

  With an angry spin, Nina left, not sure where she was headed, but knowing she had to get out of there.

  Nina sat in her favorite spot in the city to get ice cream, a parlor whose decor harkened back to decades earlier. The staff wore red and white uniforms, and bright posters brought attention to the daily specials. There weren’t many customers at this time of night. A teen couple studied the dozens of options behind the glass, while a little boy bounced excitedly up and down in front of his mother, waiting for the clerk to finish the homemade milkshake in the noisy blender.

  This booth in the window was familiar. Nina had sat here many times with her father, in this very seat. He’d sit across from her, and they’d discuss anything and everything. Whatever she wanted.

  At the moment, however, she was having a conversation with her mother that she didn’t want to have. Andy had called Gloria to let her know the truth was out, but in typical Gloria fashion, she showed no remorse for her behavior.

  Nina sat with the phone to her ear, listening to her mother go on and on. She stared straight ahead. She didn’t look left or right out the window at the people and cars passing by, too distracted by the conversation.

  “Nina, honey, what he did demonstrates his love for you. Isn’t that what you want?”

  “And what does your role in this scenario demonstrate?” Nina asked tartly.

  Gloria let out an exaggerated sigh. “This is not about me or what I did, which I don’t think was that terrible, mind you. He loves you, and you fell in love with him, didn’t you? So I was right to send him your way.”

  “I fell for a man who doesn’t exist.”

  “On the contrary, he does exist. Everything else about him is real, but now you know he’s a man willing to do anything for you. Anything to be with you. That’s much more than can be said for Mr. Reese Brooks, who stomped all over your heart—your words, not mine.”

  “That was a long time ago,” Nina muttered.

  Her mother scoffed. “I’m sure he’s changed since then, but not in a good way. He’s gotten better at hiding his bad behavior. Trust me, I know the type. His last name might be Brooks, but he’s got Johnson blood in his veins.”

  Nina rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to hear another complaint about the Johnsons and their lack of morals or whatever other disparaging comments her mother would conjure to justify her behavior.

  “I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Listen to me, don’t make any hasty decisions. Remember how much you love this man. Don’t punish Andy forever for one mistake.”

  “Aren’t you the one who always said, when people show you who they are, believe them?”

  “Yes, but of course, there are exceptions.”

  “Goodbye, Mom.”

  “Honey, he needs you. It hasn’t been a year since his mother died. Remember how you felt when—”

  Nina hung up and waited. When her mother didn’t call back, she started eating her two scoops of ice cream, her comfort food. Tonight’s flavor was caramel swirl.

  When she spent the weekends with her father, he picked her up from school on Friday. After dinner, they went to get ice cream together, just the two of them. Their time to sit and chat, when she’d tell him about her fears and dreams, and he’d give her advice or simply let her talk. She missed those days. She missed her father so much right now. He’d give her advice so she’d know what to do.

  She had lived with her mother, but she and her father did as much as they could together. He was her best friend. They volunteered together. They went out to dinner and the movies together. Bowling. Ice skating. He was always there, even though they had different addresses. He often invited her sister, too, but the four-year age difference meant Lindsay participated less frequently as they became older.

  Her phone chirped an alert. A message from Andy.

  I’m sorry. How can I fix this?

  Nina: Please stop. I need a break. Give me space.

  She didn’t want to be cruel, but she needed time to think about their situation. She turned off the ringer on the phone and turned it over so she wouldn’t see his response.

  “You’re overdressed for this place.”

  The sound of his voice immediately suffused her skin with warmth, and Nina looked up into the rich brown gaze of Reese Brooks.

  Chapter 16

  She could wear a plastic sack and still be overdressed for this place—any place, for that matter.

  “Mind if I join you?” Reese waited, tense, for her to turn down his offer. To his surprise, she shook her head.

  “Have a seat.”

  He set his ice cream on the table and slid into the booth.

  “I’m surprised to see you here this late,” she remarked.

  “It’s never too late for ice cream,” he said, and they had a moment of understanding, which prompted smiles to both their lips.

  He had been driving by when he saw her through the window and almost crashed into the car in front of him, hitting the brakes with only a few inches to spare. He parked across the street and watched her for a while, making sure she was alone as he argued with himself about whether or not he should approach. In the end, he couldn’t talk himself out of spending time with her.

  “I saw your mother at the domestic violence fundraiser,” Nina said.

  “Oh yeah? How was the event?”

  He sat back and watched her, pretending to be calm when seeing her had him wired. She was such a chameleon—one minute dressed like a Bohemian in flowing dresses, peasant blouses, and a ring in her nose. The next, dressed like tonight, in a haute couture gown with spaghetti straps and a scooped neckline that hovered above her breasts, and wearing earrings that cost more than the average person’s annual salary—looking like a true woman of privilege. Both looks represented her. Both looks were enough to bring him to his knees.

  “Another success. When I left, the organizer confirmed they surpassed what they raised last year.”

  She spoke in a normal voice, but he knew Nina well enough to recognize that she wasn’t herself. He’d noticed that from the street. Something was off.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She went back to eating the ice cream.

  There was an awkward silence as they both ate from their containers. He hated the awkward silence and stilted sentences as they searched for the right thing to say.

  Reese set down the plastic spoon. “Strange, isn’t it, that we can barely find the words to talk to each other when we used to be able to talk about everything.”

  He had friends but he could admit he didn’t experience the level of intimacy with them that he did with Nina. He wanted to know everything about her and tell her everything about himself.

  She didn’t have his heart. She was his heart.

  She set down her spoon, too. “I hate it.”

  Her response lifted his spirits. “I hate it, too. Maybe we should fix that.”

  She tilted her head slightly, examining him across the table. “How?”

  “Be friends again.”

  “You said you didn’t want to be my friend.”

  “Yeah, well, I was blindsided by your news about…about ou
r baby.” He still had difficulty wrapping his head around what she’d divulged. She’d had years to process what happened. He still struggled with a sense of loss, the knowledge that he was almost a father and that she hadn’t trusted him enough to share such a momentous part of her life with him.

  Nina nodded her understanding.

  “What are you doing here by yourself, anyway? Andy out of town again?” The disdain in his voice came through loud and clear, despite his best efforts.

  Either she didn’t notice or pretended not to. “He and I had a disagreement, and I wanted to be alone,” she said in a soft voice.

  Interesting.

  “So, you’re here, mourning over a bowl of ice cream.”

  “Ice cream makes everything better,” she said, with a sad little smile.

  “Want to talk about it?” Reese asked gently, though he didn’t give a damn about Andy or their problems. As far as he was concerned, their fight was good news, but he couldn’t stand seeing her hurting.

  “Not really.”

  “What do you want to talk about?”

  “Everything but that.”

  So that’s what they did for the next forty-five minutes. She told him about her plans to roll out the volunteer program at work. He told her that he’d accepted his mother’s offer to become the chief information officer at the end of the year.

  She congratulated him profusely, and the more they talked, the more they relaxed, laughed, and teased each other. Being witness to her smile lit a fire inside of him and cast light in the shadows that had taken over his heart. Not for the first time, he berated his younger self, a nineteen-year-old fool who hadn’t realized the jewel of a woman he had at the time.

  After a while, Reese noticed the employees were covering the containers of ice cream and cleaning up behind the counter.

  “Pretty soon, they’re going to turn off the lights and kick us out.”

  Nina glanced at them moving around. She’d been as engrossed as he was in the conversation. “You’re right. We better get out of here.”

  They tossed their containers in the trash and said goodnight to the staff. The manager let them out and locked the door behind them.