by Lindsey Hart
And then Luke ruined everything.
No. Then I ruined everything.
People screw up, and yeah, it sucks. People get mad, people have fights and arguments, and people get pissed and refuse to hear each other out. Bitterness and resentment are real, and they can fester and ruin even the brightest feelings and the best of intentions. I bet all those people who didn’t make it, who once loved each other like crazy, can define a moment that changed everything for them—when one or both of them decided to stop trying. Do they regret it? Do they wish they could go back in time and react differently? Fix it? Fix the past version of themselves? How many good things get thrown away because of stubborn pride?
For the love of chicken nuggets.
I turn and fly back through the door I just burst out of. In my rush to get back to the living room, I don’t even know if I closed it behind me or not. Luke’s still sitting there. He hasn’t moved, and he looks awful. He’s hurting, but it’s beyond that. He blinks in disbelief to see me standing there as if I might be a ghost he conjured up.
“Okay.” I cross my arms. “Okay, I believe you. I believe you made a mistake, and I believe you love Shade enough to do almost anything for him. I believe you were a jerk who didn’t even consider that I had feelings or that I might want something different, something better for myself. Not better than Shade, just better than an arrangement. My parents were partly to blame, but I guess I’ll choose to believe they wanted what was best for me because they do love me, and I know that. I know what you felt was real. I watched you open up, I watched you make the decision to let me in, and I watched you struggle. I know what you felt was real, and I didn’t mean what I said just now. I promised myself I wouldn’t cave and forgive you and give you another chance, but I lied. I did feel it. It was real for me—it still is—and it’s what makes me the angriest. I shouldn’t want you, but I still do.”
Luke blinks slowly. Then he blinks again. He slowly gets off the couch, and it’s like I’m watching a stop motion movie—all jerky movements and uneven gestures.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. No tricks. No treats.”
It might have started out all wrong—us. It might have started out, quite frankly, pretty weird, but even still, I found Luke. And I found Shade. It didn’t take me very long to feel like a sort of family and to realize I’d lost my heart to Shade before I started to lose it to Luke as well. I don’t want to give up on that. I don’t want to be one of those people who wish for a time machine because she quit on one of the best things that happened to her over something no one could change or take back, something everyone was deeply sorry for.
I thought it sucked being too nice, but maybe being too nice is just right. I don’t want to be anything else. I don’t want a hard heart, and I don’t want to be so wrapped up in the bullshit that I lose sight of forgiveness and myself.
Luke smiles at that. It’s slow and cautious, but eventually, it grows and spreads and takes over his face.
“No tricks. And no treats on my end, either.”
We crash together like we’re magnets in science class. Like we were always magnets. At first, we just had the wrong ends facing each other, repelling each other, but slowly, we turned it around and figured it out, and now, now it’s like we’re locked so strongly by all the force and sciencey laws that we have no hope of being pulled apart.
Luke kisses me like that, and I savor him, drown in him, and kiss him right back.
I hate to say it because every kid hates to say it, but I guess the expression my parents shared was right. Everything is going to turn out okay.
Maybe the universe doesn’t hate me so much, after all.
EPILOGUE
Luke
Feeney finally heard her parents out. Once she went home and talked things through with them, they unfroze her bank accounts. I think they only froze them because they wanted her to come back home—not to stay but just to talk. After she had her own money, Feeney rented an apartment. She got a job, and we did what regular people do. We started dating. She thought being in the house with me right away would be too much, so I kept Mary Anne on as a nanny until I decided to work from home.
When Shade started school, we both cried. Feeney openly, and me doing my best to hide it. By then, Feeney had moved in with us, and we were living as a family. I think she cried over all of Shade’s milestones. When we got married, we decided on a small, super-private wedding. Sam was the only one Feeney chose to stand up with her, so I guess she’d fully forgiven her for the part she played in the scheme, as Feeney liked to refer to it. She was pretty sore about it for a while, but eventually, she let it go, and we earned back her trust.
We took Shade on our honeymoon, which might be incredibly unromantic to some people, but not to us. Feeney never lost anyone close to her, but she understands my need to really make every day count. She understands that family, for me, comes before anything else. I know people say this, and there are token posters and slogans all over people’s walls and on social media, but for us, it’s different. I’m doing what Britt would have wanted—loving Shade and living a good life. I’m happy. Still, I’m never going to forget her or the love I had for her. When I think about her, it makes me appreciate everything and everyone that much more.
“Luke? What the heck are you doing in there? Let’s go!”
With more money than I know what to do with lying around in my bank account, I decided, together with Feeney, that we should do something crazy and buy a private island. It seemed like a rich person thing to do, but that’s not why I wanted it, and she knew. I wanted to include her and not surprise her again since she’d had more than enough surprises from me. She was surprised when I consulted her because we had only been dating for a few months. It took us a little while, but we finally found our perfect spot. We bought an island, just a small chunk of land with a pretty dilapidated house already there, in the British Virgin Islands. We fixed the house up together, and now it’s our place where we go to escape. I guess we need our escapes more than other people because we come here every couple of months, at least.
“I’m coming.” I’m actually just washing and finishing up the breakfast dishes, but I totally got lost in thought there. “Just finishing up.”
“You’ve been finishing up forever!” Feeney strides into the kitchen. She’s wearing a black bikini, and her very pregnant belly is prominently on display.
“My god, you’re beautiful.” The plate I’m wiping down nearly slips out of my hand.
She giggles. “You literally say that every single day.”
“And I literally mean it, every single day.”
“Daaaaaaaaadddddd!” Shade comes skidding around the corner. He’s in his swim trunks and has a towel draped over his shoulders like a cape. His goggles and snorkel are in one hand while his flippers are in the other. “Let’s go!”
“Okay, I’m coming.”
“Just leave those,” Feeney says. “We can do them later. Together. And maybe if I help, you’ll actually get something accomplished instead of just standing there and staring off into space.”
“I was honestly quite focused on the cupboards. Do you think we should paint them?”
They’re brand new, so Feeney rolls her eyes. “Right. You were spaced out, just like when you burned the burgers last night.”
“I was just trying to continue our charred streak.”
“I haven’t burnt anything in a long time!”
“I know. You’ve become an excellent cook.”
I drain the sink and let the pile of dishes sit, as Feeney requested. I walk over and kiss her thoroughly while Shade just stands there, grinning. Unlike other kids, he’s never been grossed out by Feeney and me showering each other with affection. He was thrilled when he found out we were dating, back when we first told him.
“I’m coming. I just have to get changed, so you guys go on ahead. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Can you pack drinks?”
>
“Because apparently, it’s too far to walk back up to the house from the beach?” I raise my brow at Shade.
“Yeah! That’s boring! Can you please bring some?”
“Sure.”
“And snacks?”
I roll my eyes. “I suppose so.”
Feeney wipes her hand over her brow. “That water is going to feel like heaven. Both because I feel like a beached whale right now, and it’s a million degrees out.”
“You don’t look like a beached whale.”
“That’s very kind,” she snorts. “I did say I felt like one, but in the water, I’m weightless.”
We’re going to be back to Florida soon for Feeney to deliver the baby. We already know it’s a girl, and Shade is insanely excited. He’s going to be an amazing big brother. He’s already helped me paint two different rooms, one to use as a nursery here and the other back at our house in Miami. He’s picked out all the furniture with us, and also all the clothes. This baby is going to be the most spoiled, loved kid in existence by her big brother and us and totally by Feeney’s parents and maybe even my dad. He’s come a long way, but it’s mostly because of Feeney. He likes her, and she actually likes him too. They get along. Dad likes Shade too, so I guess he feels that to keep everyone happy, he has to take it easy on me by extension.
The brand new sports car and the big house I bought him recently might have swayed his opinion a little, but it wasn’t my aim. I even offered to buy him a bigger place or a retirement home to take care of him because he always took care of me no matter what we thought about each other. He didn’t pick out anything overly expensive, and he was practical in his wants, but it was a new build, and it’s in a great area. The car was what he splurged on. Dad used to be a mechanic, so of course, he has a list of his dream rides. I’ll never forget the look on his face when the dealer rolled it out.
“Do you want me to bring your notebook too?”
Feeney shakes her head. “No, I’m okay for right now.”
Feeney had some surprises for us too. She was working in HR at some big company, but in her spare time, she was actually writing a novel. She submitted it to her dad’s company, now merged with mine, under a fake name, and everyone was talking about the book. Imagine both her dad’s surprise and my own when we realized it was hers. She’s since turned it into a series of bestsellers.
Yes, my wife is a bestselling author. Neither of us needs the money, so she donates all the earnings of the book to an organization she supports.
“I’m good right now. When the baby comes, I’m going to have to take a break anyway. I’ll probably be so tired that I won’t be able to think straight.”
“We could always hire a nanny.”
Whenever we have tough days, that’s our inside joke. It might not be very funny, and it might not even be a good one, but it amuses us.
“No,” she says softly, kissing me on the cheek, then quickly on the lips before she lowers her hand to Shade’s shoulder to steer him out of the house and down to the beach. “I’m perfectly happy to be super tired, I’m perfectly happy to eat burned dinner with you, and I’m perfectly happy to be a family. I love each and every minute of it. Almost,” and here, she winks at me, “as much as I love you.’
The End
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We are sworn enemies but she's having my baby.
How you ask? Well, I’m also wondering the same thing.
How the hell do people in that stupid fertility clinic mistake MY sperm and inject it into the wrong woman…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lindsey Hart specializes in sweet to extra hot and dirty romances and strongly believes in happily ever after. If you are looking for a page turner, then you are in for a wild and naughty ride with feisty heroines and alpha male heroes.