Luke's #1 Rule

by Cynthia Harrison

  ****

  “Take off your clothes.” Luke’s voice, muted by the shirt he pulled over his head.

  All thought of Seattle flew from her head. He watched her, reaching out and pulling her close as she shed everything. No time to waste. Her vacation was running out. As the blues singer says, get it while you can.

  But this time, Luke took charge, holding both of her hands above her as he licked and teased her breasts. When he gave one nipple a soft love bite, she said, “Harder.” He granted her requests and let her arms go as he kissed his way down her belly.

  He teased her inner thighs with long languid licks, first one side, then the other. Barely brushing her beach-ready lady parts. Then, all at once, he found her center and sucked until she moaned into her first orgasm of the evening.

  After they’d used their mouths and tongues on each other, after they made love twice before twilight fell, Seattle briefly asserted itself. She pushed her move to the far back of her love-saturated mind. She loved him. His tender kiss on her shoulder said he felt the same.

  “God, I love you,” he said, as if reading her thoughts.

  She savored the words. “Ummm. Me too. Love you.” She wasn’t quite coherent, but that wasn’t a crime under the influence of love in every sense of the word. In his strong arms, the salty scent of their love spilling onto the sheets, her eyes half-open gazing at his muscular pecs. Landscaping had an added benefit—his beautifully sculpted body. Luke did an honest day’s work and used the amazing muscles God had given him to do it.

  She soft next to his hard body. Vulnerable in a good way. She trusted him. Or did she? Because if she really trusted him, she’d tell him about Seattle and they’d work on a plan for being together there. Blue Lake was great for summer tourists and retired people, but could she make a life here? There were no businesses in need of her skills. Well, maybe small businesses, but she’d been working with a larger canvas. What was the school system like?

  Stop it, she commanded herself. She’d worked too hard and too long for the top prize of an executive salary that would set her boys up for life. The job had fallen into her lap. Fate. Wasn’t it?

  By the time they’d showered and dressed, the night stars had turned on, reflecting off the placid water. Such a pretty piece of the planet. And so peaceful.

  “Want to take a walk on the beach?”

  “Yes.” The moon came out to mellow her mood. Maybe she’d have the courage to bring up the subject she most needed to talk to him about.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “You have to call her.” Bettina sat in the only chair the baby inside her liked these days, his recliner. Her tummy so taut sometimes he saw a little foot kick out. He knew what he had to do. He had to stop Chloe from taking the boys away. Simple. Impossible.

  “Calling won’t cut it.” Empowered, he knew the actions he must take. He’d been networking online, reaching out to old connections, reapplying for his Realtor’s license.

  During a day of clicking from one link to another, he found a vacant storefront in Blue Lake. In bold lettering, the window said Blue Lake Real Estate. He clicked around and found the backstory of how the previous Realtor, who also handled summer rentals, was on a very long vacation at a place she was unlikely ever to leave, and a retired agent held down the fort. The price tag so inexpensive, like the price of a midsized car. Everything felt right. Why else would this fall into his hands? Ursula was there for good now. He’d spent many summers there with Chloe and the boys. It seemed like a fine place to raise children. He could tell Chloe that. The thought of confronting his ex gave him the strong desire for a nice cold beer.

  “Well, then, what will?” Bettina cut into his thoughts.

  “We’re going up to Blue Lake. I’m going to tell her I’ll give her blood money back. I’ll give her the house—”

  Bettina drew in a sharp breath. They’d already decorated a nursery.

  “Now, honey, wait a minute. I’ve been thinking, too. What do we need this mansion for? Housing prices are going up again, and mortgage rates are super low. I can sell this place myself, give Chloe half—would that be enough?”

  “Should be.” Days ago, he’d pulled comparable home prices. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem selling for a good price. People are having bidding wars.”

  “Good.”

  “Are you sure? What about the nursery?”

  “We’ll get a smaller place. We’ll decorate a new nursery.”

  He was so thankful for his forgiving wife. She lost her bitterness the minute he got clean, and he saw pride shine from her eyes the minute he’d jumped back into real estate. Also probably relief. He’d been eating right and working out. He felt like he could do anything. After the all-too-brief moment of euphoric optimism, his mood swung back to negative. Chloe had his legal promise, written in blood.

  “What?” Bettina could see the wheels in his head turning.

  “Take six months maternity leave. If I can’t support us, you can go back. But I will! I can do this.”

  “Having a job might keep you out of trouble.” Bettina grinned in a wicked way extremely pregnant women really shouldn’t. He wanted her.

  “Can we still make love?” He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her hair. It smelled like flowers.

  “I thought you’d never ask! Yes, we’re still good, but not for long.”

  “We can always do other things.” Spence was back. His libido had not been this strong in years. They made love, and he cuddled her the way he knew she liked while he talked about possible plans to pay his bitch ex-wife back. Have more contact with his kids, no matter how much it hurt when he had to let them go, over and over. All of them together in a small town like Blue Lake would be ideal.

  “Did you mean it?” she asked. “You’re going to Blue Lake?”

  “We’re going to Blue Lake. There’s been a last minute cancellation on one of the cottages where Chloe and the boys are staying. You deserve a real vacation.”

  ****

  Chloe couldn’t get the words out on the beach walk, with Luke holding her hand and the waves softly rolling in. She needed liquid courage before she confessed her Seattle secret.

  She eyed the surroundings. There were the steps up to the town just ahead. Sanchez’s, half a block away. And she was thirsty. As well as scared.

  “I have to tell you something,” she said.

  Luke swung her hand in his as if the world was theirs for the taking.

  “What?” He let go of her hand and took both her arms into his hands. His dear workingman hands. How she loved him. Every inch of him.

  “It’s not terrible, well, the thing is, do you mind?” She was not making sense out here in the wild night air with the wind whipping her hair. “Could we talk in Sanchez’s? I’d love one more margarita.”

  “Sure,” he said, taking her hand again and walking with her toward the beach steps.

  “Second time tonight, Mr. Luke,” said the hostess. Her bright Mexican costume showed all her assets, especially her cleavage, to great advantage. She was Luke’s age but called him “mister” with a twinkle in her eye. She didn’t give Chloe a glance as she led them to a secluded booth in back.

  Luke sat next to her. He put his arm around her, and she leaned into him. She wanted always to be able to lean into this kind and sensitive man. He didn’t ask what they needed to talk about, just sat with his arm around her while the waiter set down their drinks. A beer for him, a margarita for her.

  Chloe had just taken the first lick of salt from the rim of her margarita when she heard a familiar voice.

  “Hello, Chloe.”

  Spence. She spun in her seat. Bettina stood there, too. Spence held out his hand to Luke. “I’m Chloe’s ex. This is my wife, Bettina.”

  They slid into the empty side of the booth.

  Spence sat there like a rock of a guy. Sober and stubborn. Bettina’s expression mirrored her husband’s. Chloe did not have a good feeling about this at all.

>   “Spence, what are you doing here?” She looked at Bettina, who had always been her connection with the kids. They’d talked so often about Spence’s addictions. So why did Bettina’s eyes stab Chloe? Why was her mouth a bitter line? “Bettina?”

  Hugely pregnant, Bettina seemed healthy, just tense. So nothing wrong with the baby. This had to be about…no, it couldn’t be about the boys.

  “Where are our sons?”

  “Spending the night with my mom.”

  “One last night with grandma before the big move to Seattle?”

  Chloe’s heart dropped at the same time Luke dropped his arm from around her. He inched away from her. He didn’t say hello to Bettina or shake hands with Spence. He didn’t bother lowering his voice. He turned his head away from her.

  “You’re moving to Seattle? When were you planning on telling me? Or were you going to just leave without saying a word?”

  Chloe froze. She could feel Luke’s rejection in the physical space he created between them, in the way he said the words. She knew without looking that now, despite their “private” booth, the four of them had everyone’s attention. Luke’s cheeks were stained with a dark blush, so she knew he realized this, too.

  When their waiter came and asked if Bettina and Spence wanted anything to drink, Spence stole a quick glance at Luke’s beer, almost empty, then asked for coffee. Bettina shook her head no. “Another one, Mr. Luke?”

  Chloe sucked her drink down so fast she got a headache. Spence’s eyes widened. She wanted to make a nasty crack about his latest recovery efforts, but that wouldn’t be nice.

  “Just the check,” Luke said.

  Chloe finished her drink and pushed it to the side. She put her hands on her throbbed head. “That’s what I was going to tell you,” she said quietly.

  Luke pulled several bills from his wallet, threw them on the table, and got up to leave. Chloe followed him outside, Spence and Bettina trailing after them.

  “Could we go back down to the beach? Or somewhere more private?” She walked fast to keep up with Luke. He strode purposefully to his truck, parked, she saw, in the city lot next to the beach stairs. He must have driven it here when they met at the river to release the turtle. It seemed a million years ago.

  “Get in.” His voice terse, he didn’t bother coming around to open her door as he usually did. “I’ll drive you back to Blue Heaven.”

  Spence and Bettina caught up with them. “We’re staying in Kiwi Cottage, so we’ll talk more there,” Spence said.

  Great, Chloe thought. Just what she needed right before rolling out of town.

  She got in the car. Her hands were cold although the night, even at this late hour, was warm.

  As soon as they were inside the cocoon of the truck cab, Luke started the ignition and pulled out into the road with an excessive amount of tire screeching.

  “I was going to tell you.”

  Luke’s hands gripped the wheel so tight his knuckles were white. He sped down the road way too fast. He didn’t say a word.

  He braked hard in front of Blue Heaven. He didn’t even bother pulling in off the road. The bonfire had started. People were out with their bags of marshmallows.

  “Please. You have to let me explain.”

  He took his foot off the brake, stepped on the gas, and turned hard into the state park next to Blue Heaven.

  “So explain,” he said, throwing the car into park and cutting the motor.

  Relief swept through like a broom. He would listen. They could work things out. It would not be easy, but they could do it. She had faith in them. Spence showing up was a speed bump. Chloe did not want to talk about Spence. She wanted to erase him.

  Luke could hardly hear Chloe’s words above the roar in his own head.

  “Before I met you, it seemed sheer good luck to get this offer,” she said. “It’s a lot of money. My ex is an addict. He has never paid a dime of child support. I paid off his house for him. His wife works. He stays home and gets high.”

  “He ordered coffee.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s been to rehab a number of times. Things were getting bad back in Sterling Pines. Bettina and I talked about his escalation. Even the kids mentioned to me that they’d found him passed out with a liquor bottle the last time they stayed with him.”

  “Well. Maybe the thought of his children moving across the country caused him to take desperate measures.” The bottom had dropped out of Luke’s world, like his first pickup in high school, when the undercarriage began to rust away and he had to watch where he put his feet.

  “Dude seemed sober tonight. Maybe he’s straightened up for good this time. It happens. I’ve seen it. Eddie, the guy who owns the bar? He was a drunk for twenty years. He tried to quit twenty times. Now he owns a bar and hasn’t had a drink in five years.”

  Luke steamed at the thought of Chloe doing the same thing to him that Amber had done when she’d taken Bella away. “I see he’s got another one coming. How can you take your kids away from their father? Their new sibling? Your mom?” Luke didn’t speak his real thoughts: How can you take them from me? How can you leave me?

  Chloe told him another story, this one about how easily and painlessly Spence had signed the paperwork allowing her to leave the state with the boys once he realized he’d be off the hook forever with child support. She had a pocketful of excuses, but none of them cut it with him.

  “But what about the boys? Don’t you care that they need their father?” He had wanted to be their father, he only now realized. It wasn’t Spence he meant, it was him. Not good to take them from Spence, no matter what sort of fuck up the man had been, but what really hurt, what he could not stand, was her taking them from him before he even got a chance to be a dad to them.

  He hadn’t been staring at her, but now with the moon out from behind the pines, he stole a glance and saw the guilt on Chloe’s face.

  “I do feel bad about that,” she said. “But I’m the parent. The only parent right now who’s looking out for them. I have to decide what’s best. And bottom line, we need money to live, and I have to earn it.” When she mentioned her salary, he felt a little sick. He might see that kind of money in three or four good years. “I want my kids to have a good life. I want them to go to college.”

  Luke tried to move his eyes away, but the way her hair shone in the moonlight made it impossible. Her scent: moonlight and roses. But she had a coldness in her. To do this to her boys, she must. “So it hurt when Spence walked out on your marriage. He may be a jerk, but he doesn’t deserve to lose contact with his children.”

  Chloe stared down at her hands in her lap. “Who told you Spence left me?”

  “Nobody. I—didn’t he?”

  “I left him.”

  “Why?”

  Chloe had been through this with friends when the breakup had happened. So many times, she’d memorized the words. “I don’t think he’ll ever get sober. Not for good. I think he’ll struggle the rest of his life. I don’t want us to be part of that struggle.”

  Luke could understand that. But still. She didn’t have to stay married to the guy. And if they lived here, there would be plenty of supervised visitation. He believed that a split family could mend itself with love. He’d seen it happen with friends. Blue Lake was a small town. People had roots here, and they didn’t leave when they busted up. They stayed and formed a new kind of family. Well, Amber didn’t do that, but most people from around here, the ones who stayed, did just fine.

  “And here he is. Breaking us up. I know the signs. Fresh out of rehab. Again.” She started to cry, very softly. He steeled himself not to touch her. She talked on and on about how Spence had not abused her. He had not beaten her, not physically anyway. He had been a drug addict and an alcoholic. Emotionally absent. Checked out. He hadn’t cheated on her. He had been a good provider, once upon a time. Her reason for leaving hadn’t been anything he’d done to her, but more the things he’d neglected to do for her and the kids. Like love them. Resp
ect her. Treat her with kindness. Stay sober for all of them.

  Luke didn’t know how to reply. He shifted in his seat and spun the inert wheel. Her words sounded full of pain, and her reasons were sound. How to tell her that half-formed plan in his head, the plan he didn’t let himself think about very often, the plan that moved more than one date at a time, which is how he’d been trying to take his relationship with Chloe? Despite his rule, already broken and tossed away, he’d moved ten steps ahead on the chessboard in his head. He thought she had, too. They loved each other. They were in this thing together. So were the boys. The only thing left to do was settle the details. Or so he’d thought.

  “You know that day when Spence dropped off the boys and you were the only person home?” Her voice dragged him back to the reality of the situation now. Not as he’d hoped it would eventually, all in good time, become. He nodded.

  “That’s Spence. He doesn’t think beyond his own needs. He never put the boys before what he wanted, and he never put me first, ever.” Chloe raked her fingers through her hair, pulling it away from her face. Now the moon played on her cheekbone. She had exquisite skin. He hated her. He loved her. Hated what she’d done. Blaming Spence and not mentioning them, what they had. Or what they’d started.

  He watched her lower her eyes, concentrating on what story to tell next. He didn’t want to hear anything else. He just wanted to leave it, leave them all to sort out their own mess. But somehow, without him wanting it, the thing had become his mess too. He was part of it now. And she deserved to be heard out.

  “When I was in labor with Tommy…” She kept her eyes down.

  This story was a hard one for her. For one thing, she practically whispered. Longing and hopelessness filled every silence between her halting words. She stopped, and when it seemed she wouldn’t, or couldn’t, go on, she blurted, “You could come with us.” Their eyes aligned, hers widened in shock by what she’d said.

  Hell, maybe she’d been thinking ahead, too. A different game than his. Moves he would not dream of making. He let a whoosh of breath out through his nose. “I would never leave my folks. I’m their only child. My work is here. This is my home, Chloe.” He’d had it. He had to leave her now, or she’d be moving him into her Seattle mansion as his pool boy. He turned the key, to start the truck. Her signal to move on. Move up in the world. Away from here and their simple way of living.