Chapter 48—Brekka
“Brekka,” a deep voice says, sending a shiver up my spine.
I turn and look up toward the voice. Rob’s wearing an athletic cut button down shirt with a coral and blue striped tie loosened at the neck, almost as if we coordinated it. He’s holding a carry-on rolling bag a few inches off the ground, and the weight of it bunches his bicep visibly, even through his shirt. I wish I could take a photo and relive this feeling every single day. The first sight of Rob after a long, long drought. It’s like collapsing back against a fluffy pillow. My heart contracts and I smile.
“Rob.”
“Hello, Rob?” Mom asks.
“Hey there,” my Dad says. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
Rob sets his suitcase down and holds his hand out to my Dad. “I’m Robert Graham, Brekka’s boyfriend. Nice to meet you.”
If I wasn’t sitting in a chair, I’d have swooned. Brekka’s boyfriend he says, just like that. Plain, simple, straightforward.
Mom’s eyes bulge, Dad’s eyebrows lift meaningfully.
“Throw in the towel.” I roll my eyes.
Dad barks a laugh and takes Rob’s hand. “A delight to meet you, young man. Graham, did you say? Like the shipping Grahams?”
Rob grins. “Not even remotely. My family owns a few car dealerships that wouldn’t cover your transportation costs for a year, I’m sure. I’m utterly beneath your daughter, but so far she hasn’t objected.”
“Oh pish,” my Dad says. “Brekka knows where true value lies.”
Mom narrows her eyes at Rob. “I’m Mrs. Thornton. Nice to make your acquaintance.”
Rob pivots on his heel and beams at my mother, who stumbles back a step. “I’ve heard so much about you, and none of it prepared me for how much you resemble your remarkable daughter. It’s truly a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Thornton.”
In a few weeks shy of twenty-eight years, I’ve never heard my mother giggle. Not once. Until this very moment. She touches her collarbone with one hand and holds the other out to Rob, her eyes soft, her mouth turned up in one corner. “Well aren’t you well spoken?”
“Thank you, but I assure you, I’m like a fine wine. I’ll improve with time.”
I’m not sure he could improve much. He’s practically shining right now. Except I’m feeling a little forgotten, maybe.
Rob glances from my mom to my dad and then down to me. “If you will excuse us, we’ve got less than an hour until the rehearsal dinner and I haven’t set eyes on Brekka in more than a month. I might need a few minutes alone with her. Do you mind?”
Dad beams like his stock car just took first at NASCAR. “Not at all my boy. Not at all.”
Even Mom doesn’t seem annoyed. It helps that Fran shows up just then, holding a small package toward her. “No, go right ahead. We’ll see you two in a few moments in the banquet hall.”
Rob drops to one knee and takes my hand in his. My heart accelerates. Why’s he on one knee? He drops to both knees and I can take a breath again. Stop being crazy, Brekka. He takes my face in his hands. “I’ve missed you more than fish miss water. More than spacemen miss gravity. More than dogs miss jerky.”
He shifts even closer and covers my mouth with his. I close my eyes and surrender to the feeling, forgetting there are people in the lobby, maybe even my parents still. My hand rises to his chest, his pec muscles shifting slightly under my fingers.
Too soon, way, way too soon, Rob pulls back and stands up. “I better get checked in.”
I nod. “Yes, you should. I’ll come with you.”
He grins and I’m relieved. I hoped he wasn’t wanting some time to himself before the dinner. I wheel behind him to the front desk. He passes them his ID and we wait. Every time he glances my way, the smile creeps back onto my face.
“Stop,” I whisper.
“Stop what?” he asks.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like a little boy in a candy store? Or did you mean like a lion eyeing his dinner?”
Heat rises in my cheeks and I swallow. “Yes.”
“I can’t stop. You starved me of Brekka for an entire month. I’m finally breaking my fast.”
I look half-witted, smiling incessantly in spite of the corniness of it all.
The clerk hands Rob his key and I wish we could head for his room and skip the dinner entirely. Which of course, we can’t.
“Rob,” a deep voice across the room calls. I turn to see Luke and his adorable new wife Mary. “You made it!”
Rob nods his head.
Luke’s eyes drop to me. “Brekka, so great to see you again. We were sad you couldn’t come to our wedding.”
“I was sad to miss it, too. You must be Mary,” I say. “It’s great to finally meet you.”
Mary smiles and offers me her hand. “I’ve heard so many good things. Sometimes it’s like Trig can’t talk about anything else. He adores you, and I’m sure I will too.”
Paul walks through the door, a sweet-faced brunette on his arm. A small child barrels through the door right after, leaping upward and grabbing Paul’s arm. He swings back and forth a few times and lets go, shooting out in front of them. Luke’s children follow him, Chase grabbing the other child around the waist and spinning him around.
“No fair,” Luke’s son Chase says. “Amy got in the way. I would’ve beat you so much. Because I have new shoes and they make me super fast.”
The other little boy shakes his head. “My shoes are the Flash shoes. Dad said so.” He looks up at Paul expectantly.
“They are,” Paul says. “Straight from the Flash himself. No one can beat you with those.”
“What?” Chase whines. “Dad, I need the Flash shoes too. I need them. Troy keeps winning me.”
Luke glances at Mary. “Why did we have to bring them along again?”
Mary taps him on the arm. “It’s my first time in Hawaii, and I didn’t want to miss seeing it with them.”
“You’ll change your mind tonight around eight, I promise,” Luke mutters. “Well, we better check in. See you in a bit.”
Luke and Mary walk toward the check-in desk and Rob and I move aside.
“Brekka,” Paul says warmly. “It’s been way too long since I saw you.” He leans down and hugs me a little awkwardly. “Let me introduce my fiancée, Trudy. She’s actually Mary’s sister.”
I smile at Trudy. “Trig sort of filled me in on the developments as they came along. I’m so happy for the two of you.” I would have been lying a few months ago, but Rob takes my hand in his as if he knows that, and my heart expands. I am happy for Paul, and Trudy too.
Paul snags Troy and swings him above his head, settling him on his shoulders. “Stay put here for a moment little man. Can’t have you destroying the lobby before we check in, can we?”
Troy giggles and blows a raspberry into the air. “Fine.”
“Brekka, it’s so nice to meet you,” Trudy says. “Mary wasn’t kidding. Trig has told us so much about you that it feels like we know you already. We only wish you lived near Atlanta so you could come to the game nights.” Trudy laughs, and the sound brings a smile to my lips, it’s so silvery and full of joy. “Or maybe not. I already lose every single week. Which Paul hates, but he hasn’t fired me as his partner yet. From what I hear, you’d be another Game Night Megalith.”
“Hey, you beat me most of the time,” Rob protests.
That’s when I realize Rob knows all these people already, of course he does. They’re his people. He’s been going to game nights with them, and hanging out with Paisley and Trig and Geo every week at dinners and parties, probably. I’m not the old friend they’re happy to see. I’m the outsider in this circle.