Chapter 37
LUKE
Christmas lunch at the Whitaker Ranch was a family tradition. Always lunch, never dinner. Mom insisted.
I was already seated at the table with my brothers, waiting away from the kitchen so Mom didn’t get mad for being in her way. Troy sat directly across from me, eyes downcast, looking at his wringing hands.
“You can’t do this to me,” he said. “Have mercy.”
“Mercy?” I laughed. “Just like you did for the last ten years? You took the most embarrassing moment of my life and turned it into a decade-long punchline. You’ll get no mercy from me.”
Chris grinned and dangled a set of new truck guys in front of him. “I’m just happy with my new work truck.”
Troy sucked his teeth in defeat. “Now that the shoe’s on the other foot, it’s way less funny.”
“Hey, Troy?” Chris asked.
He sighed. “Yeah.”
“Tell me, was our brother Luke ever in a Christmas play?” Chris asked. “I could have sworn he was but I might have been dreaming.”
I arched an eyebrow at my oldest brother in question. “Well, answer the man.”
Troy begrudgingly said, “No, I don’t believe Luke has ever been in a play, Christmas or otherwise.”
I grinned in triumph, not at all graceful in victory. “Debra, can you come in here for a sec?”
Debra came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. “What’s up, guys?”
Clara followed right behind her, red hair shining in deep sunset waves that hypnotized me. “The food’s not ready yet. But I brought you a cookie.”
I got up to wrap her in my arms, careful not to crush the cookie. “It’s not food I want, but thank you, beautiful. Troy wanted me to tell his wife the story about how he got kicked out of Baylor.”
Clara’s eyes brightened. “Now that sounds fun. Was it for betting?”
Troy groaned. “Please don’t tell my wife this story. She’s going to leave me.”
Debra laughed and rounded the table to place her hands on Troy’s shoulders. “You think I don’t know that story?”
Troy looked over his shoulder at her. “You know it?”
“Honey, everyone at school heard the story.” She laughed. “I thought it was hilarious.”
“You did?” Troy grinned like he couldn’t believe it. Then he narrowed his eyes at her. “Wait, are you sure you know the story?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Well, I don’t know the story,” Clara said, leaning her back against my chest. “And since this is part of the bet that almost broke up Luke and me, I think I should get to hear it.”
I glanced at Debra. “Do you want to tell it or should I?”
“You tell it,” she said. “In case I got any of the details wrong.”
I nodded. “Okay, so it’s fall in Waco, which means it’s still ninety degrees out at night.”
Troy held up his hands and shook his head. “Whoa, you don’t have to set the scene so much. What does it matter what the weather was like?”
“It was warm out,” I said. “Which is why you felt like you needed a midnight swim.”
Debra laughed and clapped. “Okay, yes, this is the story I’ve heard. Please go on.”
Troy looked at his wife with love in his eyes. “And you still agreed to go out with me?”
“It’s the whole reason I said yes when you asked me. Now let him tell the rest.” She gestured for me to continue.
“Thank you, yes, as I was saying, Troy went out to the bar with his buddies and got hammered beyond recognition. And on the walk back to the dorm, Troy got hot. And he decided he needed a swim.”
Troy sat forward intently. “You guys, seriously, it was really hot that night. Like humid and sticky and terrible.”
“So he went to the campus pool, stripped bare-ass naked, and went for a swim.” I paused as everyone laughed.
“Unfortunately, good old Troy enjoyed the swim so much he fell asleep right there, still naked as the day he was born. That was problem one. Problem two? He wasn’t in the pool.
He was in a fountain in front of an office building. ”
Everyone laughed again and Troy kept looking at Debra, like he was making sure she was actually okay with all of it. For years, he had thought she didn’t know and I knew it had haunted him. It turned out he didn’t need to worry.
Debra grinned and lowered her voice. “Everyone heard about the guy who got expelled, and they also heard about his giant… well, you know.”
I groaned and Chris made barfing sounds. Troy looked proud suddenly. Clara glanced at Debra and they exchanged knowing nods. Clara certainly had no complaints about my equipment.
Chris shook his head at all of us. “I’m so glad Kate wasn’t here to see this. You’re all a bunch of animals.”
“Chris, tell us the truth,” Troy said seriously. “Is Kate even real?”
We all burst out laughing except Chris. “What the hell? Of course she is.”
He pulled out his phone to facetime her.
Feeling joyous, I gave Clara a squeeze and pulled her flush against me. I heard the soft exhale that was just for me. Her hips shifted lightly against me, and the delicious friction had me hardening uncomfortably with so many people around.
I pulled back with a quiet groan, and Clara spun in my arms to look up at me and smile. She knew exactly what she was doing to me, and she seemed to enjoy teasing me, now that we had talked things out.
Christmas lunch was important, but I considered stealing her away, maybe disappearing into one of the barns for a few minutes. I was so worked up, it wouldn’t take long. I just needed her like I needed air or water. It was a necessity, not a luxury.
I resisted, though.
After I had declared my love to Clara the day before, I had made it out into the back parking lot behind the Helios before she caught up to me, jumped into my arms, and kissed me.
It was like feeling the first rays of sunshine after a long, cruel winter.
The ice melted from around my heart and I could breathe free again.
She made me promise her I would never keep secrets in our relationship, and I made the promise gladly.
Sharing things with her was the best. Clara had such a bright, creative mind that I was always curious to see how she would respond to things.
I was very much looking forward to starting our future together.
After Chris finished proving to Troy that Kate was real, Mom called us to start hauling dishes out to the big dining room table we only ate at during holidays.
The food smelled divine as we carried it, and Mom kept a close eye on us to make sure no one stuck their fingers in anything to get an early taste.
We all sat down as a family. Dad said the blessing as always, which was his main contribution to the meal.
Then we all dug in and filled our plates.
While everyone was serving themselves, I noticed Mom watching everyone with a little smile on her face.
It was a mother’s smile at having all her babies back in the nest, along with a couple of extras we picked up along the way.
Her gaze turned to Clara, then to me. I smiled back at her and her eyes shimmered with tears. She waved me away, brushed her eyes, and went for the mashed potatoes.
“This food is to die for,” Clara said. “Don’t tell my mom I said that.”
My mother laughed along with the rest of us. “Thank you, sweetie. It’s just nice to cook for people who appreciate it.”
Dad looked up from his stuffing. “What, I appreciate your cooking, don’t I?”
“Oh, it’s not the same and you know it,” Mom said.
Dad pretended to be hurt. “You see how she treats me?”
Mom gave him a big, wet kiss on the forehead and all was forgiven.
It was nice to be around family again. I had been avoiding it for a while, before Thanksgiving, but I would be making the effort to get down here more often. I would love to get my parents up to visit me, but Mom still wouldn’t fly. I wondered if she would be willing to take a train.
I would circle back to that. For the moment, I was content to eat good food, joke around with people I cared about, and sit beside the woman I loved with all my heart.
During dessert, Chris nodded in my direction. “So when are you two headed back to the big city?”
“Tomorrow afternoon,” I said, glancing at Clara, who nodded. “We want a little downtime before Clara starts her new job after the New Year. And I go back to work after the break.”
“Well, good,” he said. “Clara, thank you for getting him to take some time off. He works too hard.”
Clara smiled. “I learned that pretty quickly. I’m doing my best to teach him how to relax and slow down a little. At least on the holidays.”
“Nice,” Troy said. “Take some time to have fun.”
Everyone raised a glass to that.
After dinner, I bundled up and got Clara into the rental SUV. She wanted to stop off at her parents’ place. She’d spent Christmas morning with them, doing presents and having a big breakfast, and now she wanted us to spend a little more time with them before we left tomorrow.
I drove her into town. It had snowed a little but most of it had already melted. The world was less Christmasy but at least it was safer. When we got to her parents’ house, it was immediately evident they weren’t there.
Clara found a note in the kitchen, saying they decided to go over to Nic’s to have dinner with him and his girlfriend Sadie.
“Do you want to head over there?” I asked her. “I’m sure Nic wouldn’t mind us dropping by.”
She shook her head. “Actually, there’s something I’d like to show you.”
Clara grabbed my hand and dragged me downstairs to the basement. Stacks of her boxes were lined up against one entire wall, the remnants of her former apartment across town.
“This is what you saved me from,” she said, smiling up at me. “This was going to be my apartment, probably until the end of my days.”
I chuckled. “You theater people are so dramatic.”
“I won’t miss trying to live here, but I will miss my bed.” She fell back onto the mattress, set up in one corner of the basement. It was on a big wooden bedframe and the sheets were a clean pink.
“So, about the hundred thousand?” she asked, laughing. I slipped my wallet out and her eyes widened. “There’s no way you have that much on you.”
I smiled, pulled out a debit card, and held it up for her to see it. “It’s right here, actually. Well, it’s in an account using this card, and it’s all set up in your name. Here.”
She sat up, looking thunderstruck. “Luke, I was just kidding. You don’t need to pay me. I’d feel weird taking your money.”
“I won’t hear it,” I said firmly. “You held up you end of the bargain, and you’ve earned it. Use some of it to have your stuff moved up to the city. Then you won’t have to miss your bed.”
She pouted. “But then I’ll be missing yours.”
“Oh, don’t you worry. There will be plenty of that.”
Clara smiled at me. “When did you set up that account for me, Mr. Sneaky?”
“The first week you were in New York with me,” I said. “When I knew that I loved you.”
I kissed her and she yanked me onto the bed with her.