35. McKenzie
THIRTY-FIVE
McKenzie
“Come on in. The break’s almost over,” Grace whispered, leading us into the foyer of the hobbit house. Even though I still had my key, I’d texted, letting her know we’d arrived so we could come in without disturbing the show.
“What did I miss?” I asked once we were inside.
She looked weary. “Let’s just say nobody will be accusing Warren Wright of going easy on him.”
My chest squeezed. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s been handling it well,” Grace answered as we made our way closer to the living room. “But I can tell he’s rattled.”
“They still won’t tell you who this surprise person is?” my mom asked.
Grace shook her head. “Production won’t crack, so it must be someone big.”
“Thirty seconds,” someone called.
“You go,” Kia said. “We’ll hang out here so we’re not in the way.”
Jen squeezed my arm. “You know where we are if you need backup.”
Grace grabbed my hand, guiding me past Katie, Dallas, and the rest of Luca’s friends, standing me right in Luca’s line of sight just as the booming voice began counting down from ten.
His eyes found mine, and a million unsaid words passed silently between us. His face relaxed slightly as I gave him an encouraging nod, letting him know he had this and I was right there in his corner.
“I love you,” I mouthed as Warren Wright began to speak.
“And we’re back, live and uncut with Luca Sterling,” he said. “I want to shift gears to this incident with Nashville singer/songwriter Tate McCreedy. There’s been a video circulating that was taken by a witness to an altercation the two of you had a few months ago. We’re going to show the viewers at home this clip, and then I want to get your take on what happened.”
There was a beat of silence, and even though there was no video playing for me, I remembered the night vividly. I’d seen the clip and knew how much that loser had altered the story, leaving out the part where I’d punched him for harassing Luca and he’d nearly hit me.
“Watching this, it seems like you and Mr. McCreedy had words before you pushed him into a wall,” Warren said. “Is that how it happened?”
“No,” Luca answered. “There’s a lot you don’t get to see on that video.”
Warren nodded. “Walk me through what happened that night.”
Luca began describing the events and how they’d actually unfolded, including the insults Tate had hurled at him, my reaction, and the way Tate had raised his fist at me which led to the clip everyone had seen.
Warren nodded again. “Wow, that’s quite a different picture than the one Mr. McCreedy has painted. Why didn’t you attempt to set the record straight before now?”
“Part of it was because I fell back into that thought pattern where I felt like nobody would believe my side of the story because they’d already decided who I was,” he replied. “But there was also a part of me that started to wonder if I somehow deserved what was happening.”
“How so?” Warren asked.
“I thought that even if I didn’t do what he said, maybe I’d not been as nice as I should have been,” Luca said. “When you’ve lived your life letting people tell you who you are, you eventually start to believe them. As all this stuff started coming out, it sent me spiraling backward.”
Warren steepled his fingers. “How are you coping now?”
“Um.” Luca exhaled slowly. “One day at a time. I’ve finally realized I’ll likely always have depression. I’ll probably always struggle with my sense of self-worth. This isn’t something that goes away so much as something I have to learn how to manage and live with.”
“And I imagine there’s a certain amount of un learning you have to do too,” Warren said.
“Absolutely,” Luca began. “There are so many false narratives we start to believe about ourselves. Maybe they come from society, or sometimes, they come from people in our lives. A lot of my issues stem from the rejection I felt as a kid.”
Luca’s eyes became misty as he continued. “My mother was an alcoholic who couldn’t be bothered to take care of me, and my dad was in prison. He never tried to have any sort of relationship with me. Neither of them were capable of being the parents I needed, and instead of seeing that for what it was, I internalized it. I felt like if I’d just been a better kid, they would have tried harder—that maybe they would have loved me.”
Warren paused for dramatic effect, allowing Luca’s words to hang in the air like a dense fog.
“Do you wish things could’ve been different with your family?” Warren finally asked.
“Of course, I do,” Luca replied. “But they’re not, and it doesn’t do me any good to think about what might have been.”
“Luca, I know we’ve been teasing a surprise message for you from someone in your past,” Warren said. His face was unreadable, and I held my breath. “When we started promoting this show, our production team received an email from your father.”
What???
The color drained from Luca’s face, and I could see his throat working to swallow.
“He’s out on parole now, and I had the chance to speak with him via telephone earlier today,” Warren went on. “I asked him if he had anything he’d like to say to you, and we’re going to play that audio for you and our viewers now.”
Grace reached for my hand, and we exchanged a worried glance as a man’s voice filled our ears.
“Luca, son, it’s your father,” he said, his southern lilt slurring slightly. “God, kiddo, you’re a grown man now. I know things were tough back when you were young. You were always causing trouble, and I guess you got that from me. I shoulda had more patience with ya. I didn’t try the way I should’ve back then, but I’d like to now that I’m out, you know? But I just…I need a little help getting on track. It’s hard to get a job when you're as old as me and been in and out of jail as much as I have. I ain’t getting any younger, son, and I’d like to see you. It’s been too long.”
The audio ended, and Luca’s eyes were glossy with unshed tears, his pale face frozen in shock. My blood turned to ice.
“How does that make you feel?” Warren asked, his voice laced with innocence as though he hadn’t single-handedly reopened a traumatic wound in front of the entire country.
I wanted to throttle this asshole.
Luca’s mouth opened but no words came out, and a moment passed before he finally spoke.
“I, uh, I’m stunned,” he said. “That’s the first time I’ve even heard my dad’s voice since I was seven years old. This is…it’s a lot.”
“You said earlier you wished things could have been different with your family,” Warren began. “And now they can be. It sounds like your father wants a chance to start over.”
Even from where I stood, I could see Luca’s hands tremble, and it filled me with anger.
“That’s not…that’s not how that works,” Luca choked out.
Warren pinned him with a challenging stare. “You said yourself that people can change. It seems like you want people to give you grace, but shouldn’t you be willing to do the same? Don’t you want to at least meet with him? See what he has to say?”
A tear slipped down Luca’s cheek, sending me over the edge. How dare this guy use Luca’s own words to gaslight him. Before I could stop myself, I stormed onto the set and sat beside him, taking his hand in mine.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
Luca’s jaw clenched, and I knew he was just trying to hold it together. I squeezed his fingers.
“Excuse me,” Warren snipped. “Who are you?”
I whipped my head around to face him. “You’ve got some nerve ambushing him with something like that on live television. What was the goal here? Did you think you were gonna facilitate some happy family reunion?” I tilted my head and tapped a finger to my chin. “Or were you hoping Luca would decline his dad’s half-baked offer that’s clearly a cash grab so you could still paint him out to be some hypocritical villain?”
Warren’s eyes darted from side to side, and he tried to speak, but I cut him off, unable to stop the words from pouring out.
“I’m not done,” I spat. “Your first clue this guy hasn’t changed a bit should’ve been that he reached out to a TV show to pull this stunt instead of trying to make amends with his son personally. His beautiful, resilient, loving son that he is worse for not knowing. Frankly, even if his dad has changed, that doesn’t negate the years of trauma he caused, and that’s not something that can be overcome in the span of a twenty-second voice message.”
“Cut,” someone yelled off camera. “We need to go to commercial now .”
“I…what…” Warren’s cheeks turned red. “Who the hell is this girl?”
I was ready to tell him exactly who I was, but Luca spoke first, his voice thick with emotion.
“She’s the love of my life.” He gave me a soft smile before shifting his focus to Warren. “And you need to get the fuck out of my house before I run out of grace and kick your ass.”
The production crew and Warren Wright packed up with lightning speed, but not before Jo ripped them a new one. A few minutes later, everyone was chatting in the kitchen of the hobbit house like old friends. It felt good, seeing both our worlds collide.
“Hey,” Luca said, reaching for my hand. “Can we talk for a second?”
“Of course.” I smiled up at him and let him lead me out to the garden.
Once we were outside, our breath appeared in front of us like tiny clouds in the cold night air. I shivered and he pulled me close, sliding my arms beneath his jacket.
He kissed the top of my head. “Thank you. For being here.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, I—”
“You did nothing wrong,” he said. “What matters is that we’re together now. And I promise you, I’m not running anymore. I know I’ve got a long road ahead of me, but I want to walk it with you by my side.”
“I want that too,” I whispered. “This whole thing made me realize how much unresolved grief I have for Brennan. The guilt I’ve been carrying around, this desire to be able to fix everything, has been eating me alive. I have a lot of work to do, but I want to do it all with you.”
“I’m gonna be right here next to you, McKenzie. For as long as you’ll let me,” he promised, rubbing his hands in slow circles over my back.
The laughter of our friends filtered outside, and we stood there in each other’s arms for a moment, soaking it all in. Every person in that house had shown up for us, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, they always would.
“You know, we’re pretty lucky,” he said. “And we’ve got some pretty great friends. I’m glad I finally got to meet Kia, Jen, and Ravi.”
I nodded. “They’re the best.”
“I was thinking maybe I could have a Sunday dinner here in the new house before everyone has to go back home.” He gazed down at me. “You think they’d want to come?”
My eyes widened. “Wait. What? The new house?”
“Yep.” A grin spread over his mouth. “I’m buying the hobbit house.”
I squealed. “Are you serious?”
“And you know what the best part is?”
My mind was reeling. Luca was going to be living here.
“What?” I asked, the corners of my mouth curling upward.
“I get to keep everything in it,” he said. “I would have hated for Randy McNutt to feel out of place with all his stuff gone.”
“You’re really moving here?”
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I told you. No more running.”
“I love you,” I whispered, holding him closer.
He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “I love you too.”
The back door creaked open, and Grace poked her head out.
“There you are,” she said, her voice chipper and excited. “The internet is blowing up over you guys. Do you want to hear what they’re saying?”
Luca shook his head. “You know what? I think I’m good.”