42. Luke
FORTY-TWO
LUKE
A shrill ring cut through the early morning quiet, and I cursed myself for not silencing my phone.
It was too fucking early for my family to be bothering me.
Too early for there to be an issue with the parade float.
Until the sun crested the mountaintops, no one had a good enough reason to disturb what little sleep I’d gotten.
The ringing didn’t stop.
And I couldn’t find my damn phone.
“What’s happening?” Maggie asked with a groggy yawn.
“I can’t find my phone,” I grumbled.
“I think it’s mine, actually.” Maggie rolled to her side, reaching for the face-down phone on the nightstand. The screen lit up, the name Mom in big bold letters. Maggie sent the call to voicemail and dropped the phone on the bed. “Ugh, doesn’t she know it’s too early to call?”
Her phone rang again, and panic seized my chest.
Something’s wrong.
“You should answer that,” I said, keeping my voice even as to not alarm Maggie. But I recognized this sixth sense of mine well enough to know something was off.
With a dramatic sigh that only made her more adorable, she hit the answer button and put the phone on speaker. “Mom, it’s two hours earlier in—”
“Violet’s in labor.”
Maggie shot up to sitting. “What? But how? She’s not due for three weeks. And she’s always late.”
“Well, someone forgot to tell her baby that.” The woman sounded exasperated, which I recognized easily enough as concern. Something else was wrong. “There’s been some . . . complications.”
“What kind of complications?”
“She’ll be okay. Baby, too . . . But how soon can you get here?”
I didn’t let myself think about what this call meant. I couldn’t. I tossed the covers aside and got into action, gathering Maggie’s things.
The priority was getting her on the road as soon as possible. Her family needed her, and I wouldn’t get in the way of that. With a twenty-hour trip ahead of her, she couldn’t drag her feet.
Ellie trotted after me, whining as I collected stray clothes, a hairbrush in the living room, a romance novel in the kitchen. There were socks all over the house, of course. I picked them up and dropped them in Ellie’s wicker basket.
She nosed me hard in the back of the knee.
“Don’t worry, Ellie Belly,” I said, kneeling down to give her some affection. “I’m keeping the ones you gave me.”
“How many socks did she give you exactly?” Maggie asked.
“A few.”
“A few?”
“We need to get you on the road,” I said, focusing on the task at hand. It was the only way to keep the crack in my heart from splitting wide open. It wasn’t fucking fair. I was supposed to have more time.
“I’m sorry I’m checking out early—”
“The only thing that matters is you getting home to your sister.”
As soon as she hit the road, I’d refund her entire stay. It didn’t seem fair to charge her for a rental she hardly used. But I didn’t want to argue about it now.
“Home,” Maggie mumbled, staring at the floor for several beats.
I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to draw her into my arms and hold her tight.
Hell, I wanted to get in the car and go with her.
I hated that she’d be traveling alone. But I had responsibilities here I couldn’t abandon.
I was supposed to drive a goddamn tractor in a couple of hours.
And I was back on the schedule tomorrow with not one but two of my officers taking leave of their own.
“Where are your suitcases?”
“Next door.”
“I’ll get them. Go grab a shower if you want one.”
I flew into action, jogging from deck to deck to retrieve everything from the neighboring unit. Ellie kept on my heel, pacing and whining. She didn’t understand what was happening, and that nearly broke me.
I returned with her bags and started a pot of coffee while she showered.
If I’d known she’d be getting on the road so damn early, I wouldn’t have let her keep me up. I would’ve insisted she get some rest.
I debated making breakfast, but settled with toasting a bagel she could take on the road instead. I packed some road snacks, bottled water, and tucked some of the apple cider she loved in one of her tote bags.
I was spreading the bagel with the strawberry cream cheese she loved when she appeared in the kitchen, hair wet and dripping from her shoulders. Her expression was stoic, but her eyes were red-rimmed.
“You don’t have to do all this,” she insisted.
“You have a long drive ahead of you.”
I finished preparing her bagel, filled my biggest travel cup with coffee, and started packing her Forester.
And just like that, there was nothing else to do.
An ache filled my chest because I knew what happened next. Maggie and Ellie get in the car and drive away.
“I wish I had more time,” Maggie said, her smile watery.
I tugged her into my arms for a hug because I couldn’t stand to see her cry. I didn’t want to face what this meant until she was ten miles down the road.
Holding her in my arms, I nearly broke. I love you and I want you to come back, were on the tip of my tongue. But I bit back the words. She wasn’t ready. She needed this time with her family, not pressure from me. “I want you to text me to let me know you’re safe.”
“Okay.”
“Tonight at your first hotel. And tomorrow when you get to Lansing.”
“Will you tell everyone I’m sorry I can’t stay?” She sniffed. “Tell Walter—” I glanced across the street, but his windows were dark. “Tell your family I’m sorry I’m going to miss dinner.”
“It’s time for you to go,” I said, my voice nearly cracking as I untangled her from my arms and opened the driver’s side door. “Your sister needs you.”
Maggie dropped into the driver’s seat and started her Forester. I held the back door open for Ellie, but she just stared at me.
“Ellie, you have to go with your mom.”
She ran a circle around my ankles, whining.
I lifted the pup and set her in the back seat, closing the door as she yipped and cried. Fuck me, I wasn’t strong enough for this.
Maggie looked at me through her open window, swiping at tears. I almost leaned in to kiss her goodbye. But where would that leave us?
“Drive safe, Maggie.” I clapped the top of her SUV and shuffled backward in my driveway. I waited until she put her car into gear and drove away from my house and out of my life, taking all the sunshine with her.