Page 150 of Save the Date
“Attagirl,” Cara said. “And then what?”
Brooke shrugged. “Who knows? I can’t stay with Pete too much longer, that’s for sure. Park Service regulations.” She made a face. “I do love it down here, though. I’d like to see if I could rent one of the little caretaker’s cottages on the north end for two or three months. Just hang out and chill. See if I can make my brain and body slow down long enough to enjoy life. I want to spend fall on the island. It’s my favorite time to be on Cumberland. Mom knows people, so maybe she could get me the hookup.”
“And after the fall?” Cara asked. They were walking in the direction of Loblolly, where Cara had left her bike. The horses were gone now, and the sky had started to cloud up.
Brooke wasn’t listening. She was looking down at the spot Cara had excavated, and in the next moment, she was kneeling on the ground, brushing sand away from the Loblolly threshold. “Hmm?”
Cara walked her bike over. “I said, what will you do after the fall? How will you make a living?”
Brooke looked up. “I’ll figure that out, right after I figure out me. Who knows? Maybe I’ll hang up a shingle in St. Marys. There must be somebody over there who needs suing, right?”
“Right.”
A wide, mischievous grin lit up Brooke’s face. “I’ll start with the Park Service.”
61
Bert was seated on the living-room floor in what looked like the lotus position, his hands palm-up, resting lightly on his knees. He opened his eyes when he heard Cara come clomping up the steps from the shop.
“How did it go?” he asked. “Did you manage to lasso the runaway bride?”
“No.” Cara dropped her backpack on the floor and collapsed onto the sofa. Poppy took that as the signal to rest her muzzle in Cara’s lap, nudging Cara’s hand until she obliged with a head scratch.
“The wedding is off. Brooke called Harris and her parents this afternoon to let them know where she is and to say that she’s not coming back.”
“Oh, wow. Major bummer.”
Cara looked idly around the room. Bert had managed to pack up everything from her bookshelves, and now boxes lined the living-room wall. “What exactly are you doing?” she asked.
“Yoga. My AA sponsor says sober means sober, so no more drugs. He says the yoga will help with keeping me grounded and quitting the weed.”
“Sounds good. How long have you been doing yoga?”
“Counting this morning, twice. It’s very relaxing. You should try it.”
“Maybe later,” Cara said.
“Was Brooke shacked up with the geeky ranger like you figured?” he asked.
“She’s staying with him, but not sleeping with him. And she swears that calling off the wedding is not about the strip club or the geeky ranger or even about torturing her father and stepmother. I think she basically wants to hit the reset button with her life.”
“Hmm.” Bert slid forward with his hands under his shoulders, straightening his legs, lowering his head, and pointing his butt toward the sky. He held the pose for only a few seconds before dropping back onto the floor. “Ugh! Now I remember why I hate the Downward Dog pose. It makes all the snot run out my eyeballs.”
“Just out of curiosity, how are you learning yoga? Are you going to class?”
“Nah. Classes cost money, and I don’t like the idea of being in the same room with a lot of stinky, sweaty women. I just watch YouTube videos.”
“Makes sense. By the way, thanks for packing up all the stuff, Bert. I was dreading coming home to face that. But mostly I was dreading coming home without Brooke in tow.”
“I really thought you would pull this one off, Cara. I was sure if you found Brooke you’d be able to talk her into going through with things.”
“Me too. I even had a brilliant five-point plan worked out.”
“What happened?”
“I was outgunned. So that’s it. No humongous two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar wedding means no humongous check. Patricia called me to make that perfectly clear. I called most of our vendors during the drive back from St. Marys. Everybody’s disappointed. Nobody more so than me. I’ll have to talk to the Colonel in the morning to break the bad news. He’s going to pop a vein when I tell him I can’t send the rest of his money the way I promised.”
“He called today, by the way.”
