Stealing Home (24 page)

I took a moment to consider my options. I could call Luke right now and drive her back to his place, or I could hear what she’d come here to say and then take her to his place. Judging by the look on her face, I’d probably have to throw her over my shoulder to get her into my car before she told me whatever she was here to say.

What was five minutes?

“This sounds like we’re going to need chocolate.” I sighed, wandering into the kitchen.

Alex followed. “Chocolate would probably be a good idea.”

“Good thing I just stocked up,” I said, pulling out the end time’s stockpile of chocolate.

Alex’s eyes went round. “The last time I saw this much chocolate was when my ex broke up with me.” When she gave me a knowing look, I snagged a fun-size Twix from the stash. She took a seat on the barstool across from me, pulling a chocolate-and-caramel Kiss from the bag. “So why aren’t you guys together anymore?”

I didn’t answer until I’d finished my Twix. Just to see if the chocolate and sugar made it easier to talk about. “We weren’t ever really together to begin with.”

“Eh, yeah, you were,” she replied, giving me a look.

“You saw us together once, Alex.”

She popped the Kiss into her mouth and shrugged. “But I know Luke, and if you two weren’t together, he wouldn’t have let us see you together at all. He’s never introduced us to anyone he’s been with other than you.” She was already fishing for her next piece when one side of her face pulled up. “Well, and . . .”

“Callie?” Okay, another piece of chocolate was in order after saying her name out loud.

“You know about her?”

“Yeah.” I popped a few M&M’s in my mouth, trying to cut the bitterness.

“Did he tell you?”

“No.”

“Is that why you broke up with him?” She bit her lip, chewing something out on it. “Because if it was, I know why he didn’t tell you.”

I shook my head. “That wasn’t the reason. At least not the main one.”

Pulling her long braid around her shoulder, she studied me. Almost in the same way Luke had so many times. “What is the main one?”

“That’s between Luke and me.” A few more M&M’s got dumped into my mouth. My plan of dulling the pain via chocolate was working. At least a little.

Alex was quiet after that. I wasn’t sure if she was waiting for me to say something or trying to figure out what to say next. I felt bad that she’d come here and I couldn’t be honest with her about the reason her brother and I hadn’t worked out, but there was no way I could tell her the real reason. I didn’t want to tarnish her view of her big brother.

After digging out a handful of Kisses, she started to make a little pyramid with them. She was on the second row when she glanced up. “Do you know about Owen too?”

I didn’t know his name, but from the sound of her voice, I knew who she was referring to. “The little boy? Yeah, I found that out on my own too.”

“That’s why he didn’t tell you about Callie—because of Owen. I know he would have eventually, but he doesn’t tell just anybody about them.”

At the same time I respected his decision to keep them private, given his world was what it was, I resented it. It was an immature reaction and I knew it, but it was the plight of the scorned lover.

“I can understand that,” I said, trying to sound as convincing as I could. “It would be hard growing up being known as Luke Archer’s son. All of the media. I get it.”

Alex was just about to put the top Kiss on the pyramid when she flinched. The whole thing came crashing down. “Owen isn’t Luke’s son.” She blinked at me. “Luke might have thought he was at first, but Luke isn’t his father.”

The package of M&M’s dropped out of my hand. “What?”

Alex slumped in the seat as she unwrapped another Kiss. “I know. It’s the worst. Callie got pregnant with Owen when Luke and her were together, so of course he assumed the baby was his.” When Alex’s eyes narrowed as she said Callie’s name, I didn’t miss it. “The whole time she was pregnant—even those first few weeks after Owen was born—Luke thought he was his. It’s not like they were planning on getting pregnant, but he was going to do whatever it took to take care of them. You should have seen him, Allie.” A sad smile touched her face. “God, he was such a great dad, you know? So proud—so in love with that little guy.”

When her eyes got glassy, I knew mine would follow. I was a huge sympathy bawler.

“What happened?” I breathed.

Alex balled up her empty foil wrappers, her expression darkening. “Some asshole came into the picture before Owen turned one month old. Claimed he and Callie had been messing around for a while and demanded a paternity test.” She snorted, shaking her head. “Turned out, the asshole was the father. Not Luke.”

I had to lean into the counter for support. “Oh my god.”

“It crushed him, Allie,” she said. “Can you imagine thinking a child was yours, only to find out he wasn’t and that the woman you loved had been going behind your back for months?”

“No, I can’t imagine that.” My mind was still reeling, trying to catch up, but then I realized Luke had been burned in the same way I had. Except Luke had it worse. “But I do know what it feels like to be cheated on.”

Like she could feel my pain flooding my system, she dug out another Twix bar for me. “That little boy might be someone else’s son, but Luke made sure he’s taken care of. Owen has a nice college fund that’ll pay for the best school in the country. And med school if he wants. And a starter home after.”

My eyes were reaching max glassy levels before spillage ensued. If Alex shed a tear, I was a goner. “Does he get to see Owen very much anymore?”

She exhaled. “He hasn’t gotten to see him in over two years. That woman and her asshole cut Luke out of the picture entirely. And since he had no legal rights to Owen, there was nothing Luke could do.”

“Couldn’t he have done something?”

“What? No judge is going to grant visitation rights to some guy who thought he was a kid’s dad.”

My shoulders slumped. “I guess not.”

“Plus Luke came to realize that Owen’s life would probably be more peaceful if he wasn’t in it. It’s not like the kid’ll remember him, so it was really only for Luke’s benefit that we wanted to keep seeing Owen. Not for Owen’s.”

I turned the Twix bar over in my hand, my appetite for chocolate gone. “He said that?”

“Of course he said that. It’s Luke. He couldn’t
not
do the right thing if someone threatened to end his baseball career.”

I didn’t know what to say. So much had just come at me that I couldn’t remember why I had been so mad at him in the first place.

“I wish I would have known,” I whispered. “What an awful thing to happen.”

Alex’s eyes met mine, the faintest glimmer of hope in hers. “Then you’ll give him another chance?”

Another chance. If it had just been this coming between us, of course. If it had just been this, I probably wouldn’t have called it quits. He couldn’t control what others did to him any more than I could. We’d been burned, and we both had the scars to prove it.

Luke’s and my issues ran deeper.

“This—Owen, Callie—they weren’t the main reason we didn’t work out.”

She groaned. “Then what was?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Then let’s uncomplicate it because I haven’t seen Luke this happy in years. Not even with Callie before he figured out what a cheating whore she was.”

“Wow. Fond memories?”

“Luke doesn’t know I call her that. He wouldn’t like it if he did.” Her nose creased.

“Then we’ll keep that our secret,” I said, trying to figure out what was happening. Trying to figure out how it changed things, if it changed them at all.

“You’ve really never seen him so happy?”

Alex shook her head slowly. “Never.”

“What about the other women after Callie?” I tried not to think about them—their pictures and their names—but I knew I’d never forget them.

Her forehead creased. “There haven’t been any other women after Callie.”

“That you know of.”

She blinked at me. “That I know of
for sure
.”

I glanced at her, trying to phrase this gently. “You just said Luke wouldn’t introduce his sisters to someone unless they were serious. How do you know he hasn’t had a mess of casual relationships?”

She made a face at me like she was questioning if I was serious. “Because Luke doesn’t do casual relationships. And if he was, he would have told me. He wouldn’t have introduced us, but he would have told me he was seeing someone.”

My eyebrow peaked. “Because twenty-five-year-old brothers share all of their love life and interests with their little sisters?”

Rolling her eyes, she leaned up enough to pull her cell phone out of her back pocket. “This one does.” Scrolling through her and Luke’s texts, she stopped when she presumably found what she was looking for. “Read for yourself.”

When I stalled before taking it, she set the phone in my hand and waved at it.

The date of the first one I saw was from a couple months ago.

Alex
: How’s it going?

Luke:
Great.

Great?
Alex sent first, followed by:
Who is she?

Luke:
Am I that obvious?

Alex:
Yes. Sooooo? Who is she?

Luke:
Someone who doesn’t know I exist.
I felt a ball form in my throat when I read his reply back to her. I knew he existed—I just hadn’t known he’d acknowledged I did.

Alex:
You’re Luke Archer. She knows you exist.

Luke:
No, not this one.

Alex:
Then let her know you exist.

Luke:
How?

Alex:
I don’t know. What’s she like?

Luke:
Amazing.

And now I was smiling. I kept scrolling through the conversation while Alex tore into a couple more chocolates.

Alex:
Amazing details?

Luke:
She loves baseball.

Alex:
Score.

Luke:
She works harder than I do.

Alex:
Impossible.

Luke:
When she smiles, I can’t breathe.

Alex:
Better figure that out. Can’t have you passing out from lack of oxygen. Won’t impress her.

Luke:
Good point.

Alex:
Ok, so trouble breathing.

Luke:
Check.

Alex:
Heart palpitations?

Luke:
Check.

Alex:
Interruptions in sleep?

Luke:
Check.

Alex:
Smiling like an idiot?

Luke:
Double check.

Alex:
Yeah. You’ve got it bad.

Luke:
I can’t figure out a way to say hi to her without sounding like a moron.

When I chuckled reading his text, Alex leaned over to see which one I was reading. She snorted. “It’s a good thing he’s so good at baseball, because that’s the only game Luke’s got.”

Alex:
When you do say hi, make sure to invite me. I want to be there with popcorn.

Luke:
She’s an athletic trainer on the team.

Alex:
Yikes.

Luke:
I know.

When I got to this last text, Alex scrolled through a bunch more, craning her neck until she found what she had in mind.

I think I blew it.
was Luke’s text to her.

Alex:
Impossible. But how?

Luke:
My opening line. I bombed it.

Alex:
Oh god. What did you say?

Luke:
Whose ass do I need to kick, Doc.

Alex:
This confirms it. You really are a moron.

She shook her head with me as we shared another laugh. Then she scrolled down to almost the end of this seemingly endless stream of texts between Luke and her. Tapping the line she wanted me to start at, she leaned back into the stool again and waited.

Alex:
Thanks for the fun trip. We all approve of Allie.

Luke:
Glad to hear it.

Alex:
We like her.

Luke
: Good. Because I love her.

“And in case you think that’s complicated, it isn’t. It’s pretty simple actually.” Alex tapped the phone where his message was staring at me. “He loves you. If you feel the same way, whatever it is, you guys can figure it out.”

I couldn’t look away from the words on the screen. I couldn’t stop thinking about what they meant. If that was true—if what Alex was saying was true—none of what Shepherd had said could be. Who did I trust? Luke and Alex? Or Shepherd? That was an answer that didn’t require any contemplation.

What had I done? Why had I believed it so easily?

It didn’t take long to realize why. Believing in the bad was so much easier than clinging to the good. My past had reared its ugly head and sabotaged a great relationship because of a failed one. I’d let my fear feed my insecurities until all it had taken was one drunken lie from one spineless man to ruin it all.

Up until this moment, I’d never realized how truly scared I was. Of not being taken seriously in my job. Of being cheated on again. Of being hurt and left again. Of being alone.

“Alex?” My voice was trembling from revelation overload.

“Yeah?”

“I made a mistake. A massive, colossal, unforgivable mistake.”

She shoved over a few pieces of chocolate. “What do you think I’m here for?”

“To make me answer for hurting your brother?”

She grabbed my hands and gave me a shake. “To help you fix it.”