Sweet Victory

by Melanie Shawn

  “Alright, break it up, you two. You boys need to stop,” Ellen said sternly as she carried a large ceramic bowl filled with spaghetti to the dining room table, but Luke could hear a distinct smile in her voice.

  Luke’s sisters-in-law, Ashley and a very pregnant Stephanie, followed with salad and bread. When the table had been fully loaded, Ellen commanded, “OK, everyone. Time to wash your hands.”

  Luke's brothers started to shoo their children off towards the kitchen to cleanse their hands, but Ellen good-naturedly pushed them after the kids, “When I said everyone, I meant EVERYONE, you hooligans!”

  When the entire family was seated around the table and grace had been said, Ashley looked at Luke with a wicked half smile, “So, how are things at Mountain Ridge, Luke?”

  Luke glanced at her, puzzled, as he piled spaghetti onto his plate, “Why are you saying it like that, as if you have some big gossipy secret?”

  Stephanie chuckled, “Because what she really wants to ask is how things are going with Samantha Holt!”

  Luke's niece Bailey giggled, “Uncle Luke has a girlfriend!”

  Luke found himself, quite in contrast to his normal blasé attitude where women were concerned, blushing furiously.

  Ellen's eyes widened when she saw this and she said slyly, “Oh, my. Apparently it's going very well, indeed. Unless it's going very poorly.”

  Luke looked around at his family at the table, all gazing at him expectantly – eagerly, even. He wondered if he should let them twist or go ahead and put them out of their misery. He grinned.

  “Wouldn't you all like to know!” he teased.

  “Yes, we would,” said his other niece Ariel, a solemn tone in her voice.

  “Oh, Luke, stop teasing and tell us!” begged his sister-in-law Stephanie, “This pregnancy has me tied down. I can't go see my friends, I'm stuck in a chair or in bed the majority of the time. I need a little excitement!”

  “Alright, alright,” Luke relented, “I'll tell you the story. We went on a date last night.”

  Ellen perked up, “My, that sounds promising!”

  “I hope so,” he agreed.

  “Unbelievable,” Chad said ruefully, “The one woman in the world that didn't fall immediately at your feet, and you're gonna end up getting her anyway, figures!”

  Luke looked satisfied with himself as he leaned back in his chair.

  “Hey, what I can I say?” he joked, “If you've got it, you've got it.”

  Ashley laughed, “Oh, Lord, I certainly know that my bridesmaids thought you 'had it' for sure! I thought they were going to come to blows fighting over you!”

  Stephanie groaned in agreement, “No kidding! I had to keep reminding mine that it was my day to even get the slightest bit of attention!”

  Luke grinned, “What can I say?”

  Bobby clapped his hand on Luke's shoulder, “So, is the notorious playboy thinking of settling down then?”

  “That's the plan,” Luke replied seriously, “If she'll have me.”

  “I think that's wonderful, Luke,” Stephanie affirmed, “She's a lucky girl.”

  Luke shook his head, “Nah. I'm the lucky one.”

  “I want to meet her!” shouted Bailey, and Ariel chimed in her agreement. Although none of the adults spoke up, possibly fearing putting more pressure on the burgeoning relationship, Luke could tell by looking at their faces that they all felt the same way as the little girls.

  Luke said, “We'll see how it goes, OK. But speaking of meeting people...I'll bet you girls will be interested in knowing who one of Samantha's very best friends is. Guess who?”

  “Who? Tell us. Who?” Ariel and Bailey chorused.

  “Karina Black,” he said.

  The girls stared in stark amazement for a moment before simultaneously shrieking.

  Luke made an exaggerated show of covering his ears as he laughed.

  “Can we...can we...can we....MEET her?” Bailey asked.

  “I don't know,” Luke answered honestly, “We'll have to see what happens between Samantha and I, and see if there is a good opportunity to make that happen. But maybe.”

  “Did you meet her?” Ariel asked.

  Ryan nodded, “I sure did.”

  The girls screamed again.

  Luke laughed, “In fact, I met her when I went to sign the lease for the apartment I'm living in right now. Her boyfriend lived there before me.”

  “You met Ryan, too?!” asked Bailey incredulously. Both girls were looking at him with an awe and admiration in their eyes that was entirely new.

  Luke joked, “You know, girls, in some circles, I'M actually considered pretty famous...”

  The two little girls looked at him dismissively and began to chatter to each other about Karina and Ryan and their YouTube video.

  Bobby laughed, “Oh, that's a rough one, brother. Your fame has never been truly dissed until it's been dissed by two little girls in favor of someone with a video on YouTube.”

  Luke smiled, and looked around at the table. At his family, how happy they all were together, how much they all loved each other.

  This is what I want, he affirmed to himself yet again. I want Samantha to be a part of this, I want to bring our kids here on Sundays.

  I want this to be our life.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sam got to work Monday morning at around 6:30 in the morning. She knew she was coming in way too early, but she really needed to acclimate to her work space without Luke being there. She knew that, when it came to Luke, she was never going to be able to fully separate the business part from the personal, after all, they were too deeply intertwined. However, she at least had to screw her head on straight and learn to be professional at work. If she was going to accomplish that, she needed a few minutes by herself in the morning.

  At least.

  She was going over paperwork when she heard the door open. Before she even looked up to see who it was, goosebumps formed on her arms and the little hairs on her neck stood up. Well, she thought to herself with slight trepidation, I guess Luke’s here.

  She slowly lifted her head, and when she saw him, she was hit yet again by just how gorgeous he was. How one person could be that good looking boggled her mind. It just did not seem fair.

  “Good morning, beautiful,” Luke said cheerfully as he handed her a paper cup full of coffee and bent down to kiss her, his lips soft and warm and tasting of java.

  Hmmm, she purred to herself, not a bad way to start the day. The kiss ended far too quickly for Sam‘s liking, but the good news was that she was left with a warm tingling sensation all over her body.

  He smiled as he sat at his desk, facing her and asked, “Did you have a nice Sunday?”

  “Yeah I did, thanks for the text,” Sam said quickly, and blushed, remembering the end of the text and realizing that she now always wanted a kiss as well.

  “Oh you got that, huh? I wasn’t sure, since I didn’t hear anything back from you,” Luke's tone was intentionally casual, as was the small sip of coffee he took as he delivered the statement.

  “Oh, sorry I just…I guess…well….I just…I didn’t want to bug you,” Sam stumbled. The real reason, of course, was that Sam had no idea what to text back. Her lack of experience was becoming ridiculously apparent, to her at least. She hoped he didn't notice.

  She had been embarrassed to ask the girls, since she was already seeking their advice on every other aspect of her...whatever you'd call this, what was happening between her and Luke. She couldn't ask them something as stupidly simple as 'What do you think I should text back?' And yet, she hadn't known what would be right. So, in the end, she just didn't write back.

  “Samantha,” Luke’s voice was deep and smooth, “You could never bug me. Ever.”

  “OK,” Sam heard herself say it, almost on auto pilot, as she nodded her head.

  Sometimes Luke’s voice made her feel as though she was in a trance. A really warm, tingly, all-around pleasant trance. It was intoxicating.

/>   A knowing smile crossed Luke’s face and he took her hand across their desks, “Good, now that we’re clear on that, what did you do on your day off?”

  Oh crap! She couldn't tell him that she'd spent it talking to all of her friends about HIM of all things!

  “Just spent the day with the girls,” she replied, shrugging, attempting to affect the same casual air that Luke had when he had sipped the coffee, “We had a book club meeting.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun. What book?” Luke asked.

  “Sorry?” Sam replied, clearly not following his question.

  “What book are you reading for your book club?”

  What book? What book were they reading? Sam couldn’t remember! Oh Jeez Louise, what book was it?

  Forget it, it didn’t even have to be the book they were reading. She just had to think of a book title to tell him! Any book! Come on! Why couldn’t she even remember one title to any book? She had to keep him from guessing that they had spent the entire book club not discussing a pre-determined book, but in fact just discussing him.

  My kingdom for a book title, she thought despairingly.

  Ah screw it, she thought to herself, and said the only thing that came to her mind, “The first rule of book club is don’t talk about book club.”

  His head fell back as he laughed, “Man, you crack me up Sam! Has no one SERIOUSLY ever told you how funny you are?”

  “No,” Sam said honestly, which just made him laugh more.

  Sam loved that she made Luke laugh. She had always believed deep down inside of herself that she was funny, but it just seemed no one else thought so. Lately, though, around Luke...she felt as though in many ways, he was the first person in her life to really see her for who she was.

  It probably should have freaked her out. It probably should have made her feel impossibly vulnerable. It didn’t, though, rather it actually made her feel stronger, more confident.

  She didn’t always feel those things on her own. Sure, she felt like herself when she was competing, but not really in any other aspect of that world. Yes, she felt like herself when she was with her friends and family - but they didn’t truly understand that other world she lived in, which had become an equally big part of who Sam was. And yes, she did feel comfortable around her trainer-slash-manager Stephan and his wife Jackie...but she had never felt like they really knew her.

  With Luke, it was different. It was like the best aspects of all of those situations had combined into one brilliantly glorious person, and it was Luke. He knew both of her worlds, and - more than that - he knew her.

  “What did you do on Sunday?” Sam asked, enjoying the fact that he hadn't let go of her hand yet.

  “I went to my Mom’s for Sunday dinner. My brothers were there with their wives, as well as my nieces and nephew.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun. How old are your nieces and nephew?”

  Luke's countenance changed, he looked every inch the proud uncle, “Bailey is seven and Ariel is five. They are my brother Bobby and his wife Ashley’s two girls. And then my youngest brother, Chad, has Christopher, who's 4. And his wife Stephanie is due with their new little one any day now.”

  “That sounds like a full house,” Sam felt a little bit of envy. Growing up, she had often fantasized about what it must be like to be part of a big family, with little tykes running around, and getting together every week for Sunday dinners. She imagined it would be wonderful. Sam had only a half-sister, but they weren't particularly close. Her Dad had a daughter from a previous relationship that he'd been in before he married her Mom, but the girl had grown up in Las Vegas and they rarely saw each other.

  “Oh, it certainly is a full house!”

  As he said this, Luke smiled, but something else crossed his face as well, and Sam couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

  “Are you OK?” Sam asked.

  “Oh, sure,” Luke replied, “I mean, we all miss my Dad, but the little ones help a lot. They miss their PaPa but they pretty much live in the moment. They're full of so much energy and happiness, it’s pretty hard to stay sad with them around.”

  “That must help your Mom a lot,” Sam said quietly. Her heart broke for Luke’s Mom. Luke had said that his parents had been married over forty years. Sam couldn’t begin to imagine how someone got over a loss like that. Of course, she felt bad for Luke and his brothers – just like she felt bad for Amanda when she lost her Dad, Parker – but Luke’s Mom lost her soul-mate. How do you recover from that?

  Luke rubbed Sam's knuckles with his thumb. God, she loved it when he did that. A shiver ran through her from head to toe.

  “It does help, and I think it also helps that she will be getting a brand new little one soon. Not that the three she already has don’t keep her plenty busy,” he chuckled, “They are quite a handful.

  “Christopher is really into this Karate phase right now, and for some reason, he will only eat food that is green. And the girls don’t go anywhere without their iPods. Actually, they are pretty obsessed with Karina Black. They screamed so loud when they found out I had met her I thought that the neighbors were going to call the police.”

  “That’s so funny,” Sam smiled, shaking her head, “I still sometimes forget that Karina is ‘Karina Black’ - she’s just Karina to me.”

  “To tell you the truth, when I met her, she didn’t seem anything like the ‘pop star’ image that has been portrayed by the media. She seemed really down to earth and, I don’t know...approachable.”

  Sam nodded. “Yeah, that is part of the reason she moved back to Hope Falls. She is really nothing like her image, and I think she wanted to make sure she didn’t lose the real Karina.”

  “Smart girl,” Luke said, still holding Sam’s hand, still rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. Who knew so many nerves were attached to knuckles?

  It was hard for Sam to believe, but she definitely felt tingles happening in places that were much farther south than her hand!

  Sam’s cell beeped and, even though a small part of her felt relieved to be 'saved by the bell' so to speak – before she lost her head and did or said something stupid – the majority of her was filled with reluctance as she drew her hand back and checked the message.

  She figured it was Stephan again – his campaign to get her to quit her life in Hope Falls and come back to him was beginning to border on stalking. But it wasn't. She was surprised to see that it was Amanda.

  “Hey, Amanda wants us both to come meet her up at the main office,” she told Luke, standing up.

  Luke stood as well, rushing ahead of her to their office door so that he could open it for her.

  Sam, feeling suddenly awkward, joked, “Hope we're not in trouble. I feel like we're getting called to the principal's office.”

  Luke waggled his eyebrows and said suggestively, “I don't know that I'd mind that so much...as long as you were wearing a schoolgirl outfit!”

  Chapter Fifteen

  As Sam and Luke made their way to the main offices, Sam noticed that there were a lot more cars in the employee parking lot than there usually was at 8 am on the dot. Even more puzzling, she saw Karina’s car and Eric’s truck parked among the employee vehicles.

  Walking into Amanda and Justin’s office was difficult because of how many people were inside.

  As she and Luke entered, Sam immediately saw Karina standing next to Ryan. Sam would have liked to go stand by them, but it was far too crowded to make her way to where they were standing, on the opposite side of the room.

  Sam raised her eyebrows, giving Karina a questioning look to see if her friend knew what the meeting was about. Karina shrugged and shook her head.

  “Can I have everyone’s attention?” Justin’s voice boomed above the noise of the crowd, and the chatter immediately died down.

  “Thanks,” Justin continued, “and thank you all for dropping everything and getting here so quickly. Amanda and I really appreciate it.

  “So as most of you know we are planning
a Grand Re-Opening one week from Saturday. Everything was on schedule until yesterday. Our construction crew was offered a retrofitting job that's going to last twelve months. The pay was too good for them to pass up, but the only problem is, it started immediately.

  “I understand why they needed to take it, but it has left us in quite a bind, trying to finish up all of the renovations and be ready in time. We were able to bring on a contractor, he will be here tomorrow. He just needs local labor, so if anyone would be willing to help out, that would be amazing.”

  “And of course it will be paid, we’re not asking you to volunteer,” Amanda chimed in.

  “Right,” Justin agreed, “If you’re able to pitch in, and you're interested, then please look over these sheets,” he picked up several clipboards, “We have all of the shifts blocked out, if you could just put your name down on the times you are available. And if you’re not able to help, we still want to thank you for coming out here today. It means a lot to us that the community rallies when one of our own needs help. So, that's about it, except to say that we have donuts, bagels, and coffee, so please help yourself.”

  Luke turned to Sam with a serious look on his face and said, “I know it's asking a lot, but would you be OK with us doing our work at night so that I could work on the construction team during the day?”

  She was taken aback, “Seriously? You want to do that? You realize it will end up being, like, a twenty hour day?”

  Luke shrugged, “Hey, it's only for a couple of weeks. And when the team needs you to pitch in, you pitch in, right?”

  Sam didn't think she'd ever felt so turned on by anyone or anything in her life. It was all she could do not to just attack him right there in the middle of Amanda and Justin's office.

  Karina and Ryan, who had made their way over to Sam and Luke once people started milling around, heard the exchange, and Karina shared a knowing look with Sam, who smiled. Karina knew how Sam felt about teamwork and pulling your weight and being part of a community. She would have known that there was little else that Luke could have said in that moment which would have impressed Sam more than the statement he had just made.