She's Got a Way

by Maggie McGinnis

  “Because you think that’s all you could be?”

  “I don’t know. But I do know you’re tired, you’re vulnerable, you’re scared, and you’re so far out of your normal element that you’re kissing a practical stranger.”

  He crossed his arms, and she felt cold envelop her. “I don’t want you to end up resenting me because I took advantage of that.”

  * * *

  “Luke! Help! Help me!” Katrina’s voice pierced the night air as flames crackled. “Get me out!”

  Luke looked up at the second-floor window where his little sister screamed, eyes widening when he saw flames licking out of the window in the next bedroom. There was no time. No time.

  There was no ladder, either, and the tree next to the house was too far away. But maybe, if he prayed hard enough and stretched far enough, he could climb it and get her to jump to him. He’d catch her. He knew he would. Yeah, he was a no-good sixteen-year-old, but he could at least do that.

  He started climbing the tree, her screams getting louder and louder. But for every branch he conquered, another seemed to grow, and no matter how long he flailed, and how high he climbed, he couldn’t get closer.

  The flames got hotter, licked at the tree, caught, and now he could only see little Katrina through fire. He climbed faster, felt his breaths coming shorter and harder, but still, he couldn’t get to her.

  “Trina! Hold on! I’m coming! Jump for the tree!” he called, but his voice was hoarse, and her screams were getting softer as smoke filled the air.

  “Don’t breathe in! Jump, Trina! Jump!” The grass was soft. Maybe she’d break a leg or something, but at least she wouldn’t be dead.

  He kept climbing, kept climbing, kept climbing, but the tree mocked him. Branches popped out of nowhere, thrusting themselves in his face as he went hand over hand, struggling upward.

  And then there was no sound but the flames, and he panicked.

  “Trina! Trina!”

  * * *

  “Luke. Luke, honey.” He felt his shoulder being jostled gently the next morning. “Luke, wake up. It’s okay. You’re okay. Just a dream.”

  Piper’s voice stabbed at him from outside the dream, and he opened one bleary eye, completely discombobulated to see her hovering over his couch.

  “You okay?” Her voice was soft, concerned, as he struggled to shake the dream and sit up. “What was it this time?”

  “Fire.” His voice shook, and he cleared his throat. He hated the fire dream the most of all of them. That damn tree with its branches, the smoke, the crackle of flames. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Damn. What time is it?”

  “Six. I just came to drop off some cinnamon buns from Mama B. She said you hadn’t been in to get any in a week, and she was concerned you were melting away to nothing.”

  He tried to smile, tried to force the dream back into submission. “Thank you.”

  “Hey, Luke?”

  He shook his head. “Please don’t ask me if I think I should see somebody about this. I am a somebody, and there’s nothing that will stop the dreams.”

  They’d been suddenly worse since Sam’s incident, and it didn’t take a psychologist to figure the reasons for that one out. Plus, the more exhausted he was, the more vulnerable to them he seemed to be. And right now, he was dead tired.

  After he and Gabi had parted at the bathroom yesterday morning, Luke had spent the entire day feeling like a complete shmuck for accusing her of slumming. He’d seen the words hit hard, but they’d already done their damage before he could pull them back. He’d reached for her, and she’d put up a hand, walking toward the tent like she couldn’t possibly be in his presence for one more moment.

  She’d taken the girls, despite the plans they’d made, and had steered clear of him all day. At nine o’clock, she’d headed into the tent, and despite his hope that maybe she’d appear on the pathway … that maybe he’d figure out how to apologize by the time she did, she’d never appeared.

  He was an idiot to have said what he did, and he was ashamed of himself for purposely hurting her. He just hadn’t figured out what to do about it yet.

  “What about Josie? Maybe she could help?” Piper’s voice brought him back to the present.

  “No. I don’t need—I don’t want help. Someday they’ll go away. Or they won’t, and that’s my cross to bear. I deserve it. I couldn’t save her, Piper, and I was the only one left in her life who gave a damn enough to try. There’s no therapist who’ll ever be able to exorcise that demon.”

  Chapter 21

  An hour later, Gabi folded herself into her favorite Adirondack chair, pulling up her knees and zipping her sweatshirt around her. The usual morning mist was just lifting from the lake, and the usual loons were making their usual last calls, but this morning, it didn’t relax her. Instead, it all made her even edgier than she’d woken up feeling.

  Yesterday, Gabi had taken the girls up to the garden after breakfast, knowing she needed to steer clear of Luke at all costs. They’d hoed, they’d raked, and they’d whined, but by the end of the day, that garden had been almost ready for planting.

  So much for turning the girls over to him. One day later, here she was, trying to figure out how to get through the rest of their time here without things being completely awkward.

  His words from yesterday still haunted her, and as much as she wanted to be furious at him, she was more mystified. She knew damn well he’d enjoyed that kiss as much as she had. And she knew damn well that neither of them had been anxious to back off when Sam had shown up and thrown a proverbial bucket of ice over the scene.

  But yesterday morning, for whatever reason, he’d tossed his own bucket, and she had no idea what to do about it except to stay away from him as much as possible until she figured it out. Meanwhile, she kept torturing herself by replaying the scene in her mind. And as much as she tried to convince herself she’d made a big fat mistake in kissing him in the first place, she knew that if she got a do-over, she’d probably do it again in a heartbeat.

  She closed her eyes, reliving the most perfect half hour she’d ever spent—his hands tenderly roaming, his lips turning her into a quivering wreck, his tongue gentle and demanding at the same time.

  “Morning.”

  Gabi’s eyes popped open as Luke’s voice preceded the smell of fresh-brewed coffee. He set a mug down on the arm of her chair, then sat heavily in the matching one. She looked at him quickly, not sure whether to be relieved or amused that he looked like … well, hell. If he knew what she’d just been thinking, it’d be even worse, she was sure.

  “Are you all right, Luke?”

  “Yep.” He took a healthy glug of his coffee, wincing as it went down. “Nope.”

  She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she opted to sip her coffee and wait him out instead. Why was he here? Bringing coffee, even?

  Yes, it had sort of become their habit, but still. Awkward.

  “I need to apologize, Gabi.” He still didn’t look at her.

  “For?”

  “One—for kissing you, and two—for making you feel like shit about it.”

  “Oh. Just that.”

  He looked at her sidelong. “Yeah, just that. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like … well, however you ended up feeling. I am a certifiable schmuck.”

  Gabi took a deep breath. “How I ended up feeling, Luke, is that because I arrived in a BMW van, you’ve somehow got it in your head that I must act and think in a prescribed manner that couldn’t possibly end up working in your favor.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you have any idea what my annual income is?”

  “No, and it’s none of my business. Also, it’s completely irrelevant.”

  “I don’t think it is.” She took another sip of her coffee, mostly as a delay tactic. “Because it’s all I do make. I’m not putting in time at a cushy private school so I can feel good about my contribution to society, then move on to spend the rest of my years cha
iring fundraisers and pretending to give a hoot about popular causes I know nothing about.”

  “I know that.”

  “Do you? How could you?” She felt her cheeks heat up. “I really don’t think you do, actually. I think you’ve got it in your head that because I grew up coddled, I couldn’t possibly have a brain cell in my head devoted to anything besides myself.”

  “Gabi—”

  “I work at Briarwood, Luke, because I hate how entitlement turns out the kinds of people you hate. I hate that schools like mine pamper rich kids and sweep their transgressions under expensive Oriental carpets. I hate that kids like Madison and Waverly grow up thinking the world is there for them, not the other way around. The reason I’m there is to challenge that entire system, and it pisses me off to no end that I’ve been doing that for eight years now, and yet the moment I step off campus, the first thing you believe is that I’m just another rich bitch putting in her time.”

  He pressed his lips together like she’d hit a tender nerve. “I don’t think any such thing, Gabi.”

  She barreled forward, even though she knew she should probably stop. She wasn’t even sure where all of these words were coming from. “Do you have any idea how hard I fought to get those two scholarships approved? How many meetings I had to attend? How much research I had to do in order to prove to the board that having two strangers in our midst wasn’t going to ruin the entire reputation of my stellar, snobbish school? Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to try to expand that program? To make the case that we should be spending our endowment money on our students, instead of new science buildings and a raise for Priscilla?”

  “No.” His word was simple and quiet.

  “No. You don’t. That’s right. And yet you stand there yesterday, after sharing what—I’m sorry—was probably the best damn kiss of my entire life, and you accuse me of slumming?”

  “I—”

  “I don’t slum, Luke. I don’t fall for people based on their economic level or their résumés. I most certainly don’t kiss people I wouldn’t want to see the next morning. And I have never done the hookup thing. Ever. I don’t. I won’t. I kissed you because I like you. I kissed you because you looked so flipping gorgeous sitting there in the moonlight that I couldn’t resist kissing you. And I kept kissing you because I liked it. I liked you. It had nothing to do with vulnerability or fear or any of the other things you threw at me.”

  “Gabriela?”

  Gabi took a breath, trying to corral her racing thoughts. “What?”

  “Stop talking.” His voice was gruff and pained at the same time as he stood up and reached for her hands.

  Before she could think better of it, she let him pull her out of her chair, and before she could react, he’d hauled her against his body, holding her close as he found her lips with his. This kiss had none of the gentle, languishing energy of two nights ago. This kiss was powerful, commanding, hot.

  His hands wandered downward over her jean shorts as he kissed her, and as he cupped her, he pulled her tightly against his body, leaving her with no doubt that she wasn’t the only one feeling the heat.

  Minutes later, after both of them were a little breathless, he pulled back, sliding one hand deliciously upward to cradle her jaw. His eyes skated over her eyes, her nose, her lips, and as if he couldn’t resist doing so, he kissed her again. This time it was gentle, like she was made of the thinnest glass and he was afraid to shatter her.

  And when he pulled back, his eyes were dark, but his smile grew slowly as he tucked her hair behind her ears, then slid his arms around her, bringing her against his chest. He laughed softly, and she could feel him shaking his head gently, his chin moving on top of her head.

  “Apparently I like you, too, Gabriela. Didn’t mean to. Didn’t want to. But damn, woman. You’re going to be the death of me.”

  * * *

  “Whatcha doing?” Two hours later, after the girls had scattered to brush their teeth and tidy up the tent, Gabi walked toward the admin cottage, where Luke had what looked like six miles of rope lying scattered on the grass.

  “Laying bait.”

  Gabi felt her eyebrows go upward. “For what? What are you hoping to catch?”

  “Relax.” He laughed. “Didn’t mean it literally. Thought I might see if the girls might be interested in learning a little rock climbing.”

  “Rock climbing?” Gabi swallowed. “Like on cliffs? That sort of thing?”

  He shrugged casually. “Yep.”

  “Um, no. They’re not. Interested, I mean.”

  “Had a feeling you’d say that.”

  “Luke, they’re not ready for something like that. I mean, I know we talked about doing some challenge-type stuff, but I didn’t think you meant this. This is potentially dangerous.”

  He stopped coiling a bright green rope, a half-smile on his face. “Waking up in the morning is potentially dangerous, Gabi. Rock climbing with perfectly good safety equipment is not.”

  “But—cliffs.”

  He winked, holding his thumb and index fingers an inch apart. “Just little ones.”

  “Not funny.”

  “Let’s just see what happens, okay? They may not even take the bait.”

  She put one hand on her hip. “But you’re pretty sure they will, aren’t you?”

  He laughed. “They totally will.”

  Half an hour later, Gabi sat at the picnic table watching the girls finger the ropes, intrigued by the colors and textures. Luke stood casually winding up different lengths of rope and using complicated-looking knots to bind them.

  Sam spoke first. “So you use these for rock climbing?”

  “Yep.”

  Waverly held up a fluorescent one. “I never would have pictured you using a hot-pink rope, Luke.”

  He shrugged. “One of my favorites.”

  “Where do you actually go?” Eve asked. “To do the rock climbing?”

  Luke pointed across the lake at Kizilla Mountain, which Gabi thought looked much bigger now that she was imagining her girls hanging off its sides.

  “Good cliffs over there.”

  Sam raised her eyebrows. “You usually take camp kids to do it?”

  “Yeah. Took a whole crew last summer. We made an overnight out of it. Hiked up, climbed, did some rappelling.” Luke shrugged like it was no big deal. “Fun stuff.”

  “Can we do it?” Eve asked, running a blue rope through her fingers.

  Luke made a derisive snorting sound. “Hell, no.”

  Gabi felt her eyes go wide. What? Hadn’t he laid out these ropes exactly for this purpose—to get the girls intrigued and wanting to try it?

  “Why not?”

  “First, because we have too much to do here. Second, because there’s way too much to it. You have to learn knots, and how to build body harnesses, and how to rappel and hold for each other, and—” He made a motion that dismissed the entire idea, and Gabi almost laughed, now realizing what he was doing. When he shot her a warning look, she lifted her water bottle and took a sip, trying to tamp down her smile.

  “We could learn.” Sam put her hands on her hips. “You could teach us.”

  “Nah. We really don’t have time.”

  “We have weeks, Luke.”

  “Exactly. I have only weeks left to get this camp whipped into shape. I showed you guys the project list. I don’t have time to teach you this stuff. Sorry.”

  He turned away from them, setting a coiled rope on the picnic table. As he did, Sam motioned for the girls to pick up other ropes.

  “Come on, Luke. Please? Just teach us one knot.” She put up her eyebrows like she was playing him, and it was all Gabi could do not to laugh. “One knot’ll take, like, five minutes, right?”

  He sighed, then turned around, rolling his eyes. “Fine. One knot. But that’s it. We’ve got work to do.”

  Twenty minutes later, all four girls were sitting in the grass, working their ropes into complicated configurations. Luke had shown them four
different kinds of knots, and then handed Gabi a length of rope, as well.

  “Want to try?”

  “Oh, absolutely.” She smiled as she took the rope, speaking almost in a whisper. “You’re good, Luke.”

  He shrugged modestly. “Nah. They’re just not always as complicated as we make them out to be.”

  He walked around the grassy area checking knots, nodding here and there while he gently pointed out mistakes, and despite the fact that she was supposed to be tying her rope, Gabi couldn’t unglue her eyes from him.

  He crouched down beside Madison to help her untangle one of her knots, and Gabi felt herself staring at the way his T-shirt pulled tight against his back. She took a deep breath, trying to look at anything but him, and her eyes landed squarely on Sam, whose eyebrows were arched.

  Sam looked at Luke, then back at Gabi, and she shook her head, a frown touching the corners of her lips as she returned her focus to the rope in her lap.

  * * *

  Later that afternoon, Gabi was up in the garden with Madison, Eve, and Waverly when she heard splashing from down below, and immediately panicked. She and Luke had split up the girls this afternoon in an attempt to tackle more jobs, and the sound of the water sent her adrenaline coursing.

  Was it Sam? How could it possibly be Sam?

  She ran to the edge of the grassy area and peered down through the trees, praying nothing bad had happened. She heard another splash, then saw a ball of white fur, and she laughed. Luke’s dogs were playing in the water, and—wait—was that Sam?

  It was. And she was in the water. Still in a T-shirt and shorts, even though Gabi’d bought her a swimsuit before they’d left school, but she was in. The. Water.

  Gabi put her hand to her mouth as she watched Sam wade up to her waist, giggling as the dogs circled her. Luke stood only a few feet away in the water, tossing little sticks to the dogs when they came toward him.

  After a few minutes, she saw Luke talking to Sam, but was too far away to make out what he was saying. Then he motioned toward the dock, and picked up a couple of tools he’d put there. He handed her something and pointed, and before Gabi knew it, Sam was holding the dock steady, handing tools to Luke as he ducked under to fix something.