“Why?”
“Because my skinny-weight self is a complete selfish bitch who thought I had more control than I do,” Mindy wailed.
“You’re not fat, you’re just . . . easier to see.” Brooke tugged off Mindy’s leggings and set her hands on her hips. “I get that life sucks right now, but that’s never a reason to wear granny panties. Like, ever.”
“My skinny panties give me wedgies.” With a sigh, Mindy turned on her side and curled up in just her T-shirt and granny panties.
Brooke spread a blanket over her.
“But the kids,” her sister said, eyes already closed. “I’ve gotta make sure the kids brush and floss and clean up . . .”
Mindy infamously micromanaged everything and everyone around her because she hated surprises. Brooke was the opposite. If you asked anyone who knew her, they’d say she was the free bird, the wanderlust spirit, the . . . well, the crazy one.
They had the crazy part right, especially given what she was about to say. “I got them. Just sleep.” And please God, wake up like your usual calm, unruffled bitch self . . .
“Thanks,” Mindy murmured. “I owe you one.”
“Wiiiiiiiipe meeeeeeee!” Mason bellowed.
With a sigh, Brooke headed down the hall to save the kid, thinking she was going to have no problem not falling for these kids after all.
Chapter 2
“The cats have been fed, do not listen to their bullshit.”
The next morning, Brooke had the boys in the car and was just waiting on Millie to make her way from the front door. They’d all said good-bye to Mindy. Millie had gone last and was skipping toward the car and counting her steps. “One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four . . .”
Brooke’s heart squeezed, but she smiled at the girl. “Hop in.”
“Do you have hand sanitizer?”
“Always,” Brooke assured her. “In my backpack. Help yourself.”
Millie smiled gratefully and went to climb into the car, shuffling her feet at the last minute because she was only on “three” and needed one more step to get to “four.”
The kids had no idea what their destination was. All they knew was that they were going to get to spend two days with Auntie Brooke—yay! Mindy had said it was best to surprise them to keep expectations low. Brooke was pretty sure that was a statement on her ability to “aunt,” but she got it. She had things to prove, to the both of them. She hoped to surprise the kids and herself.
Up ahead was a freeway transition. If she stayed where she was, they’d go south. South would take them to Disneyland. If she changed lanes to go north, it’d take them up the coast of California. They could go to Santa Barbara. San Francisco.
Or Wildstone.
She bit her lip, thoughts racing. Disneyland would be a huge hit. But anyone could survive a trip to Disneyland. She didn’t want to just survive. Been there, done that . . . barely. And then there was the real problem. Thoughts of Wildstone wouldn’t leave her alone. She’d left there without looking back under less than ideal circumstances of her own making. She’d hurt people, people who hadn’t deserved it.
So maybe she could go do something constructive for a change, something to right some wrongs. At the thought, she channeled her inner Mindy and organized herself, formulating a plan for how to fix not just her sister’s problems, but her own as well. Her mental list was:
Face Wildstone again.
Kick Linc’s ass.
Face her own regrettable past actions, the worst of which had affected a certain six-foot-tall blast from her past whom she’d not faced since.
The only problem with this plan was it was an odd number of things. So she added one more:
Return to LA a new Brooke. Or, better yet, the old old Brooke, so she could get her life back, including the principal photography job she missed.
A quarter of a mile left to make her decision. Sucking in a deep breath, she changed lanes. They were going north. To Wildstone. She was going to be unselfish, she was going to fix things, because that’s what grown-ups did, and she was supposedly one of those now.
“You’re going sixty,” Millie noted very seriously.
Brooke nodded. “It’s the speed limit.”
“Earlier you went to sixty-four.”
“Yes. I was passing someone.”
Millie met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “You like even numbers like I do.”
The solemn expression on the little girl’s face cracked Brooke’s heart wide-open, making her more honest than she might’ve been. “I do.”
Millie thought about that for a beat and nodded, a very small smile crossing her mouth. “I’ve never met anyone like us.”
Brooke’s heart pinched again, and when her phone buzzed, she had to swallow the lump in her throat to answer.
“Am I on speaker?” Mindy asked. “And the correct answer is yes.”
“Of course you’re on speaker,” Brooke said, and, grimacing, put Mindy on speaker.
“Now make sure Millie’s got her headphones on and isn’t listening.”
Brooke eyed Millie, whose head was now bopping to some kid tunes. “Done.”
“She’s got some things you’ll need to work around,” Mindy said.
“Things?”
Mindy sighed. “She needs to have her hands clean at all times. She can’t touch stuff if she thinks it’s dirty. She counts in fours, often out loud. Things have to be even. Even steps. Even miles per hour for your speed in the car. The thermostat. Everything, it all has to be even.”
“So?” Brooke asked carefully.
“So it’s who she is. Her pediatrician says the OCD isn’t a problem right now, and we’re watching it, but people don’t always understand her quirks, and that upsets her.”
From a young age, Brooke had done the same things as Millie, but knowing she was different, she’d hidden her “quirks,” even from Mindy. That Millie didn’t hide them made Brooke’s neglected heart ache with pride for the kid. “I told you I’ve got this, and I do. I’ll take care of her.” Great job on not getting attached . . . “Of all of them.”
Mindy was quiet a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was soft and grateful. “Thanks. You’re a good sister.”
She wasn’t, not even close. But she was going to fix that, too. “And I changed my mind on the vacay at you-know-where. We’re going to Wildstone, so take your time to rest up and stuff, and then you can meet us there.”
“Oh my God, really?” Mindy asked, voice now filled with excitement. “You’re going home? That’s amazing! Thank you! Are you sure?”
“One hundred percent.” Okay, maybe ten, but that could be her own little secret. “Gotta go, Min. Don’t drink all my wine, and don’t drink it in my bed.”
The drive up the California coast was stunning—rolling green hills on the right, the shiny blue Pacific Ocean on the left—but the kids weren’t impressed. It took all of ten minutes for them to get restless. Mason was thirsty, Millie wanted to switch seats, and Maddox kept barking. “What do you all want to be when you grow up?” Brooke finally asked out of desperation.