15. Lucas
LUCAS
I drove down a dirt path lined with apple trees sporting small apples that would continue to grow until being picked this fall.
There were still a few workers tending to the trees, but not nearly as many as I remembered from when we were kids. I honestly wasn’t sure if that was a distorted childhood memory or there really were fewer people.
I made a mental note to ask Max about it.
When the house came into view, my body instantly relaxed in Pavlovian response. I’d spent so much of my childhood here, running around with my brothers, Max, and his younger brother.
There were enough of us we could have teams, intricate games, and best friends within best friends. Max and I were so close in age, we were always thick as thieves.
Now that we were grown, he was still my best friend. He was like a third brother. Except Max knew me in a way even my brothers didn’t. He could read my every thought, even when I didn’t want him to. Which was why I knew he was on to me with Olivia.
I’d known bringing her here would lead to this. My brothers gave me shit and also wanted the best for me, but Max could read my feelings. Sometimes even before I could work through them.
I rounded the house and pulled into a spot on the side of the backyard. There was a patio out back covered in string lights. Max sat beneath them on an outdoor couch, feet kicked up in front of him.
He greeted me as I approached the patio. “Hey man. Beer?”
“Please.”
I took a seat next to Max, popped the top on the bottle he handed me, and took a long pull from the amber bottle. When I was done, I turned to my friend.
“Let’s hear it.”
I laughed. So we were skipping small talk.
“Well. You met her. There isn’t much more to explain.”
“She’s gorgeous, I’ll give you that. Seems sweet and funny. But we’ve met lots of beautiful women who were nice. Why her?”
Deciding to ignore Max calling Olivia gorgeous, I thought hard about his question.
Why Olivia? It was something I’d asked myself a lot.
She was talented and driven. Smart and quick-witted.
I noticed her snappy responses slowed when she became dazed by whatever zapped between us when we were in each other's space. It was a caveman-like point of pride.
I gave Max the same conclusion I’d come to. “She’s just different. It feels different. ”
Max watched me for a moment, drinking from his bottle before returning his focus to the backyard and its dancing fireflies.
“Have you told her?”
“Of course not. We’re working together. It would cross a line.”
“People get together at work all the time. She doesn’t even work for you. Try again.”
“This is different. Our client loves her,” I explained. “If things went poorly and she couldn’t stand to be around me? I know the client would pull the project from us. It would be a huge hit to our bottom line this year. I’d have to explain that to everyone.”
“What if things went great, and that wasn’t even a factor? Why are you assuming it would go poorly?”
“I just can’t take the risk, Max.”
Max said nothing. The silence filled with the chorus of a late summer night. Crickets and owls echoed through the fields and woods in front of us.
“Are you scared you’d hold her back?”
Fuck.
This was why I’d tried to avoid Max. I knew he’d see right through me. I decided to play dumb.
“I don’t know what you mean. From what?”
“From life, jackass. And don’t insult me.
You know exactly what I’m talking about.
Just because you felt like you had to stay here and build your business to help your family, doesn’t make it an inferior path in life.
It wasn’t when your folks did it and it’s not for you. She’s here now, isn’t she? ”
“You met her Max. She could do so much more. She has this huge following online. People love her.”
“So? You’re deciding for her before you even get started? I thought you told me she was smart? She seemed it. So why aren’t you letting her make her own decisions?”
I knew Max was going to see right through me. I wasn’t prepared for him to lay it out in a way that was impossible to argue. Like I was insulting Liv’s intelligence by not letting her choose how this played out.
I knew she was capable of making her own decisions. Hell, I even trusted she’d probably make better ones than me. But if she felt anything close to what I was feeling, it would be difficult to make any other choice. And I couldn’t let her do that.
As I worked through Max’s words, I heard a door close behind us and turned to see Max’s brother Jace emerge from the house. He nodded at me as he passed, headed toward the barn.
“Luc.” He threw out a greeting but kept walking.
I looked at Max, a smile pulling my cheeks. “Chatty as always.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Sure you don’t want his advice? I bet he’s secretly some kind of relationship savant.”
We had a laugh about Max’s antisocial brother and then sat in the night’s still comfort for a few minutes. Nothing more needed to be said. Max knew he’d made his point, called me out. Now he was going to let me stew in it.
“So what are you working on?” I asked. Max was home on the farm for bursts of time but also had a place in the city. He and a partner took on per diem development projects. Then, in between those jobs donated their time for charity work.
Usually when he was home, they were in one of the charity project cycles and Max was in a more positive mood overall.
Happiness spread across his features. “We’re working with a water charity on some software that helps them determine the best locations to put wells. Where they’ll make the most impact based on population, building conditions, all that.”
“That’s awesome Max. Really great stuff you’re doing. Do you have your next not-fun project lined up?”
An opposite wash of emotion took over. “Unfortunately, yeah. A new point of sale and inventory system for a department store chain in the UK.”
“Doesn’t sound too bad.”
“Doesn’t sound too good either. I’ll help with the busy season here and then head to London.”
Max and I spent the next couple hours catching up, reminiscing, and listening to the sounds of summer while we still could. Then I spent the drive home thinking about his advice.
He was obviously right, I should trust Olivia with her own decisions, but I still couldn’t justify losing Helen’s project. If I could just wait until it was complete, maybe it would be worth the wait.
It wasn’t a brilliant plan, but it was the best one I could muster. Begrudgingly, I convinced myself to wait until Helen’s home was complete before pursuing anything more with Olivia.