He pressed the ignition, cutting the engine, and pushed out into the snow. A large pit bull began growling and barking, making an appearance inside the fence. A pathetic chain did its best to keep the dog shackled to one of the poles, but Cole wouldn’t count on it keeping the dog from breaking free if it really wanted to.
He wasn’t in the mood to test his theory on that score.
Instead, he remained outside the fence, and shot Brooke a text. The first text he’d sent since their last conversation where she’d ignored everything he said.
I’m outside your house.
He took a calming breath, reminding himself of Saylor and the courage it must have taken for her to approach him as she had. Like their discussion, this conversation could go a number of ways. He hoped it would work out best for both of them.
Communication was the key, Norah had said. It was clear Brooke had something on her mind, since she wouldn’t stop contacting him. She’d hinted at wanting to get back together with him, but maybe if he let her say whatever it was, they might be able to move on.
Brooke slogged her way toward him, not from the front, past the barking dog, but from the backyard and the driveway beside the house. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she wore a sweater she’d wrapped tightly around herself.
Arms folded, she sniffed, glancing down the street one way then another, as though not wanting others to see him.
“How did you know where to find me?”
“Kelly.”
She inhaled and tightened her sweater. “That little weasel.”
Cole pressed on. He knew her well enough to know, he had to get his point across before she managed to weave whatever her excuses would be. “I came to tell you in person, because I’m not sure you’re taking me seriously. I know you have it in your head we’re meant to be together. But I can’t go back there, not with you. I need you to understand. To give me space and let the past remain where it is.”
“Even if I’ve changed my mind?” she said defiantly.
“Yes. Because I haven’t.”
“You might like what I have to say, Cole.”
He gritted his teeth. Same old Brooke, never listening to anyone but herself. “About what?”
She moved in, taking liberty to run her hand along his arm. “I want kids. With you.” Her eyes burned with insinuations and memory.
Cole shook her off and stepped back. How dare she? “You can’t be serious.”
How could she not remember how badly she’d hurt him? Recollections of her selfishness flooded back in an instant. Sometimes forgiveness was possible, and he had forgiven her. But forgiveness didn’t mean he had to allow the cycle to continue.
“You haven’t changed that much. I know you never wanted kids. What do you really want?”
Her coy smile flattened to a grimace. Her hands dropped to her side, and all play at friendliness or flirtation dropped with them. “You want the truth? Fine. I lost my job. I’m tired of living here, bumming off coworkers.” She jabbed a thumb in the air toward the decrepit house.
“So you need me to rescue you.”
Her lips quirked. “You always had a tender heart. Look how you took my cat in. Look how you’re always helping out the little guy, allowing random people like Jack Prescott to work for you when you only knew him a matter of minutes.”
“Jack has proven himself more than just a little guy. He’s my friend.”
A single shrug. A step closer. “He is now. I’m saying, you trust easily, Cole. It’s what makes you so attractive.”
Somehow, she’d managed to snake her arm up behind his neck to toy with his hair. Cole swatted her away and reinserted the space between them.
“Don’t do this,” he said. “If you need help, ask for it, but I’m not getting back together with you. You’re not moving in to live off of me.”
Her expression folded faster than origami into the version she usually stored beneath the surface, the version that had reared its ugly head after he’d married her.
“You can’t turn me away. You owe me.”
Cole’s mouth dropped. He thought of a thousand things he could say. A thousand stabs that would leave marks. With the shambled house behind her, the dog’s incessant barking, the pathetic state of her sweater and the plea in her eyes battling sheer spite, all of those remarks blew away with the wind.
“Brooke. Let this go. I will help you if you need it, but nothing more can happen between us. Can you please accept that?”
“You’ll help me how?”
He tensed at the insinuation. “I don’t believe in giving you money just to give you money. I can help you find a job, though.”
She curled her lip. “A job where?”
“I don’t know yet. I said I’d help, remember?” He added a smile, hoping to thaw her. He stepped forward, pulling her into a hug. To his surprise, she let him.
They stood there on the end of the driveway. The day’s cold blustered around him, but he held her, hoping she read the gesture for what it was meant to signify. An ending. An offering. She needed to let him go. She needed to get back on her feet. He would help her with that much, and then she needed to move on.
“You like her, don’t you? Your pirate girl.”
Cole’s hands clenched. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Saylor since she’d left his apartment. He lowered his arms and met Brooke’s eyes. “I do.”
Brooke chewed her lip. This time, she was the first to step away and add distance. She gave off a smile of surrender and tossed her hands into the air. “Well, you can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said.
“Actually—”
“Don’t finish that.” Brooke’s brow snapped.
Cole laughed, and a smile crept onto her cheeks as well. “I’m sorry things haven’t
