Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Luke
“I don’t understand,” Kylie said, but her tone made it clear she was catching on.
Fast.
“It looks like Amber created a fake email and sent it from my account to make you think my email wasn’t working. And if I blocked you on social media, it wasn’t me–she did it.”
“Why would Amber do all that?”
“We can’t ask her now, can we?” he snapped, hating his tone, repulsed by what he and Kylie were uncovering.
Had his late wife really gone to such extremes?
“Hold on, hold on,” Kylie said softly. “If she did this, she did it when she was fifteen, Luke. You disappeared on social media shortly after I moved. So it happened way back then.”
“And your point is?”
“She was fifteen, Luke. A teenager. A baby. We all were, back then. She–she must have been jealous. And maybe insecure.”
“Maybe?”
“Okay.” Kylie ran her hand up and down her arm, what they were experiencing a bit spooky. “Obviously, I’m shocked, too, but doesn’t it fill in the blanks for you? It does for me. I spent all those years more troubled by how your behavior didn’t make sense than by the rejection.”
“ME, TOO!” he shouted, relieved to hear his emotions put into words.
She jumped, startled. Before he could say something, anything, about all the years they’d lost, all the anger he had at Amber, the crunch of tires on dirt made them both turn.
His stomach lurched.
His parents, with Harriet.
Never one to handle too many emotions at once very well–unless they were other people’s emotions–Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Suddenly, Kylie’s hand held his.
“It’s okay. We can process this later. Together.”
Together.
He’d longed for together for so long. That’s what he’d had with his late wife. A sense of togetherness. Someone had his emotional back. A partner, a lover, a co-parent–for sure.
And what he had with Amber was more than that. Never lonely with her, he felt seen.
Finding that email, Kylie’s name on his blocked list–that was different. Hard. Add in his growing feelings for Kylie and Luke didn’t know what to do.
A gentle hand squeeze from her brought him back to the present.
Quickly, she released him. His mom, Deanna, and his dad, Dean, were shutting the truck doors, Harriet’s blur of dark hair running toward him.
“Luke!” his mom called out, his dad wrapping his arm around her shoulders, the two looking so happy and relaxed. The European vacation was a big one, a cornerstone of a life as they aged. A pang made his chest hurt a little.
His parents were graying. Wrinkling a bit, too. Old enough to take a “trip of a lifetime” and mean it.
How many more good years did they have left?
Dean had fallen a few times, forty years of climbing trees finally catching up to him, time a cruel mistress.
Kell took on the bigger climbing jobs now, and they had a young apprentice, Allen.
Luke helped sometimes with really big jobs, but wasn’t as sure in the trees as Kell.
His brother was part squirrel, part Spider-Man, able to climb like he had sticky fingers.
Their mom had put her foot down when their dad had fallen five and a half years ago, breaking too many bones in a free fall that his harness caught, late enough to trigger damage. It wasn’t about the business any more.
It was about keeping her husband around long enough for her to enjoy him.
And what about Luke? The thought of spending the rest of his life without someone special was unbearable.
No. That wasn’t quite right.
It was the thought of spending it without Kylie that made him ache.
Before he could think the next thought, his mom buried him in a hug, Harriet on his dad’s shoulders now. Kylie introduced herself and made small talk with his dad while Harriet chattered excitedly about fairy muffins, scrambling down off his dad.
“I loved seeing Dennis and Europe, but I missed you. Missed this,” his mom whispered in his ear. As Luke pulled away, she held him tighter and added, “Kylie Hood, huh? You look a lot like your dad.”
She touched her blonde hair. “I hear that a lot.”
“He was famous, too.” Deanna gave a sad smile. “Or infamous.”
“Famous?” Kylie squeaked. “Too? Why would I be famous? Rachel said the same thing!”
Deanna gave her a side glance. “Don’t pretend. Everyone in town is talking about you two.”
“Don’t embarrass me, Mom,” Luke said in a tone of warning.
“Why on earth would I do that?”
He laughed, his mom joining in. But then she leaned even closer, smelling like her Elizabeth Arden Red Door perfume, the only scent he ever remembered her wearing.
“But if you get together, can you wait until January 12th? Because–”
“You, too?” His voice cracked with betrayal. “You were in Europe!”
“Colleen texted and offered us a buy-in for the betting pool.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“It’s Love You, Maine, Lukey,” she said, using his childhood nickname with impunity. “People can’t help but gossip about love.”
“We’re not in love. And don’t call me Lukey.”
“Of course not. I see what you’re really in.”
“Huh?”
“You’re in denial, my dear.”
“Denial about what?” his dad called out. Kylie turned to look at him. If Luke were the blushing type, he’d be as red as a Main Street decoration in February.
And the tips of Kylie’s ears looked dipped in red paint.
“About who gets the old office building,” he tossed out, rescuing himself from his mom’s teasing. “We’re all going to fight over it.”
“Why?” Kylie asked. Harriet casually reached for her hand, so easily that Luke’s heart squeezed a little. His daughter did, in fact, love Kylie.
Did he?
“It’s–well, let’s go look at it and you tell me why,” he said, gesturing for her to walk ahead of him, his parents following as Harriet and Kylie took the lead.
The camp had the main lodge, the office building, the old director’s house, the first aid cabin, and a few other small cabins spread around.
The lodge had an enormous commercial kitchen and dining hall attached to it, which Luke planned to turn into an extraordinary recreation room, complete with a pool table, darts, ping-pong, and if he got lucky, some vintage video games and pinball machines.
Build a home that no one ever wanted to leave.
His eyes cut over to Kylie at the thought.
Speaking of leaving… he had ten weeks left with her. At most. If she got a job in New York, maybe less. Attachment swung from one extreme to the other as he worried over the situation:
Let himself feel what he really felt for her, or keep the wall up, knowing she would disappear from their lives again? Harriet had no hesitation over becoming attached, even though they’d repeatedly explained that Kylie wasn’t here for much longer.
Kids were like that, attaching with their whole hearts, both feet in, every fiber of their being open to the world.
Luke had changed.
“I’m so glad to hear how wonderful you’ve been for Luke and Harriet,” he overheard his mother saying to Kylie as they reached the old office, the glass storm door covered with faded, peeling stickers. “Sounds like you’ve settled into a nice routine, the three of you.”
If she weren’t his mom, he’d kick her ankle. His mother was so far beyond obvious, she should need an astronaut suit to breathe. Always matchmaking for her kids, he knew how her mind worked. Kell and Rachel were together now in no small part due to Deanna Luview’s intervention.
One down, three to go. If she could get Luke and Kylie together, Colleen would be next.
His dad just gave him a big old grin.
Great. This was about to go from bad to worse if even his dad was chiming in.
“Your mom is laying it on thick. That means she likes her,” was all Dean muttered as Deanna opened the office door and the building swallowed her, Kylie, and Harriet.
“This is just as amazing as I remembered it!” Kylie gasped when he walked in, her eyes drawn immediately to the sky-climbing, open-air loft that made up half the office.
Built back in a time when timber frames were popular and labor was cheap, the office had cathedral ceilings pushing two and a half stories on one side of the building, and galleries on three levels.
“This would be perfect for fairy shows,” Kylie muttered to herself, eyeing the old stage, which was down on the first floor.
Years of “No Talent” shows from bygone times flashed through Luke’s memory, the Bathrobe Band that he, Kell, Brewer, and Moore formed making him groan internally.
They thought they were so cool, wearing bathrobes and swimsuits, banging on “drums” made of five-gallon buckets and playing the out-of-tune piano.
The very same one that was still on stage, though now covered with an inch of dust.
Note to self: Call Tommy the Tuner and get the piano fixed. Yet another item on the never-ending list of money-pit projects.
But he grinned at the thought.
“Do you still play?” he called out to Kylie, who froze on the spot.
“That?” She pointed to the piano. “I haven’t played in years.”
“You probably just need a little practice,” his mom said, giving him an impish look. “Only way to know is to find out. Luke’ll have it tuned and you can come and play anytime, Kylie.”
She wasn’t just laying it on thick. She was smothering them in it.
“What about you?” Kylie asked Luke. “Remember the Bathrobe Band? You, Kell, Moore and Brewer?”
“I haven’t pretended to play a five-gallon bucket in fourteen years.”
“Pity,” Kylie shot back. “You missed your shot at a recording contract. Could have been huge in Poughkeepsie.”
They all laughed.
“Where are Brewer and Moore?” she asked, a sheen of nostalgia in her eyes.
“Moore’s here. Runs the family jewelry store. Brewer’s long gone, living in Texas.”
“Texas?”
“He hit it big. Billionaire.”
“NO!”
“Yep.”
“He was always bumming money off me in school to buy ice cream on Fridays.”
“Add in compound interest and ask him for fifty grand,” his dad cracked.
“Kylie! Come here!” Harriet shouted, her voice tinny and distant. As Luke followed Kylie, he realized where his daughter was.
The attached greenhouse. Dull, filthy windows were framed by rotting wood with peeling paint, pots on their sides on the cracked concrete floor.
Two windows were broken, but the bones were there.
It was clear that being empty for a few years had led to parts of the camp going into disrepair, and the greenhouse was one of them.
“The fairies can live in here!” Harriet gushed, eyes jumping from his face to Kylie’s. “You said they like to be warm in the sun, but it’s winter, so there aren’t many outside now. This could be their home!”
One hand on Harriet’s curly hair, Kylie gave her a wistful smile. “You have some really wonderful ideas, Harriet.”
The change in her countenance caught him off-guard. Why the sudden distance?
Then it hit him.
She was job searching in New York. She was leaving in two months.
Kylie was drawing boundaries.
Physical pain hit his chest, the wall forming around her one he had to scale, climb over, fight against. Losing her could not happen, must not happen.
Would not happen.
A hand on his arm, together with the familiar scent of her perfume, made him turn, his face close to hers, though he had to look down, as always.
“Did you invite Kylie to Christmas?” his mom whispered. His dad had joined in chatter with Harriet about wood sprites and garden gnomes.
“What? No. Of course not.”
“Why ‘of course not’?” She seemed offended. “Poor woman, all alone in her own hometown, no one to be with. It’s just being neighborly to offer.”
“Mom.”
“Don’t look at me like that, Luke! Kylie is part of Luview. It’s my job to make her feel it.”
“Mom,” he said again, in a voice of warning.
That earned him a stuck-out tongue as his mother released his arm, turned to Kylie, and said loudly, “Kylie! What are you doing for Christmas?”
Harriet’s face lit up like a, well…
Christmas tree.
“Christmas?” Kylie peeped, looking straight at Luke, who didn’t know what to say or do.
So he shrugged.
“You know. A nice little holiday? Falls on December 25?” Dean joked. “Involves a bearded guy who was kind to the poor and–”
“Ha ha,” Deanna interrupted. “Yes, Christmas. We’d love to have you.
I hear you make a mean fairy muffin. Why don’t you make some and come along around seven?
We start eating then, and it would be lovely to have you for Christmas dinner.
Unless you’d like to come earlier and join the gift exchange? ”
“Mom,” Luke said tightly, moving toward Kylie, his protective instincts on overdrive. “You’re overwhelming her.”
Kylie’s throat bobbed as she swallowed, hard. He saw the tension in her, trying to read his signals, trying to understand the subtext.
And make no mistake, there was one.
More than one.
Because Luke desperately wanted her to come to Christmas. Stay for New Year’s. Be here every day.
Every single day.
Forever.
But Kylie Hood had plans that didn’t include being in Luview, Maine, forever, and that–that was the part he couldn’t tease out. The part that made falling in love with her so hard.
The part that made him radiate too many conflicting emotions.
Emotions she picked up on with supersonic empathy radar.
“No,” Kylie said firmly to Luke, eyes holding his in a steady gaze that didn’t waver, heat rising between the two of them until he damn near took her in his arms and kissed the ambiguity out of both of them.
“I’m not overwhelmed. I feel very welcomed, and yes, Deanna.
I would love to come for Christmas dinner. You said seven?”
Deanna was bursting with victory. He was never going to hear the end of this.
“Yes. Seven. You know where we live?” She waved her hand and laughed. “Luke can give you directions, I’m sure.”
Dean’s phone went nuts.
“That’s Kell. Work emergency.”
Luke frowned, but before he could speak up, his dad added, “Not that kind of emergency! Nothing dangerous. Just needs me for an estimate.”
Shoulders relaxing, Luke let his guard down.
Sort of.
Deanna grabbed Kylie for a big hug, not reaching for Luke, which was some professional-grade shade.
“This is exciting! I hope you like board games. We play a very competitive round of Apples to Apples and Telestrations.”
“Competitive Apples to Apples?”
Luke leaned in and whispered to Kylie, “Blood is sometimes drawn. Bring triple antibiotic cream.”
His parents laughed as Dean tugged Deanna out the door, both waving as Harriet popped up on the second floor of the building, waving from the balcony.
“Bye!”
Luke stared at his disappearing parents in a daze.
Not only had his mother outplayed him, badly, she’d left without giving him a hug.
Between realizing what Amber had done fifteen years ago, registering Kylie’s glee about the office and fairy camp, managing an overexcited six-year-old, and digesting his mother’s assertive invitation for Kylie to join the family, Luke was in sore need of a break.
Instead, he got one heck of an intense stare down from Kylie before she asked:
“What are you planning to do with this building?”