“I still think if anyone has anything to say about our relationship it’s going to be her.” Sam moved over to her bed and sat down on it.

“Well, I guess we’ll see.” C.C. flopped down on her own bed and stretched out. “And if she does…she’ll come around. Give her some time and she’ll be fine with the whole thing.

“I hope so. I don’t want to be a source of family dispute here.”

The brunette rolled up on her side and leaned on an elbow. “Don’t worry about it, Sam. Worry about the fact that you’re going to be legal in about six hours.”

“Legal, yes…and grown up.” Sam shook her short hair and smiled as thoughts of Brooke entered her mind. Grown up, huh? The blonde remembered their shared lovemaking over the weekend and sighed as she fell back on her bed. That’s already done.

“Well, Peter, there you have it, a complete tour of the Gordon Estate.” Brooke led the way up from the studio to the main floor of the house as she joked about her home. “Now, if you really paid any attention you’ll have no problem if the lights go out tomorrow when we plug in all that sound equipment we used to use.” She turned to face him at the top of the stairs with her hand poised on the light switch. “So you ready for a test?” She threw the switch off, teasing the man.

Clutching the tapes that he had in his hand, Peter grabbed for the railing with the other one. “Now Brooke, cut it out. You know I don’t like the dark.”

“Okay, take it easy.” She flipped the switch back up and the lights came on. “I’m not stealing those tapes back, so don’t get all worried.” Brooke winked at him and moved out into the hall.

Peter looked down at the tapes in his hand, then held them up for Brooke to see. “Hey, thanks. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“No problem, Peter. You have no idea what tomorrow means to me. Everything will be all set up by the time Sam gets here tomorrow evening.”

“Oh, I bet I do,” the man taunted her. “She really has your heart all sewn up, doesn’t she?”

Brooke smiled and nodded her head. “Yes, she does. She owns every little piece of my heart.”

“James always said you were heartless. Guess this one time he’s right.”

“Well, what do you know, the bastard was right.”

Seeing the distant look in Brooke’s eye, Peter thought that a subject change was in order. “I’ll have my stuff and drop it off early tomorrow, along with James’ stuff when he gets in. You’ll see. It will be like old times.”

“No problem.” Brooke led the way into the kitchen. “So what time is his royal assness getting in?” She went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer, offering it to Peter.

Peter shook his head and pointed to a soft drink in the door. He reached out and accepted it as Brooke handed it to him. She grinned and grabbed a bottle of beer for herself.

“Last time I talked to him, he was coming in sometime in the afternoon. I’m supposed to wait for his call.”

“Is he calling your cell phone?” Brooke twisted off the cap on the bottle and downed a swallow.

“Yeah, if he remembers it.” Peter looked at his soft drink for a few seconds, then asked, “He seems kind of…different here lately. Have you noticed it?”

“No more different than he normally was. I don’t know. You’re around him more than I am.”

“Forget that I said anything. It’s probably just me.”

Brooke shrugged. She was not really interested in talking about her former band mate. “Peter, this house is massive for one person. You could stay here. In fact, why don’t you stay here? I wouldn’t mind if you did.”

A little shocked by the offer, Peter didn’t quite know what to say.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I thought it was a bad idea.” Brooke took another long draw on her beer. “You’re not the same person you were three years ago and neither am I.”

“You…you’ve got something up your sleeve. What is it, Brooke?” Peter demanded to know.

“Nothing.” She held her hands up, feigning surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I would think that you’d want to be alone with Sam. I mean…it being her birthday and all.”

“Hey, who said I was going to put you up in the next room? It’s a big house. You can stay in the guest room down here on the first floor.”

“Okay, I just don’t want to cramp your style.” Peter took a drink of his soda, then muttered just barely loud enough to be heard, “It’s taken you long enough to find someone.”

Blue eyes pinned him with a stare, then softened as she admitted, “Well, she’s well worth the wait.”

Peter watched the ends of her mouth turn up into a smile, then he winked and clinked her bottle with his. They both drank at the same time and let the silence settle around them before he nonchalantly asked, “So…is Sam’s cousin staying, too?”

“Uhm…Yeah. She is.” Brooke studied her friend for a moment. “Why…you interested?” Brooke smirked.

The man’s eyes darted around the room like a caged tiger paces his kingdom. “I’m…I’m curious.” He stuttered out. “Argh! Hell, yes I’m interested.”

Brooke smiled and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, then clapped it several times for emphasis. “Don’t worry, Peter. You’ll meet her as soon as she gets here with Sam. She seems pretty nice. I talked to her yesterday morning.”

“I hope so. I think I’m tired of the road show.” Peter confided in the woman. “You’ve got the right idea Brooke.” He watched her standing there, smiling from ear to ear. “Never thought I’d hear those words come out of my mouth.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Maybe it’s time to think about settling down.”

“You and me both, Petey. Like I said before, neither one of us are the same person we used to be. Believe me, settling down sounds absolutely perfect.” Brooke smirked, “Never thought I’d hear those words come out of my mouth.”

“You’re right.” He clapped a hand on Brooke’s shoulder. “Neither one of us are the same as we were years ago.” He watched as Brooke arched an eyebrow in his direction. “Okay, so I’ve grown up. It’s time to put away the toys and really get down to living a full, rewarding life.”

“I agree.” Brooke nodded her head, then turned to look at Peter with furrowed brows. “Wait a minute…toys?”

“That’s what James and I used to call the girls, our toys.”

“Ahh…” It was dawning on the tall woman now, “…the groupies that you played with.”

Peter was blushing, ashamed now at how he had acted in the past. “I can’t see me waking up next to the likes of them for the rest of my life.”

“Stop blushing, Peter. It’s not like you were the only one who ever slept with a groupie.”

“You didn’t.” He looked her in the eye then let his gaze drop back to the bottle in his hand.

“No, I just waited until music wasn’t the center of my life before I let sex enter into the picture.”

“Maybe that’s where I’m at now.” His voice trailed off.

“When we played together, music was everything. I didn’t have time for anything or anybody else. Sam changed all that. And let me tell you,” Brooke grinned, thinking of how Sam had opened up a new world to her. “It’s a nice place to be.”

“Well Brooke, if it makes any difference at all, I’m liking what I see in you.

“I’m glad, ’cause I’m liking how it feels.”

Peter nudged Brooke’s shoulder with his hand and winked at her. “So, you want to show me where I can sleep or what?”

“Sure, I’ll even help you get your bags. You did bring clothes to change into, didn’t you?”

Peter looked down at his larger form, then back up at Brooke. “Please, it’s not Halloween yet. I don’t want to scare anybody to death and your stuff just ain’t gonna cover it.”

After getting Peter settled in, Brooke grabbed another beer and went to her small office on the second floor of the house. With Mario at her side, the tall woman sat down in her comfortable chair and turned on her computer, while the plans for the next day’s events ran through her mind. Once the monitor screen came to life, Brooke pulled up her list of things to do and quickly perused it, mentally checking off everything that was in place for Sam’s party.

“Well, Mario.” Brooke petted the furry head that now filled her lap. “Looks like everything is on schedule and ready for Sam’s surprise.” The dog looked up with its tongue hanging out as he leaned into her gentle touch. “You like that, don’t you? You’re gonna be spoiled tomorrow with all those people here, aren’t ya Boy?”

“Woof,” was Mario’s short reply.

Turning her attention back to the screen, Brooke finished her list and gave a sigh as she read the last line out loud. “Anti-Zero performance. Hmm…well two thirds of us are here and ready. I guess I’d better check in on that last missing piece.” She thought for a minute about James and could already feel her temper rising. Looking at the clock in the corner of the screen, she saw that it was almost midnight and an idea came into her head. Logging on to the Internet, she quickly sent off a variety of funny birthday cards to Sam, listing the senders as Mario, the 300, and the ‘Dessert of the Month’ Club.

“Those should have Sam laughing. What do you think Mario?” She looked down at the dog that was curled up at her side, his head rising with the sound of the blonde’s name. Hmmm…Brooke started thinking, her grin turning a little devilish in nature as one eyebrow rose. Birthdays are for wishes…maybe I should give her something to dream about. “Yeah…” she softly uttered, nodding subtly.

Closing out the windows on her computer, she hurriedly clicked into her E-mail account. Brooke pulled up Sam’s addy from her address book, then sat before the blank page, gathering her thoughts. A few minutes later, she took in a deep breath, then her fingers started dancing across the keys, pausing only for seconds here or there before continuing on. Before she knew it, she was done. With her hands in her lap, she read the message, making only one change.