Chapter 3
LUKE
On Thanksgiving Day, I parked the rental SUV outside my parents’ house on the ranch.
It had been a while since I’d been home.
Living out in the country made it difficult for people to come visit.
That was great if you wanted to be left alone, but it was less great if you wanted your son to pop in more often.
Everyone in the family had guilted me into showing up for Thanksgiving this year, after skipping it the year before.
There were no direct flights to Harrison City, so I chartered a private plane to fly me to Houston and drove the rest of the way here.
As soon as dinner was over, I would be leaving for New York again.
I had work. Sports didn’t stop for holidays and neither did sports commentators. Lots of football would be played today while I was stuffing my face with yams. My producer had been shocked when I asked for a day off. I told her not to get used to it.
My legs didn’t want to move, dreading going inside.
I loved my family as much as I loved anything, but sometimes my brothers were like laxatives.
They irritated the shit out of me. We had all grown up, but their sense of humor hadn’t matured.
They still razzed me like we were kids and they didn’t know when to stop.
Knowing I couldn’t delay any longer, I hauled myself out of the car.
The uneven ground made my knee ache, which wasn’t improving my mood.
The obscenely expensive bottle of bourbon I had in my hand would help with that.
It was a gift for everyone, but really, it was to get me through the next few hours of family time.
The front door was unlocked as always. I walked in and was greeted with the heavenly smell coming from the kitchen. Not turkey, the sad, bland holiday choice. My family had been cattle ranching for generations. We ate beef during the holidays, and prime rib was on the menu tonight.
My stomach growled. I had forgotten how much I missed my mother’s food. New York offered some of the finest restaurants in the world, but nothing could ever beat Mom’s cooking.
Loud voices came from the back of the house where the kitchen was.
Mom’s sprawling, Tuscan-style kitchen hadn’t changed a bit since I was a kid.
She was standing at the stove, stirring something.
My father stood near her, looking for a chance to sneak a taste of something when she wasn’t paying attention.
My brothers, Troy and Chris, sat at the kitchen table, watching the little TV on the counter.
Troy’s wife, Debbie, sat beside them, scrolling on her phone.
Washington was playing Jacksonville. “I was supposed to be at that game,” I said from the doorway.
“Luke!” Mom rushed over and smothered me in hugs and kisses. I rolled my eyes and pretended I was annoyed, but it was kind of nice to have Mom fuss over me. It rewound the years and the house started feeling like my home again. Somewhere I belonged. Somewhere I wasn’t a guest or a stranger.
“It’s good to be home, Mom.”
“It’s good to have you,” she said.
My dad and brothers gave me crushing hugs, excited to see me too, the big lugs. Maybe I had been gone too long. This reunion was making me sentimental, and I hadn’t even cracked open the bourbon yet.
Debbie hugged me as well, which was weird. I’d only met her once before, at the wedding. She didn’t really feel like family to me yet.
I poured myself a glass as soon as was polite. My father and brothers joined me and Mom stuck with wine. She kept puttering around the stove while the boys sat at the table with the game on. We always offered to help but she said we just got in the way.
“Kate couldn’t make it?” I asked Chris about his girlfriend.
Chris’s eyes widened a fraction. “You remembered her name?”
“Of course,” I said. “I may not be around much, but I pay attention to your lives.” Actually, my assistant had put together a cheat sheet for me, using my brothers’ social media. I had reviewed it on the plane.
It was a good thing, too. I could have sworn Chris’s girlfriend was named Kayla.
“Kate’s visiting her parents in Montana. They’re doing a big family thing.”
“See?” Mom said from the stove. “That’s a good girl, visiting her parents. You need to lock that down.”
Chris laughed. “I’ve been thinking about it.”
Debbie looked up from her phone. “If you go ring shopping, call me. I have ideas.”
“Deal,” Chris said.
“And when are you going to bring a nice girl home?” Mom asked.
“Oh, here we go,” I said. “We made it a whole half hour before I got the grandbaby talk.”
Mom snorted. “Who’s asking for grandchildren? I just don’t want you to be alone. It’s not good for you. Makes a man’s heart brittle.”
“My heart is fine, Mom. I promise.” I punched Troy’s arm. “Troy’s the one you need to harass about kids.”
“We’ve been trying,” Debbie said.
Mom got excited about that. Even Dad stopped watching the game to say he hoped it was a boy. I sat back, satisfied at how well I’d redirected the conversation away from my love life.
Mom didn’t need to know how active my social life was. To paraphrase an old quote, Manhattan was a river of women flowing past my door, and when I was thirsty, I drank. I sure as hell didn’t want to bring any of these women home, though.
“You should come out with us while you’re here,” Troy said.
I narrowed my gaze at him. “Where is there to go out around here?”
“We went to Tipsy’s last night,” Chris said. “It was like stepping back in time. It was a trip.”
“I never hung out there,” I said, shrugging. “I haven’t been around much since high school.”
“Whatever,” Troy said. “Come with us tomorrow anyway. It’ll be fun. We ran into a few people from school.”
“Like who?” I asked.
“Remember Steve Callahan?” Chris asked.
I barked out a laugh, remembering what we used to call him. “Taco Fell.”
“I forgot about that,” Troy said, chuckling.
“Why did you call him that?” Debbie asked.
“He fell down the cafeteria steps on taco day,” Chris said, grinning. “Well, he’s doing well. Didn’t fall once last night.”
I held up my palms. “As fun as it sounds, I won’t be here tomorrow. I’m heading back tonight, actually. I have games to cover.”
“What? You’re leaving tonight?” Mom turned around from the stove to point her spoon at me. “Lucas Austin Whitaker, you better be joking right now. You’ve only been home for five minutes.”
I looked down at my drink, unable to meet her gaze. “I have work, Mom.”
“You have more money than you can spend in one lifetime. Can’t you take a few days off for a change?” She put her hands on her hips. “I haven’t seen you in two years and you’re only here for a few hours?”
“Yeah,” I said, much less confidently. “That’s the plan.”
She turned back to the stove. “Will you be sitting with us at the table or should I just box it up to go?”
“We’re going to have a nice dinner,” I said. “I’m not rushing away.”
“Treating you mother like a drive-thru? I thought I raised you better than that but I guess I failed as a mother.” The woman could teach a master class in guilt trips.
“It’s a really busy time of year,” I said.
“No, no, it’s fine.” She pulled the prime rib from the oven and tented foil over it. “It needs to rest for an hour. If you can bear to stay in this house that long.”
“Mom, come on,” I said, feeling low. “That’s not fair. I’ll tell you what. I’ll fly you out to New York next week. I’ll spend a few days with you. Or next month. Whenever you want.”
“You know I can’t fly because of my allergies.” She shook her head at me and marched out of the kitchen.
Dad watched her walk out, then looked at the unattended food longingly. Love won out. With a sigh, he put his bourbon down. “I’ll go talk to her.”
Debbie got up to follow them. “I’ll give you guys a moment to sort your shit out,” she said to us.
Troy turned on me the moment we were alone. “Why do you have to upset Mom like that?”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I protested.
Chris, ever the peacemaker, said, “You didn’t do anything wrong, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to sugar-coat things a little. She misses you. Give her a break.”
“I’m here,” I said. “This is me giving her a break.”
“You couldn’t stay two days?” Chris asked.
“He’s too important now,” Troy said. “He’s not here to mingle with the locals and reminisce on high school days.”
“My schedule is packed,” I said. “This is what success looks like.”
“You know, speaking of high school, you know who else we saw at Tipsy’s?” Troy asked.
“Who?”
“Candy Cane Clara,” Chris said, grinning.
“Oh, fuck off. You two aren’t funny.” I took a long swig of bourbon, hoping to calm down.
“We’re not kidding,” Chris said. “Clara was there.”
“Yeah, don’t get mad at us,” Troy said. “It’s not our fault you popped a boner on stage in front of the whole town.”
“Traumatized that poor girl,” Chris said, shaking his head like he was sad.
“You bring this up every time we get together,” I growled.
“Because we barely see you,” Chris said. “And it’s an amazing story.”
“My pockets were full of candy canes,” I said through gritted teeth.
“And Nic told us that was bullshit,” Troy said.
Chris nodded. “We know what we saw. I still laugh when I think about it.”
“Yes,” I said. “We’ve all gotten a good laugh at it over the years, but it’s just pissing me off tonight. I’m stressed from work and I’m not nearly drunk enough to deal with you two chuckleheads. Let’s put a stop to this once and for all. How do we make that happen?”
Chris grimaced and glanced over at Troy. “That’s a big ask,” Chris said. “That’s our favorite story.”
Troy nodded. “Yeah, I genuinely believe it’s brought us all closer as a family.”
“Not me.”
“Not everything is about you.”
“Whatever, how much would it take to get you to stop?” I looked back and forth between my brothers. “Name your price.”
“A million dollars,” Chris said without hesitation. “And you can’t ask me what it’s for.”
I scoffed. “Screw that. What’s that money for?”
“Not a hot tub theater combo room in my basement.”
“I doubt that would cost a million dollars.”
Chris folded his hands on the table in front of him. “Good, because it’s not for that.”
“Fine, I’ll pay you all whatever you want.”
“No, we don’t want your money,” Troy said.
Chris shook his head. “Speak for yourself.”
“No, a million dollars for Luke is like ten bucks for a normal person.” Troy leveled his gaze at me. “I have a better idea.”
“What is it?”
“You upset Mom, so now I want you to cheer her up.”
“Okay, Troy, how am I supposed to do that?”
“First, you stay here a couple more days,” he said. “Spend some time with her. And come to Tipsy’s with us tomorrow. Prove you’re not too good for us now.”
“It’ll be a pain, but I can get some people to cover my shifts. Fine, deal.”
“That’s not it,” Troy said. “You also have to come home for Christmas.”
“Sure.”
“And you have to bring a girlfriend with you.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No, if you find a girlfriend and bring her home for Christmas, we’ll lay off the candy-cane fiasco forever. We’ll never mention it again.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s easy enough.”
I stuck out my hand to shake on it, but then Troy continued. “However, if you fail, we’ll never stop bringing up the story and I want your cabin in upstate New York.”
I snorted. “You’re out of your mind.”
“There has to be consequences or there’s no incentive for you to follow through,” Troy said.
“And if I succeed,” I said. “What are the consequences for you?”
“Name it. I’d offer money, but it’s worthless to you.”
I thought about it for a second. “Okay, I’ve got it. When I bring a girlfriend home for Christmas, you have to tell your wife why you got kicked out of Baylor.”
Chris laughed. “Oh shit, that’s vicious.”
“Dude,” Troy said, shocked. “She’ll divorce me.”
I shrugged. “Hey, we’re trading one embarrassing moment for another, right?”
Troy let out a long breath and nodded. “All right, I guess it’s a deal.”
We shook on it.
“Hey, Mom, good news,” I called out, loud enough she could hear me wherever she was in the house. “I’m staying a few more days.”
Her shout of joy shook the walls.