Becoming Brooke (Quinn Valley Ranch Book 6)

by Kay P. Dawson

  “No, it’s perfect!” She grinned over at him and turned, taking his hands. “And the seniors in the home will be able to see it from their rooms.”

  He nodded, glad she was happy with the tree. “When Joel and I started planning and talking about it, I wasn’t really sure where we could put it. It’s not like there is much open space right now downtown, and I didn’t think I should put it in front of your clinic or people might not even be able to find you behind it. Vicki happened to come along when we were discussing it and she said the home where she works had a huge empty space in front and it would be perfect there. That way, people from town could come out to see it and the seniors would be able to enjoy it too. Some of them who can get around on their own have been coming out each day to help us get it decorated and they’ve been loving it. Especially when they found out I was putting it up for you.”

  Brooke threw her arms around his shoulders almost knocking him to the ground. “This is so wonderful. I can’t believe you did this for me. Thank you.”

  He held her tight and pressed his lips to her hair. “Well, I’ll admit I might have been doing it for selfish reasons too. I was kind of hoping you’d end up in my arms after seeing it, so my plan has worked perfectly.” He smiled at her as she pulled back and looked up at him. Her cheeks were red from the chill of the air and her eyelashes had a hint of white on them.

  “First you use mistletoe to get me to kiss you, and now a giant tree to get me in your arms. I do believe you’ve become a softie for Christmas, Jared.”

  He shrugged, bringing his hand up over them to show that he was still carrying the mistletoe. “I’m just a resourceful man.”

  She laughed when she saw it, then leaned in to press her lips to his.

  After their first kiss that night, Jared was sure he’d fallen in love with Brooke, but he wasn’t really sure how to tell her. He’d kissed her many times since then and every time, he knew he was falling even harder.

  But this one—this time, standing here beside the lights of this enormous tree—he knew he was gone. Brooke had his heart and somehow, he was going to find a way to let her know.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m so glad to see that things are working out between you and Maude’s nephew. Who would have thought the two of you would ever end up together?” Grandma Gertie reached over and patted Brooke’s hand, nodding her head while she looked at her with a twinkle in her eye. Brooke knew she’d never be able to prove it, but she somehow thought her grandmother had some kind of hand in her being with Jared. And Grandma Gertie would be properly offended if she even asked her for the truth.

  “Well, Grams, we’ve been dating for a few weeks now but that doesn’t mean he’s the one I’m going to be spending my life with. So don’t get yourself too worked up. Remember how well things worked out for me before.”

  Her eyes scanned the crowd to see where Jared had ended up, and she spotted him standing by the bar talking to her dad. The family Christmas party was well underway at Quinn’s, and Brooke was sure this year everyone had shown up. Even her cousin Andrew was here, and other than Thanksgiving, he hadn’t been coming to family functions for a long time. She was glad to have Jared with her this year, and as she watched him, he turned his head as though he knew she was looking at him and their eyes met. Holding her breath, she listened to the echo of her pounding heart as she realized just how important he’d become to her in such a short time. When he smiled at her, warmth spread through her entire body.

  “Brooke Quinn, honestly, I’m tired of you using that as an excuse for everything.” Her head spun back around to face her grandma and her eyebrows came together in confusion.

  “Excuse me, Grams? What are you talking about?” After staring at Jared, Brooke honestly couldn’t remember what they’d even been discussing before.

  “You’re always throwing it out about what happened with Todd. Now I admit, that was a pretty awful situation to have to go through, but you can’t keep bringing that up and believing it will happen to you again. It’s time to let it go and just be happy going forward with a man who won’t do something like that to you.” Grams clucked her tongue and looked over at Jared. “Besides, I can tell the way that man looks at you that he would move the world for you, if you just asked him. He would never hurt you the way that other pot-bellied swine did.”

  Brooke laughed in shock at her grandma’s name for Todd.

  Grams just shrugged. “What? I never liked that boy. Trust me, I have better names for him, but they aren’t said out loud by a lady. I hate to say it, but I was so glad when I heard the wedding was off. I never believed he was the one who would make you happy for the rest of your life. It was never meant to be.”

  Her cousin Renae came over, leaning down to kiss Grams on the cheek before sitting down at the table with them. “I love all of our family get-togethers, but this Christmas one is always my favorite. Everyone is in such a joyful mood, and it just feels like we all really appreciate each other. I know it’s silly since we all still live around town and see each other all the time, but being together like this for Christmas just makes me happy, you know what I mean?”

  “I do. I feel it too. Even if we did just all get together a few weeks ago for Thanksgiving.” The three women laughed, knowing full well that no one outside of the Quinn family could ever understand how close they all were. Getting together like this wasn’t even hard to do, because once a date was set, everyone made sure they could come because they genuinely enjoyed being together.

  Brooke’s eyes moved around the restaurant full of Quinn family and friends. She spotted Maude sitting at a table talking to one of Gram’s other friends and as she looked, Maude lifted her arm and waved at her. Brooke was glad the older woman was recovering so well, but there was a lingering worry that ate at her as she realized there really wouldn’t be any reason for Jared to hang around much longer.

  Her cousin Georgia made her way over and sat down beside Brooke, looking like she had lost her best friend. Brooke had noticed that her boyfriend Logan wasn’t with her at this gathering, so she suspected they might have broken up. But she didn’t want to bring it up and upset Georgia any more. Grams, however, wasn’t as good at keeping her thoughts to herself.

  “Georgia, I still don’t believe that Logan would have intentionally hurt you. I think you need to talk to him.” Obviously, Grandma Gertie knew what was going on and she wasn’t about to just let Georgia sit here and mope about it.

  “Grandma, I’m not really in the mood to talk about it.”

  Brooke quickly came to her cousin’s rescue, knowing right away how awful Georgia was feeling. She remembered the feeling too well…

  “Look, they’re about to announce the winner for the gingerbread house. Although we really don’t even need to get up because everyone already knows who will win.” Brooke laughed and rolled her eyes dramatically.

  Renae jumped in at the chance to change the subject too. “Of course. Robyn will win by a gingerbread landslide while the rest of us just wasted days putting our own together for no apparent reason other than to make hers look even better.”

  Brooke’s sister always won anything like this. She was obsessed with Pinterest and always had new and creative ideas for everything she did. That’s why Brooke had just let her decorate inside the office this year because she knew then it would look like something out of a magazine and would be far better than anything she could have done.

  And Robyn’s gingerbread house entry would be no different. Brooke had made a feeble attempt on her own, while Jared had tried to help. But in the end, the icing didn’t stick, one of the walls had a giant crack in it, and she was sure there was more cat hair on the frosting she’d used for snow than there was left on her cats.

  So, she wasn’t really going to be heartbroken when she didn’t win.

  Joel sauntered over and sat down, looking back and forth between the women. “So, ladies, why aren’t you all up there waiting to see who won?” A grin spread
across his face, showing off his one dimple. “You never know, this could be your year.”

  Grams flipped her hand and stood up, shaking her head. “I don’t even know why I still enter this silly contest. I haven’t won in years, ever since that Pinterest came along.”

  They all laughed as their grandma walked over to sit with Maude, knowing full well that until Robyn had demonstrated a creative side, it had always been Grandma Gertie who won everything. Now her nose was just slightly out of joint that she wasn’t winning anymore.

  “How come you’re not over there rescuing poor Jared? I see now Mom has pulled him over and is introducing him to Uncle Bob and Aunt April Lynn. If I was the jealous type, I might be offended that she seems more excited to brag about her daughter’s new boyfriend than her favorite son.”

  “Oh really? I’m certain she’s still been bragging about Travis quite a bit tonight.”

  Joel stuck his tongue out at her and leaned back in his chair.

  “Jared seems nice, Brooke. I’m really happy for you. But I have to mention something that has kind of been bothering me and I wasn’t sure how to tell you.” Renae looked across the table at her, nervously moving her eyes to look at Georgia and Joel. Brooke could tell she wasn’t sure if she should say anything in front of the others.

  “Go ahead, Renae. None of us have any secrets we need to hide. If you have something to say, I want to hear it.”

  Renae took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, well it’s likely nothing more than me letting my imagination get carried away on me. But the other day I was browsing through some shelves at the bookstore and when I glanced at the bestseller wall, I noticed one in crime fiction by J.D. Webber. Now, I’ve heard of that name even though I don’t read those kind of books…” Renae gave a quick shudder for emphasis before continuing.

  But Brooke already knew what she was going to say.

  “Yes, Renae, Jared is actually J.D. Webber.” He hadn’t told her yet or confirmed what she’d heard from Todd, but Brooke had looked it up for herself and knew the truth. She was waiting and hoped Jared would tell her himself.

  Joel sat up straighter and looked at her in shock. “So, he did tell you then?”

  Brooke glanced at her brother, realizing he’d known the truth already. “Well no, actually he didn’t. I had to hear it from Todd. But I take it from the sound of your voice that you knew and decided not to tell me?”

  He just shrugged, not even looking like he’d done anything wrong. “Not really. Travis and Dusty mentioned it to me and asked if I knew. Apparently, they heard it that day Amanda had shown up in their office. But I didn’t think it was my place to say anything. I’m sure Jared has his reasons for not saying anything, so it really isn’t any of my business.”

  Brooke’s mouth dropped open in surprise. All their lives, they’d shared everything but for some reason, Joel had decided to keep this from her.

  “Brooke, have you found out much about who J.D. Webber is? I mean, I really, really don’t like having to bring this up. But I was snooping around online after I discovered who he was, and it turns out he has a bit of a reputation as a love’em and leave’em kind of guy. There are a few women who have left less than flattering remarks about him online. And there are pictures of him out with these women…” Renae chewed on her lip nervously as she told Brooke everything she’d found out.

  “Like I said, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. We can’t always trust what’s on the Internet. But I just wanted to make sure you knew everything before things went too far with you guys. I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

  Georgia put her hand on Brooke’s. “Be careful, Brooke. Sometimes the person you believe them to be turns out to be nowhere near who they really are.”

  Joel shook his head, like he wasn’t willing to believe what they were saying. “Well, I’ve gotten to know Jared a lot over the past couple of weeks, especially watching him move heaven and earth to get that ridiculous tree set up for you, and I believe he can be trusted. And I don’t say something like that lightly, and you know it Brooke. I told you repeatedly how much I didn’t trust Todd. If I even thought for a second Jared wasn’t someone I could trust, I’d be over there right now knocking him to the ground.” Joel leaned forward and looked her in the eye. “It’s up to you, Brooke. But remember that you can’t always be holding on to the mistrust that Todd left you with. Talk to Jared and find out the truth, but don’t just throw everything away because you think he’s keeping something from you. That isn’t fair to him.”

  Brooke turned her head and watched as Jared finally freed himself from the family talking to him and made his way over. His face lit up with a smile when he saw her, and he started to walk as fast as he could. Her pulse picked up again and she realized that Joel was right. She needed to talk to Jared and give him a chance to explain. But not tonight.

  Tonight, she just wanted to enjoy being with her family, celebrating Christmas, beside the man she knew beyond a doubt she was falling in love with.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I’m not really sure what her favorite scent would be. I just know she always has candles going and what woman doesn’t like nice smelling soaps?” Jared picked another one of the handmade soaps up and sniffed it. “I like this one. But I’m a man and maybe what I like, and she would like are two different things.”

  The woman behind the counter, who’d introduced herself as Lindy, just laughed softly and took the soap from his hand. “This one is a favorite of a lot of women. It’s got lavender, honey, and lemon, so I’m almost certain anyone would love this scent.”

  Jared sighed and looked around the shop. He’d come into Scentiments to try picking out some little gifts to put together for Brooke. But he knew he was floundering around like a fish out of water and probably was making a complete fool of himself.

  Thankfully, Lindy must have sensed his frustration, so she grabbed another soap off the shelf and handed it to him. “This is another popular one. It has Himalayan salt in it with grapefruit scent.”

  He sniffed it and shrugged. It really didn’t smell any different than the hundred other ones he’d inhaled in the past half hour.

  “Would you like me to just put a basket together with soaps, candles, oils, and other little goodies Brooke might like? She’s come in quite a few times to buy different things, so I have an idea of what she would be happy to get.”

  Jared resisted the urge to lift the woman into his arms and spin her around the room in gratitude. “Yes! I know how busy you are with Christmas in just a couple of days, but I’d appreciate anything you could put together for me. I’m in no hurry, so I can just wait here for you to finish.”

  As she turned to pick items off the shelves for him, he walked over and lifted a bottle of oil to his nose, cringing at the overpowering smell. Geranium. He really hoped Lindy didn’t put anything with that stinky smell into the basket. Just as he was about to turn and mention it to her, the bell above the door jingled, announcing another customer. He absently lifted his head to look, and immediately wished he hadn’t. His eyes locked on Amanda’s and this shop wasn’t big enough for him to hide anywhere. She headed in his direction, a smile that he could only call evil plastered on her face.

  “Well, it’s not often you see a man frequenting a place like this. I assume you’re here picking something up for Brooke?”

  He casually leaned against a shelf on the wall and nodded, not really wanting to encourage conversation with this woman. “You assume correctly.”

  She sighed and tilted her head dramatically. He was sure most men would be finding it difficult to speak around her when she pulled her face into the subtle pout she was giving him now. But he could see through it and in his eyes, she wasn’t in the least bit beautiful. Not like Brooke.

  “Listen, Jared, I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot. I really don’t want any bad feelings between us. The truth is, I still care about Brooke. She was my best friend for a long time and I just want to see he
r happy. I know she will likely never be able to forgive me, but I just want to be the bigger person and say that I have no hard feelings toward Brooke at all.” She leaned in closer to him and placed her hand on his arm, the smell of her perfume overpowering the calmer scents around them.

  Jared almost dropped the round bath thing he had just picked up to sniff. His mouth opened but it took him a few seconds before he was even able to form any words. “You have no hard feelings toward Brooke? Well, that’s mighty decent of you, Amanda, considering you’re the one who acted like a complete tramp and cheated with your best friend’s fiancé. People like you make me sick, you know that? You never think you’ve done anything wrong and that everyone else just isn’t seeing things your way. All I can say is how glad I am that Brooke didn’t marry that loser and that her best friend showed her true colors.”

  She had him pinned in the back corner and other than pushing her out of the way like he wanted to do, he wasn’t even sure how to get away from her.

  “You think just because you’re some famous author you can come into town and start insulting people like me? You’re no better than me, or Todd for that matter. You lied to her too. Have you ever told her who you really are?”

  He clenched his jaw so tight he was sure his teeth would break. “I’ve never lied to her. I told her from day one who I was. If she didn’t realize who that meant, that’s not my fault.” But even as he said the words, he had to push the feelings of guilt aside that tried to remind him he hadn’t made any real effort to make sure she knew who he was. He’d been meaning to talk to her about it after his last confrontation with Amanda, but with the big Christmas tree gift and then the Quinn family party he just hadn’t had a chance.