“Oh, okay.”
“It’s the opposite.”
“Brooke has cold feet?”
I shook my head, doing my best to summarize everything. Apparently, the Connor rumor pipeline wasn’t that efficient, because Hailey had had no idea Brooke’s contract hadn’t been renewed.
“Jace, of course she’s probably not too happy with things right now.”
“With me. She wasn’t happy with me,” I stressed. What ate at me was that I didn’t know if Brooke was simply mad at me, or if her feelings for me had changed on a deeper, fundamental level. Even if that was the case, I was going to fight my way through all of it. I loved her.
“Jace, a relationship isn’t about being happy one hundred percent of the time. That’s not possible. Mom used to say that the secret to a happy marriage is working together to get through the moments that don’t make us happy. She said that during a Christmas morning when she and Dad were semi-fighting.”
“Was I there? I... don’t remember that.”
“I do believe Will was rolling his eyes, Landon stuck his fingers in his ears, and you were copying him.”
“That sounds like me.”
“You know, I always thought that after they passed away, you were the most closed off. Even to us. For a while I was afraid you wouldn’t open yourself up at all, but then you did—to us, at least. But you haven’t really let anyone else in... until Brooke. I see how you look at her, how you’re a bit different when you’re around her. She makes you happy. Don’t let her go, okay?”
“I’m not going to.”
I knew what Hailey meant, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way, much less myself.
Hailey smiled. “So... when were you planning to propose?”
“How did you know?”
“Oh, dear brother, you still have no clue how online advertising works.”
“What?”
“When we chose the rose quartz set, you looked up engagement rings on my laptop when I wasn’t looking. Guess what kind of ads I’m being bombarded with.”
So much for secrecy. “Maybe I just wanted to check how our Bennett cousins’ business was going.”
She wiggled her finger before taking the dessert out of the bag. “No, no, no. You’re not fooling me. Online advertising is way more targeted than you think. If it’s showing me engagement rings, it’s because you looked at them. And no man looks at engagement rings unless he’s serious about buying one. Since I got ads for different ones, I’m not sure if you looked at a lot of them because you were curious or had trouble deciding, but I made a folder of my favorites, just in case you needed a second opinion. I can show them to you anytime. Ready when you are.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Brooke
I had never felt more on edge than I had over the past three days. However, I was persistent in my job search. It gave me a sense of purpose. I was also toying with the idea of talking to the sponsors, making an impassioned case for Jace and the education center.
Sitting at my kitchen table, I made the first call to Carl Hill.
“Hi, Mr. Hill. Brooke Derringer here.”
“Hello, Brooke.”
“Can I take up ten minutes of your time?”
“Of course.”
“Just a disclaimer, I am not calling on behalf of the LA Lords.”
“I see. You’re on a personal quest.”