Luke's Second Chance Family

by Francesca Lane

  The room fell quiet.

  “Now,” Maggie continued, “let me catch you up on where I am with painting and what Lacy will have to deal with when she takes over in a couple of weeks.”

  Seven

  Luke sat on his back porch, the signed papers in his hands. He wagged his head. How many years ago had these divorce papers been drawn up? Didn’t matter now. He had called his attorney, who assured him they were still valid, that all he needed was CeCe’s signature—and he would be a free man. Finally.

  He glanced out at the marshy dunes, an odd mixture of elation and sadness blowing through his heart and mind. What had become of CeCe was nothing short of tragic. The fact that he could now legally be free of a woman who had long ago abandoned him, and Siena, did not change the hard truth that his ex-wife was, once again, in rehab. And that she had no thought of ever bonding with the daughter she had left behind. Guilt gnawed at Luke and he began to wonder if the churning in his gut would ever ebb away. Would he always wonder how much his actions had played into CeCe’s decisions?

  Luke’s mind wandered back to when Siena was still a baby. CeCe had disappeared one evening and when she stumbled in, her eyes unfocused slits, Luke was in denial. She had promised not to get high anymore. He could not believe that she would break her word, not with a child who looked to her for daily care … and love.

  “You promised,” he said.

  CeCe laughed, the effect sharp and caustic. She stuck a pointy finger in his face. “You’re the one who turned back on all your promises!”

  “Which ones, CeCe? The one where I promised to marry you? To raise our child together? To support you so you could follow your dream of becoming a chef?”

  Her nose flared. “You were a big deal when I married you—a real big shot. Now you’re just a, a has-been!”

  Maybe she had been right. When they met, he had been competing in the surf circuit, had won a heap of prize money, and had earned the confidence of sponsors. He had also attracted the attention of scores of girls who had not been coy about what they were after when it came to him. For a time, he loved every minute of the attention, not to mention the financial benefits and sponsor gifts.

  But then everything changed. He couldn’t do it anymore—he wouldn’t.

  But why did that matter? He invested his winnings well. Earned a good living. Doted on Siena. Why wasn’t that enough?

  He stopped asking himself those questions long ago. The answers no longer mattered. He had hoped to make a clean break of things, to raise Siena in a happy home, and to pursue good, honest work. And he had nearly given up asking CeCe to sign the papers necessary to make that final break a reality.

  Until Maggie showed up in Colibri.

  Maggie had already told him she didn’t care to think of the past, but he could never forget it. Luke sucked in a breath. He ran a hand across the side of his head. Breaking up with Maggie was the hardest thing he had ever done. Much more difficult than separating from CeCe, if he were honest.

  And that was because … he loved her. Luke had always loved Maggie.

  If only … if only he hadn’t bought the lie, the lie that told him he was some big shot. He shook his head. The girls were everywhere back then. Groupies showed up at his house. They’d follow him to the beach and camp out. And they would photobomb him whenever he won—long before photobombing was a daily pursuit.

  CeCe was the most persistent. Legs for days, she followed him around until he took a second look. And then he’d done much more than look. Luke regretted the night he had spent with CeCe, his only hope that it meant as little to her as it did to him.

  Maggie’s family showed up in Colibri less than two weeks later. She was no longer the teenager who had left the beach the year before, the one he’d kept up with all year with phone calls and emails. He had even sent her a “Wish You Were Here” postcard. She’d sent one back, stained with lipstick, her lips pressed into a kiss. By the time she landed back on the coast, she had already finished a year at beauty school and was flush with excitement that she had passed her licensing examinations.

  Luke would never forget seeing her for the first time that summer. She was … hot. Eye-popping, heat-making, no-longer-a-girl sexy. He had wanted to throw a blanket over her bikini-wearing self and protect her from, well, guys like him.

  On that day that he remembered so well, Maggie ran up to him in her yellow bikini, threw her tan arms around his neck, and kissed him playfully on the mouth. She pulled back from him, laughter fluttering out of her like a million bells, sending his twenty-year-old self into a tailspin from which he could not emerge.

  “I’ve missed you,” she said, her breath like sweet wine, her skin reminding him of coconut oil and wildflowers.

  “Not as much as I’ve missed you,” he’d told her after he had been able to catch his breath.

  And that night, when the wind had blown away the clouds and left behind a dark blanket poked full of stars, they’d made love out on the beach, in a cradle between the dunes.

  Luke’s heart pounded in his ears and he awoke from the memories that he once thought were scattered on the breeze forever. Another thought darkened his mind, harsh words spoken by CeCe, long after he had married her and Maggie had moved away.

  “Even after you got me, you wanted Maggie,” CeCe had spat at him one night. Then she laughed that horrible, air-piercing laugh, the one that always indicated when her spiral had begun. “I did that girl a favor, Luke. She ran off and found her true love. Bet he didn’t let her down. Maggie Morelli owes me!”

  Luke’s heart slowed to a painful thud, CeCe’s rejection of him brutal and mind numbing

  But in the end, he realized that CeCe was right. Despite the fame, the girls, the money … CeCe’s pregnancy, he wanted Maggie. Always had.

  His breath caught in his lungs. It was now or never, but what … what would happen if he told her how he felt? That he loved her now and always would? Would she trust him and stay? Or spin around and leave him here with his heart in his hands?

  His mind spiraled back. That night … that terrible night, when he had told her about the baby, Maggie had not missed a beat. She flew right into the arms of … Rafael.

  The idea of it made him gag. Even today, he could barely look at the guy, and he assumed the feeling was mutual: Rafael had not once set foot in his shop.

  Not long after that night, Luke heard that Maggie was married. He assumed she had found a way to rope in Colibri’s resident shirtless bad boy, but then he’d seen Rafael around the beach. Eventually, Luke learned the truth: Maggie had eloped with a guy from her hometown who had been chasing after her for years.

  She’d finally been caught.

  Luke reflected back. Maggie had been able to shrug off their break-up fast enough to turn around and marry. Could he stand it if he professed his love for her again, after all this time apart, and she left Colibri anyway?

  “You can’t leave!” Brooke Lamont, owner of Brooke’s Beachside Bakery, turned her chin from side to side, admiring the cut and style Maggie had done for her. Lea had sung Maggie’s praises, so the baker had insisted on making an appointment before the month was up. “We need you, Maggie. Sure you won’t change your mind?”

  A loaded question if she had ever heard one. Maggie sighed. The thought of staying in Colibri Beach had come to her more than once, but so did a barrage of open-ended questions.

  Could she drum up enough business here?

  Where would they live once the beach house was sold?

  The biggest question hanging over her was the truth that she had been keeping from Luke. At her mother’s and Mick’s urging, she had promised never to tell anyone that Luke was Eva’s father. Maggie had kept her promise, always believing it for the best. But now, the two people who knew the truth were gone. What now?

  If she told Luke, he would never forgive her and the lie would unravel from there. Wasn’t it better to keep it close to her heart, especially with all the turmoil going on in Luke’s life
right now? Not to mention her own. Her heart squeezed at the prospect, and not in a good way.

  Clearly, Brooke had made an impossible suggestion.

  Maggie fiddled with the front tendrils of Brooke’s hair. “You’re too kind. Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

  “So you’re saying I haven’t convinced you.”

  Maggie shrugged and smiled. “I’d love to, but I also want to provide routine for Eva, and I think wrapping things up and going home would be the best way to do that. Know what I mean?”

  Brooke sighed. “I think so. I’m not a mom yet, but you’re probably thinking about back-to-school shopping, a regular bedtime, reacquainting her with friends. Things like that, right?”

  Maggie broke out in a smile. “Wow, you’re good. You’ll make a great momma someday.” She paused. “Is that your boyfriend I’ve seen at the bakery?”

  “Trent? Yes, we’re—well, yes. He’s my boyfriend.”

  “I take it this is something new?”

  It was Brooke’s turn to shrug. “Not exactly new, but I’m also not sure where we’re headed, you know? Though, well, I hope it’s somewhere good.” She sighed a dreamy little sigh. “I sound like a teenager, but I don’t care.”

  Maggie stepped back. “I think that sounds perfect.”

  Brooke turned around and gave Maggie a hug. “I’m gonna miss you.” She glanced around the oversized bathroom that doubled as a salon. “This place has good bones, you know? Even the cabinet and mirror have personality. Sad to see it all leave your hands.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  Brooke smiled. “Please come back for a visit sometime, okay?”

  “And bring my salon kit?” Maggie asked with a laugh.

  “Haha—yes!”

  After Brooke left and Maggie began cleaning up the salon, her mind idly replayed their conversation. I sound like a teenager, but I don’t care …

  Maggie had almost wanted to respond with: Teens know how to love, don’t they? but she’d thought better of it. Still, her mind wandered back, to a place that ached, to this day, to think about.

  “Hi,” she’d whispered to Luke, the night after they had made love under a quilt made of stars. She might have gone against everything she had always promised herself, her parents, but there would be no regrets. She was nearly nineteen. An adult, for goodness sake. Rather her than one of those bone-thin groupies always throwing themselves at her boyfriend. Everyone knew they only wanted him for his fame and his newfound money.

  But she … she loved him. And that was worth something.

  He smiled, yet his eyes held something else, his pupils dilated. She tried to kiss away what she mistook for fear that they had been found out. He did not return the kiss, but instead stepped back. A lock of his salt-water-drenched hair fell onto his forehead, and when she reached up to smooth it back, he stopped her, closing his hand over hers.

  She tilted her head. “What’s wrong, Luke?”

  He let go of her hand and took another larger step back. “I, uh, we can’t do this anymore, Mags.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean? What can’t we do?”

  Luke’s eyes darted to the side, to behind her. He would not look at her. “I’m with somebody else now.”

  His words landed between them like a hoax that fell flat. That was impossible. Impossible! How could he … ? She shook her head. “You’re lying.”

  “I’m not.”

  “But … wait.”

  He shoved a hand into his pocket, his chin set. “It’s not like you’re here all year. Things happen.”

  “I was in school. You knew that. And you wrote to me!”

  “Yeah, well, things have changed a lot around here.”

  “You mean you’re famous now? And stupid girls throw themselves at you all day long?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “You’re better than that, Luke.” She steadied herself, mindful of the catch in her throat and the onslaught of tears behind her eyes. “Last night was everything I ever dreamed.”

  He lifted his chin, his gaze cloudy. “It was a mistake.”

  The coldness of his words landed like ice water on her warm skin.

  “You don’t mean that.”

  He licked his lips, a flicker of sorrow quickly replaced with hard resolve. “I gotta go. See ya.”

  “Luke, wait!” She gripped his wrist. “What’s happening? Why are you doing this?”

  He spun around until his eyes were inches from her. “CeCe’s pregnant.”

  “CeCe? That skinny blonde? You said she followed you around like an annoying cat!”

  She had poked him with a fire iron. He stood to his full height and crossed his sculpted arms in front of his chest.

  She continued. “How do you know it’s yours?”

  “I know.”

  “Are you … marrying her?”

  “Yes.”

  “No.” She shook her head and the tears began to slide down her cheeks. This wasn’t happening. Not now. Not after all the years of waiting for each other. And not after last night. “Tell me this is all some kind of mistake.”

  “Can’t.” Luke dropped his hands to his sides.

  “You can’t leave now.”

  Luke backed away, shrugging, as if that was all there was left to say. Then he spun around and stalked off, leaving Maggie alone to sweep up the mess of the relationship that he had left behind.

  Eight

  “C’mon, Eva. Let’s go or you’ll be late for camp!”

  Eva skidded into the living room with her beach bag over her shoulder and a pair of black sunglasses covering her eyes.

  “The house too sunny for you?”

  Her daughter lifted her chin and posed, like some duck-faced celebrity. “They’re cool.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Maggie said. “But only until you stub your toe because you can’t see in front of yourself.”

  Eva giggled as she bounded from the house and onto the sand. Like the days of summer camp, time had a way of disappearing before Maggie could digest the minutes. If she could somehow slow these years of pre-teen Eva evolving into her teenage daughter, she would.

  A sudden arrow of grief pierced Maggie’s heart. She missed her mother something fiercely. She had been her champion, even though Maggie had let her down. Instead of listening to her mother’s soothing advice, she had knee-jerked her way into a detour: Two days after Luke’s announcement, Maggie hitched a ride back to Arizona and right into the arms of the town bad boy, Mick. He’d been after her all through high school and she finally gave in.

  Only her mother had urged her not to rebound with Mick. Jake hadn’t come to the beach house that summer, and the girls were all still stuck in crushes and summertime romances of their own. Her father might have tried, but let’s be real, how often did they really connect?

  Two weeks later, her mother called her, delivering the news that had seemed as final as death: Luke and CeCe had married.

  She shut her eyes, remembering. She had always been raised to believe in one marriage for life. Her parents had modeled that. Despite the trouble she had suddenly found herself in, no way would Maggie Morelli be a home wrecker.

  She groaned out loud.

  “Something s’matter, Mom?” Eva asked.

  “What? No.” Maggie shook her head quickly. “Sorry. Was just thinking about my to-do list.”

  “You do that a lot.”

  “Do not.”

  “Yeah. You do. Sometimes you even move your lips when you’re thinking.”

  Maggie gasped. “Not true.”

  Eva stopped and put her hand on Maggie’s shoulder, patting it a couple of times. “It’s okay. You have a lot to think about.”

  They trudged along together through the sand, Segura Beach feeling farther away somehow. Maggie slowed, but Eva ran on ahead until she was less than shouting distance. Maggie stopped and cupped a hand around her mouth. “Well, goodbye to you too, Eva!”

  Eva turned a one-eighty, a
crooked smile lighting her face. “Bye, Mom!”

  “I’ll be here when you’re done!”

  “Okay!” Eva flashed her a thumbs up and took off toward the water’s edge.

  Maggie shook her head, smiling in spite of herself. She scanned the beach for a spot where she could sit with her back to the sun while still having a wide view of the water, when Luke’s voice broke her concentration. “Hi, stranger.”

  “Hi.” Maggie cringed. She still had one foot in the memory she’d been replaying, the one that should have been long buried with no chance of being unearthed.

  “You all right?”

  “I am.”

  “Good. I was thinking of going for a walk. Care to join me?”

  She hesitated, her mind still unsettled. She hadn’t slept well and wondered if it would be better to refuse and just plop down onto the sand for a nap. But then she reminded herself—she and Luke had agreed to be friends. Maggie glanced out to the horizon. She wouldn’t be able to see this for very much longer.

  “Is that a no?”

  “Sure. I mean, no.” She huffed a sigh. “Yes, let’s take that walk.”

  The tide had washed out, giving them a low, flat surface to walk across for as far as they could see. In the distance, a formation of pelicans flew close to the water. She wondered if fish were sparse closer to the shoreline, having been washed deeper into the ocean.

  “Can I ask you a question?” Maggie said, longing to think about anything other than the mistakes of her past.

  “Anything.”

  “Why don’t you surf anymore? I asked you once before, but you never gave me an answer.”

  He slowed his pace momentarily. “I can’t answer that.”

  “You said I could ask you anything.”

  “Didn’t say I’d answer, though.”

  She crossed her arms. Why this frustrated her, she didn’t know. Then she remembered: He had done this before, back when they were young. How had she forgotten how stubborn he always was?