This Can't Be Love

by Maria Geraci

  Zeke looked surprised. “Ann is texting?”

  “Apparently.” He left out the part where his mother was now also texting his ex-girlfriend.

  Zeke slapped him on the back. “No worries. I have total faith in you, my man. It’s just, you know, you’re a bachelor. Set in your ways. That kind of thing.”

  Mimi and Claire appeared in the small garage. Claire wore shorts and a Duke T-shirt and Mimi…

  Luke blinked hard. He’d seen his sister just a few days ago. “What are you eating? Magic beans or something?”

  Mimi laughed, then rubbed her growing belly. “I know! Isn’t it crazy? I just kind of popped out overnight.”

  Zeke put a protective arm around his wife. “We left all the emergency numbers by the kitchen phone. Not that you’re going to need them, but just in case.” The emphasis on not needing them wasn’t lost on Luke. First Mimi, then Sarah and his mother, and now his own brother-in-law. Why did they all think he was so helpless? He co-ran a multi-million-dollar company. A thirteen-year-old kid and a couple of pets would be a piece of cake in comparison.

  Mimi gave him a tour of the house, not that he needed one, but she showed him where all the essentials were, then with one last big hug to her son, she gingerly climbed into the minivan where Zeke and Claire were already buckled in and waiting.

  “I thought they’d never leave,” Cameron said, waving one last time to his family. Toby, the drooler, barked furiously as the minivan pulled away.

  “You too, huh?” Luke said, grinning down at his nephew. Claire looked more like Zeke than the Powers side of the family, but Cameron definitely had his sister’s good looks and easygoing smile. “So, what do you want to do?” He really hoped the answer was fishing. But this weekend wasn’t about him. It was about spending time with his nephew.

  “Whatever you want to do, Uncle Luke.”

  “We could kick a soccer ball around,” Luke suggested, knowing how much the sport meant to his nephew. “Or we could catch a movie or go bowling or—”

  “Or we could go fishing,” Cameron said.

  “Really?”

  “Sure. Mom says you’re the best fisherman she knows. Not that dad isn’t good,” Cameron rushed to add, “but she says if I really want to learn how to catch fish then you’re the person to show me. “

  Luke couldn’t help but feel flattered. “Then fishing it is.” He glanced around the house. “What do we do with the dog and the cat while we’re gone?”

  “Buttercup will be fine. She spends most of the day in Claire’s room anyway. We just have to make sure to leave the door open so she can get to her litter box. Which we’ll need to clean, on account of Mom can’t do that anymore because she’s pregnant and Claire always forgets on purpose.”

  Right. Clean the litterbox. Luke made a mental note to have Cameron take care of that little duty.

  “What about Toby?” Luke bent down to scratch behind the mutt’s ears. He was a funny looking dog. Part boxer, part who knew what. Mimi had told him the story of how they’d come to adopt him. Zeke had been promising Cameron a dog forever and Mimi had finally given in. The family had made a visit to the animal shelter, determined not to get a dog that shed, only to come home with the world’s biggest drooler, and a surprise cat.

  “We usually crate him when we leave the house. On account of all the drool he leaves around. Mom hates cleaning drool.”

  “I don’t blame her.” Luke took the dog by the collar and led him to his crate in the laundry room, but Toby dug in his heels and refused to be put inside. The dog began to whine like something was wrong, his brown eyes darting anxiously from Luke to Cameron. “Why doesn’t he want to go inside his crate?” Luke asked.

  “We’ve only had him about six months now. It’s the first time Mom and Dad have left him. Maybe he’s worried he’ll end up back at the shelter.” Cameron wrapped his arms around the dog’s neck. “Don’t worry, boy, Mom and Dad will be back.” He looked up at Luke. “Can we take him fishing with us?”

  Luke scratched his chin. “Not a good idea. Unless Toby is used to being around the water, he’ll probably run around barking and end up scaring off all the fish.”

  “Oh. Yeah. I hadn’t thought about that.”

  Toby looked up at him with his big, pathetic dog eyes as if he could understand what Luke was saying. “Maybe after we go fishing we can take him for a run on the beach,” Luke offered.

  Cameron’s face lit up. “He’ll like that. He loves being outdoors.”

  Luke glanced out the laundry room window to study the fenced backyard. “Then why don’t we leave him in the yard?” Luke suggested. “It’s warm out, but there’re lots of shady trees. We’ll put his water bowl out there and he can spend the day chasing squirrels instead of being locked up in a crate.”

  “Good idea!” Cameron said.

  Luke ruffled the top of his nephew’s head. “Now let’s go catch us some fish.”

  * * *

  The fishing trip was, by all accounts, a huge success. Luke taught Cameron which bait to use, showed him the correct way to toss the line, and stressed the importance of being patient. He told Cameron how he was refurbishing Gramps’s old boat, the Martha Sue, and Cameron had expressed interest in going out for a ride once the boat was sea-worthy. The kid had proven to be a chip off the old block. Together, they’d caught enough grouper to fillet for tonight’s dinner and thrown back more fish than Luke could count. Gramps would definitely be proud of his great-grandson.

  They sat now on the edge of the pier, drinking root beer and sweating through the mid-day August heat like a couple of regular guys. Luke discovered that Cameron and his best friend, Henry Donalan, had both just made the cut to join a highly competitive traveling soccer team.

  “Sounds like fun,” Luke said. “I used to play soccer when I was a kid.”

  “Yeah?” Cameron finished off his soda then laid the empty bottle between them.

  “Sure. And baseball and football. Like your dad, I played all the sports.”

  “You and Dad were in the same class, right?”

  “Yep,” Luke said, hoping that Cameron didn’t want to delve too deeply into that subject. Zeke Grant had been a brilliant baseball player in high school, but he’d also been a mediocre student and a well-known pothead. He’d been the last guy at Whispering Bay High Luke would have wanted for his sister. That had all changed, of course, but it didn’t alter the fact that he and Zeke hadn’t exactly been high school chums.

  “My dad was a badass,” Cameron said.

  Luke choose his words carefully. “Oh, yeah? How so?”

  “I know he used to cut class and broke a lot of rules and rode a motorcycle.”

  That ain’t the half of it, kid. Luke grinned. “That was your dad.”

  “What were you like when you were a kid? Mom says you were always the best at whatever you did.”

  Luke finished off his soda and neatly laid his bottle alongside Cameron’s. “I always tried my best. Everyone should.”

  “Yeah, but I bet Grandma really rode your butt. Didn’t she?”

  Luke couldn’t help but laugh at Cameron’s spot-on assessment. “That she did, Little Man.”

  Cameron beamed up at him. Little Man was the nickname Luke had given his nephew at birth. When was the last time he’d used it? And when was the last time the two of them had spent a day together, just hanging out? He’d taken his nephew to a Braves baseball game, but that had to be at least a few summers ago.

  “Mom says when you were little you wanted to be like Jacques Cousteau,” Cameron said, referring to the world-famous sea explorer.

  “What do you know about Jacques Cousteau? He was way before your time.”

  “I wrote a paper about him. He used to explore the ocean in his boat, The Calypso.”

  Luke smiled. “Want to know a secret? When I was eight, I wrote him a letter and asked him if I could join his crew.”

  Cameron’s eyes widened. “Really? Did he write you back?”


  “Yep. He said I needed to study hard and finish college and then we’d talk.”

  Funny. Luke hadn’t thought about that letter in years, but it had been his prize possession all through elementary school. He still had it somewhere, didn’t he? Maybe tucked away with his yearbooks or something. He’d have to ask Mom if she knew where it was. Cameron would probably get a kick out of reading it.

  “Why didn’t you do it?” Cameron asked.

  “Do what?”

  “Join his sea team?”

  “I grew up and decided to be an engineer instead.”

  “Because you liked that better?”

  “Not better, exactly. But I was able to combine my engineering degree with a master’s in marine biology so I could have the best of both worlds. I don’t study marine life, but I help protect it against man’s environment.” It sounded like the same trite answer he’d given Sarah just last week.

  “Mom says you’re super successful,” Cameron said. “And that you travel all around the country telling people how to build things right and that you don’t take crap from anyone and always do what you set out to do.”

  He was flattered by the description, but he doubted Mimi had actually said that last part. “I set goals, then I work hard to achieve them.” There. That sounded like something you’d say to a thirteen-year-old. Luke nudged his nephew with his shoulder. “What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up? A professional soccer player?”

  Cameron was quiet for a minute. “I don’t want to play soccer anymore.”

  “But I thought—”

  “I mean, I like soccer. I really do. But I want to play other sports, too, you know? Like baseball and maybe basketball, but being on the traveling team means I don’t have time for anything except soccer and school.”

  “Have you told your parents?”

  “No.”

  Shit. This was unexpected. “Because your mom and dad have spent a lot of time and money on the soccer thing and you don’t want to let them down,” Luke said.

  Cameron nodded, clearly relieved that he wasn’t the one to say it out loud. “Yeah. I was the one who pushed for the traveling team, but now that I’m on it… I guess I didn’t realize how much of a commitment it was.”

  “And your parents really have no clue how you feel?”

  “They love going to the games and cheering for me. And my best friend, Henry, is on the team, too. I’m the goalie and if I quit now, I’d be letting everyone down.”

  The kid was in a tough spot, all right. And now, with his nephew’s impromptu revelation, so was Luke. On the one hand, he suddenly felt like the cool uncle. Cameron’s confession didn’t come lightly and Luke was honored that his nephew trusted him enough to confide in him. But on the other hand, he was the adult here. Was he supposed to do something with this information?

  “Could you maybe play out the season, then just not try out again?” he suggested.

  “I guess so. It’s just that basketball camp starts next month for the guys who want to try out for the eighth grade team, and if you don’t go to that you probably won’t make it, and if you don’t play on the middle school team, your chances of making the high school team are pretty much zip. And then, you know, mom’s having the baby in a few months…”

  “Sounds like you’re between a rock and a hard place.” The words were barely out of his mouth when Luke cringed. Nice going, Uncle Obvious. The kid needed some real advice and all he could come up with was a crappy cliché.

  “And, you know, Mom and Dad were separated this past year but right now everything is going really good,” Cameron added. “The soccer thing is no big deal. Forget I said anything.”

  Separated? His sister and Zeke had been separated? Why the fuck hadn’t anyone told him this before?

  Probably for the same reason he’d just found out Claire had been the class valedictorian. Because he hadn’t been around.

  He cleared his throat. “The separation must have been tough on you and Claire.”

  Cameron looked down at the empty root beer bottles. “It sucked,” he said softly. “I really hated when Dad wasn’t living with us.”

  “But now everything’s good, right?” Please say everything’s good.

  “Oh, yeah, it’s great. So, I really shouldn’t do anything to make them upset. Right?”

  This is why Luke didn’t do kids. What was he supposed to say to that? “Right,” he said, but deep down it didn’t feel like the best advice.

  It was definitely time to change the subject. He pulled two ice cold root beers from the cooler and handed one to his nephew. “Are you excited about your new baby brother or sister?”

  Cameron got a goofy look on his face. “Yeah. But, you know, it’s kind of weird, too. I mean, how did that happen?”

  Aw, crap. “I would have thought… I mean…” Luke took a long sip of his root beer, desperately wishing it was real beer. What was wrong with his brother-in-law? Zeke should have covered this topic years ago.

  If his brain could sweat, it would be dripping right now. “Let’s see, how do we start? Okay. I got it. When a man and a woman love each other, there’s, well, they—”

  Cameron threw his head back and laughed. “No, Uncle Luke! I know all about sex.”

  “Oh.” Thank God.

  “I just meant, you know, it’s kind of gross thinking about Mom and Dad doing it.”

  “Tell me about it, kid. So, you’re all good on the subject of the birds and the bees?”

  “Why do they call it that, anyway? And yeah, I’ve known all about it since I was five.”

  “Five? Isn’t that a little young to find out about—” He stopped himself from using any more childish euphemisms. Clearly, Cameron was beyond that. “Your dad talked to you about sex when you were five?”

  His nephew’s eyes lit up with mischief. “He gave me the lowdown when I was ten, but I already knew the drill on account of I was hiding under Claire’s bed when Mom told her all about it.”

  Luke grinned. “You hid under your sister’s bed?” It sounded like something he would have done at that same age.

  “Yeah, I used to do that a lot as a kid. I found out a lot of neat stuff that way.”

  I bet. “Did your parents ever find out?”

  “Nah. I didn’t want to ruin Dad’s big moment when he told me the good stuff. Besides, he told me some extra things that Mom didn’t tell Claire, so it was totally worth it.” He hesitated. “You won’t tell them, will you? About me hiding under the bed? Claire would kick my butt from here to tomorrow if she ever found out.”

  “It’s our secret, Little Man.”

  Cameron smiled, as if he liked the idea of sharing a secret with his uncle. Then his face clouded over. “And you won’t tell them about the soccer thing either, will you?”

  “Nope. I won’t tell them about that either.”

  They sat on the pier for another half hour, talking about school and sports when Luke noticed the sun was getting low. It was probably almost five. The two of them loaded up the truck and headed back to the house. Cameron carried the cooler containing the fish into the kitchen while Luke dumped the leftover bait into a small freezer container. He was about to lock up his truck when Cameron came running back into the garage.

  “Uncle Luke!” he said, clearly in a panic. “Toby’s gone!”

  Luke stilled. “What do you mean, he’s gone?”

  “He dug a hole under the fence. He must have been scared and come after us!”

  Chapter Twelve

  Luke studied the three-foot hole beneath the fence. Cameron was right. The damn dog had made like Houdini and escaped. “Okay, no worries. I got this,” Luke said trying to act as if he actually believed it.

  “Toby’s never done this before. He must have panicked when he was left alone in the yard for so long.”

  “He can’t have gone too far,” Luke said. Or could he? They’d been gone most of the day. Toby could have dug the hole minutes after they’d left and be l
ong gone by now. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly six. “Is he chipped?”

  Cameron nodded. “And our home phone number is on his tag.”

  They checked the answering machine but no one had called to leave a message about Toby. Luke programmed the phone to forward calls to his cell. “Let’s check with the animal shelter. I bet someone found him and brought him there.”

  But Toby wasn’t at the shelter and no one had brought him into the after-hours emergency veterinary office, either. “I’m so sorry.” Melanie Miller, the shelter’s director, put her arm around Cameron to comfort him. “I have a picture of Toby from when he was here with us. We can make copies and you and your uncle can put them up around town. I’ll help, too.”

  “Thanks,” Cameron said woodenly.

  This was all Luke’s fault. He should have insisted the dog go inside his crate. If something happened to Toby, he’d never forgive himself. Armed with the photos Melanie had made, he and Cameron took off to drive around town.

  “Anyplace you can think of that he’d go to?” Luke asked.

  “Not really.” Cameron stared out the truck passenger window, in hopes of spotting Toby. The thing was, the dog could be anywhere.

  “We need some help,” Luke said. “Let’s call Henry and see if we can expand our manpower.”

  But Henry was with his dad at a baseball game in Tampa.

  “We could call Grandma and Grandpa. Maybe they could help,” Cameron suggested.

  Yeah. He’d love to see the look on his mother’s face when she found out he’d lost the family dog. She’d probably insist on taking Cameron for the rest of the weekend for his own safety.

  Luke tried to think of someone else to call, but it had been a long time since he’d lived in town and there wasn’t anyone he felt comfortable enough to ask for help. They dropped by the Whispering Bay police station and talked to Rusty, who was on duty.

  “Toby is missing? Gosh, I hope you find him before…you know what happens.” He lowered his voice at this last part, but not low enough that Cameron didn’t hear it.

  “Before what happens?” Cameron asked.

  Before he gets run over. Before he gets so far away we never find him… The list of “befores” was too long to contemplate.