26. Lucas
LUCAS
O livia knew something was up. It would be absurd to think otherwise, because my behavior had completely shifted. I was avoiding her. Interacting with her meant giving her up, and I wasn’t ready yet.
As I ignored her second text asking what I was up to tonight, I pulled into my dad’s driveway. He was outside pruning some bushes and waved before removing his gardening gloves.
“Come on in, son. I made lemonade.”
I fell into step with him as we entered his home.
“How’s the business?” He began asking his obligatory catch-up questions, and I answered with my standard answers while he poured us two glasses of his famous lemonade.
I took mine and followed him out to the deck.
When he kept walking, I did the same until we were standing on the dock.
He lowered to sit, legs dangling off the end.
I mirrored him and looked out on the lake that held so many of my memories .
It was where we’d grown up, but also how we’d built a life for ourselves. This place and these people were our entire world.
“And how is Olivia?”
Pain lanced through my chest.
“She’s good. She’ll be good.”
I buried my face in my lemonade glass, preparing to change the subject to whatever task my father had asked me to come help with.
He was scrutinizing me.
“What’s going on, son?”
“Nothing.”
I didn’t want to talk about it. I already knew no one would understand. They’d all tell me to find a way. That I was overreacting. But there was no way to be found. If it wasn’t this opportunity, it would be another one. I couldn’t have Olivia living less of a life because of me.
“You know, Lucas, when I met your mother, she was living in the city, auditioning for anything she could. She was so magnificent when she performed. It was a genuine joy to witness.”
I’d heard this before. I knew my mother was wonderful as a person, but I never saw her perform. She always said she was going to get back into it, but she never did. And then she died.
“I’m sure she was spectacular, Dad.”
“Your Olivia is rather spectacular. In a different way, of course. But I’ve seen her on the computer. She’s quite special.”
A smile pulled at my lips. Partially because of Olivia and the fact that yes, she was special and partly because my dad just referred to the internet as ‘the computer.’
“Yes, she is.”
“She’s going places, that girl. I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets snapped up into something grand.”
I sighed. He wasn’t trying to, but my dad was twisting a knife in my already gaping wound.
“She already did. Netflix offered her a show.”
“Well, I’ll be! That’s wonderful. You must be very excited for her.”
“Of course I am. It’s an amazing opportunity. It’s going to change her life.”
“Sounds like it will change both your lives.”
He wasn’t wrong. It would change my life. But not in the way he meant. And my father knew me so well, he could see the truth written all over my face. I watched as understanding washed over his features and he let loose a deep sigh.
“You’re a fool, son.”
“You don’t know all the details, Dad.”
“I don’t need to know the damn details. If you let that girl get away, you are walking away from your soulmate.”
“Soulmate? Jeez, Dad. I didn’t think you were such a sap.”
He leveled me with a solemn stare. “You don’t experience a love like your mother and I had and come out of it not believing in soulmates.”
Fuck.
The old man was killing me.
“I can live with losing her if it means she gets to live a better life. ”
He was quiet for a moment, watching me. Then he turned, looking out over the water.
“Son. Your mother. She was taken from us too soon. And if there’s anything I learned from that awful situation, it’s that who we spend our time with is far more important than what we spend our time on.
We chose to spend our time together. To sit with your mother in those final days and feel deep sadness, but zero regret?
That is the most priceless thing on this planet.
Yes, we had other opportunities, other interests.
Life could have gone another way. But it wouldn’t have been better, just different.
Your mother always said you boys were her joy. She never regretted the path she took.”
“She’ll give it up for me, Dad. I know it. I can’t ask her to do that.”
“Did she say that?”
“She doesn’t know I know about it.”
“Then why don’t you trust that beautiful brain of hers to think for herself?”
“What if she chooses wrong?”
“Well, you’re making the choice on your own now.
That’s rather conceited of you to believe you’re more equipped than she.
Beyond that, there is no wrong choice, Lucas.
It’s just life. There are twists and turns.
Some of them we choose and some are thrust upon us, but there isn’t a wrong path.
No matter your choices, they are yours.”
I watched the ripples from a fish cresting the water.
“I think you felt Adrian’s choice to take your car on a joyride sophomore year was a poor one.”
My dad laughed and clapped his hand on my back .
“Life is a long game, son. Lessons are often disguised as poor choices.”
Crickets chirped as we sat, drinking the rest of our lemonade in silence. I understood my dad, and I valued what he was saying, but I couldn’t shake the knowledge that with me in her life, Olivia would miss out on something few people got to experience, fulfilling their full potential.
Next to me, my dad lifted himself up and headed back to the house, squeezing my shoulder as he passed and leaving me on the dock with my thoughts.
I couldn’t get past the fact that she hadn’t told me.
Then how shocked she was when I said I would not let our relationship be a secret.
She had to be planning to hide it. It explained why she hadn’t told me about such a monumental opportunity.
And I didn’t blame her. If they wanted her to be a personality showcasing the life of a single woman, I threw a wrench in that plan.
Walking around telling everyone I met about her posed a real problem.
The show would undoubtedly lead to other opportunities.
I wouldn’t just be causing her to give up this one thing.
I would be essentially ending her career’s climb.
As much as my dad believed I was wrong, I just couldn’t fathom doing that to her.
I knew she’d give it up. She was too good.
She’d never choose a television show over me.
But she needed to.
I took out my phone and sent a message to my brothers. They wouldn’t be happy, but we always supported each other .
Then I scrolled to a contact and pressed the call button next to the name. After two rings, I heard the voice I was waiting for.
“Lucas! To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Hi, Helen. I need to speak with you about your home.”