Love Storm (4 page)

“Have one?”

“A boyfriend,” he clarified.

“Oh, um…no, no boyfriend.”

Uh oh.
 
He reached for his wineglass, downed the contents
and then emptied the rest of the bottle into it.
 
He had a feeling he was going to need a
little mind-numbing to get through the night, not to mention the rest of the
week.
 
“Me neither,” he said, ignoring
the little voice in his head that told him to change the subject, and
fast.
 
“I mean no
girlfriend
that is.”

“Oh?”
 
She couldn’t
imagine why he was talking about boyfriends and girlfriends,
with her
?
 
She tried to look only passively interested,
but it wasn’t easy, so she quickly turned her attention to the remains of her
baked potato.
 
Truth was, she was
well-aware of his recent breakup with actress Michelle Reese, as no doubt
virtually every other living, breathing female under the age of fifty was as
well, for it had been a major headline in all of the celebrity news magazines
just a couple of months ago.
 
Just another reminder that Ryan Landry was
way
out of her league.

Somewhat surprisingly, after a few more minutes and a few
more sips from her wineglass, she slowly began to relax and the conversation
between them soon began to flow much more smoothly.
 
Ryan’s easy-going manner was quickly putting
her at ease, and astonishingly, she found him very easy to talk to, unlike
before, when she’d been little more than a stammering, love-struck teen.
 
Although his celebrity persona might lead one
to believe otherwise, Ryan seemed extremely laidback and very down to earth.

Throughout the course of the meal, she and Ryan discussed a
wide variety of topics ranging from current events to more intimate matters,
such as family, friends and personal interests.
 
Discovering that he had a passion for travel and adventure, she peppered
him with question after question about all of the amazing places he’d visited
over the years, while he, seeming genuinely interested, asked her all about her
years at college, her current position at the museum, and her future
aspirations.
 
All in all, it was an
interesting and remarkably pleasant conversation.

Once they had finished eating, Ryan graciously offered to
clean up and take care of the dishes so that she could return her missed phone
call.
 
“We’ll take turns,” he said when
she insisted on helping.
 
“You can do the
cleanup tomorrow night,” he continued, as he waved her out of the kitchen.

“Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
 

Grabbing her duffle bag from the mudroom, she then made her
way upstairs to the second-floor guest bedrooms.
 
Choosing the largest one, she tossed her bag
onto the floor and then quietly pushed the door closed behind her.
 
Moving over to the bed, she sat down onto the
plush comforter and then scooted up against the pile of pillows resting against
the headboard.
 
Cell phone in hand, she
dialed Julia’s number.

“Hey Jules, how are you doing?” she asked, her tone
sympathetic.
 
She was anticipating the
worst, but knowing Julia, she was prepared for anything.
 
They’d gone through this before.

“Guess what?” Julia replied, her voice sounding anything but
distraught.

You and Ben are back
together
, Brooklyn guessed, rolling her eyes skyward and shaking her head
from side to side.
 
“What?”

“Ben and I are back together.”

“Really?”
 
She tried
to sound both surprised and upbeat at the same time.
 
“Hey Jules that’s great.”

“Isn’t it?
 
Ben
apologized and sent me the most beautiful roses this afternoon, and as soon as
he finishes his shift we’re going to go out for a late dinner to talk things
out.”

“Order the lobster,” Brooklyn teased.
 
“Just to make sure he’s really sorry.”

“Good idea,” Julia giggled.
 

Personally Brooklyn thought that Julia could do a lot better
than Ben Shaner, but she knew better than to say anything.
 
They’d had that talk on more than one
occasion, and she knew that it was up to Julia to make her own decisions now.

“So where were you when I called?
 
I was afraid you might have gotten stuck
somewhere in the storm.”

“No, the roads
were
terrible, but I made it to the cabin a while ago.
 
I was eating dinner when you called.”

“Since when don’t you take my calls when you’re eating?”
Julia asked, sounding slightly offended.

“Um, when I’m sitting across the table from Ryan Landry.”

“Excuse me?” Julia demanded, her voice raising at least two
octaves.
 
“Did you just say you were
having dinner with Ryan Landry?”

“I know right.
 
How
crazy is that?”
 
Julia was the one person
who knew just how hard she’d fallen for Ryan way back when, and the only
person, aside from Ryan of course, who knew what she’d done the night of Wade’s
birthday party.

“Ryan Landry is at Kate and Wade’s cabin?
 
Are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not kidding.
 
I swear.
 
When I talked to Kate
about coming up here for the week she didn’t realize that Wade had already
offered to let Ryan stay here while he’s out on injured reserve.
 
I guess he’s having some work done on his
house in Denver or something and he wanted to get away.”

“Oh my gosh, Brook.
 
What are you going to do?”

“Unfortunately there’s not much I can do.
 
It doesn’t look like the storm is going to
let up anytime soon, so I’m pretty much stuck here until the weather clears.”

“Oh wow!
 
I can’t
believe it.”

“I know.”

“So has he said anything?
 
You know, about the last time you two saw each other?”

“No, thank goodness.”
 
Clearly he was too much of a gentleman to bring it up.
 
“But you are
never
going to believe what happened when I first got here.”

Fifteen minutes later she had completely filled Julia in on
all that had happened since she’d arrived at the cabin, and then for the next
ten minutes she listened in incredulity as Julia tried to convince her to give
it another shot with Ryan.
 
“Forget it
Jules, it’s not going to happen!
 
There
is no way I am going to humiliate myself like that ever again.”

“Come on, Brooke.
 
I
didn’t say you have to try and seduce him, just flirt with him a little bit and
see what happens.”

“You’re crazy.
 
I know
exactly what will happen, absolutely nothing.
 
Well actually, not nothing, he’ll just think that I’m the same pathetic
loser I was four years ago and reject me all over again.”

“Brooklyn, you are not
now
,
nor were you
ever
a pathetic loser,”
Julia stated adamantly.
 
“Besides, like
I’ve already told you a hundred times, I’m sure that he
was
interested, just like every other guy you’ve ever met,” she
added wryly, “he just didn’t act on it because of his friendship with Wade.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m serious.”

“Yeah, I know.”
 
She
hesitated.
 
“Maybe you’re right,” she
said, not because she believed it, but rather to placate Julia.

“I know I’m right, so listen up.
 
“You’re not eighteen anymore Brooke.
 
You are a beautiful, confident woman now, and
Ryan Landry would be darn lucky to have you.
 
So if you still want him, I say go for it.
 
Go get him.”

“Jules-”

Come on, now that you and Mr. No-Sex-Before-Marriage aren’t
together anymore, don’t you think it’s about time you started living a little,
you know, take a few risks.
 
Get out
there and have a little fun for pete’s sake.”

“Oh no, please don’t start,” Brooklyn groaned, knowing
exactly where the conversation was headed if she let it, to the fact that she
was twenty-two years old and still a virgin.

“Hey, I’m just saying.”

“I know, I know.
 
Give
me a break already, would you.”
 
When
she’d started dating Kevin Robertson during her sophomore year of college she’d
known that he was devoted to his Mormon faith, but what she hadn’t realized at
the time was just how strongly opposed he was to pre-marital sex, and that he
had absolutely no intention of deviating from his long-held beliefs, no matter
how long they dated.
 
Just over two years to be precise.
 
Finally, just a few weeks before they’d
graduated, their relationship had come to the point where they either needed to
move forward and get engaged, or go their separate ways.
 
Though a part of her would always love Kevin,
for he was one of the sweetest guys she’d ever met, she just hadn’t been ready
to take that next step with him.
 
Fortunately however, they had managed to part as friends.

“Fine, I’ll stop,” Julia said with a huff.

“Thank you!”
 
Although
she had absolutely no intention of following her friend’s advice, talking to
Julia
had
been entertaining, if
nothing else.

When Brooklyn made her way back downstairs several minutes
later, she found Ryan comfortably seated on the reclining leather sofa in the
large family room, the television remote in his right hand pointed at the sixty
inch plasma mounted within the room’s massive entertainment center.
 
“Anything good on?” she asked.

“Nah, I think the storm is messing with the satellite
reception,” he said turning toward her.

“Well if you’re looking for something to watch, Wade’s got a
ton of movies in there,” she said, pointing toward one of the tall cabinets
that flanked the entertainment center.

“I’m up for a movie,” he said with a nod.
 
“How about you?”

“Sure.”

“Tell you what, I’ll even let you pick.”

“Okay.
 
Comedy,
or action-adventure?” she asked, as she walked toward
the movie cabinet and opened one of the narrow doors.
 

“Surprise me.”

She quickly decided on comedy, and after a quick perusal of
the available choices, she grabbed one of her brother-in-law’s all-time
favorites.
 
Slipping it into the DVD
player, she turned around and walked to the sofa, taking the seat on the
opposite end from where Ryan sat.
 
Grabbing the plush throw that was draped over the back of the couch, she
reclined her seat and then tossed the blanket over her legs as Ryan began
pushing buttons on the enormous remote control.

“Okay, let’s see how you did,” he said teasingly, as he
reached over to the end table and switched off the lamp.
 

As the theme music to Caddyshack began, and the opening
scene showing the automatic sprinklers spraying the lush green fairways of
Bushwood Country Club’s sprawling golf course began to roll, Brooklyn cast a
tentative sidelong glance toward Ryan.
 

Ryan turned toward her, smiling widely in approval.
 
“You’ve gotta love the classics.”

She couldn’t help grinning in return.
 
“I’m glad you approve.”

As they settled in to watch Chevy Chase and Bill Murray do
their thing, the atmosphere between her and Ryan was surprisingly relaxed.
 
They didn’t talk much, other than commenting
on the movie once in a while, and the nervous tension Brooklyn had been feeling
since her arrival at the cabin had just about faded away completely.
 

By the end of the show, she almost felt comfortable sitting
on the sofa just a few feet away from Ryan Landry,
almost
.

“Are you up for another one?” Ryan asked, turning to look at
Brooklyn as the end credits began to scroll along the screen.

Glancing toward the large wall-clock, Brooklyn saw that it
was still early, just a few minutes past eight-thirty.
 
“Sure, why not.
 
But you pick this time.”
 

She wasn’t overly surprised when the first Terminator movie
lit up the screen a few minutes later.
 
It was another of Wade’s favorites.
 
Clearly he and Ryan had similar taste in movies.
 

Nearly two hours later, when Arnold Schwarzenegger had
finally been reduced to a red-eyed pile of scrap metal, Brooklyn was ready to
call it a night.
 
She’d gotten up extra
early that morning and it was finally catching up with her; she’d been fighting
her droopy eyelids for the past half hour.
 
“Well, that’s it for me.
 
I think
I’m going to call it a night,” she said, pulling the warm blanket from her legs
and tossing it over the back of the sofa cushion as she stood up.

“Yeah, I think I’ll turn in too.”
 
Ryan pushed the footrest back into the sofa
with his heels and switched the power button off on the remote.
 
“Oops, sorry,” he said as the room went dark.
Fortunately, the faint glow of the moon’s reflection bouncing off of the
freshly fallen snow, shown through the uncovered two-story windows and cast
enough light into the room for them to be able to see.