Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
‘I think one way or another we’ve all had a hand in what happened.’ Luke gave a sympathetic nod. ‘What do you plan to do now?’
‘I don’t suppose … No.’ He shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t be asking.’
‘What? No, go ahead.’
‘Well, could I stay for a while? Till I sort myself out?’ He hesitated. ‘If you don’t like the idea just say so. I know after the way I’ve treated you in the past you’d be fully justified in refusing.’
‘But why here? Surely I’m the last person you’d want to stay with. Surely your friends …’
‘What friends?’ Jordan scoffed. ‘The ones who dumped me as soon as my mother was arrested, you mean? No, I’ve learned a lot during the last twenty-four hours.
I had no business treating you the way I did but I know the reason was because I hated the fact my father had more time for you than he did for me.
You were the clever and hardworking one, and he was good at making me feel like nothing.
So I thought, what the hell, why not live up to all his low expectations?
And playing the complete arse meant making your life a misery, too.
I’m sorry, Luke,’ he said with an embarrassed shake of his head. ‘I’ve been a total bastard.’
‘Yeah you have,’ Luke said, ‘and yeah, you’re welcome to stay.’
Jordan stood up, a sheepish smile on his face. ‘Thanks, cuz, thank you so much.’ A surprised Luke found himself on the receiving end of a heartfelt man hug. ‘You’re a lifesaver,’ he said as he stepped back. ‘My stuff’s in the car. I’ll just go and get it.’
With Jordan settled into the small second bedroom, the two of them decided to pay a visit to The Smugglers for lunch.
There, as Jordan apologised to everyone for his behaviour, Luke could see surprise registering not only on Jed’s face but also on those of the locals around them who had arrived for a lunchtime drink.
Jordan Hunter saying sorry? Today was full of surprises.
Their food arrived as they chatted, Jordan asking him about being held in Truro.
He went over those three awful days and also told him how he’d lost Cat.
When the two eventually left the pub, despite the unhappy situation they both found themselves in, their moods were fairly light-hearted: until they saw the figure waiting for them at the end of the street.
‘Dad?’ Jordan halted, staring nervously at his father.
Luke wondered what had prompted Gareth to turn up like this.
More aggravation? More accusations? He hoped not.
Today he looked as if he’d driven out whatever demons had taken hold of him over the past few days.
Dressed in light chinos and a black polo shirt with the Arcadia Motors logo on the breast pocket, he was freshly shaven.
Seeing both of them together, Gareth did a double take.
‘So it’s true; you have been staying with Luke?’
‘Why are you here, Dad?’ Ignoring his comment, Jordan’s pale eyebrows butted together as he continued to stare at him.
‘I’ve come to take you home.’
‘I have no home, you threw me out, remember?’
Ignoring his comment Gareth began walking slowly towards him, gradually closing the gap between them.
Immediately, Jordan began to back away. ‘I don’t need this’ he said with an uneasy shake of his head, ‘just leave, will you?’
‘Son, wait,’ Gareth called after him. ‘Look, I’m sorry I lashed out at you.
It was unforgiveable and …’ he paused ‘… so is the way I’ve treated you in the past. I swear things will be different from now on but I need you to come home.
’ He hesitated. ‘What I mean is, I need you to help me get through this.’
‘Me?’ Jordan bit his lip, his defiance wavering. Luke could see he was close to tears. ‘You need me?’
‘Yes, you’re all I have now.’
Jordan hesitated then walked over to where his father stood.
Gareth opened his arms and they embraced, Luke stepping back to give them a moment of privacy.
Despite all his bravado he knew Jordan had been sheltered all his life; there was no way he could ever break away and fend for himself.
And Gareth? Well, he appeared to be over his love affair with the bottle, although whether he was planning to lift his suspension, he had no idea.
He waited silently, watching father and son’s emotional reunion.
As they broke away from each other, Gareth turned to Luke, thanking him for all he had done and saying he wouldn’t forget it in a hurry.
‘First I need to get my boy home,’ he said as he wrapped an arm around Jordan’s shoulder, ‘but I’d be grateful if you could drop by my office around three thirty this afternoon. We need to have a chat.’
Luke blew out an uneasy breath as he watched the pair head off towards their cars without a backward glance.
If he’d been about to get his job back, he’d have told him.
Being dragged back to Arcadia meant it was for something completely different.
No return to work then, he thought irritably.
Just as well he already had a backup plan to keep him from going stir-crazy while he waited.
As the two vehicles disappeared into the distance, Luke headed towards the harbour.
Rumour had it that Davyd Coleman was looking for a temporary deckhand for the Moonrise while one of his crew was out having a hernia op.
Maybe he’d be interested in taking him on.
After sorting out a two-month placement aboard the Moonrise starting on Monday, Luke made his way back home. Repacking Jordan’s things, he locked the cottage door and headed for the Nissan.
By the time he pulled up outside Arcadia Motors he was resigned to the fact the Group Service Director’s job he had been promised all those weeks ago was no longer his.
In fact, he’d be lucky if he managed to get the senior technician’s job he had been covering.
Marika’s murder seemed to have thrown everything up in the air, triggering all sorts of other crises in his life; this being one of them.
Jordan might have got his life back, but him?
That was a different matter. As an inner voice kicked him and told him to man up, he pulled Jordan’s holdall from his truck, locked it and walked over to the main entrance.
Inside, the mood was definitely more buoyant than it had been on his previous visit.
This time there were genuine smiles and staff seemed more animated.
He passed through sales and took the curving staircase to the upstairs offices where Gareth’s PA buzzed through to announce his arrival.
As he followed her along the corridor towards his uncle’s office he wondered what kind of welcome awaited him.
‘Luke.’ Gareth looked up from his computer and got to his feet, indicating a nearby chair. ‘Please, have a seat.’
‘Jordan left this,’ he said, setting the bag down on the edge of the desk.
‘I’ll make sure he gets it,’ Gareth said, dropping it to the floor.
‘So what do you want to see me about?’ Luke settled himself in a nearby chair and waited for his uncle to beg. ‘Your job—’
‘Is no longer an option, yeah, I know.’
‘On the contrary.’ Gareth leaned forward, stapling his fingers. ‘This thing with Evie, as I said, I lashed out at everyone. It was wrong and I hurt a lot of people, including you. The director’s job is yours if you still want it. I’ll just need to take you round to HR to sort out the paperwork.’
‘Thank you.’ Luke was stunned. Gareth had done a complete turnaround, first with Jordan and now himself. ‘And thank you for getting me a decent brief. I’d all but given up hope until he arrived.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Gareth said, puzzled. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘So you weren’t responsible for hiring Richardson-Clarke?’
‘Who the hell is Richardson-Clarke?’ His uncle stared at him blankly.
Luke took in not only the implication of Gareth’s words but the casual way in which they were delivered. ‘My God,’ he said, ‘you really did abandon me, didn’t you?’
‘Luke, I’m sorry, I really am. I wanted to do something, but it was Evie.
You know what she was like.’ He saw his uncle’s panic-stricken face, heard him scrabble to pull his words together, to try and make a case for his actions.
‘She persuaded me to distance myself and you must admit from the evidence everything pointed to you being guilty.’
‘Evie,’ Luke said. ‘I might have guessed. She had you all worked out, didn’t she?
Knew if she applied enough pressure you’d desert me.
As you say, at the time everything pointed to me being the murderer.
No doubt she warned you any support, however minor, could affect both the business and peoples’ opinion of you.
’ He gave a cynical smile. ‘And what an easy way for Evie to cover up her own crime too. I bet she didn’t have a shred of conscience about it either.
She hated my mother and she hated me even more. ’
‘Don’t you dare drag your mother into this.’ Gareth’s voice was a low warning growl.
‘Oh I will,’ Luke fired back. ‘You let her down too, in so many ways. Admit it, you had no backbone where Evie was concerned. She went out of her way to make my mother’s life a misery. And you did nothing to stop her.’
‘Okay, okay, I admit it. I was weak.’ Gareth held up his hands in a gesture of defeat.
‘Yes, I should have stood up to her. Don’t you think since Evie’s arrest all I can think about is what I did and didn’t do?
I made mistakes. Bad decisions. It’s the reason I asked you here today.
I can’t change the past but I can do something about the future.
You, me and Jordan, we can move on. Make a better life together as a family. ’
‘A family?’ Luke scoffed at his uncle’s pathetic attempt at reconciliation. ‘It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think?’