Chapter 28 – Eden
EDEN
March
The rental car waiting at the airport turns out to be a low-slung red Corvette.
It’s a beautiful car and utterly impractical for ranch life.
I can practically see my brothers’ faces—a combination of judgmental distaste for this expensive Not-A-Truck mixed with boyish desire to drive it down the roads.
Luke’s face, however, is all boyish desire.
“You can drive,” I tell him generously.
“I don’t have to,” he says quickly. “We’re going to your home. You know the way better.”
“And once we’re on those empty prairie roads, I know you’re going to be salivating to see how fast this car can go.” I hand him the keys. “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”
He brushes a kiss across my cheek. “You’re the best, wildflower.”
I’m grateful that he turns away to put my bag in the truck before he can see how big my smile gets when he uses that name.
The flight to Calgary took off early in the morning.
Fortunately, Luke’s executive status with the airline meant we got to enjoy unlimited free coffee and breakfast in the first-class lounge.
While I made up a big plate of eggs, sausage, and sourdough toast, Luke made a monstrous concoction of half-Frosted Flakes, half-Fruity Pebbles.
We spent most of the flight catching up on the work we’ll miss, which meant we were both glued to our laptops for hours.
I finished up invoices for Flair’s vendors while Luke read quarterly distribution reports, which he promised were just as boring as they sounded.
When we put our laptops away for descent, I let out a breath.
For the next few days, I won’t need to worry about life in Toronto.
I’ll have enough to worry about at home.
I wait until we’re on the road to get into it.
“My brothers are going to grill you,” I warn Luke. “They’ve played nice over text, but you’re on their turf now, so you need to know what to expect.”
“I’m sure I can handle it.”
“Wrong answer. The Locke boys might seem like simple ranch boys, but under that, they are devious, suspicious, devilishly clever amateur detectives. You’re going to have to face a straight-up interrogation, Luke.”
“They won’t tie me to a chair and threaten to cut off my fingers, will they?” he jokes.
“They won’t need to do that. They don’t need blunt force when they have manipulation. They'll ask you about everything, even stuff that seems meaningless, but you have to be consistent. They’re looking for any holes in your story, so we need to make sure we’re on the same page.”
“Sure. If anyone asks, I was with you the night of the murder.”
I elbow him. “You need to take this seriously, Luke! They're going to ask how our relationship started and what you thought when you found out about the cam work. We need to get our story straight.”
“Fine. Let’s see, we obviously met when you brought Brinley home for the holidays. We didn’t exactly stay in touch, but when you moved to Toronto, I was interested.”
“But not immediately,” I reply. “If you were interested too fast, they’ll say you’re only with me for my looks.”
“At first, I was. Your personality grew on me eventually, though.”
I ignore his jokes and keep going. “When you and Brinley patched things up, that’s when you started hanging out with me more. You realized that I was an ambitious, intelligent, business-minded woman, and that’s when you became interested. You reconsidered when you found out I was a camgirl.”
“What, I wasn't supportive of your side hustle?” he asks.
“No. You need to be very clear on this, Luke. You never judged me for it, but you knew our relationship could never go anywhere until I quit. So you took me out on a few dates while I was still working to see if we had a spark.”
“Got it. Where was our first date?”
I grin. “Yes. These are exactly the kind of questions you're going to have to answer. I'll let you pick our first date, if you want.”
“Shrimp buffet at a strip club.”
“Luke!”
“Fine! I took you to the Toronto flower market. We walked around while I introduced you to the vendors I know from work, and at the end I bought you a bouquet.”
For a second, I’m too astonished to speak. “Wow. That…that would have worked. I would have thought that was the perfect first date.”
“Right?” He flashes a smile. “I was pretty proud of myself for that one.”
“After that, you can keep it simple. We went to dinner a few times, once at Beau’s restaurant. But things really clicked when I found out about the auction.”
His brow furrows. “What do you mean, when you found out about it?”
“That's the genius of it, Luke. I created it accidentally. I was playing around on the site and accidentally set up an auction. I freaked out and tried to get the site to take it down, but they wouldn’t. So I panicked and I asked you for help. You, like a gentleman, stepped up and made sure you won. You protected my virtue and gave me the final push I needed to quit.”
“That's a pretty good story,” he admits. “It all makes sense to me.”
“Good. Now, Wade is going to ask you the most questions, but he’ll make you feel like none of the answers are good enough. He'll keep you off balance, reserving his judgment. The whole time, he'll be spilling everything he learns to Jasper. Jasper’s the one you really need to worry about.”
“What, does he know martial arts?” Luke jokes.
“He was actually into capoeira for a while, but that’s not what you need to worry about. Jasper is clever and tricky. He’ll drop statements like they’re fact and wait for you to confirm or deny them. Like he might say, ‘I know your first date was mini-golf.’”
“And if I don't tell him the flower market story, I'm screwed.”
“Exactly. Now, Reed won’t say much. He watches more than he speaks, so he’ll make you forget about him. No matter what you do, do not forget about Reed. He’ll catch you in a lie faster than a frog out of a barrel. Keep your wits about you.”
“Got it. Wade’s the leader, Jasper’s the investigator, and Reed is the silent killer.”
“Pretty much.” I take a breath. There’s one more thing he needs to know. “Did I tell you that my mom’s in a wheelchair?”
He glances over at me. “No. You didn’t.”
“Well, she is. She’s got ME/CFS, which is basically chronic fatigue and pain. She’s able to walk, but she gets overexerted easily. She’ll mostly be in her chair.”
I say it all as casually as I can. Sometimes, Mom's illness can freak people out, especially men. Men seem to be uncomfortable with problems that have no solution. All we can do is help Mom manage her pain, and that’s a constant struggle, for her and for us.
Over the years, I found that I get the best reactions if I state it as simple fact and act like it’s not a big deal.
Luke’s quiet for a moment while he takes it in. “I'm sorry, Eden,” he says finally. “That must be tough for your family.”
I shrug. “It can be.”
“Is there anything I should know about how to act around her? Would she rather I not bring it up?”
“No, Mom doesn't mind talking about it. She's had more than a decade to get used to it. My brothers can be a little more sensitive, though. I'd avoid the topic around them.”
“Okay. Well, is there anything else I need to know about her? Is she also a secretly maniacal interrogator? Do I need to worry about waking up with her holding a knife above my head?”
I laugh. “No, Mom’s cool. She’ll have questions for you, I’m sure, but they’ll be normal person questions, like if you have any hobbies.”
“Eden, my hobbies are literally poker and booze. She’s the one who’s going to send me back to Toronto with her footprint on my butt.”
“We have thirty minutes until we get to the ranch. You can still take up knitting.”
I spend the rest of the drive quizzing Luke on our story.
He fudges some of the timeline details at first, but by the time suburban city centers turn into vast farmland, he’s got everything in the right order.
The landscape shifts back and forth between grassy hills and grassy prairies dotted with wildflowers.
“PrairieSmoke,” Luke says. “These fields. That’s where you got the name.”
“It’s where I’m from.”
“I like the looks of it.” He reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh, a casual gesture that feels strangely natural, but also makes my chest feel tight with nerves.
As much as I try to pretend this is just a casual trip, the fact is, I still want Luke just as much as I ever did, and he’s going to spend the next few days pretending he wants me, too.
By the time Locke Ranch comes into view—the vast fields, the old barn, the farmhouse where I grew up—the want I feel for him is too big for my body, for the car, even for the vast skies of Sundre.