Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“ F inally.” Serenity dropped the bucket she’d been scooping water with and wiped at the hair falling in her face when she heard a knock on the front door. She’d wadded her heavy hair up and poked a pencil in it to keep it off her neck while she worked, but bending over so many times had the bundle falling down.
Carefully picking her way through the water, Serenity opened the door to the front area and shook off her feet as she stepped over the threshold. “Coming!” she shouted, so they didn’t get frustrated at the wait.
It had been almost two hours since she’d spoken to Tate and Serenity had been attempting to get as much water out of the back room as she could, but the process was slow and she really didn’t know what she was doing.
“Ugh.” Grabbing the pencil, she let her hair fall, shaking it out as she walked to unlock the front door. “Hey, thanks so—” Serenity’s knees buckled, and she had to grab the door handle for support.
He was so big. When had Luca gotten so big? And his hair…it was gone, along with an eye. He’d left her as a young, strapping man and had come home looking like the war veteran he was. His one dark eye roved over her face, but his mouth, those lips that Serenity knew were soft and perfect, never moved.
Even with all the changes, he was still the handsomest man she’d ever seen. Curse him.
Meanwhile, Serenity felt nausea rising in her throat, and her heart was beating so hard, she was sure she would keel over of a heart attack, then and there.
“Luca,” she breathed.
One side of his mouth twitched, but he didn’t smile or give her any true indication of his feelings. “Serenity.”
She thought she remembered the depth and warmth of his voice.
She’d been wrong.
Serenity didn’t know whether to cry and throw herself into his arms, or?—
She straightened, the remembrance of his betrayal pushing anger past her shock. “What are you doing here?”
Was that a wince? She couldn’t be sure, but the guilt that began to bubble in her stomach was immediately squashed. It wasn’t her fault they were in this position. She refused to feel bad about it or hide her hurt.
“Tate told me you had an accident in the backroom,” Luca calmly explained. “I’ve been sent to help.”
Pursing her lips to keep from saying something nasty, Serenity folded her arms over her chest. “He said he was sending workers over.”
Luca shrugged his massive shoulders. “I’m the worker.”
“You? By yourself?” Serenity waved an arm toward the back. “I’ve got an entire flood, and he sent one person?”
“Everyone else has other projects. I was expendable.”
Serenity jerked back, scowling. “Expendable? What do you mean?”
Luca tilted his head to the side, the sun glinting off his bald scalp. “Today’s my first day. I don’t really have a designated job yet.”
Serenity blinked. “Your first day.”
He nodded.
“So they sent you to me?”
Luca sighed, the first sign that he was anything other than built of granite and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll tell Tate to send someone else.” He turned and picked up the equipment sitting at his feet.
Serenity’s heart nearly broke free from her chest and followed after him. After all this time…why in the world was she the one feeling guilty for sending him away?
“Do they have someone else to send?” she shouted after him.
Luca paused, not turning around immediately. Finally, he slowly turned, his dark eye meeting hers. “I honestly don’t know.”
Serenity chewed on her cheek. She needed help. The twins had sent help. But could she handle the help they sent? “When did you get back?” she asked, hating how weak her voice sounded. Luca McCoy had no right to have any power over her! None at all!
“Three days ago.”
Serenity blinked. “Three days? That’s it? And they already have you working?”
One massive shoulder rose and fell. “I do better when I’m busy.”
Serenity didn’t know what to say to that. It was such a Luca statement, and part of her hated that she knew that. If someone needed help, he had always been the first one there. When cleaning up after a party or event, he was the last to leave. He protected and took care of everyone within his reach, and Serenity had thrived on his support and love.
Until it had disappeared.
She didn’t know how to handle this. If she were being honest, a part of her still loved Luca, or at least, loved the Luca she’d known. Something about the strong, imposing man in front of her told Serenity that her old boyfriend had changed.
But how much had he changed? Obviously, he’d been through some physical changes, some good, others heartbreaking. But how much had he changed inside ?
“Seri,” he whispered.
She nearly jumped out of her skin. “What did you say?” She hadn’t heard that name in years. Why did it make her heart jump? Especially when said in that low, soothing tone?
Luca sighed again, his chin dropping low. “What if I promise to be as invisible as possible?”
“Invisible?” Serenity scoffed. “Look at you.” She waved a hand toward him. “You wouldn’t know invisible if it bit you in the nose.” She made a face. “And it would have to reach really high to do that.”
His mouth twitched. “I know you hate me.”
She grunted, neither willing to confirm or deny that statement…mostly because she didn’t know the answer. She hated her indecision. That was the only thing she knew for sure.
“But this store is important to you, and right now, I’m the most available to help.”
She clenched her jaw, tears pricking her eyes. Why did he have to be such a martyr? Apparently, out of all the things that had changed, his goodness wasn’t one of them.
It would be easier to scream, rant, and cry if he didn’t act as if he cared.
“I’ll stay in the back and be as quiet as possible. I’ll work overtime in order to get your shop back in shape so that you don’t have to see my face any more than absolutely necessary.” He took a long breath. “In fact, we can even communicate through my brothers if that makes it more comfortable for you. I’ll leave notes at the end of each day so you understand what I did. If I have questions or concerns, I’ll use Tate or Jett as a go between.” His eyebrows went up. “Would that help you feel better about this? The last thing I want to do is invade your space or hurt you…”
He trailed off, and clearly there were words missing from that sentence.
More than I already have.
She swallowed, her throat dry while her eyes were still wet. “Okay,” she whispered. “Th—” Serenity cut herself off before thanking him. She wasn’t the type to be mean or vengeful, but right now, she also wasn’t quite ready to open a line, even a civilly polite line, of communication between them.
Luca nodded and adjusted the equipment he was carrying. “I’ll walk around back. Can you open the door, and then you can go about your business for the day while I get going?”
Her head bobbed in the affirmative, and Serenity once again shut and locked the front door. Instead of heading straight to the back, however, she rested against the door, forehead to the cool glass.
Her knees were shaking, her stomach churning, and her heart thumping like a bass drum. All because a man she’d once been in love with had shown up on her doorstep.
It would be a miracle if she lived through the week.
Luca had to force his legs to keep moving. Honestly? He wanted to turn and run. Run away from the hurt and haunted look in the most beautiful blue eyes that had ever been created on the planet.
A look that Luca had put there…because he was a coward.
Curse words rang through his head, but he kept his face passive and moved toward the back door. When he turned the corner of the house, he let a few slip between his lips.
There really had been a flood, and from the looks of it, it was bad.
Serenity had always wanted to own her own business, even in high school. While he’d been serving, she’d graduated and moved on to start working on her business degree, all while they only saw each other a few weeks here and there.
She didn’t deserve this kind of hit.
She didn’t deserve to have the person she hated most working in her shop either.
When Tate had brought up the proposition, Luca had almost turned his brother down. But before the rejection had left his mouth, he’d stopped himself.
Luca was going to have to face Serenity at some point. Their town wasn’t huge. They would eventually run into each other, and when they did, it would be better for everyone involved if it wasn’t a shock.
Like the shock he’d just given her when he showed up on her doorstep.
For a moment, Luca had thought Serenity was going to close the door in his face, and he wouldn’t have blamed her one bit. But when she’d looked him over from head to toe, and her eyes had widened instead of narrowed in disgust or suspicion…his ridiculously stupid heart had skipped a beat.
Did she like what she saw? Had she noticed the scarring or just the eyepatch? Did she hate that he shaved his head now? His hair was such a mess with the eyepatch and always getting caught in the strap, not to mention a couple patches no longer grew because of his burns, so he just took the easy route and got rid of it all.
Luca shook his head and set down his equipment at the back door. It wasn’t open yet. Obviously Serenity was still working her way through the store. That was fine. It would give him time to compose himself so he didn’t make any more of a fool of himself than he already had.
He couldn’t help the wince, however, when he remembered that she’d been so upset at seeing him that she’d almost turned down his help with her building. “Leave her be and get the job done,” he whispered to himself.
That was the only way he would get through this, and the only way she was going to be comfortable with it. If he was going to stay in Lighthouse Bay for any length of time, he was going to have to learn to be invisible, despite her claims he couldn’t do it.
The same feelings of love and protectiveness that he’d always felt for her were still strong and consumed him entirely, but her hurt meant he’d have to protect her from a distance. She’d never let him back into her life even as friends. Invisible and with third parties in the middle was all he was going to get.
The door opened, but Serenity didn’t speak. Her cheeks were bright red and her eyes slightly swollen and Luca had a moment of alarm. He started to open his mouth to ask what had happened between the front and back doors, but snapped it shut again.
Quiet and invisible.
His new motto.
Instead, he chose to nod and leave her emotions in her hands, though his own ached with the desire to hold her and wipe away the evidence of her tears. This was going to be a rough couple of weeks.
His eyes widened when he saw the mess in the store room and office area. Whistling low, he noted the bucket lying on its side, and he laughed to himself. Serenity never had been one to take things lying down.
“I tried to start removing the water, but…” She blew out a breath. “It was a slow process.”
“I’ll get the vac hooked up, and it’ll go much faster.” Luca stepped back outside to look for a plug in.
Quiet and invisible.
He plugged in the cord and came back to the door, and to his surprise, Serenity was still standing in the doorway.
“How can I help?”
He almost couldn’t stop his shocked reaction, but before he made a comment, he realized she was probably eager to see him gone. Working together would only help things go faster. Smart…and strong…girl.
“Probably nothing today,” Luca told her. “I’ll vacuum up the water, and then I’ll need to start pulling up floorboards and moving your boxes to see what all is damaged and where the leak originally came from.”
“You only have one vacuum?” she asked.
He nodded.
Taking in a deep breath, Serenity looked to the side for a moment. “Okay. When you have that part done, I’ll help with the inventory. But I’ll go upstairs to the storage attic until you’re ready for me. Just call.”
Without another word, she disappeared, and Luca wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or disappointed.
Her presence was the best thing he’d felt in years…and also the hardest.
He grunted, cursing at himself again, and yanked on the hose of the vac. Turning it on, he got to work.
Work was good for the soul, and in this case, it was going to be his salvation. He liked to solve problems, and Serenity had a problem. Maybe, in some small way, this could help create some closure between them.
He’d left her behind, left things open ended, hoping she would get the hint and move on.
She’d gotten the hint alright, and several emails, texts, and phone calls had offered her a chance to vent the hurt of his lack of communication.
But by the time Luca’s head was on straight enough to come back…he knew the bridge was already burned.
Unlike Antony Harrison, whom Luca had convinced to go back to the girl he’d left behind, Luca didn’t have any hope for himself.
He’d seen her. She was more beautiful than ever before, and just as amazing, but also just as angry.
He’d do this for her. Clean up, renovate and make sure her shop would last forever, and then he’d slip into the shadows and leave her be.
He could do this. He could offer one last gift of reconciliation, even though the gap between them would probably continue to widen with time.
In this case, he loved her enough to let her go. Hopefully, someday she would understand.