She checked her phone again. Then she shoved it in the pocket of her shorts. As she did, a car rounded the corner of the street. Her Uber.
Luke’s pulse sped up. He only had a matter of seconds to talk to her before she got in that car and drove away. Drove out of his life. He had to make her understand, and he had to keep his heart from being broken again.
She began clapping. “Congratulations,” she said bitterly, “you’re just like your father, Luke.”
He stepped back. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t even see it, do you?”
“See what?”
“You think you’re protecting yourself so you won’t get hurt again. But really, you’re pushing everyone away. Everyone who wants to love you.”
The car pulled up beside them. “One sec,” Lola said to the driver.
“I am not like my father.”
“Funny, from where I’m standing, you’re pretty darn similar.” Her eyebrows drew together in disgust. “He ran and so do you.”
With that, she got in the car and slammed the door. Luke was too stunned to do much of anything besides allow his mouth to fall open in shock.
He wasn’t the one running. Lola was the one in the car driving away from him. Just like his father had done all those years ago. His point had been proven. When you let someone in, they had the power to break your heart. Watching the car get smaller and smaller as it drove down the street, Luke felt sick. A part of him was in that car. With Lola.
With the woman he thought he loved.
Chapter Eleven
“No! No, I will not have a nice day!”
-Dorothy Zbornak
Luke had a headache the size of Virginia.
After Lola insulted him and hightailed it out of there, he’d stood at the curb, gawking after her Uber for a good five minutes. He couldn’t believe what she’d said to him.
To make matters worse, he had to return to the backyard where everyone in his family was anxiously waiting to pounce on him.
Where’s Lola?
Is everything okay, honey?
What happened?
Hope you didn’t fuck that up.
That last comment had been from Gwen. Little angel that she was.
Now the hamburgers and hot dogs had been eaten, the dessert devoured, the sun had set, and it was dark outside. The barbeque had ended, and Luke was sitting around the fire pit with Gwen and Oliver. His friend hadn’t asked any questions, but he’d stayed pretty close to Luke’s side since Lola left. Oliver and Gwen were both uncharacteristically quiet, waiting for Luke to make the first move. Or the first sound.
But he wasn’t ready to talk. Instead, he let his gaze drift over to the house. With the lights on inside, the whole place was illuminated. Luke could see his mom moving around the kitchen. Mia was helping her wash dishes and put food away.
He wasn’t sure where Winnie had run off to. She had been sitting with him until Oliver joined them. Then she’d bolted faster than Lola.
Lola. His breath caught just thinking about her. Thinking about her words. He couldn’t believe that she’d taken all of the things he’d shared with her about his father and threw them back in his face.
He swore under his breath.
That was exactly why he didn’t open up to people. Once you did, they held all the power to hurt you, and Lola had succeeded beyond anything he could have imagined.
You’re just like your father.
Luke grumbled.
He was nothing like the man who had walked out on his wife and four young children. The guy who stopped seeing his kids altogether. How could she even make that comparison?
Luke groaned.
“So are you gonna sit over there making weird guttural noises and the occasional oath, or are we going to talk about what happened tonight?” Gwen sat back against the cushion of the lawn chair she was occupying, as a smug smile spread across her face.
“Shut up.”
“Oh, good comeback, dumbass. Don’t get mad at me. I’m not Lola.”
Oliver gave Gwen a very exaggerated once-over. “Nope, you’re not. You’re shaped all differently than her.”
“Shut up,” Luke repeated, only this time Gwen joined him. Oliver chuckled.
“She’s right, though,” Oliver said. “You might as well tell us what went down. We’re going to find out anyway.”
“And we’re not leaving this fire of truth until you tell us,” Gwen said.
He relented with a long sigh that was powerful enough to extinguish the fire of truth. “Lola overheard something that you and I were saying.” He nodded at Oliver. “Next thing I know she ordered an Uber without so much as a goodbye, thanks for the party.”
Gwen leaned forward. “That doesn’t sound like her. I mean, I don’t know her that well yet, but we had a pretty great talk today. And she doesn’t strike me as the type of person to be rude like that.”
“Guess you never really know someone,” Luke said.
“I guess.” But Gwen didn’t seem satisfied.
“What made her leave?” Oliver asked.
Luke ran a hand over his face. “It’s not what made her leave. It’s what she said when she did leave. She told me that I was just like my dad.” Not wanting to meet his sister’s eyes, he dropped his gaze to the ground.
“Excuse me? She said what?” He would have been able to hear the shock and irritation in Gwen’s voice a mile away. “How dare she talk about a private family issue that she knows absolutely nothing about. Especially after I talked to her about it.”
“Exactly.” Luke felt vindicated. Although, he really needed to clarify it a bit. “Well, actually, she does know some of it.” Gwen’s mouth dropped. “She knows the whole story. Because I kind of told her about it.”
“You told her about your dad?” Oliver cracked his knuckles. “You never talk about that,” he said.
“Yeah, well, we were getting to know each other. It was kind of nice to share it. Plus, she wanted to know why I don’t do relationships. I had to explain it. She was really understanding.” Until she threw it back in his face. “Then she goes and uses it against me.”
“But why?” Gwen demanded. “Why did she even say that?”
Luke shook his head. “Oliver was giving me shit in the kitchen about Lola. I told him it wasn’t real between us.”
“Not real, sure,” Oliver interrupted. “You’re sitting out here with us moaning away after the girl, and it’s totally fake.”
“Can I finish?” Luke groaned again. “Lola heard what I said, and she left. When I talked to her out front, she said that I was just like Dad, always leaving, always running away.”
Now Gwen was shaking her head. “Wow.”
“Exactly. I told you she was out of line.”
“Not wow to Lola. Wow to you. You are a huge jerk.”
“Excuse me?”
“Dad really did a number on you. I mean, I thought I was bad.” Gwen whistled. “But you are ten times worse than I am.”
“She hurt me,” he ground out between his clenched teeth.
“You can’t get hurt by someone if they don’t mean anything to you,” Oliver said. “Just sayin’.”
Gwen ignored him. “I’m pretty sure you hurt her, too. Can you imagine what she felt when she overheard you and your idiot-compadre here? No offense,” she said to Oliver.
“None taken.”
“I mean I really, really, and I can’t emphasize this enough, really, don’t want to hear about your sex life or even think that you have sex. However, I have to assume that you and Lola, you know, did it.”
She waited, pinning him with a questioning stare. Through the flames of the fire, Gwen’s sharp features looked even more intense, and Luke wanted to hide. He only hoped that his sister wouldn’t be able to tell that his face was burning up with what had to be a deep blush. He nodded silently in answer instead.
“Let me get this right then. I’m going to lay out all the details. You meet Lola.”
> “She looked so hot that night,” Oliver added.
Gwen pointed a stern finger in his direction. “Don’t make me come over there.” She coughed. “As I was saying, you two come up with this insanely stupid plan to pretend to be together so we’ll all get off your case.”
“It was stupid, I kn—”
Gwen stopped him with a hand. “I get why you did it. I know we have a tendency to be a bit, ahem, annoying.”
“A bit,” Luke said.
“Somewhere along the lines of getting to know each other for this ruse, you actually fall for her and she falls for you. Then you sleep with her, invite her to more family functions, and then lie—again—by telling your moronic best friend that you don’t have any feelings for her. And she overhears you saying this.”
When she put it like that…
Luke was a gigantic piece of crap. Lola should have had the Uber run over him.
What he didn’t dare tell either of them was that he’d also gotten to know Lola. It wasn’t just that Lola wanted a family of her own in the future. It was that she didn’t currently have one at all. He told her he was there for her, that she could count on him.
What does he go and do? Yanks that promise away from her at the first opportunity.
“We all know you like her, Luke.” Gwen moved over to join him on his lawn chair.
“He more than likes her. He loooovvves her,” Oliver said.
Gwen sighed. “I honestly don’t know why I hang out with you.” She turned to Luke. “That’s not a bad thing, either. It’s okay to have a girlfriend. It’s okay to get married someday. It’s okay to be in a relationship.”
“But Dad—”
“Was a selfish prick,” Gwen finished. She shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you have to be.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I get what Lola said to you. I understand it. And she was right too. Dad hurt you so badly. You in turn shut yourself off from almost everyone in your life so you won’t get hurt again. Even though you’re not physically running from her, you’re emotionally leaving her in the dust. That makes you Dad junior.”
“Hey, that’s spot on,” Oliver said.
“Furthermore…” Gwen was on a roll now. “It’s like you’re trying to stick it to Dad by not letting Lola in. But, really, you’re punishing yourself.”
Luke felt like his sister had taken the grill and slammed it against his face. He wasn’t punishing himself by… He sat back and closed his eyes. And all he could see was Lola’s sad, disappointed face staring back at him.
Shit.
He was punishing himself. And Lola. All because he didn’t want to be like his dad.
“Here’s the real question, bro. Do you want to be with her?”
His attention snapped up at Gwen’s question. “Huh?”
She leaned toward him and emphasized each word. Slowly. “Do-you-want-to-be-with-her?”
“It’s not a hard question,” Oliver said.
No, it wasn’t. In fact, it was the easiest question he’d ever been asked.
Did he want to be with Lola? A gorgeous woman who was smart and funny and sweet and kind. He enjoyed talking to her. Then there was their physical connection, which continued to blow his mind. He felt a grin spreading across his face as he remembered their earlier activity in his bedroom.
“You know, Oliver, I think that’s a yes,” Gwen said.
“I believe it is.” Oliver chuckled.
“Hey, when did you get so smart?” Luke asked his sister with a playful shoulder nudge.
“Eh, I have my moments.”
“Can you do me a favor?”
She started laughing.
“Do you know what I’m going to ask?” Luke said with amusement in his voice.
“Of course. You just said how smart I am.” She pretended to huff on her fist and then wipe it against her shirt. “I won’t tell Mia or Winnie about the whole pretend girlfriend thing.”
“And I won’t tell them that I love you the most.”
“You’re such a faker.” She shoved him. “So how are you going to fix this?”
Luke whipped out his cell and shook it in front of Gwen. “This little bad boy is going to help me.”
He scrolled through his contacts until he found the name he wanted. Then he connected and waited anxiously for the other person to pick up. He thought it was about to go to voicemail when a very feminine voice answered.
“I can’t believe you’re calling me.”
“Hey, Frankie. I need your help.”
…
Lola didn’t know why she’d let herself be dragged out of the house and all the way into D.C. to go to a stupid club when all she really wanted to do was stay in bed and hide under the covers until she was fifty-seven years old.
This had been the worst week ever. Work had dragged on and on. She’d totally messed up a project she’d been working on for her boss. Her team had lost at their weekly bocce game. Not to mention all of the questions and comments she’d received regarding Luke. A subject she really, really didn’t want to talk about.
Not that Frankie had cared. Her bestie had hounded her all week long.
“Come on, Lo. Just talk to me.”
“I’ll talk to you as long as we don’t talk about Luke.”
“But…”
“But nothing. I don’t want to talk about him.”
“But how are you feeling?”
“Like crap. Lies are always bad. I should have known better. He used me. The asshole was using me all along.”
“But how do you know?”
“I told you. I overheard him telling Oliver that nothing between us was real.” She put her head down. “I should have listened to you. You were so right.”
Frankie sighed. “No, I wasn’t, Lo.”
“You said I would get hurt and guess what? I’m hurt.”
“What if he didn’t mean it?”
“Ugh. Frankieeeeee, I don’t want to keep discussing this.”
“Lola, you have to.”
To get Frankie off her back, she finally spit out her feelings. “I miss him. Okay? I really miss Luke. Are you happy now?”
Frankie had glanced at her cell phone for a long moment. Then she’d smiled and mumbled something along the lines of, “That’s all I needed to hear.”
Whatever. Lola was exhausted. She didn’t want to spend her coveted Friday night at the newest club in D.C. wearing one of Frankie’s shirts that was way too tight and cutting off her circulation. That said nothing about her feet, which were killing her, and it was only one hour into this dreaded outing.
Why did Frankie think that when she was upset, the cure-all was going out? The real solution would have been for her to dress up in her favorite pair of comfy pajamas, snuggle into her bed, and watch mindless reality television until she finished a pint of her favorite ice cream and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
But no. Instead, she was busy trying to flee the dance floor, even as this guy who could clearly not get a hint—or her straight-up telling him that she didn’t want to dance—continued to try and grind on her. Even as he was chasing her.
If she hadn’t been so depressed, she probably would have laughed at the walking-grinding motion he was doing. He resembled a broken horse with hiccups.
Finally, she made it to the ladies’ room, where broken horse man couldn’t get to her. She brushed her hair, even though she really couldn’t care less about her appearance. Then she waited for fifteen minutes, hoping her dancing friend had moved on.
She peeked her head out the door and saw that the coast was clear. She made her way to the bar. Frankie came bouncing over.
“Isn’t this place great? Do you want another pomegranate martini?”
Lola pinned her with a stare. “No. I’m going home.”
“Oh, Lola.”
She stuck a hand out. “Don’t try to stop me. I don’t want to be here. I shouldn’t have come out at all.”
Frankie’s eyes
softened. “I’m not going to stop you, but I am going to come with you.”
“Frankie, you don’t have to do that. You’re not the one in mourning.”
“Neither are you. He’s just a guy.”
Her stomach cramped. Luke wasn’t just a guy; he was her guy. Or, he was, for a short time, but still. She missed that. Missed him. How was it that she hadn’t even known him that long and yet she couldn’t stop thinking about him?
“I’m going to tell Hannah and Celeste that we’re leaving. Hang tight.”
Twenty minutes later, they were out on Pennsylvania Avenue. Lola’s ears were ringing, and her toes were aching. She could not wait to get back to their apartment.
“Thanks for leaving with me.”
“Of course.”
“I know you wanted to stay.” Lola did feel bad.
“You can make it up to me.”
Lola tilted her head. “How?”
“Take a walk with me.”
Was she kidding? She’d be lucky if she made it to the curb in these devil shoes.
As if reading her mind, Frankie reached into her purse and produced a pair of flip-flops. “Here, put these on.”
“Why do you have those in your bag?”
“Always be prepared.”
Lola laughed. “Fine. Since it’s actually cooler than a hundred degrees and the humidity isn’t making me feel like killing myself, I guess I can go for a walk with you. But you’re a weirdo.”
“Love you, too.” Frankie beamed. “Let’s stroll down to the monuments.”
“The monuments? Are you kidding? It’s summer. It’ll be packed with tourists.” More dreaded than mosquitos, tourists flocked to the nation’s capital every summer, forcing the natives to stay in their respective neighborhoods.
“Nah, it’s too late for them. They’re already tucked into their beds in their overpriced hotels. Come on.” She pulled Lola’s arm and started hightailing it down the street.
Finally, they made it across Constitution Avenue and began walking toward the Reflecting Pool. Lola had to admit that she did love being down here. There was something almost peaceful about it. Even as cars whizzed by on either side of them, cutting each other off, and honking their horns. Even with the usual hustle and bustle of the city.
Her Super-Secret Rebound Boyfriend Page 15