Page 56 of Love and Other Chances

Brooks is on the edge of his seat now. His passion for not only his specific students, but education in general, oozes out of every word hespeaks, every inflection of his voice, every raise of his eyebrows and gesture of his hands.

The passion is contagious. I feel it swelling in my chest, whispering in my mind.

You could do this. You might be made to do this.

My thoughts have tangled themselves and distracted me from what Brooks was saying. I snap my attention back to him when my ears register silence. He’s smiling softly at me.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Doesn’t matter what I was saying. I’d rather watch the expressions that dance across your face while you’re lost in thought,” he says.

I drop my head against my arms resting on my knees. “Brooooks,” I groan. “Now I can’t look at you with a straight face.”

Seconds later, his smiling face peers up from the floor next to me. I smile back, and he playfully pinches my side before taking the chair next to me. “So, will you be in KC for Christmas?” he asks.

“Yep. I’ll be staying with my mom, but I’ll see my dad too. You?”

Brooks nods his response. “Could I see you for Christmas sometime?” he asks. There’s a note of anxiety in his voice. Like he actually thinks I could say no.

I smile softly at him. “Yes. Let me check with my mom on the plans.”

His typical playful spark crowds out the anxiety in his eyes. “Good. ’Cause baby, all I want for Christmas is you.”

I roll my eyes to hide my mutual feelings.

Christmas Eve holds an extra thrill of anticipation this year because Brooks will be joining us for dinner.

Mom said he was welcome to come any time, but it made the most sense to have him come tonight. Logan and I will be spending most of the day with Dad tomorrow, and Brooks needs to spend Christmas Day with his dad, brother, and sister-in-law.

I’ve been staying with my mom for a couple of days now, and we’ve had multiple conversations about my new relationship with Brooks.Despite her caution at Thanksgiving, my words and actions have provided her enough assurance to feel happy about it now. She agreed not to mention anything about it to Logan or my dad yet. Those seem like they should be in-person conversations.

Unfortunately, Logan got delayed and is still on his way to KC from St. Louis. He’ll probably arrive shortly before dinner, so hopefully I have enough time to prepare him prior to Brooks’ arrival.

I’m extra meticulous applying makeup, going for a light smoky look complete with a subtle cat eye. It should pair well with the jade green dress I’m wearing. The sound of the front door opening reaches my ears right before Logan calls out greetings. “Hey, big bro!” I call from my room as I hear Mom welcoming him in the foyer.

I need to run down and quickly fill him in on all that has transpired with Brooks, but I decide to add one finishing touch to my outfit first. Pulling half of my hair back, I secure it with a deep maroon hair bow, adding a softer feminine touch to my darker eye makeup.

Zipping up my ankle boots, I give myself a mental pep talk before going to tell Logan about Brooks. Logan overlapped with Brooks on the varsity basketball team for a year, but he was a grade older and Logan was already away at college by the time our relationship ended. But he’s still the stereotypical protective older brother, so he might need more convincing than Mom did to let the past go.

I reach the top of the staircase at the same moment the doorbell rings.

Oh no.

My brain tells my feet to go down the steps as fast as humanly possible, but Logan is already almost to the door.

“I’ll get the door, don’t worry about it,” I’m practically shrieking as my feet nearly trip over themselves on the stairs.

I reach the door a secondafterLogan opens it, just in time to hear Logan’s icy voice. “You.”

Just in time to watch in slow motion as Logan punches Brooks across the jaw.

Chapter twenty-two

“LOGAN! Stop it! What are you doing?!” I yell, grabbing fistfuls of Logan’s shirt to try to pull him away from Brooks.

“No, I deserved that,” Brooks states, rubbing his jaw.

“You deserve a lot more than that, you little punk,” Logan spits, eyes still blazing. “Just because I was at college, you think I didn’t still have friends from the team who told me all the crap you talked about my sister? How dare you show up here?”

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