by Alison Mello
Mama comes out of the guest bathroom. “This place looks great. You picked a beautiful home, Brooke. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mama. I love this house, but I was just thinking about how much stuff I’m going to need.” I shake my head.
“One day at a time, sweetie.” She puts all the supplies back into the bucket and places it under the sink.
“Mama, why are you leaving your bucket under there?”
She smiles. “That’s your bucket. I bought it for you to have here. There was no sense in taking my supplies to bring them back home when you would need them, anyway.”
I chuckle. “Thanks, Mama.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s hit the store.”
We pull up to the furniture store a short time later. We picked one not too far from my house, hoping to make delivery simple and cheap. We walk in and we’re all shocked by how big the place is, you would never know it from the outside. There’s a woman sitting at a counter as we look around in amazement. “How can we help you ladies today?” the woman greets us.
“My daughter is renting a home and needs to furnish it. We’re looking for a bedroom set, living room set, and a table with chairs.”
The woman smiles at the prospect of a huge sale. “Let me get you some help.” She speaks into a walkie talkie and a woman approaches us.
“Hello, ladies. I’m Marcie, how can I help?”
I tell her again what we’re looking for and she walks us over to the bedroom sets first. Eventually I would like to furnish the other two rooms as well, but like Mama says, one day at a time. I need to start with necessities. She leads us to an elevator and takes us up a level. When we step off the elevator, we are surrounded by bedroom sets. After about thirty minutes of wandering around, I finally spot my set. It’s a solid oak queen size bed. It has a bureau with mirror, nightstand, and dresser. “Mama, do you think it’ll fit?”
“For sure. It’s beautiful,” she agrees.
“I’ll take it.” The woman makes some notes on her clipboard and we move on to the living room next. After another hour and a half of shopping, I finally find everything I need, but I’m exhausted. Who knew furniture shopping could be so tiring? We follow the woman back to the front of the store, where she finalizes my order and sets up the delivery. Unfortunately, in order for everything to be delivered on the same day, it will take almost two weeks for them to get it to me. I mark the delivery date into my phone, along with a reminder to ask that I not be on-call that weekend. We have a new assistant starting this week, so hopefully that won’t be an issue. When we’re finally done and I have all my paperwork in hand, we start toward the car.
“One more stop,” Mama says.
“Where?” I question.
“Don’t you fret.” She gets into the driver’s seat and pulls out of the lot.
We pull up to this huge store that carries everything I could possibly need for the house. We grab two carts and Mama and Courtney help me pick plates, knives, utensils, and cups. We then move on to bedding. I pick a set for my room that’s a turquoise blue paisley print. It has shams and curtains to match. We also pick some nice decorative pillows and a small lamp for when I want to read at night. I’m exhausted and I want to go home but Mama insists we still have to pick towels and curtains for the two bathrooms. Of course I can’t disagree, I couldn’t shower at my place if I wanted to because there are no curtains hung in either shower.
When we get to the bathroom section, I find a seashell set for the guest bathroom that is really pretty. We collect everything including hooks, matching towels, a trash can, and floor mats. I look at my cart and shake my head at the dent that I’m about to make in my savings account. Then we move on, looking for my bathroom. I find a set that is the same colors of turquoise and blue, again grabbing everything we need. We pile it all into my cart. I look at my mom with my brows raised. “Anything else you can think of?”
She checks her watch. “No. I think we’ve covered it. Plus we have to go. Your brother will be at the house any minute.” I close my eyes and try to take a deep breath, because I’ve been trying to get her out of here for a while now, so she wouldn’t be late for my brother getting home, and now all of a sudden she’s worried about it. This woman can be infuriating sometimes. We walk up to the checkout counter, and on the way mama sees a stack of welcome mats. She stops. “Wait. You can’t have home without a welcome mat. It’s like a curse.” She exaggerates, but makes me pick a mat and throws the one of my choice into her cart.
I begin unloading the cart onto the belt and Mama approaches the cashier, asking if they can bring another cart over. The bagger runs off to get one and I continue to unload. By the time I’m done with the first cart, they’ve already filled the empty one. Mama hands mine off to the girl and I continue to unload. I finally finish emptying the second cart and the girl asks for it, because they were small and overflowing with stuff. I push it down to her as Courtney pushes one out of the way. I go back to the register, and when the gentleman says my total, I nearly vomit, but I dig into my bag for my credit card. Before I can take it out, he hands my mother a receipt and tells her to have a nice day. “Wait, what just happened?” I look at my mother in total confusion. “You did not just pay for all that stuff?”
“I did, and it was your father’s orders. Consider it a housewarming and a graduation gift. We’re proud of you.”
“Mama, buying me dishes and maybe some utensils is a house warming gift. Not setting up my home.” My eyes are wide with concern.
“You listen here. You’re our baby girl and we’re proud of you. We have done similar things for each of your brothers, and we will do this for you. Now I will not hear another word about it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” We make it out to the car and we load as much as we can into the trunk, squeezing the rest into the back with Courtney. As soon as the door is shut, I wrap my mama into the biggest hug. “Thank you so much, Mama. I love you, and really appreciate all you and Dad have already done. You didn’t need to do this too.”
She rubs my back. “We did it because we wanted to, not because we needed to. We love you too, dear. Now let’s go, your brother is going to be waiting.”
Chapter 20
Brooke
We pull up to the house and there are far more people here than expected. Keaton’s truck is in the driveway along with Remy’s Audi, and Dawson’s SUV is in the street, which means Mama is having the entire family over. “I thought it was just Remy and Kenzie tonight?” I look at her with my brows raised.
She shrugs. “I guess your brothers wanted to come over too.”
“Mmhmmm.” Why do I feel like this woman is up to no good? I shake my head and climb out of the car, grabbing my bags with the help of Courtney and Mama.
When we get inside, everyone is in the living room and there are gifts on the floor.
“Congratulations,” everyone shouts.
“Y’all act like I bought the house. I’m only renting it.”
“Yes, but you’re still moving out on your own, and we’re proud of you.” My dad wraps his arm around me and hugs me.
I look up at him. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Courtney, will you join us?” Mama asks.
“I’d love to, but I’m sorry, I have to get going.” I give my friend a big hug and thank her for all of her help today. She tells me she’ll see me at work.
Keaton comes over and hands me a plate of my favorite BBQ chicken pizza. “Thanks, Bro.” We all sit around enjoying some pizza. As I look around at my amazing family, I realize the only one missing is my man. It makes me sad. I can’t help but wonder what he’s doing tonight. Is he even okay? I hated the look on Remy’s face when he came back here to get his head on straight. He looked sad and defeated. Now, my man is going through the same thing.
“Hey, are you all right?” Remy takes a seat next to me. I was so lost in thought I had no idea everyone was watching me.
I turn to my brother. “Can we talk later? Al
one.”
He gives me a small smile. “Of course, but only if you promise to have some fun with your gifts for now.”
I chuckle. “Okay, I’ll try.”
“That’s my girl.” He takes my plate and puts a gift on my lap.
I give my brother a big smile, because who can resist being excited about gifts? I rip through the paper to reveal a gorgeous pot and pan set, and that’s when I realize my mom never pressed me to buy pans. She was on me about everything else but stuff to cook with. “You told Mom what you were getting me, didn’t you?”
“She made me,” he whispers and winks at me.
I can’t help but laugh. He puts another gift on my lap. This one is from Keaton. I rip through a big box and inside is a ton of spatulas, spoons, and every other cooking utensil I could possibly need. “Thank you, Keaton, but how did you know what to get? No offense, but you’re not much of a cook.”
He laughs. “None taken. I asked Mama and she gave me a list of what you would need.” I thank them both.
I grab another gift off the floor. It’s a pair of really nice wine glasses, a bottle of Moscato, along with a bottle opener set. “That one is from Dawson and I.” Kayla smiles. “The one on the floor is from the kids.”
“Thank you.” I put down their gift and quickly pick up the other one, because I can’t wait to see what the kids gave me. I rip through yet another package to reveal framed pictures. There’s four in the box. One of the entire family, one of each child separately, and the last one is of the two kids together. They’re gorgeous, and I’m thrilled I’ll have a piece of my family to keep in my house with me. “Thank you guys so much. I love them and can’t wait to put them up in the house.”
Becky comes running over. “Auntie Brooke, do you like my picture?”
“Oh, I love it, sweet girl.” I pick her up and squeeze her.
“Remy and I are having some pictures printed for you as well. We’ll show them to you once we’ve cleaned up. Unfortunately they’re from the wedding, so we couldn’t have them ready in time for tonight.”
I jump up and hug her. “Thank you.”
I turn to my family. “Thank you all. You’ve all helped make my home special. I can’t wait for it to be set up.”
“And we’ll all be there on moving day to make sure you’re squared away.” Dawson puts his arm around me and kisses the top of my head. I’m so lucky to have such an amazing family. It makes me feel for Vaughn all that much more. He’s thousands of miles away from his family. He has none of them to hug him and tell him it will be okay. This makes me that much more determined to help him understand that we’re there for him and that we’ll support him.
“Let’s get cleaned up so we can look at some pictures.” The guys all get busy getting rid of empty pizza boxes while Mama and I put the leftover pizza in the fridge.
Once we’re done, Kenzie sets up her laptop. Mama, Kenzie, Kayla, and I all huddle around the kitchen island to look over the pictures from the wedding while the guys are in the other room. She opens a disc that reveals the pictures in order, starting with the guys getting ready at the house. There are some great pictures of Remy and Vaughn together, and although I would like one, I decide to wait until she tells me which ones she’s ordered for me before I say anything. After the guys, it’s us getting ready and getting into the limo. There are pictures of us climbing out of the limo and waiting to walk into the yard, and then pictures of us making our way down the aisle. Of course there are tons of pictures of the ceremony, pictures of them with the honor guard, and pictures of us on the front lawn. The photographer easily took a thousand shots when all is said and done. “Kenzie, the pictures came out beautiful.”
“Thanks, we’re quite pleased. I pulled the ones I wanted to make for you and put them in a folder.” She opens a folder on her laptop to reveal a few shots.
She clicks on the first one to open it up bigger, and the first picture is a really fun one. It’s of all of us girls wearing our t-shirts and shorts with our sneakers. “I love that one.” I clap my hands, excited. She clicks the arrow to open the next picture, and it’s of her and my brother. She’s still in her wedding dress and Rem’s in his uniform.
She turns to Mama. “We’ve ordered you an eleven by fourteen of this one, Mama.”
“Thank you, sweetie. Dad and I will be ordering some others. I really would like one of the entire family. The one in the living room is a bit outdated.” I’ll say it is. Remy wasn’t even in the service yet when we took that photo. We took one picture at the wedding that included everyone, even Rebecca and Beau are in it, and it came out beautiful. Kayla put Beau in an adorable little suit with a bowtie.
She clicks the next arrow, and I can’t help but smile even as a lone tear runs down my cheek. It’s the picture of Rem and Vaughn. “Thank you,” I manage, though barely a whisper.
Kenzie rubs my back. “He’ll be okay. It’s clear as day he loves you, and if nothing else, that’s enough to make him fight this.” I nod my head, silently praying she’s right.
She clicks the arrow one more time, and the final picture she has for me is my favorite. It’s a picture of me and my three brothers. “You guys are awesome. I can’t thank you enough. I’m so excited that I have such nice pictures of my family to put up in my home.”
“Sometimes when you live alone, you need a reminder that there are people who love and support you. Even if you’re not living under the same roof as them.” Kayla hugs me.
“Now,” Kenzie announces. “When is moving day?”
I wipe the tears from my eyes. “In two weeks. That’s when my furniture will be in. I scheduled it for a Saturday. That way I wouldn’t need to request a day off. I’ll just have to ask Dr. Kramer to swap on-call times with me if that’s my weekend.”
Kenzie pulls her phone out. “Nice. I’ll add it to our calendar right now.” She’s typing into her phone when she looks up. “I can’t believe the annual block party is almost here.”
“Mama, I’m so sorry. I’ve been so wrapped up in my new job and Vaughn that I’ve done nothing to help you plan.” I feel horrible. That’s been something Mama and I always do together.
“It’s fine, sweetie. Actually, some of the neighbors are doing a lot of the planning for us this year because we were so busy planning the wedding. We’ve done this for so many years now, it’s not like there’s a lot to actually plan anymore. We’re doing everything as we have every other year.” She shrugs. “The planning meetings are more of a way for us neighbors to get together once in a while.”
“I can’t wait. I love the block party.”
“It was a lot of fun last year, even if I did leave early.” Kenzie giggles. She and Remy were having their own issues last year. She came with Lilly, basically ate, hung out for a few, and then left. Mama was so upset with Remy over it until Kenzie told Mama it was her choice to leave, that she was avoiding him because of her own fears.
“Well, this is fun, but I need to get my children to bed.” Kayla hugs us each goodbye and then goes to get Beau from Remy, who is always hogging him. He thinks because he’s his godfather he can constantly hold him and be in control of him. He’s always playing with him and throwing him in the air. It’s quite cute, actually.
Keaton is the next to go, leaving Kenzie and Remy left. I take a seat next to my brother, and as if my father can read my mind, he walks into the kitchen, knowing I want to talk with my brother. “Spill.”
“You know I went to Vaughn’s house after the wedding?”
“Yeah, everyone does.”
“Well, the next morning we had this great conversation about him getting help with his nightmares and flashbacks. After finding houses for me to look at, we did some research and found him some self-help coaching. He was thrilled. There was an app and everything.”
“Are you sure he was thrilled?”
“Rem, he got up and ran to grab his phone to download the app. I didn’t pressure him or force him. As a matter of fact, when we started t
he research, I told him he didn’t have to commit to anything, I just wanted to see what opportunities were out there for him to consider, and he agreed.”
He shrugs. “Okay, so what went wrong?”
“I don’t know. He asked me to sleep here for a while. Said he needed time to try these things out and see if they’d work before we could continue sleeping in the same bed.” I run my hands through my hair. “I agreed, I supported him. We were talking through text over the course of two weeks. He was thrilled with the progress he had made, and told me if he kept doing well, he wanted me to spend the night after the bowl and dine we planned with his boys.” I look down, trying to maintain my composure. “He was off at bowling. He wasn’t his fun, flirty self—he was cruel, and no matter what I did, nothing made him happy. Then when I mentioned staying the night, he lost it. Even Callen freaked out on him. We didn’t even finish the final game. Tommy called it quits and everyone followed suit. Now he won’t talk to me and I’m scared.” I finally look up to see Remy’s jaw tight. I can tell he’s pissed—he’s cracking his knuckles. I place my hand over his. “Rem, he needs your help. He won’t talk to me about his problem, but I know you can get him to open up.”
Remy closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m angry because I told that fucker if things got worse to come to me, but does he listen? No. Now I’m going to hunt his ass down tomorrow and make him wake the fuck up before he loses the best girl he could ever have.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go to Callen’s, pick him up, and the two of us are going to his house for an intervention. Hopefully he’s not in too bad of shape.”
“Do you know where Callen lives?”
“No, but you do. Listen, I know the guy from the base, but give me his address. Trust me, he’ll be cool with this.”
I nod. He kisses me on the cheek and walks into the kitchen. The last thing I hear before I run up the stairs is Remy tell Kenzie that he has to go to the base tomorrow.