The drive back to Iowa took two days. Charlie and I traded off driving, and Brooke even took a couple of turns. It went by fast with the three of us. We stopped at a motel for a night and got on the road early the next morning.

We’d been driving for several hours when I got a call from the Phoenix police department. They’d picked up Jared. Turned out he had outstanding warrants in four different counties, plus two prior DUIs. The county prosecutor wouldn’t even have to work very hard to put that guy away.

Brooke spoke with the officer and said she was in the process of moving. He said it wouldn’t be a problem. It was unlikely they’d need her to testify. The other charges Jared was facing were more than enough to get him locked up for a long time, and they had the evidence they needed from her assault. But they’d get in touch if anything changed.

I was just glad to be getting her away from that bastard, whether he went to jail or not. Every mile of pavement that passed beneath the tires made me feel better.

Brooke spent a lot of time staring out the window. I wondered what she was thinking. Was she nervous? Questioning whether she’d made the right decision? Or maybe she was just watching all the wheat and corn fields. She said she’d never seen so much corn before. But that was the Midwest for you.

We rolled into Iowa City late Monday night. Charlie was snoring in the backseat when I pulled into our driveway.

Brooke glanced over her shoulder, then looked at me. The corners of her mouth turned up.

Holy shit. She smiled.

I grinned at her. “He’s a loud sleeper. I feel sorry for his future wife.”

We got out of the car and Charlie stumbled out behind us. I grabbed my bag—Brooke had hers—and led her inside.

Charlie and I lived in an old house his grandparents owned not far from the university. It was two stories with a covered porch and wood floors that creaked, especially when the weather was changing. A huge maple tree in the front yard dumped leaves all over everything in the fall.

Brooke hesitated in the front room, holding her bag on her shoulder.

“We have an extra bedroom upstairs,” I said. “There’s not much in there, but it has a bed. No one’s used it in a while.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I can sleep wherever, so that’s great.”

Charlie hoisted his bag over his shoulder and headed for the stairs. “I’m going to bed.” He paused and glanced at Brooke. “Don’t murder us in our sleep or anything, okay?”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” she said.

Charlie trudged up the stairs and we followed. I showed Brooke to the extra room and made sure she had everything she needed. She assured me she was fine, so I left her to it and went to my room.

Although it was late, I sent a text to my mom, letting her know I was home. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain Brooke. How do you tell your parents you had brought home the girl who’d been engaged to your organ donor? That was going to be an interesting conversation.

I was well aware of how crazy this was. I could have called Mrs. Harper. Even though Brooke hadn’t wanted me to, they would have helped her. I could have left her with people who clearly cared about her, and gone home.

There were so many reasons I should have done just that, not the least of which was the fact that she’d been engaged to Liam Harper. Plus, she clearly had problems. I didn’t know if she was a drug addict or alcoholic. Whether the guy who’d beat her up was some psycho who’d come looking for her if he got out of jail. She’d said she’d been staying with him temporarily, but why? And she’d left town on almost a moment’s notice. She’d borrowed my phone to make a couple of calls before we’d left—one had been to the lady from the diner—but that was it. What kind of person could just take off? What did that say about her?

I’d thought about all those things before I’d asked her to come with me. I’d thought about them again, over and over, on the long drive. And even though they were all true, I still didn’t regret bringing her here.

That part, I couldn’t explain. Just like I couldn’t explain how I’d known it was her when I saw her for the first time. Or why I’d insisted on giving her my number.

What I did know was how I felt when I looked at her. I wanted her here. I couldn’t walk away.

Which was, of course, fucking insane. But I guess I’d decided to embrace the insanity. I’d told her I was in, and that was the truth.

It was good to be home and back in my own bed, so I put aside my worries for the night and went to sleep.

The next morning, I came downstairs to find Brooke in the kitchen, cooking. Her hair was up, looking a little messy and careless, and she was dressed in a sleeveless crocheted sweater over a white tank top. Her shorts showed off her legs, and her feet were bare.

I really needed to stop looking at her legs.

“Hi,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind me using your kitchen, but I thought you might want breakfast. You guys have a waffle iron, and I make pretty good waffles.”

“Thanks,” I said. “You definitely know the way to Charlie’s heart.”

She gave me a small smile and brought two plates of waffles to the table. I got out a bottle of syrup and forks.

“Do I smell food?” Charlie came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. His hair stuck up at a weird angle.

“See?” I said.

“Um, yeah, I made waffles.” Brooke put two more on a plate, then handed it to Charlie.

“Thanks,” he said.

We all sat at the kitchen table to eat. Brooke was right, she did make good waffles.

“I didn’t poison them,” Brooke said, looking at Charlie.

He hadn’t taken a bite yet. “That’s not what I was thinking.”

Brooke just smiled. Her bruises still showed, although the ones on her arms were getting lighter. Her black eye had faded to a dull purple. It would probably be gone in a few more days.

We ate in silence for a while. Charlie inhaled his food, then helped himself to two more from the stack Brooke had left on the counter.

Her plate was only half empty, but she put her fork down. “I haven’t done a very good job of thanking you guys for what you’ve done for me. Waffles don’t mean very much, but I want you to know I’m really grateful that you came when I called you.”

“Actually, these waffles are really fucking good, Brooke,” Charlie said.

“Thanks,” she said.

“I’m glad we could help,” I said.

“Well, if I’m really doing this, I need to get my act together,” she said. “I’ll get a job and find a place to live. I don’t want to be in your way any longer than necessary.”

“It’s really no big deal,” I said. “But you can use my laptop to look for jobs, and we’ll help you get around if you need a ride.”

“I can probably help with the place to live part,” Charlie said. “My grandparents own this house, and they own a few more. They rent them out. I don’t think my gramps will rent to someone who’s unemployed, so you’ll need a job first. But they have a rental that’s not far from here. You know the one, Seb, the little red house. It’s been empty for a couple of weeks while they’re doing some maintenance on it. If I put in a good word, I’m sure they’ll rent it to you.”

“Wow, that would be amazing,” Brooke said. “Thank you so much.”

I met Charlie’s eyes and nodded. He shrugged and went back to his waffles.

“I have so much to do, I feel like I need to make a list or something,” Brooke said. “This whole starting over thing is a little overwhelming.”

“Here, let me get you something.” I got up and rooted around a couple of drawers until I found what I was looking for. I took the small spiral notebook to the table and handed it to Brooke. “I usually keep these around, for school and stuff. I don’t think this one’s been used.”

She stared at it, flipping through the pages of the little green notebook. The paper swished through her fingers. “Thank you.”

“Pretty neat invention,” Charlie said. “You know, paper held together in a little book. You can even write on it.”

“Shut up, smartass,” I said.

Brooke shook her head at Charlie. “No, it’s just… never mind.”

Someone knocked on the door and I looked at Charlie. “Is Kimmie coming over?”

“I don’t think so,” he said.

“I’ll get it, then.”

I got up and opened the door to find my mom standing on the other side.

“Oh, Mom, hi,” I said. What was she doing here? “I didn’t know you were coming. And so early.”

“Hi, honey,” she said, stepping inside. She hugged me and I patted her on the back. “I thought for sure I replied to your text and said I’d be stopping by. I had to be in Iowa City this morning for an appointment.”

“Um, I don’t think so,” I said. But that wasn’t surprising. My mom was notoriously terrible at texting. Half the time she didn’t read them until days later, and when she did, she often forgot to reply.

“Hmm. Well, I wanted to come over and see how you’re doing. I figured I’d get here first thing so I didn’t miss you. How was your trip?” She headed for the kitchen, clearly expecting me to follow.

Oh, boy. This was going to be interesting.

“My trip was good.”

“Good morning, Charlie. Oh—” She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. Charlie and Brooke looked up from their breakfast. Brooke’s eyebrows rose and she shifted in her chair. An amused smile crossed Charlie’s face and he folded his arms. I glared at him. Dick.

My mom was kind of old-fashioned, so finding a girl having breakfast with us—implying she’d slept here—would bother her even if she knew the girl. And here she was, faced with Brooke—a woman she didn’t know, with a black eye and visible bruises—sitting at our kitchen table.

“Mom, this is Brooke,” I said. “Brooke, my mom, Lorraine McKinney.”

Mom’s eyes darted around between the three of us a few times. I think she was trying to figure out if Brooke was here with me, or Charlie.

“Nice to meet you,” Mom said.

“Hi, Mrs. McKinney,” Brooke said. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Points to Brooke for calling my mom Mrs. McKinney. My parents were both big on formality.

Charlie’s grin widened. “Morning, Mrs. McKinney. Brooke, here, is from Phoenix.”

I glared harder at Charlie. Fucker.

“From Phoenix?” Mom asked. “Are you here for a visit, Brooke?”

Brooke started to answer, but I cut in. “Not exactly, Mom. Can I speak to you out here for a minute?”

I led my mom out to the covered porch and shut the door behind us.

“Sebastian, what on God’s green earth is going on?” she asked.

“I met Brooke in Phoenix,” I said.

“Yes, we’ve established that,” she said. “What is she doing in your house?”

“I’m just giving her a place to stay until she gets settled,” I said. “She needed a fresh start, so I offered to bring her out here. That’s all. She slept in our extra bedroom last night.”

“Sebastian, don’t be vulgar,” she said, as if the mere mention of where she slept was somehow a sexual reference. “You were only out of town for a few days. How did you meet her?”

“She…” I trailed off, because I knew this was going to freak her out. “She was Liam Harper’s fiancée before he died.”

“You mean… the man who…”

“Yes, Mom,” I said. “The organ donor who saved my life.”

“You brought his fiancée back with you?” she asked, her voice rising. “What were you thinking?”

“Look, it’s a long story,” I said. “She needed some help, and this felt like the right thing to do.”

“I’ll say she needs help,” Mom said. “She has a black eye, Sebastian.”

“Yes, I know.”

Mom’s brow furrowed, her worry lines creasing. “Honey, this is reckless. You can’t just bring some strange girl home with you. Especially that girl.”

The way she was talking about Brooke made my hackles rise. I didn’t like it. But I was also raised to never be rude to my mother, and I didn’t want her to worry. I’d already given her enough worry for a lifetime.

“I know. I get it. This is a weird situation. But you always taught me to be willing to help other people if I could. Brooke has been through a lot. She just needs a chance.”

She took a deep breath. “Be careful. I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

“I know, Mom. I’ll be careful. I always am.”

“I suppose I should go,” she said, although I could hear the reluctance in her voice. “I have my appointment to get to. But come home for dinner soon and tell us about your trip. The rest of it, I mean.”

“Yeah, I will.”

Mom and I said our goodbyes, and I went back into the kitchen.

“That was awesome,” Charlie said with a laugh.

“Thanks for that, asshole,” I said.

“Come on, man,” Charlie said. “You can’t expect me not to make things awkward. It’s what I do.”

“You’re a dick.”

“I’m sorry,” Brooke said. “Is your mom upset that I’m here?”

“No, she’s fine,” I said. “You just took her by surprise. And she worries a lot.”

“And there’s also the fact that this whole thing is insane,” Charlie said. “Even if Brooke does make good waffles.”

“You’re right,” Brooke said with a shrug. “Coming here with you guys was nuts.”

“At least you admit it,” Charlie said. He pointed to me. “And you. Come to Iowa with us? Who does that?”

“Yeah, well, maybe it is crazy, but we’re here now.” I turned to Brooke. “I’ll grab you my laptop and then I’m going to hit the shower. I’m free all day, so let me know what you need and we’ll make it happen.”

“Thank you,” Brooke said.

“I should get moving too,” Charlie said. “I guess I need to go see Kimmie.”

“Have fun with that,” I said.

Charlie grunted as he got up from the table, then went upstairs.

“You good for now?” I asked.

Brooke met my eyes. God, she was beautiful. I needed to be careful with her. I was going to get myself into trouble.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m good now.”