Chapter Three
Brooke woke up the next morning to the sun shining brightly through the window in her bedroom. She rubbed her eyes slowly, but stopped when she spotted the small body laying beside her on the bed. She smiled slowly, remembering how the little girl got there. Harlow had a bad dream late last night, and instead of ushering the little girl off with a hug and a ‘it’ll be alright’ she allowed her to sleep in her bed. She liked having Harlow close to her, it reminded her of the nights that they spent together, up all night when she was a newborn.
Brooke had basically raised Harlow on her own for the passed five total years of the little girls life. Harlow’s father, was out of the picture for the most part, with the exception of the lousy child support payments that came her way once a month. She knew that was lucky in that sense. He could be doing nothing for them, but he was at least doing something.
She gently slipped out of bed, leaving the bedroom and going across the hallway to the bathroom. She started the shower before returning to her room in search of clothes. She made a mental note of the time before leaving again. Her and Harlow had a date with her step-sister Izzie today. They were going shopping because Harlow was desperate for some summer clothes, and the aforementioned support payment for her dead beat father had arrived. She stepped into the shower’s spray and closed her eyes, allowing the water to relax her. She loved her life, she really did. But lately she had been feeling that something was missing. Sure she had her job, Harlow and her family to keep her busy but there was this void that to her couldn’t be explained. But at the same time, she didn’t want anything to change. Change could ruin everything she had going for her.
She got out of the shower after washing herself up, and got dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans and a pink top. She left her hair down, but the decided to pull it up to forgo the need to dry it. She walked into her bedroom and saw Harlow waking up.
“Morning princess.” She smiled. She sat down on the bed beside Harlow.
“Morning Mommy.”
“Did you have a good sleep?”
Harlow nodded. Brooke smiled at her daughter. “Why don’t you get up and go get dressed. We’re meeting Aunt Izzie at the mall in a little bit.” She watched Harlow’s eyes light up. She loved her Aunt Izzie.
“Okay!” She jumped off the bed and dashed down the hallway towards her bedroom.
Izzie arrived just as Brooke was clearing the dishes from breakfast.
“Aunt Izzie’s here!” Harlow shouted as a knock at the door sounded. Brooke laughed and watched as she ran to answer it. Harlow waited for Brooke to come unlock it and smiled when her aunt was standing there.
“Aunt Izzie!” She cried.
Izzie looked down at her niece and smiled. “Harlow! Good morning!” She smiled. Harlow launched herself at Izzie who in turn, laughed and picked her up.
They got ready to go as the three women made idle chit chat, Harlow telling Izzie about her day yesterday and Brooke filling her in on some family gossip. They took Brooke’s car to the mall and once they were inside, they headed into Old Navy to look for Harlow first.
“So what did you do last night?” Brooke said softly, flipping through a rack of jean skirts. “You were supposed to call me”
“I got busy” Izzie said softly as she watched Harlow look through a rack of baby halter tops.
Brooke gave her a look.
“What? I was busy. I had some work stuff to do…”
“Right.”
“What about you?” Izzie asked. “You didn’t exactly call me last night…”
“Well, I spent the night with my daughter. We watched Enchanted after dinner before I gave her a bath and put her to bed. Then I stayed up and watched P.S I Love You which made me cry like a baby.” Brooke confided.
“I told you, you wouldn’t like it.” Izzie said softly as they walked around the store.
“It kinda made me miss Adam.” She said softly.
“Don’t go there Brooke.”
“I’m not. I said it kind of did. It sucks being alone and you of all people should know that.”
Izzie kept quiet.
“I mean, I have Harlow but on my days off all I do is sit around the apartment and clean or watch movies because I have nothing better to do with my life. I miss that, companionship even a shitty man brings.”
“I understand.” Izzie said softly.
The conversation died as Brooke took Harlow into a change room to try on the clothes that had been picked out. After deciding on which ones looked best, the three of them paid and left Old Navy.
They spent the day browsing all the stores, Brooke and Izzie buying a few things here and there for themselves but mostly shopped for Harlow. They stopped for lunch at Subway before heading back to the apartment.
*
Justin could of swore he heard the doorbell ring. He buried his head under the pillow as the sound returned. He willed it to go away. Finally, it stopped. Justin sighed, taking his face out of the pillow and relaxing, trying to catch some more sleep. But as soon as he felt himself falling asleep again, the knocking started. And it never stopped. Finally, after a few long moments he got out of bed, grumbling the entire way. He threw on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt, half expecting it to be his mom at the door.
But he was wrong.
“Uncle Justin!” Andrew exclaimed. Immediately, Justin closed his eyes to regain his composure before looking at his friend and his son.
“Hey Andrew, JC…” he growled out the last part. “Come on in.” The two Chasez men walked in. “What brings you guys by?”
“Daddy took me to play basketball! And I shooted it…” Andrew rambled. Justin looked at JC and smiled.
“That’s awesome little dude. That’s awesome.” Justin smiled. “Let’s get something to eat, shall we?”
Chapter End Notes:
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Erica - lets_get_dirrty098@hotmail.com
Erica - lets_get_dirrty098@hotmail.com
Story Tags: daddyjc
