Surrounded (Unsettled Series Book 2) (10 page)

“Yeah, me too Dad. I just wish it was on better circumstances.”

“You never need a reason to come home, baby girl. Our home is always your home. Just let me know when and I’ll get on it.”

A little while later we said our goodbyes and I sat on the couch staring at the wall. What was I going to do now? I gathered my things and headed towards my room to change my clothes.

Before I did—I fired up my laptop. I figured I needed to get on the job hunt as soon as possible. No time like the present, right? I opened my email and was happy to see that I had a bid on EBAY for one of my photos. As I continued to scroll through my emails, my eyes landed on one I hadn’t expected to find. It was from Logan. I took a deep breath before I started reading. It was very short and to the point.

From: Logan Colton

To: Brooklyn Caldwell

Subject: Stop

Monday, May 21, 2012 at 11:45 AM

You haven’t returned my calls. I need you to say something. I’m not giving up on this…on us. Talk to me. Why are you running?

I miss you Starburst.

-L

______________
_______________________

It was the last line that forced me to want to respond. Seeing the pet name he’d given me in print did something to my heart, but every time I started to type a response I deleted the words. Eventually I decided to just keep it simple.

To: Logan Colton

From: Brooklyn Caldwell

RE: Stop

Monday, May 21, 2012 at 12:10 PM

I need some time.

-B

______________
_______________________

From: Logan Colton

To: Brooklyn Caldwell

RE: RE: Stop

Monday, May 21, 2012 at 12:40 PM

That’s not something I’m willing to give you. It’s been two days. I need you to COMMUNICATE.

-L

__________________________________

To: Logan Colton

From: Brooklyn Caldwell

RE: RE: RE: Stop

Monday, May 21, 2012 at 1:00 PM

If I feel the need to COMMUNICATE, you’ll be the last person I’ll think of calling. Better yet, if you want to chat someone up, why don’t you call Elizabeth?

-B

__________________________________

I hit send before I had a chance to regret what I’d written. I knew it was childish to want to jab Logan below the belt, but I was annoyed by the fact that he said that I needed to be the one to communicate. It seemed like he needed to learn how to communicate—communicate that there was something more between him and a girl that he was supposedly only friends with. My email pinged and there was yet another message from him.

From: Logan Colton

To: Brooklyn Caldwell

RE: RE: RE: RE: Stop

Monday, May 21, 2012 at 1:05 PM

What are you talking about?! How many times do I have to tell you she means nothing, you mean everything? I don’t even understand what you’re even referring to. Where do we go from here?

-L

______________________________________

For the briefest of seconds my heart skipped a beat. I wanted to believe him…I did…but I wasn’t willing to overlook reality to live in a fantasy. When we met I was upfront with Logan…he knew I was marred. He knew Damon was a part of my past that I didn’t want to relive. He knew about my miscarriage for crying out loud! None of those things were easy for me to share. But I had enough courage to let him in, only to be slapped back into reality with the news that Elizabeth was pregnant. I didn’t want to be the one to break the news about her pregnancy either. No thank you. It was hard enough digesting it. Elizabeth needed to be the one that told him that he was going to be a father. At least he wouldn’t hear about it while he was in the bathroom trying to pee.

Just then my phone began to ring. My mom was calling.

“Hi, honey!”

“Hi, M
om. I assume you’ve talked to Dad.”

“Yes, he told me what happened. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, the good news is I found you a flight home that leaves tomorrow morning. I was surprised it came up, and it’s a good price.
Plus, you’ll be here for your dad’s birthday party.” With everything going on, I’d forgotten my mom was planning a party for my dad When I’d originally requested the time off for it, Trent had denied my vacation request, saying there was a “high priority” project he needed me for.  But it clearly wasn’t an issue now.

“Book my flight then,” I said. “I don’t want to miss it.”

My mom filled me in on the time and schedule, and by the time we got off the phone I was all confirmed for a flight out of DC the next morning. 

After I hung up with my m
om, I changed out of my dress and into sweats and a shirt. I double checked my phone to see what the weather was going to be like in LA.

Warm. Perfect.
The first smile I’d had all morning.

I pulled my suitcase out from under my bed, switched on my iTunes and then got to work. I was in the middle of packing when a knock at my bedroom door startled me. It was only two-thirty in the afternoon. Alex and Jay shouldn’t have been home yet.

“Brooklyn?” Alex called through the door.

I hopped up from where I’d been folding clothes and opened the door.

“Hey, what are you doing home so early?”

“Stomach is feeling weird so I just decided to come home. What are you doing here?”

I blew out my breath and walked back to my laptop to turn down my music, and then plopped down back on the floor next to my suitcase.

She took in the clothes in folded piles. “What’s going on?”

“I quit my job today.”

“What?” Alex didn’t even try to hide her surprise, “What happened?”

I figured I may as well get used to answering this question since it was so out of my character to walk away from a job without a plan in place. “I had a meeting with HR today.”

“And?”

“Well, apparently Anna saw me and Logan together and informed Trent.” I flung a shirt into my suitcase. Alex knew exactly who Anna was. I’d been complaining about her for years now.

“What a bitch!”

“Trust me, I know.”

Alex pushed over some of the clothes I had lying on my bed and plopped down. “I know this sucks at the moment, but this isn’t as bad as you might think. Maybe you can actually do something better. Something you enjoy.”

“Alex, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t have a job anymore. I can’t even think about all this right now. There are too many things going on in my head.”

I rolled a pair of jeans and grabbed the sun dress that was lodged between the flap of the suit case and the bed.

“I know you don’t have a job, but why are you packing?”

“With everything going on, I’m going to take a trip home. You know, clear my head.”

“Is your visit just about quitting your job, or about getting away from someone whose name starts with an L.”

“I think you know the answer to that question,” I huffed. ”He emailed me a while ago. I’m just not ready to deal with him right now.”

“How long are you going to be gone?” she asked.

“I don’t know. It’s not like I have anything to hurry back to at the mome
nt, so maybe a week or two. My mom just bought me a one way ticket.”

“A few weeks? I’ll kill Jay by then,” she whined. She slid her feet out of her shoes and curled up on my bed, staring at me. I knew I’d miss her too, but I’d be back before she knew it. I needed this time for me.

“You’ll be fine. I just want a break. Plus it’s my dad’s birthday so I’ll be able to go to his party.”

“Just don’t try to call and say that you decided to move back there. I’ll fly out there and cart you back myself.”

“I won’t. I miss my family occasionally, but not enough to move back. I’ve made a home here for the most part.”

“Good. When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow morning. Do you think you can drop me off at the airport on your way to work?”

“Are you really even asking me that?” she asked, curling up deeper into my pillow. She looked comfortable enough to fall asleep right there on my bed. “All I have to say is you better be back within two weeks or I’m going to be one bitter chick that’s missing her bestie. And Jay will have you to blame.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t try to act like you two won’t enjoy having the place to yourself for a while.”

Alex smiled widely and then promptly told me to shut up.

Logan

“Have a great evening, Mr. Zhao” I said in Cantonese.

It was five AM on Tuesday morning and I’d been up since three on a conference call with a company in China. Not that I’d gotten much sleep after reading Brooklyn’s email yesterday. Her note left me thoroughly confused. I had absolutely no idea why she’d told me to call Elizabeth. I had every intention of finding out. Had I not been in an architect’s meeting yesterday I would’ve drove straight to her house to figure out what the hell was going on. Now I had another meeting holding me up. But this one would be over soon and Brooklyn would have to pay the piper. I wasn’t letting her off the hook on this.

I was done with all this back and forth nonsense. If she wasn’t going to answer the phone,
and
insisted on sending cryptic messages that I had no idea what they meant, then I’d just have to make her talk to me face to face.

I closed the top of my MAC and leaned back in my office chair. I only had four hours before the meeting with Copple. Scott and I decided to pass on the marketing proposal Copple presented for Colton Capital, and while I could’ve just broke the news over the phone, I hoped by doing it in person, I’d get Brooklyn alone somehow.

Needing to clear my head, I decided to go for a jog. I slipped into my closet and pulled a t-shirt and sweats from a rack. I snagged my running shoes from the corner and walked into my bedroom. Aside from baseball, running was cathartic for me. I always thought things through the best when I jogged around the falls.

I changed into my workout gear and grabbed my keys and phone off the counter.

I didn’t have to drive far to get to the lake outside of the city. I’d discovered the spot purely by accident, but now it was one of my go-to places. I pulled the car near the curb underneath a tree and set my stop watch.

I began at a slow pace to warm up. As I ran, I thought about what I’d say to Brooklyn. I knew she wouldn’t be crazy enough to pull the shit at work that she’d pulled on Saturday. In fact, I was betting on it. She’d want things to be contained, so all she really had to do was answer my questions. We could figure out where to go from there. All I had to do was get her alone for a little while, and away from Trent’s prying eyes.

Gravel crushed under my feet as I shifted into a steady pace. I lapped the lake twice before I really began to get my stride. Sweat pellets dripped down my back as I continued to put one leg in front of the other. When my timer finally began to vibrate on my wrist, I wasn’t ready to stop.  If felt good to do something active—rather than just sitting around waiting for Brooklyn to call me back so I ran for another fifteen minutes before I started to feel fatigued.

Twenty minutes later I was back at home and focused on washing all the sweat from my body.  As I slumped under the water and let the billowing steam clouds envelop me, I let my mind wander. I had no idea if the plan I’d concocted would actually work, but I knew I had to talk to Brooklyn before she had a chance to harden her heart towards me.