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Luke turned slowly around and almost swallowed his tongue. Julia was dressed in a dark blue business skirt and white blouse. He’d unconsciously been expecting her to be wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She’d definitely grown up. The coltish legs, elongated by killer heels, and her face . . . God, she was so fucking beautiful he wanted to kiss all her lipstick off.
“Hey.” He nodded at her as if he’d never left and had just popped out to get a soda or something. God, he even felt like his eighteen-year-old self—stupid, inarticulate, and horny as hell. “How are you doing?”
She inclined her head a slow inch and a curl of her upswept brown hair touched her cheek. “I’m doing okay.” She held up a basket. “Paul and I figured we’d bring you some dinner. Is that all right?”
He looked around the empty space. “Sure, but there’s nowhere to eat in here yet.”
“That’s okay,” Paul said. “I’ve got some camping supplies in the back of my truck. I’ll go get them.”
Luke watched Paul leave and reluctantly turned back to Julia, who was putting the picnic basket and cooler on the least damaged section of the countertop. He cleared his throat and she looked up at him, her gray eyes slightly wary.
He gestured at the basket. “Thanks for doing this. I sure as hell don’t deserve it.”
“That’s true.”
He’d always liked that about Julia, her no bullshit attitude to life. The way she’d nagged him and Paul to say what they thought, rather than relying on her to translate their pathetic man-speak.
“Your aunt Josie said you were back for good. Is that right?”
Luke shoved a hand through his hair. “It kind of depends on how things go here.”
“Whether you can put this place back together again, you mean?” She frowned. “There’s one of those new, pharmaceutical mega stores less than five miles away now. I doubt this place could survive or compete with their prices.”
“I’m not thinking of reopening it as a proper drugstore. I was thinking more of a coffee and ice cream shop. I notice the town doesn’t have anywhere for people to sit and relax anymore.” Luke patted the countertop. “The bones are good, all I need to do is restore the parts that can function in the new design and get rid of the rest.”
Julia looked up at the stained ceiling, her hands on her hips, her teeth biting into her bottom lip. As he watched her, Luke shifted his stance, wanted to sinkhisteeth into her lip and bite down hard until she begged him to fuck her.
She lowered her gaze and met his, and heat flowed between them. Julia was the first to look away, her cheeks flushed, her hands twitching at the hem of her skirt. Had she seen the lustful gleam in his eyes? Was she surprised by it? He’d never stopped wanting her, never stopped wanting to come back . . .
“Why did you come back, Luke?”
As if she could read his thoughts, the question he’d been expecting arrived. He shrugged. “It’s complicated.”
She raised her chin. “It doesn’t seem too complicated to me. You walked out on us and didn’t bother to contact us for ten years. That’s not complicated, Luke. That’s criminal.”
He frowned. “I wrote to you.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Well, I never received anything.”
“Are you sure about that? I wrote to you about six months after I left, to let you know I was working in San Jose.”
“I never got that letter.”
“And that’smyfault?”
She opened her eyes wide at him. “I didn’t say it was. Just because you’re feeling guilty, don’t try and take it out on me.” She sighed. “Look, right after you left, my mom got married again. When her new husband decided to move back to the coast, I decided not to go with them.” Her smile was wry. “Not that I was invited anyway. So, I stayed here, rented an apartment and worked two jobs to see myself through college and pay the bills.”
“You probably weren’t at the old address then.” Luke shrugged. “I kind of figured you were too mad at me to want to write back, so I just kept on working and hoping.”
“Hoping for what?”
He smiled at her. “To make enough money to come back home.”
Julia opened her mouth and then closed it again when the door opened and Paul reappeared, his arms full of stuff. By the time she faced Luke again, she was totally composed; all her smiles were for Paul as he set up a makeshift table and camping chairs.
Ten minutes later, Luke found himself sitting down with his two oldest friends and wanted to pinch himself. He hadn’t expected them to come to him. He’d assumed he would have to do a whole lot of begging and pleading to get them to even talk to him. But here they were, balancing paper plates on their knees and sharing barbecue chicken wings and pork ribs with a salad on the side.
“Does anyone want another beer?” Paul asked as he reached inside the cooler behind him and grabbed a couple more cans. He handed one to Luke and one to Julia. Luke concentrated on eating his chicken. God, he hadn’t realized how hungry he was.
