Chapter 49 – Luke
LUKE
My shoulders ache as I drag the heavy log back behind the shed. I’d like to think my daily workouts have made me pretty strong. I might not bench as much as Beau, but I’m no slouch in the weightroom. If anyone asked, I’d put my strength stats pretty high.
Not anymore. I know now that I’m weak and pathetic. Every muscle in my body feels like Jell-O. I’ve been humbled by a pile of logs.
A few days ago, Eden frowned at the log pile twenty feet from the barn.
She said they weren’t aesthetic for wedding photos and took a mental note to make Jasper move them.
Either she forgot to ask him, or he never got around to it.
So I’ve made it my job. I found a spot a hundred yards away, behind a shed where no guests would see.
Then I dug up a pair of work gloves from a box in the garage and got to hauling.
It’s not the first task I’ve completed today.
I’ve spent the whole day working my way down Eden’s to-do list, which I took a photo of before we left the barn.
Last night, I helped her hang lights and assemble tables.
James, Nate, and Ryan joined us eventually, silently accepting whatever task Eden handed to them.
Almost everything was finished by the time everyone disbanded for dinner.
There were only a few tasks left, which I finished up myself this morning.
Now, it’s log time.
Sweat drips down my back as I drag the log over to its final resting place. It thuds on the ground as I drop it. My shoulder muscle burns, a reminder that I’m way overworking it. I wipe the back of my hand across my forehead, probably getting dirt all over my face. Right now, I couldn’t care less.
I haven’t heard from Eden since we went to our separate rooms last night. I assume she’s making peace with Brinley, but I have no idea how it’s going. All I know is that the future of my relationship hangs in the balance. If Brinley can’t accept us, Eden will dump me.
The irony that Brinley and Beau kept their relationship secret for the same reason doesn’t escape me.
I trudge back toward the wood pile, ready to haul another log. I’ve hauled five logs already, but it doesn’t look like the pile’s getting any smaller. If anything, it might have grown. As I get closer to the farmhouse, I hear a familiar voice drifting through the screen door.
“—don’t care if you like it, that’s how it is.”
I freeze. Brinley sounds worked up about something. Is she talking to Eden now? Fuck, has that conversation gone off the rails already?
It’s not a conversation I was invited to.
I have no right to listen in on it. Regardless, I find myself drifting closer to the house.
If Brinley’s with Eden, then my whole future rides on what she’s saying.
If she approves, then my real relationship can finally start.
If she doesn’t, Eden might never talk to me again. Fuck, I have to know what’s happening.
“That man had no right to lie to us,” a deep male voice says. I’m almost positive it’s Wade. I move closer to the house, stopping right by the porch so I can hear better.
“If he lied to you, it’s because he’s more loyal to Eden than he is to you,” Brinley snaps. “You can’t fault him for that.”
“A dishonest man doesn’t deserve our sister.” That’s Jasper talking, I think. “They faked the whole thing. That’s just messed up.”
Brinley’s talking to the Locke brothers, not Eden. If Eden was there, I know she’d be defending my honor, telling her brothers to go to hell.
“Maybe it was fake at the beginning, but it’s not anymore. It hasn’t been for a long damn time.” Brinley’s voice is steady and fierce in a way I’ve only heard from her once before, in the hospital room when Maura almost died.
“But—” someone starts, but Brinley’s not hearing it.
“Listen. I know what it costs to hide a relationship. I know what it costs to choose love when everyone around you is telling you it’s the wrong call. I know because I did it—with Beau, for years, in secret, because we were scared of how Luke would take it. And it nearly destroyed me.”
She makes them all sit with that. Nobody speaks until Brinley continues.
“Living a lie when you’re in love—it hurts. It fucking hurts. The only reason I survived it was because the people who loved me eventually chose to believe me. I’m asking you three to do the same for Eden.”
Except she’s not asking. She’s telling, in that righteous, furious way she does when she really believes something. My throat burns with unspoken words. I’m knocked back with gratitude for my little sister.
“You sure do know how to talk, Brinley,” Reed says after a moment. “You’ve given us a lot to think about.”
“That’s all I ask,” Brinley says. Maybe they don’t hear the subtext under those words, but I do: You better come out of thinking on my side, or else.
The world tilts under me. I actually have to put a hand on the porch railing to steady myself, and for a disoriented second, I wonder if I got heatstroke from hauling logs in the sun.
But it’s not that, I realize. It’s relief.
It’s joy. It’s the simple, staggering fact that my sister just handed me the thing I’ve wanted for eight months and was too afraid to take.
If Brinley approves, then I can have Eden. I can love her, and she can love me.
The door opens and Brinley walks out onto the porch. When she sees me there, pathetic and sweaty and grinning, she shakes her head.
“Eavesdropper. You’re shameless.”
“Thank you,” I say. I’ve never meant two words more in my life.
She tilts her head, considering me a moment. Then she nods. “You’re welcome. What’s family for?”
I stride forward, arms open for a hug. Brinley holds her arms up in an X over her chest, stepping back.
“No hugging!” she squeals. “Look at your shirt. You’re disgusting.”
I look down at what was once a white T-shirt. Now, it’s brown with dirt, sweat, and bits of bark. I probably don’t smell amazing, either. I laugh—my first real laugh in days. “Right. I should probably shower.”
Brinley wrinkles her nose. “You should probably shower twice. You’re going to scare away your girlfriend.”
She walks away across the yard. I just stand by the porch grinning like an idiot, smelling like a junkyard, and feeling like the luckiest man alive.