About that Night (9 page)

“Of course not. Why would that offend me?” I muttered.

“You’re out of line. Both of you.” Luke’s body had gone rigid and a fire burned in his eyes.

“Maybe we should go,” I whispered to him. He looked like he was about to snap and I didn’t want him to say something he would regret later.

“I would if I were you,” Alexis said, looking up for the first time. “This is as good as it’s going to get right here.”

“Close your mouth, Alexis,” Virginia commanded. Alexis shrugged and went back to her phone but Luke wasn’t as accommodating.

“She’s not wrong,” he said. “Unless you plan to keep your thoughts about my relationship to yourself, we should leave.”

Luke pushed back his chair and neither parent made any attempt to stop him. He pulled my chair out as I stood and I followed him from the room. “Are you sure you want to leave, Luke?”

He whirled on me. “Were you listening in there?”

“Don’t yell at me,” I said, stepping back. The only other time I had seen him this angry was when he had threatened to kill Neil. “I’m on your side, Luke.”

He flinched when he saw the fear in my eyes. “Christ, Kasey. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“It’s okay.” I let him take my hand, which was shaking.

Luke’s stepped closer. “Are you scared of me?”

“Not exactly.” I didn’t think I was afraid of him, but my hands were shaking nonetheless. “You just startled me. It brought back bad memories.”

Luke’s face fell. “I’m so sorry, Kasey. Come here. Please.”

I stepped into his arms and the shaking stopped for both of us. My fear vanished, and his anger faded. Just as we both began to relax, the front door flew open.

“Uncle Luke!”

I pulled away in time to see two tiny bundles of energy fly down the hall and tackle Luke around the legs. He laughed and bent to scope them up in his arms. They both looked to be about five years old to me, but I wasn’t good at guessing kids’ ages.

“Kase, this is my niece and nephew, Max and Maddy. They’re twins.” Luke nodded toward the door. “That’s my brother, Andrew.”

“Good to see you.” Andrew stepped next to Luke and slapped him on the back.

It was easy to tell that they were brothers. Andrew was about an inch shorter than Luke, and his dark hair was speckled with gray, but other than that they were nearly identical.

Andrew looked me up and down. “Who’s this, Luke?”

“This is Kasey.”

Max was beginning to squirm, so Luke set him on the ground. Maddy had a death grip around his neck and refused to let go.

“It’s nice to meet you, Andrew.” I shook his hand.

“Andrew is just about the only sane member of the family,” Luke explained. He turned to his brother. “Where’s the wife?”

Andrew’s cheek twitched. “She’s not feeling well. She won’t be joining us today.”

“Lucky her,” I muttered, not realizing I had said it out loud.

Both Andrew and Luke laughed. Andrew slapped Luke on the back again. “I like her already, brother. Good work.”

“She spent twenty minutes experiencing the annual parental interrogation. She’s fully indoctrinated now.” Luke forced a smile.

Andrew laughed again. “Well at least now Virginia can stop questioning your sexuality.”

“I really don’t understand that. Does she not remember that I was married?” Luke asked indignantly.

Andrew shrugged. “Your marriage lasted for about a week. A homosexual outing would make sense…”

“I need to pee,” Maddy announced emphatically. Luke and Andrew exchanged a look.

“I can take her,” I offered.

Andrew seemed relieved. “You don’t have to do that,” he protested lamely.

“It’s not a problem.” I held out my arms and was surprised when Maddy lunged into them. “You two can have some time to catch up.”

“Thanks, Kasey,” Luke said.

“I hear you like penguins,” I said to Maddy, remembering that Luke had bought her a penguin as a gift two years ago. I hoped it was still true or I was out of topics.

“I
love
penguins,” she said with a big smile. “Uncle Luke buys me one whenever he goes on trips. I have hundreds of them.”

“That’s pretty cool.” I breathed a sigh of relief when Maddy finally confirmed that she was old enough to pee on her own. Not having kids, I wasn’t sure of adult/child social norms.

When she was done, she took my hand and led us back to where the guys were still talking. I could hear them speaking in hushed voices.

“I’m telling you man, you need to tell her now. Waiting is only going to make it worse.”

“I’m not saying anything until I know for sure.” Luke’s voice was strained. “What if it’s a lie? You don’t know how she is.”

“What if it’s not a lie? This isn’t something that’s just going to go away.”

“I need more time to think it over.”

“The kid is already two, man. If he really is yours, don’t you want to be involved in his life as soon as possible?” Andrew glanced up from their conversation and saw me standing there with my mouth agape. “Shit.”

“Daddy cursed!” Maddy sang out with a giggle.

I couldn’t feel my legs. The world started to spin around me as Luke turned around. One look in his eyes said I hadn’t misheard- Luke had a child.

“Kasey.” My name was nothing but a rush of air as it slipped through Luke’s lips.

I marched past him, grabbing my coat on my way to the door. “Take me home.”

“Wait. Kasey.” Luke grabbed for my arm, but I jerked it away. He reached for me again and this time I actually shoved him away.

“Home.” I nearly yelled the word and Maddy’s eyes widened.

Luke looked to Andrew for support, but he shook his head. “Take her home, Luke. I’ll cover for you here.”

“Kase, you have to talk to me at some point,” Luke said, as he started the car. “Just let me explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain.” It was cold in the car, but I was burning up. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You don’t owe me anything.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Luke pulled onto the highway.

“Why not? It’s true. It’s not like we are in a relationship or anything. We’re just… nothing.” I squeezed my hands into tight fists.

“Jesus, Kasey. You don’t really believe that, do you?” Luke slammed on the breaks when the car in front of us stopped abruptly. It gave him the opportunity to look at me. “I just introduced you to my parents.”

“You sure did.” I flashed my eyes in his direction. “You introduced me to them, but didn’t bother to tell me you knocked up some other woman. So clearly this is a very serious relationship. Screw you, Luke.”

“I know. I should’ve told you. I know I should have. But I didn’t even know if it was true.” Luke tapped his hands on the steering wheel.

“You sound like a total pig right now. You know that, right?” I tugged angrily at the ends of my hair. “Who is she?”

Luke looked away. “Lauren. My ex-wife.”

“When did you find out about the kid?”

Luke answered quietly, “She sent me a letter last week demanding child support.”

“So she says the kid is yours?”

Luke didn’t answer. We were quickly closing in on the city and nothing had been resolved. Finally, he said, “She does. I don’t believe her. Lauren was always lying about things. But even if it is true, it doesn’t matter. I want to be with you, not Lauren. Nothing has changed.”

“You’d be a father, Luke. That changes everything.”

Luke moved into the right lane and started to take the exit.

I stopped him. “No, Luke. I asked you to take me home.”

“That’s where I’m going,” he said.

“No, not to your home. I want to go to my home.”

This time when Luke looked at me, his eyes were full of unguarded hurt. I was certain that mine were as well. Neither of us said another word. When he pulled up out front, I hurried to open the door.

“Can I call you?” he said quickly.

“Please don’t.” I slammed the door shut. As I was unlocking the door to my condo building, I glanced over my shoulder. Luke was still there. He hadn’t left me. With a very great effort, I turned my back on him and went inside.

CHAPTER TEN

There are a lot of reasons you shouldn’t date your boss, but most of those reasons only matter once the fling is over. The number one reason being, you can’t escape them. I should’ve known that Rachel’s New Year’s Eve party wouldn’t be a good idea, but I went anyway. At first, everything was fine. I was still reeling from the news about Luke having a child, but I was determined not to sit around feeling sorry for myself. We had only been together a few days and I wasn’t going to waste any time pretending it had been anything more than that.

“That guy over there hasn’t stopped staring at you,” Rachel friend, Tori, yelled in my ear.

“Who is he?” I could barely make out the back of his head over the crowd.

“No idea. I can’t really see him, but he’s been looking over here all night.” Tori refilled my champagne glass. “It’s almost midnight and I think he wants to be your New Year’s kiss.”

I had drunk just enough champagne to think that would be a good idea, so I began pushing my way through the crowd. Just as I made it to the other side of the room, everyone began the countdown at 30 seconds. At 25 seconds, my eyes found the guy Tori had pointed out.

“Shit,” I said, looking directly into Luke Donovan’s stunning eyes.

The crowd was still chanting, and Luke’s eyes drew me forward. I was still mad and I wanted to yell at him, but something stronger was guiding me. I missed him.

“Luke,” I said.

He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me through the crowd. We were down to ten seconds. He opened the first door we came across and pulled me inside. Rachel’s bedroom was empty and even with the door closed behind us, we could still hear the countdown. Luke leaned over me and I pushed up on my tiptoes. Our lips met just as the crowd reached the number one and I rang in the New Year with Luke’s tongue in my mouth. This was not how things were supposed to go.

“Stop.” I pushed him away. “What am I doing?”

“Kasey, please. Don’t go.” Luke tried to hold on to me but I squirmed away. I stepped back into the crowded hallway and shoved my way to the front door. I dug through a stack of coats until I found mine and then I ran outside. The ground was covered in a mix of snow and ice so I had to slow down or risk falling.

“Kasey!” Luke had better balance than me and it didn’t take him long to catch up. “Just give me two minutes, please.”

“What? What are you going to say that will make this okay?” I turned to him and crossed my arms over my chest.

“The kid isn’t mine,” he blurted it out through chattering teeth. Unlike me, he hadn’t bothered to grab his coat. “I told her I’d give her child support if she would agree to a paternity test. When she realized that the results would ruin her plan, she told me the truth. She got pregnant a week after I moved out. There’s no way the kid is mine. She was just after my money, and under some delusion that I might take her back if we had a kid together.”

“Luke-”

He stopped me. “Kasey, I was never going to take her back. Even if it had been true. I would’ve done anything and everything for the kid, but I was never getting back together with Lauren. She’s a miserable human being, and even if she wasn’t, it was never going to happen.”

“Why not?” I bit at my lip to keep it from trembling.

“Because she’s not you.” Luke held his hands helplessly away from his sides. “I don’t want to be with anyone but you. Not now, not ever.”

I was shaking now, and not from the cold. “I have to go,” I whispered. “I can’t do this.”

“Why not?” Luke followed me down the sidewalk and I furiously tried to hail a cab. It was a nearly impossible feat on New Year’s Eve.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I yelled at him. “It was just supposed to be that one night. And then it was just supposed to be some random fun. You weren’t supposed to develop feelings for me and I certainly wasn’t supposed to fall for you.”

I saw a thrill of delight in his eyes. “I knew it.”

“Stop. Just stop.” A miracle happened when a cab saw my hand waving in distress. I tore open the door and dove inside.

“Don’t do this, Kasey.” Luke leaned in the open cab window.

“I’m sorry, Luke. I have to go.” I pushed the button to roll up the window. Luke backed away slowly, his halting breaths sending bursts of clouded air into the night sky.

The next morning I woke up to a long, thoughtful email from Luke. He was second-guessing everything that had happened between us in the last few weeks. My rejection had stung and he was going to give me some space to decide what I really wanted. Luke made it clear that he wasn’t interested in drama or playing games. He also wasn’t going to keep begging me to give him a chance. He was going to Montana for a ski trip with his family and would be gone for a week. He didn’t say what would happen when he got back.

I should have been relieved. It was exactly what I had told him I wanted. So why did I feel so devastated?

My oldest friend, Jen, had invited me to her house for brunch and it only took five minutes before I broke down and told her the whole story.

“I don’t get it,” she admitted as she slid a plate of crepes in front of me. “He sounds like the perfect guy. Why did you shut him out?”

“The whole thing with the kid just got me thinking,” I said, shoving a forkful of food into my mouth.

“But it wasn’t even his.” Jen had always been the more practical one in our friendship. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

As if I didn’t already feel bad enough, now my best friend also thought I was being irrational. “It isn’t really about him. It’s about me and my messed up view of life.”

“Not life,” Jen correct me. “Love. I think the real reason you pushed him away is because you realized that you are falling in love with him.”

I sighed, unable to tell her that she was wrong. “I think you’re too smart for your own good.”

“Clearly.” She brushed a strand of red hair from her eyes. “What I want to know is, what are you going to do to make this right?”

“I have no idea.” The only thing I did know was that I had been an idiot. “If you were me, what would you do?”

“Fix it,” she said without hesitating. “This isn’t a difficult problem. He’s giving you space because you insisted on it. You’re the one that needs to fix it.”

She was right, of course. But I wasn’t sure the solution was that simple.

By the time I got home, I had begun to formulate a plan. It was crazy, and there was a chance it could make things worse, but I had to try. I wasn’t going to give Luke up without a fight

Jen answered on the first ring when I called.

“So?” she asked without saying hello.

“I’m going to fix it,” I said, pulling my suitcase from my closet. “I’m going to Montana.”