Catching Lucas Riley

by Lauren Winder Farnsworth

  “Alex is certainly attractive, and I know you have a bit of a weakness for the tall, leggy types, Lucas, but don’t you think your wife should have more substance? She’ll be the most important part of your life. I can’t help thinking that you’ll regret it for as long as you live if you give up a girl like Olivia for a girl like Alex.”

  Sealey’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the partially open door. He reached out and grasped Alex’s arm, pulling her down the hall and away from the room.

  “SEALEY, I—” ALEX began, but he rode right over her.

  “Trust me, you don’t need to listen to any more of that,” Sealey muttered as he led her through the Rileys’ kitchen.

  Instead of guiding her out the back door onto the patio as she expected, he led her to a side door that emerged into a side yard, densely populated with trees and wild-looking shrubbery. They walked in silence until they arrived at a decorative wooden arbor with a bench underneath. Sealey sat and pulled her down next to him.

  “Look,” he began. “Despite what that sounded like, Marcus and Candie are really great people. They’re like second parents to me. I wouldn’t want you to judge them too harshly based on what you just heard.”

  “I’m sure they’re wonderful people,” Alex said quietly. She kept her eyes focused on her hands, playing with the ends of her tan sweater. “Look, I don’t blame them,” she said honestly, looking up at Sealey. “I mean, it’s not a picnic to hear yourself spoken about like that, but I’m not stupid. I know they don’t know me at all. And I know they’ve hoped for Lucas and Olivia to end up together for probably most of Lucas’s life. I get that. I must be a major disappointment after so many years of hoping for something different.”

  “You are taking this surprisingly well,” Sealey said, looking at her skeptically. “After our conversation last weekend, I would’ve thought something like this would devastate you.”

  “Well, luckily, I’ve had a week to reflect on what you said,” Alex replied. “Don’t get me wrong—I’m not going to just roll over and give up on me and Lucas, but I think you’re right that the time for scheming is over. Now that Lucas actually knows me and has chosen to keep me around anyway, I think Olivia and I are as close to equal footing as we’re going to get.” She bit her lip and then glanced up at Sealey. “And I should probably take this opportunity to apologize for the things I said to you. I was just scared about having to take responsibility for my chances with Lucas, and I took it out on you.”

  Sealey shrugged. “I get that. And I wasn’t exactly a charmer either, so, you know . . . I’m sorry too.”

  Alex waved his apology away, not feeling like she deserved it. She had definitely been the antagonist in that particular conversation. “You know, the fact that Lucas was actually defending me to his parents in there makes me feel a bit better about my chances. Is that stupid?”

  Sealey smiled softly. “There’s nothing wrong with that.” He reached out and laid a tentative hand on top of Alex’s.

  “But doesn’t it make you nervous at all?” Alex asked. She turned to face him more fully, wanting to be able to read his expression. “What if Olivia comes home, and Lucas decides he wants her instead of me? What if we lose?”

  “Well,” Sealey replied, pulling his hand back and folding his arms across his chest. “In that case, I guess I just have to trust in your ability to keep Lucas’s attention.”

  Alex stared at him. “What?” she gasped. “You’re really going to pin all of your hopes for a happily ever after with Olivia on me? You can’t do that!” She wanted to reach out, grab his T-shirt with both of her hands, and shake some sense into him. “Sealey, I can’t take that much pressure! It’s hard enough having my own happiness resting on my ability to keep Lucas’s interest, but I can’t be responsible for yours too!”

  “Well, unfortunately, you are,” Sealey said, shrugging. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Why wasn’t he more anxious? Alex wondered. It was infuriating!

  “I really don’t know what else to tell you,” Sealey continued when he saw her disgruntled expression. “Nobody has more power over my fate right now than you do. But don’t let it worry you. Like you said, Lucas was defending you in there. I think he’s probably more attached to you than you think.”

  This really didn’t make her feel any better. Sure, she liked to think that her chances with Lucas were relatively good overall, but she’d assumed that she’d at least have Sealey’s advice per usual to help her through the rough patches. Particularly when Olivia returned home and everything got even more complicated. Now he was effectively saying that even from a consultation perspective, he was out.

  Alex studied him as he smiled serenely at her. She sighed as she felt herself accept his words. He was right. It was her turn. It was thanks to him that she’d even made it this far, but her relationship with Lucas was now beyond his help. Could she do it? Was she confident enough in her knowledge of Lucas and of herself to defeat a relationship that had infinitely more history?

  Looking over at Sealey and knowing that she shared some responsibility for what happened to him, she really hoped so.

  Lucas was very quiet on the drive home that night. The rest of the day had been relatively uneventful and his parents had been kind and generous to Alex. They, of course, had no reason to suspect that she had overheard their conversation with their son. And she didn’t give anything away either. She meant what she’d said about not resenting them.

  “You okay?” Alex finally asked, squeezing Lucas’s hand. He’d been silent for nearly half an hour, and she was a little concerned that he might be taking what his parents had said a little bit too much to heart. If that were the case, she really wanted to know about it sooner rather than later.

  “Fine,” Lucas said, forcing his voice to be cheery. But Alex could hear the difference. “I’m sorry about my parents.”

  “Um, what do you mean?” Alex asked. For a second she panicked, thinking that maybe he had known all along that she had overheard his conversation with Marcus and Candie. “They were perfectly friendly to me.”

  “Yes, they were friendly,” Lucas agreed. “But they weren’t warm. I don’t know, maybe you didn’t notice the difference. You don’t really know them. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “Well, you can’t expect them to adore me right away,” Alex replied, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. “They don’t really know me yet.”

  “And they didn’t even try to get to know you,” Lucas said, and his voice had an edge to it. “They could have at least tried.”

  “Come on, Luke,” she said, reaching over and massaging between his shoulders. “There’s no need to get all worked up about it. We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other, I’m sure.” Did that last sentence ring false? she wondered, as Lucas glanced at her quickly. Sighing, she finally decided to drop the façade for once. “This has something to do with Olivia, doesn’t it?”

  Lucas flinched a little. His hand tightened almost painfully on hers. “Why do you say that?” he asked.

  “Well, I know you guys have known each other forever, and I know your parents know and love her. Sealey said as much,” Alex said quickly to explain her knowledge of Olivia’s connection with Marcus and Candie.

  “You talked to Sealey about Olivia?” Lucas asked, eyeing her warily. “Why?”

  “I was just . . . ,” Alex said, thinking fast. “Curious. You know. I wanted to know more about her, but I thought it might be awkward to ask you. You mentioned that you’d dated her for a while, so I figured Sealey must know her, since you guys are such good friends.”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “Well . . . you know. Not much.”

  Lucas waited, indicating that her answer was not good enough. She attempted to come up with a better one.

  “You know . . . just . . . everything.” She finally gave up, letting her breath out in a whoosh. “I know you all grew up together, and that she is Ashley’s age and that
they’re best friends. I know that you and Sealey and Ashley all went to the same schools, but that Olivia attended private school. And I know that pretty much everyone you know wants you to end up with her.”

  Lucas made a funny face at her last sentence. “Well, I wouldn’t say everyone,” he defended. “Sealey doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Actually, he’s been really supportive in my relationship with you. I’ve never known him to ask so many questions about my love life.”

  “He’s a good friend,” Alex said quickly. “Maybe he wanted to encourage you in something that seemed to be making you happy. Just a guess, though.” Blushing, she looked away. She was not off to a good start, here.

  “You do make me happy,” Lucas assured her, squeezing her hand.

  “I’m glad,” Alex replied. “You make me happy too.”

  After that, Lucas seemed to relax. His outlook was sunnier and he spoke merrily of his memories of many of the party’s guests, entertaining her with funny stories about them. By the time they got back to Logan, it was as though the conversation with his parents had never happened.

  “Hello?” Alex gasped as she struggled to grab her purse, keys, sweater, and hold her phone to her ear all at once. She was already ten minutes late for her shift at the hospital and while she knew Karen would never confront her about it, Alex hated to agitate her.

  “Alex?” said a female voice on the other end. “Alex Foamer?”

  “You got her,” she replied breathlessly as she attempted to shove her feet into her tennis shoes.

  “Alex, this is Fiona Welch,” said the voice on the other end. Alex froze, one finger stuck behind her heel as she attempted to force her foot into the stubborn sneaker. Attention now totally focused on the other end of the line, Alex fell backward onto the couch, her finger still wedged in her shoe.

  “Dr. Welch!” she exclaimed. “It’s great to hear from you!”

  “I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you.”

  Alex made a nonchalant, snorting sort of noise that sounded more disturbing than she had meant it to. “It’s only been a week and a half,” Alex said quickly to cover the noise. “It’s no problem. I know how busy you are.”

  “I appreciate your patience,” Dr. Welch said. It sounded like she might be smiling. “But between our current symposium series and all the interviewing I’ve been doing to fill these positions for our next one, I really have had very little time. But at least I’m calling with good news. I am pleased to offer you a position in our next conference series if you’d like one.”

  “Seriously?” Alex gasped. She had hoped and wished and pleaded with the heavens that this phone call would come, but the longer silence reigned, the more she had suspected that it never would. “You really want me?”

  “Absolutely,” Dr. Welch responded, and now there was no doubt that she was smiling. “What you lack in professional experience, you make up for in energy. And what we really need is someone to excite the audience about our goal, and quite frankly, to speak to them on a less technical level. What do you say?”

  Alex nearly opened her mouth to shriek in the affirmative, but suddenly Lucas’s face was swimming in her head. Three months without him? For some reason it had never actually occurred to her that she would have to be separated from him until that moment. She suspected that she had been suppressing the thought.

  “I know this is going to sound ridiculous after that display of enthusiasm, but can I have a bit to think about it?” Alex asked. “I actually just recently had a big change take place in my personal life and I need to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I commit to a three-month absence. When do you need my answer by?”

  “Hmmm,” Dr. Welch replied uncertainly. “That might be tough. The symposium begins in mid-December and while I do have enough solid applicants that I think I can give you a little wiggle room, I can’t offer much. How does Thanksgiving weekend sound? That should give you another week and a half to decide. Do you think you’ll have an answer for me by then?”

  “That I can do,” Alex said quickly. A week and a half was much more than she’d hoped for. That would give her plenty of time to talk this over with Lucas. “Thank you so much, Dr. Welch! I can’t tell you how excited I am by this opportunity.”

  “Well then, I hope you decide to join us,” Dr. Welch answered. “We’ll talk in a week and a half, Alex.”

  Alex hung up and collapsed against the back of the couch, her tardiness completely forgotten. She had just been offered her dream job—something she had never really believed she’d get the opportunity to do. It had just fallen into her lap . . . and at the very moment she would have the hardest time accepting it. Why did life always have to throw you curve balls like that? Sighing, Alex closed her eyes and tried to figure out how to broach the subject with Lucas. Would he be excited for her, or would it just be a continuation of the last time they’d discussed the opportunity the week before? She didn’t want to argue with him.

  That wasn’t exactly all of it, she knew. Olivia would be coming home in just a few days. Did Alex really want to leave Lucas at home with his former love for three months, especially when their relationship was so new? Was that the wisest strategy?

  And just as though her thoughts had called Lucas forth, her phone rang and his name appeared on the screen. She smiled brightly as she lifted the phone to her ear.

  “Hey, handsome,” she greeted, her voice sultry and inviting, mostly in jest. Sort of.

  “Well, hello,” came the voice on the other end that was not Lucas’s.

  “Sealey!” Alex exclaimed, feeling her cheeks go pink. She checked her phone again. Yes, it was indeed Lucas’s number. “What are you doing with Lucas’s phone?” she demanded.

  “Beats me,” Sealey replied. “He dialed your number and then threw the phone into my lap. I think he finally heard the timer in the kitchen that’s been going off for the past ten minutes. His macaroni and cheese is done.”

  Men. “Nice to know I rank second to Kraft Specialty,” Alex muttered.

  “Hey, at least he dialed first,” Sealey consoled. “Oh wait, he’s back. Here.”

  “Alex!” Lucas’s voice burst onto the line, the word sounded garbled through the mouthful of his precious mac and cheese.

  “Hey,” Alex replied, not able to work up the energy to re-create her “come hither” tones from before. “What’s up?”

  “I was just wondering if you were free tomorrow,” Lucas replied. “I’d like to head up Smithfield Canyon before all the fall colors fade and I wondered if you wanted to go with me.”

  “Love to,” Alex replied enthusiastically. A romantic stroll along the rosy canyon’s famous “river walk” would be the perfect time and place to broach the looming subject of her job offer. How could he refuse to lovingly support her dream and faithfully wait for her return while she stood in front of him, surrounded by vibrant hues?

  “Great, I’ll pick you up at eleven, if that’s okay,” Lucas said, his words still mixed with macaroni.

  “I’ll be ready,” Alex responded. “See you then.”

  “Bye, babe,” Lucas said and disconnected.

  Babe. He’d called her babe. It was her first official pet name! Alex felt the sudden and driving need to document. Knowing it would take far too long to hunt down the journal she hadn’t written in since she was fifteen, she grabbed her phone and opened up her note-taking app. That would have to do. Tapping the conversation out furiously with the tips of her fingers, Alex felt the almost painfully wide perma-smile hanging goofily on her face. She didn’t care. Despite the fact that Alex knew she still had a difficult conversation ahead with Lucas, at that moment, she felt ready to take on anything.

  “So, just curious, are we ever going to be allowed to go on a date without you?” Alex teased Sealey from the front seat of Lucas’s car. Sealey rolled his eyes at her from the backseat where he sat passing his iPod back and forth between his hands.

  “Trust me, the only reas
on I’m here is because my car is in the shop and I still haven’t had the chance to run the canyon this fall. As soon as this vehicle stops, I’m outta here and you two can have your private romantic interlude.”

  “I’m just too nice of a guy,” Lucas sighed from Alex’s left. “I would have just made him walk, but I figured by the time he made it to the canyon on foot, he wouldn’t have the energy to run anywhere, let alone walk home again. So I’d end up having to pick him up anyway.”

  “Sound reasoning,” Alex agreed, nodding. Sealey muttered something indiscernible from the backseat.

  “So what do you lovebirds have planned, anyway?” Sealey asked a few minutes later. “Romantic stroll through the exotically colored flora and fauna?”

  “Your vocabulary is too big and too fruity for your own good,” Lucas replied with a smirk. “But, yes, that is the general idea.”

  “Original.” Sealey snorted, kicking the back of Lucas’s seat. “And let me guess, you have an adorable and oh-so-cheesy picnic set up in a little grove of trees, just off the path.” His tone was teasing, but Lucas was uncomfortably quiet. “Oh, um . . . do you?” Sealey asked suddenly, registering the awkwardness in his best friend’s silence.

  “Well, I hope you don’t like surprises, Alex, because you’ve just had one completely ruined for you,” Lucas replied, ignoring Sealey.

  Alex melted, and she reached over to take Lucas’s hand. “You came up here and set up a picnic for us?” she asked, her voice sounding a bit more sickly-sweet than she really liked. But she couldn’t help it. What a guy.

  “I know it’s corny, but I wanted to do something special for you and I lack creativity,” Lucas replied, shrugging. “I would’ve asked Sealey, who, believe it or not, is a wizard at putting together schemes of that sort, but I didn’t want to go on a date with you that someone else had planned. Not this time.”

  “It’s perfect,” Alex said, squeezing his hand. She glanced behind her into the backseat, expecting to see Sealey pretending to vomit or something, but he sat quietly, expressionless, looking out the window.