4. Luke
luke
. . .
When my mom told me that Lucy’s mom announced that Lucy was coming back, I couldn’t believe it. At first, I thought I had misheard her—there was no way Luce would have returned to Port-Cartier willingly. Not after our breakup ten years ago.
I didn’t want to break her heart, but I knew that was for the best. I knew her. I knew she would’ve gladly sacrificed her dream by following me to college. I had been selfish many times in the past, but it was one time I couldn’t allow myself to do it. I loved her too much.
So, we went our separate ways.
I went to college a few states away and returned home to take over my dad’s ship-building business, and she vanished into thin air—until now.
“And guess what,” my mother beamed. “Eve invited us to the welcome home party, too.” I was sure Lucy had no idea about any of it for two reasons—first, she wasn’t big on surprises, and secondly, I was the last person she would have invited to come.
I was running twenty minutes late—mainly because I questioned whether it was a good idea to go to the party in the first place. At last, my decision was made, and I found myself knocking on the navy-blue door with a bouquet in my hand.
Was it too much? Maybe. But after being gone for ten years, I felt like I couldn’t come to see her with empty hands.
I held my breath as I waited for the door to open, expecting to see the only girl I had ever loved…until Eve popped up at the door with her trademark, dashing smile.
“Luke! How good to see you. Come on in,” she prompted me, practically dragging me inside. I stumbled inside, looking around nervously. Only then did it hit me that she was in here somewhere. “Luce’s in the back. I’ll go get her.”
“That’s all right, Ms. Milburne. I’ll find her myself.”
Finally remembering to move my feet again, I made my way through the crowd, searching for her. She was in the kitchen, surrounded by some childhood friends who seemed eager to hear about her life in the big city.
I exhaled softly. She was just as beautiful as I remembered. Her dark locks cascaded down her shoulders effortlessly, framing her oval face. Her smile on her face was enough to light up a room, but it didn’t reach her green eyes. I was right—she didn’t want this party.
And more importantly, she made me feel exactly how I did all those years. My stomach twisted with regret. I shouldn’t have let her go all those years ago. I should have found a way to make it all work. I was now sure that a man only got to meet that kind of a woman once in his lifetime. Sure, I dated here and there, but none of my relationships were serious. Now I fully understood why—because none of them compared to her.
We were young when we dated—so young that many would tell us we didn’t even know what true love was, but I knew that wasn’t the case, because the impact she left on me shaped me for life.
I didn’t even realize we were staring at each other from across the room until she moved first, heading upstairs. I clutched the flowers in my hand, giving her a few moments of a head start before I followed her to the bathroom.
I wasn’t sure whether she was avoiding me or if it was just a coincidence, but I knew we had to talk, especially if she would stay in town. I didn’t want us to find ourselves in awkward situations in public.
I shifted from foot to foot as I waited for her in front of the bathroom. Each second dragged out to an eternity—until she finally opened the door, nearly bumping into me.
“God!” she exclaimed, stumbling backwards as she brought her hand to her chest. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“I’m sorry,” I quickly apologized. That was the last thing I wanted. I stalled, unsure whether I should go in for a hug.
It’s probably too soon, I told myself, extending my hand that still held the flowers toward her.
She arched her brow but took the flowers, nonetheless. It was a beautiful bouquet with her favorites—peonies and baby breath. “Flowers from my mom’s flower shop, Luke?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Well…it’s not my fault she has the best flowers in town,” I admitted. And there was no way I was getting her anything less than perfection. When she didn’t respond, I quickly continued, “It’s good to see you, Luce. To be honest with you, I still can’t fully believe you’re back.”
“I can’t either, but here I am,” she muttered. I didn’t miss the stiffness in her body as she talked to me. It broke my heart, but it was understandable. We hadn’t spoken since the night I broke up with her. “Thank you for the flowers…” she murmured before taking a step to walk away.
No. This wasn’t how our first conversation after all those years would end. I needed to talk to her a little longer.
“Luce, why did you come back?” I blurted out the first thing I could think of. She turned around in a heartbeat, staring at me with those green eyes that had the power to disassemble every bit of rational thinking in my brain.
God, she’s still so beautiful. How could I have ever let her go?
“I mean, I’m not complaining. I’m glad that you’re back…I’m just curious about what changed your mind after all these years.” The first few years after she left, her mother tried to convince her to come to Port-Cartier over the holidays, but she refused every time. What changed? Was it something in her personal life? Did she come to plan her wedding with her mom?
My heart clenched just at the thought of her with another man. Logically, I knew she must have had a fair share of relationships over the past decade, but it didn’t make the image in my mind any easier to stomach.
“I needed a change for a little while. I wanted to leave Seattle over the summer, and my mom invited me to come over. I figured it was about time I accepted her offer,” she explained. There was still a certain dismissiveness, a certain coldness to her tone. And I deserved every bit of it.
I slung my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “How do you like Seattle? In comparison to Port-Cartier, I mean. I’ve never had a chance to ask you.”
“Seattle is fine. You get used to it after a while. It’s a place like any other.” She didn’t sound like she had made a home out of it. I understood it all too well. I spent my entire life in Port-Cartier, yet after she left, it never felt like home like it used to.
“I can’t imagine myself living in a big city like that. It would probably be a little too busy for my liking,” I said. I had a nagging feeling that she was eager to end this conversation, while I wanted to keep it going for the rest of the night. How did I go for a decade without talking to her? Now that she was back, feelings flooded me all over again, and all I could think about was how much I missed her all along. “Are you…seeing someone?”
“Excuse me?” She stared at me in disbelief.
“Sorry, I just…I’m just wondering. Are you seeing anyone?” I didn’t have the right to ask the question, but it found its way to my mouth regardless. I needed to know.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” she said firmly. Her eyes remained locked on mine to the point where I could barely focus on anything else. My heart thudded inside my chest, wanting to fight its way out and head back home to her. “But if you have to know, I just ended things with someone.”
So that was the reason she came back. She was heartbroken. A surge of anger rushed through me—how could anyone have shattered her heart? I wanted to ask more questions…until I remembered that I did the exact same thing once upon a time. The realization shut me up, especially as she pressed her full lips into a thin line.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to go unpack. It was good seeing you, Luke,” she said, retreating down the hall to the room I recognized as her bedroom from a decade ago. I was sure of three things as she shut the door behind herself, with my flowers still in her hand.
One, Lucy still had the same hold on me as she had ten years ago.
Two, I wanted to help heal her broken heart.
And three, I had a new chance to win her over, and I wasn’t going to mess it up.