Page 64 of Sweet Spot

“Jesus. Poor thing,” I whispered as I pictured him. I could only imagine that being so fearful of others’ feelings was a result of growing up on eggshells and it broke my heart in two. “I’m glad he at least had you and Tess.”

“He did, but I had to go away to college at some point. I thought I’d stay near to take care of him and Tess, but when I got into Wharton, everything changed. I’d dreamt of going there since I was eleven. It was my reach school, but I got accepted and I was so fucking happy. But I also felt like a piece of shit because that meant I had to move far way. And even though she’d say she couldn’t wait and she’d visit me all the time, I knew Tess cried about it every night.”

“She didn’t want you to go?”

“She did. She knew it would give me opportunities I wouldn’t get anywhere else, but she was afraid of taking care of Wyatt alone. He was six, she was only fourteen and our parents were getting worse by the day, it felt like. They refused to take Wyatt to the doctor when he was hurt. They refused to buy him new clothes.”

I buried my face in my hand. “God. You didn’t have relatives nearby to help?”

“None. But when our parents fought particularly hard, we’d bring Wyatt to Noelle’s house next door.”

“Noelle. The girl who was at your door when I first met you.” I raised my eyebrows. “And the one who works for you.”

“Worked for me, but yes. She grew up with us. When I went away to college, her mom was nice enough to let Tess and Wyatt hang out to avoid my parents but there were times she couldn’t because she had a life of her own, of course. She was divorced and she brought a lot of different men back to her house and the second I heard that one of them hit on Tess, I told her not to go there anymore.”

I shuddered. “You were at Wharton by that time?”

“Yeah. I’d met Cam and Emmett already. We lived in the same townhouse near campus, but I wound up moving out when I was twenty because I sued for custody of Tess and Wyatt. And since my parents didn’t put up a fight, I won.”

My hand flew to my mouth, which hung wide open. “When you were twenty? Twenty years old?”

“Yes.”

I blinked several times to process it. “God. When I was twenty I was a part-time college student.”

“And you were taking care of your ex’s mom.”

“True. But you were taking care of two people and you were in school… full-time?”

“Yes. Full-time. Thankfully, I worked nights as a bartender and got some help from the government, so we were able to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Philly.”

“Two bedrooms? So you slept…”

“On the couch. Passed out hard every night so it was no problem for me.”

“Wow.” I was floored. I hadn’t imagined any of this – not that anyone really could imagine a story like Lukas’s. “So if you were twenty, Tess was sixteen. And Wyatt was…”

“Eight.”

I exhaled, my heart breaking yet again as I thought about twenty-year-old Lukas raising a high school junior and a second grader, going to school probably six or seven hours a day and then working at least eight hours at night. “So Tess took care of Wyatt while you were at class and work?”

“Yes. I bought her a used car so she could drive straight from school to pick up Wyatt. Poor kid – she barely had a social life. But she was still smiley and happy every day because Wyatt was actually making friends at this school. He was starting to come out of his shell with people besides us and it was so fucking rewarding. It made everything worth it – to study all night, crush my exams in the morning, work a ten-hour shift at the bar and come home to find Wyatt sleeping, his room all clean and all his homework laid out for me to check.” Lukas laughed to himself. “God, he was such a good kid.”

“You raised him,” I pointed out gently.

“But it wasn’t me, he was just born good,” he murmured, frowning in what looked like awe for Wyatt. “He was just such a perfect kid.”

I watched him get lost in a memory. My heart twisted suddenly when I thought about why Lukas might be against having kids. I wasn’t sure if I was right and I wasn’t about to ask for confirmation, but the thought alone made me so sad I needed to hug myself.

“So you graduated college the same time that Tess graduated high school, right?”

A smile touched Lukas’s lips. “Yeah, that was great. Cam and Emmett threw us a joint graduation party and they, uh – ” He winced, as if his good memory of Cam was fighting the impression he had of him now. “They planned us a surprise with Wyatt,” he finished, letting himself laugh. He thanked Dot as she came by with our food, but he didn’t lose his train of thought. “It was Emmett’s idea, but apparently, they spent a good two weeks memorizing the dance from Napoleon Dynamite because that was Tess’s favorite movie for… a long fucking time.”

I giggled as I scooted closer to him, loving all the little details about Emmett and Tess that honestly didn’t surprise me at all.

“I still have the video, actually,” Lukas muttered, popping a fry in his mouth. “All three of them were so into the choreography and they fucking nailed every beat. It was such a stupid looking dance, but they took is so seriously that it was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life. Especially since I’d never seen Wyatt happier. His friends from school were there and they loved it. They were all running around playing, being loud. Wyatt was introducing them to me and Tess’s friends. He didn’t have any friends in Miami and he was always so quiet, so it was huge for me to see him be a hundred percent himself for once.”

“Sounds like you guys did an amazing job. You were kids raising a kid. You have to know that that’s amazing and impressive. You were in college and you were providing for them at the same time,” I said. I felt the need to point out the positive because I knew where the story was heading. I knew the ending wasn’t a happy one and my heart was beating fast because unless I was mistaken, there was a shine to Lukas’s eyes. And I wasn’t sure how I’d fare if I saw him shed even one tear. I wanted to be strong for him, but I knew I’d cry, too. That was just the way I was. If someone I cared for was crying, my body gave me no choice but to follow suit. “Lukas?” I hugged his arm to my chest when he was quiet for awhile. “Can I just tell you that I think you’re incredible?”