It was time to find a path. A routine in her new space. Yeah, she still had to get rid of the condo and all the baggage that came with it, but there was no reason she couldn’t begin her life in San Diego right now. Today.
She left the building out the back door without encountering any of the D’Angelos. There was some noise coming from the restaurant, but since they didn’t open until eleven, it was relatively quiet.
The streets of Little Italy were hopping with activity, especially because the children had a midweek day off school, but Brooke moved beyond that toward the waterfront. She’d been to, and had frequented, the touristy spots already, and that wasn’t the place to stretch her legs. Working in the opposite direction of people, she moved about the harbor on a sidewalk that appeared to stretch completely around.
Smaller recreational boats bobbed up and down as the water moved, mesmerizing her and making Brooke forget, if even for a few minutes, the concerns she’d had the day before. Aircraft carriers filled in the opposite side of the harbor off the island of Coronado. A place Brooke had yet to explore but was on her short list. The upbeat music in her ears kept any melancholy away as her brisk walk helped her map out ways of spending her free time once she found herself caught up.
Anytime her thoughts moved to her dad, she shoved them away.
Not today.
Today was about her.
It was time to focus on herself for a change.
After walking in one direction for a good half an hour, she turned back. She made note of a few places along the way she could take a lunch or her laptop and find a bench to get some work done. There were similar places she’d leave her apartment for in Seattle, but only when the weather cooperated.
Her phone rang, interrupting the music.
She saw the name on the screen and took a deep breath.
“Hello, Susan,” she greeted her real estate agent.
“Hi, Brooke.”
Susan’s voice said all Brooke needed to hear. “It fell through, didn’t it?”
Susan sighed. “We have backup offers.”
Brooke moved toward the park on the waterfront and found the first available seat.
In front of her, the fountains ran and children played. “What happens now?”
Susan explained the events as they would unfold. Reminded Brooke that the repairs needed to be taken care of before the next inspection to avoid falling through again. While the call was not what Brooke wanted to hear, it wasn’t complete doom and gloom.
This would set her back, but the market was stupid hot, and everything would be good . . . eventually.
The first step was to let the backup people know they could get the place if they were still looking and negotiate that deal. None of which Brooke had to be present for. She’d take her time and get back to Upland once a deal was in escrow. There was an electrical issue that needed repairs and then she’d repaint the walls affected. So, about half of them.
More trips to Goodwill.
More time sifting through her father’s life and creating large amounts of trash each week. She was half tempted to toss everything sight unseen. But old files still beckoned from the depths of the garage. The last of it.
“I’ll be in touch later today with an update,” Susan told her before hanging up.
Brooke held her phone in her lap and stared absently across the park. This was just another roadblock. Nothing more.
She closed her eyes, took a long inhale, and blew it out slowly.
Her eyes fluttered open to find two small feet in front of hers.
Tilting her head, she saw Franny standing there holding a Frisbee. “Hi.”
“Hello, what are you doing here?”
Franny lifted the Frisbee as if that was all she needed to do.
Brooke grinned and looked up in search of Luca. “Who are you here with?”
Her eyes found Luca’s before Franny could respond.
“With my papa.”
The man sauntered their way, a lazy smile on his face.
“He told me to come over and say hi.”
That made Brooke laugh. “Did he now?”
“Yeah.”
As Luca moved closer, Brooke kept up the conversation with his daughter. “Do you like playing Frisbee?”
She nodded several times. “I can catch it. But if Papa throws it too hard, it stings. I’m tough, so it’s okay.”
“I bet you are.”
Luca moved within talking distance. “Hello.”
“Good morning,” she said.
“I thought that might have been you over here.” He stopped a few feet away, rocked back on his heels.
“So, you sent your daughter to make sure?”
He winced. “That sounds bad when you put it like that.”
Brooke matched his grin and found herself fidgeting under his silent gaze.
Franny looked between the two of them . . . twice.
“Grown-ups are weird.”
Brooke blinked away her discomfort.
“What are you doing out here?” Luca asked.
She shrugged, lifted her phone in the air. “I was out for a walk. Then I got that call I told you about.”
“The condo?”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is.”
Franny shuffled her feet, impatient with the grown-up talk. “Can we play?”
Brooke stood, dusted off her butt from the park bench dirt. “I’ll let you get back to it.”
“Don’t you want to play?” Franny asked. “It’s a lot of fun.”
Fun? That wasn’t a word in her dictionary these days. “I don’t want to impose.”
Franny narrowed her eyes, looked at her dad. “What’s impose?”
“It’s when someone thinks they’re interrupting,” Luca explained. “You’re not imposing,” he said to Brooke. The look in his eyes said he liked the idea of her sticking around.
“Do you know how to throw a Frisbee?” Franny asked.
“It’s been a long time.”
Franny turned and, with a bit of dramatic flair, poised herself to toss the Frisbee. “It’s all in the wrist,” she said as she threw her entire body into it.
The Frisbee sailed through the air perpendicular to the ground and rolled a good ten yards once it hit the grass. She ran off after it, leaving Luca and Brooke alone.
“You don’t have to stick around,” he told her.
“Trying to get rid of me?” she asked, teasing.
He turned to her, waited for her eyes to meet his. “No, bella, that’s not what I’m trying to do.”
Brooke’s Italian was limited to a dozen or so phrases and a few extra words, bella among them.
The endearment brought heat to her cheeks.
She decided a little bit of fun might be exactly what she needed. “I haven’t done this since I was a teenager.”
“It’s like riding a bike.”
“Why do people say that? The last time I tried riding a bike I nearly broke my head open.”
“Wear a helmet,” Luca suggested.
She laughed. “You’re such a parent.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“C’mon,” Franny yelled from across the park.
Luca put his hands in the air. “Throw it.”
She did, and the disk made it a little more level with the ground, but it didn’t go very far.