Chapter 14 – Luke
LUKE
By Monday morning, the streets were in good condition, and the town looked lovely under its fresh cover. Luke stopped at Mara’s café before heading to The Ridge.
“Thanks for inviting Jack to my birthday party,” he told her.
“Mom thought it was a good idea. Hope she was right.”
“Of course! He said he was really happy to be included.”
“It was nice of him to help Mom with the shoveling, although we didn’t really get that much,” Mara offered—a passive-aggressive backhanded compliment, or merely a poorly timed observation? “Glad you brought him over Saturday night.”
Luke smiled over his mug and said, “Yeah, he’s good with kids. And they really did look great at their practice!”
“Nita is so excited. Marco just wants to run around with the other boys. Maybe they’re too young; I don’t know. But as long as they’re having fun and it gives Julio more time to be outside with them.”
Good, he thought. He’d dodged the Jack inquisition.
But then he remembered his conversation with Suze and changed course.
“I keep waiting for him to disappear again, because that’s what always happens—or to deliver some rom-com speech and sweep me off my feet,” Luke said.
“Everybody wants that, babe.”
“I’m forty years old. Way past time to keep waiting for a Hollywood ending, good or bad—you know? It’s up to me, at least halfway, anyway.”
Mara studied him. “That sounds… healthy, actually.”
Luke glanced at his watch. “Gotta run!” he said, bolting up and kissing the top of her head.
“Hey, wait one second,” Mara said, leaning in. “You OK with this milestone … turning 40? I dreaded it.”
Luke thought for a couple of beats. “Yeah. Really, I’m grateful to be here.
” And he meant it. The drinking, the drifting, all that time in the modeling world he didn’t enjoy.
He’d earned his peace. And now he was realizing that peace, once achieved, wasn’t simply guaranteed to stick with him through life’s challenges.
You had to use it, like a muscle, for it to grow. And that was something he knew how to do.
At The Ridge, a group was gathering for the over-60 morning session at nine.
Most of them were well over 70, but Luke wanted to keep the age reference looser and more welcoming, even though anyone could come.
On the one hand, it didn’t seem right to segregate people who were older than the rest of the crowd.
But on the other hand, some of them wanted it because it signaled they would be welcomed by The Ridge, not encouraged to overperform crazy feats like they were still in college.
Fifty, sixty, seventy… It didn’t really matter. It was as much a marketing tactic as anything else to get more people involved in healthy activities.
“Morning, gentlemen. How’d you make it through the snow up at your place?” he said to a couple of men about 60 who were stretching at the back of the room.
“We’re fine, Luke. No problems,” said Evan, the more outgoing of the two. “We got more than a foot, but that’s not bad. You know how this one likes to break out the equipment whenever he has the chance,” Evan said, gesturing to his partner. “He was plowing at sunrise.”
Evan’s partner, Dale, rolled his eyes and headed to refill their water bottles. (They’d been hearing “Dale and Evans? Like Roy Rogers?” jokes for decades.)
Amir put the six participants through their paces with warm energy and positive reinforcement.
“Looking good, folks,” he said. “Let’s get those heart rates up on this snowy Monday morning. Yeah!”
A round of stretching and calisthenics, followed by 30 minutes in a weight-training circuit, did the trick.
“He’s a good one,” Evan told Luke on their way out. “Amir always makes it fun for us.”
“That’s important,” Luke said. “If it’s not fun, who’s gonna want to come back, right?”
Dale still hadn’t said anything, but he gave a friendly wave as they walked out with the others.
Back in his office, Luke checked his phone.
Nothing from Jack. Fine. He’d noticed Jack’s Jeep wasn’t in the hotel parking lot when he drove by. Whatever.
He wasn’t sure whether to send a text or let the day unfold. He was still shy about seeming to expect constant contact already.
Fuck it, he thought, not letting himself off the hook. I’m almost 40 years old. I can want it without expecting it.
He texted Jack: “Morning. Gonna make it out to campus?”
After 15 minutes, Luke had moved on, pleasantly uninvested in whether he got a text back right away.
“Been here since 5. Crazy morning with some power lines down. But we’re getting things back up and running.”
That was practically a novel, to Luke’s surprise.
Don’t pile on; just be present, he thought before replying simply, “Good luck! At The Ridge all day in case you need anything.”
Good, he thought. That felt… good.