by Taylor Hart
Nick looked up at him like some wounded animal. “What? No.”
“Yes.” Luke needed to get out of here.
“No.” Nick gave him the same kind of look he’d given him his whole life when Nick felt like Luke was embarrassing him in front of his friends.
It worked. “Fine. I … I’m gonna take a walk. I’ll be back in a half hour; then we’re going home so you can rest.”
Nick rolled his eyes, turning back to his friends, who were already on to the next joke. “Whatever.”
Luke walked out into the main part of Antonio’s that led to the dance club, then rounded the corner to go out the front. On the way, he turned back to hold the door for a couple entering, and saw her. Well, truthfully he saw her hair first. Her striking red hair.
She was with someone. Some guy. When he stared harder, he noticed the dude was older. He had a mustache and grey hair, huge eyebrows. Feeling insane, he crouched to the side of the brick against the window, then peered back inside.
She was laughing and she pushed her hair back behind her ear. It looked like a date.
He couldn’t get a better look at the man, but his heart beat a hundred miles an hour. Was she dating this guy? He peeked back again and caught her eye. She nearly jumped, looking as shocked as he’d probably looked a few seconds ago.
Giving up his attempt to hide, he stood and waved, trying to act cool.
She stood and rushed out of the dining room right to the front door.
Luke opened the door for her, not knowing what was happening.
“What are you doing here?” She looked shaken.
“What?” He felt like he had to explain with the intense way she looked at him. “Nick and I just met some of the guys for pizza in the sports bar.”
Surveying him, she didn’t move.
“Are you on a date?” He couldn’t help the smile that played on his lips.
She glared at him, then stuck her chin in the air. “What if I am?”
Luke surrendered, sticking his hands up in the air, but he couldn’t help thinking of the man’s eyebrows. “Okay.” It wasn’t okay. He felt like a total teenager, and he hated it. “If you want to date Mr. Eyebrows, that’s your business.”
“Did you really just say that?”
He let out a breath and looked away. “Hey, have a good date.”
A smile played at her lips. “I’m not on a date. I’m on a business meeting. He’s my new client, not that it’s any of your business.” She let out a light laugh. “Unless you’re jealous?”
The question drilled into his gut. He was. He totally was. Giving her an incredulous look, he scoffed. “In your dreams, Savannah.”
There it was, the nakedness that lay between their souls whenever they spoke. He realized in this moment why he’d missed her so much—because she knew him. She had always known him.
Moving back to the door, she turned over her shoulder. “Have a good night, Luke.”
He blinked. “Yeah, you too.”
She walked away and he rushed across the street, trying to put distance between them. He couldn’t stop himself from turning and staring at her through the glass. She sat and smoothed her pants before crossing her legs. Her face was burning red, and he knew that she knew he was staring at her.
He didn’t stop until she turned and looked back at him. There was no more denying it—there never would be closure for them.
He needed to figure out a way to get close to her and find out … if he could fix a mistake from his past.
12
As Savannah drove home from her dinner meeting with her client, she couldn’t help but feel the same edginess she thought had ended between her and Luke. Why in the world had he been there, staring at her like some weirdo through the glass? If she had his phone number, she might just text him and tell him what a creeper he was. Seriously.
C’mon, did he know any rules of etiquette? If he were one of her clients, she would tell him to quit being a weirdo. Just quit. Stop! She pounded the steering wheel as she turned onto her parents’ street, noting that it wasn’t even late enough to avoid more questions about her love life and hear, one more time, how Clark has a break right now with football and it would be a nice time to take a hike with him.
Pulling into her parents’ driveway, she noticed the red Ford Mustang parked farther down the street, in front of Luke’s parents’ old house. The house had fallen into disrepair a couple of years ago and had been on the market a long time.
Her heart rate went up another notch. Cursing, she wondered how he was on her radar now all of a sudden. It was like she couldn’t go anywhere without him being there. She got out of the car, then hesitated.
He wasn’t in front of her house. In fact, she could see the distinct outline of him in his old backyard. He was standing next to the tire swing they’d always swung on.
“Savannah, are you coming in?” she heard her mother call out. The screen door opened and her mother stood there. Clark stood next to her.
Her heart rate dropped. Oh dear.
“Honey, Clark stopped by to see if you wanted to go for a walk. I told him to just stay until you got back from your client meeting.”
There was no way she would be going for a walk. Putting on a smile, she walked in the door and nodded at Clark, trying to figure out a polite way out of this. Then she put her hand on her stomach. “I’m sorry, I would love to, but I actually came home because I was feeling sick.”
“Oh no.” Her mother hated sickness, especially throw-up sickness.
Clark stepped back, the look on his face troubled.
Savannah jerked forward, dashing down the hall. “Sorry. I’ll call you later.”
Half an hour later, after sitting in the bathroom for fifteen minutes, answering her mother’s questions through the door, and flushing the toilet periodically, she finally went to her room, asking her parents to let her sleep.
As soon as her mother’s footsteps faded away, Savannah eased open the window that led to the deck and slipped out. She grabbed a branch of the tree she’d always used to escape and shimmied down it.
Like magic, he was there.
Luke.
Putting his hands on her hips, he eased her down, and she dropped like a feather down next to him. “What are you doing?” he asked, the side of his lip tugging up into a smile.
“Hey, you’re the creeper in my yard.” Her heart rate picked up speed.
His hands stayed on her hips. “I saw you get home and I saw you send Superman away.”
How come she felt like she was eighteen again, sneaking out to meet Luke? He would always wait for her beneath the tree.
His eyes settled on her lips. “It just feels like nothing’s changed, doesn’t it?”
His rain smell washed over her, but she tugged back. “Let’s go. I don’t want to get caught.” She smiled.
Luke nodded to his house. “We can still go swing in my yard. Your parents can’t see my backyard from your family room.”
Crazy, hyper heart racing assaulted her. He’d been waiting for her. He’d known she would come here.
“Why did you come here?” she asked as they got to the swing.
He turned toward her, and all she could see was his beautiful silhouette. “What?”
She stopped next to him, trying to control the way her hands shook. “Why are you everywhere I am lately?”
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she saw the smile that played on his lips. “Hey, I could ask you the same question.”
She shook her head. “I know. I … we have to stop running into each other like this.”
His gaze softened and he looked at their hands. “Why did you stay away for so long … after he passed?”
She took a step back, feeling confused. “Luke, I can’t—”
“As a friend.” He cleared his throat. “I just want to know.”
“I … I didn’t want to come back here.”
“Because of me.”
She sighed. �
�I … felt lost. Completely lost.” She didn’t want to continue, but felt like she couldn’t stop. They’d been friends forever … well, before.
“Lost,” he whispered, and looked away.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He laughed softly. “Nick told me I’d been acting lost lately.”
Looking him up and down, she wondered about what his life was like now. It wouldn’t do any good to dwell on that, though. “I just want to have a new start. A new life. Move forward.”
He snapped. “Right. In California.”
“Yeah.” She noticed the crazy energy was subsiding. It was better when she was actually talking to him.
Reaching for the swing, he nodded to it. “Want me to push you?”
She smiled and sat as he gently pushed.
“Why does Nick think you’re lost?” she asked. “I mean, you could tell me, just because I’m your friend.” Her heart rate spiked and her hands were clammy.
Luke sighed. “I don’t know. I haven’t been dating much.”
She hated the fact she was curious about this. “Oh?”
He gave her a hard push and backed up.
She laughed, loving the feel of the breeze on her face, and pumped her legs. “This feels amazing.”
“We had some good times, the three of us.” Luke gave her another hard push.
For the first time, she wondered how it must have been for him. Staying here, around all the memories. She let herself swing for a bit, then dragged her feet.
He pulled her to a stop and stayed behind her. “Yeah, we did have good times.”
“Want me to push you?” She asked.
He hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah.”
They switched positions and she gave him as hard a push as she could. It felt strange and normal to be this close to him.
He let out a long breath. “Remember when we had that contest to see who could jump the farthest and Sean broke his foot?”
“Yeah, because you kept egging him on.”
“You egged him on too.” He laughed.
She pushed him again, but he was pretty high. She laughed, too. She had been as bad as they were sometimes. “All those summer days. Remember how they felt so long back then?”
“Time is different when you grow up.” Luke dragged his feet and came to a stop. Turning, he suddenly grabbed her, pulling her into his arms, then let his feet drop and the swing twirl them.
“Hey.” Every part of her felt alive. His rain smell washed over her.
Luke laughed, then righted her in front of him, keeping his arms around her. “Do you remember the night we slept out on the trampoline and thought someone was breaking into your house?”
Thrown into the memory, she put her hand to her mouth and giggled. “Yes. And you wanted to chase the intruder down.”
“Hey, Sean caught the intruder.”
She sighed. “Poor Ms. Sanchez.”
“She’d only wanted to leave cookies on your porch.”
Laughter rang throughout the backyard.
When they stopped laughing they simply stared into each other’s eyes and it felt like so many years had faded away. The moonlight hit his face just right, and she saw the smile lines around his eyes.
She was close. His hands still rested on her hips. Her heart went to mach twenty. “Look, Luke, we … I … this can’t happen. What we had was in the past. I need … both of us need to move on.” She tried to pull back.
“Right.” He dropped his hands and stood, acting nonchalant. “So you really are going to leave at the end of the summer, right?”
She backed up, feeling a bit off kilter. “Apparently everyone needs this news in triplicate. I just had to tell Beth, again, the other day, and my mother and father pretty much ignore me when I talk about it. Oh, but my father gives me quotes.”
“Ah,” Luke said softly, smiling wider. “Your father and his quotes. Out with it.”
“What?”
“What one did he give you recently?”
“Oh.” She really didn’t want to tell him. “Nothing.”
“Hey.” He turned up a hand. “Come on, don’t hold out on me. Your father’s quotes were always the best. I never understood them, but they were cool.”
Grinning at him, she shook her head, it was surreal to think about all the things they’d shared growing up … even her father’s silly quotes. She sighed and closed her eyes. She actually had thought about his quote for the past couple of days, even though she didn’t want to. “‘We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’ T. S. Eliot.”
His eyes narrowed and he tilted his head as if in thought. “Are we back to this place for the first time?”
She understood his meaning, but she shook her head. “I should go …”
“Nick told me the other day I needed to trust in God’s plan for me,” he said before she could really leave.
She swallowed, thinking about the past year and the shock at hearing Sean was dead. “If God exists … I don’t think there’s a plan. That’s for sure.”
Luke nodded. “When my mom died, I decided I didn’t believe in God. But when Damon came home last year, I decided the debate was open again.”
The side of her lip tugged up. “That’s right, everything’s in a courtroom for you, right? Good and bad, right and wrong.” Her head tilted down. “Actually, I think you’ve always been pretty black and white. You like justice.”
Her comment made him smile. “Yes, I do.” His lip turned up. “I like the idea of people being punished, but … I also like the idea of redemption.”
She didn’t understand.
He sighed. “I’ve watched men and women go to jail and then get out, and make it right. Actually have a chance to turn their lives around. I like it.” He shrugged. “I’ve watched what Damon’s been through this past year.”
“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” She whispered.
He broke off, shaking his head and letting out a breath. “I did like that movie.”
She pointed at him. “It was your Annette and Frankie movie.” Realizing it for the first time, it made her suddenly happy.
“No.”
“Yes.”
He grabbed the finger she held in the air and grinned wider.
Their hands stayed together.
“I may like justice, but I am not an idealist.”
“Are too.” She said it flippantly, grabbing onto his hand tighter.
Instantly, he responded, pulling her in closer. “Am not.”
Their breath mixed and she suddenly wanted to kiss him again.
But she didn’t feel afraid of him anymore, like she had at the marina the other day. This moment felt more like all the other moments they’d shared while growing up. “You’re a softie, Luke.”
He stared into her eyes. “Only with you, Sav.”
Every heartbeat pounded louder, her blood rushing into her ears. And it was like she was seventeen again, the intensity between them screaming for an outlet. She tugged her hand back and turned away from him. Staring off into the distance, she wondered about justice. For Sean. For herself.
“I guess I don’t deserve to be your friend, again. After what I did.” His voice was light.
But she wasn’t thinking about what he’d done. Beth’s stupid words ran through her mind. He deserved to know. Which was not true.
Then she thought about what she’d done to Sean.
The thing that had left her in bed this past year, unable to face life.
“The past is in the past, right?” she said, swallowing all the feelings of regret.
Luke studied her for a second, then, exactly like he’d always read her mind before he asked. “Are you thinking about Sean?”
Dang it, how had he always done that? She nodded, her eyes fluttering with emotion. “He was so young, he shouldn’t be dead.”
When he pulled her into his arms, she hated part
of herself for relishing the strength he offered. He rubbed little circles into her back. “I’m sorry.”
Letting him hold her close felt so wonderful, certain, scary. She couldn’t pull away.
“I should have been there,” he whispered into her ear. “I should have been there for both of you. I’m so mad at myself.”
In a painful and heartbreaking way, his words comforted her. Beth’s words chimed in as well. He deserves to know. Pulling back, she stumbled and then gained her footing. “I really have to go.” She started across the lawn.
He kept up. “You need clients for your business? That’s why you were out with the mustache guy, right?”
“What? Oh, yeah.”
They reached her tree and he put a hand on its trunk. Casually leaning into it, he looked like a male model. “Well, I want you to take me on as your client.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” she insisted.
“I’ll pay triple your normal fee.”
She stared at him, her heart racing, wanting to say no to the gift he was offering her. The gift she’d wanted since she’d been back … the chance to pay her bills and have enough to get settled in California. “That’s over forty grand,” she said evenly.
He shrugged. “Will you take me on?”
Her heart pounded. Could she do it, after all the crap they’d been through? It was hard enough hanging out with him the few moments they’d had together; she didn’t think it would be a good idea to be with him so much. “No, I can’t …”
Taking her hands into his, he said, “We’re friends now. That’s all. Right? So help me. I’m a twenty-eight-year-old bachelor. I need help. Obviously.”
“I don’t think you need help finding a woman.”
“I want something meaningful. Not the women I’ve been dating.” He cocked one eyebrow. “C’mon, you believe in happily ever afters, right? Will you help me find mine?”
