Page 84 of The Cherry Blossom Boathouse

Luke let out a harsh laugh. “You ever had your heart ripped out and handed back to you in pieces? Ever had your mother walk out without a word? Ever watch someone you thought was the love of your life decide you weren’t worth staying for?”

Mabel’s expression softened. “No, honey. I haven’t.”

“Then you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Luke moved to the window, hands braced against the frame. “It’s like…like having your chest cracked open while you’re still breathing. Like someone reached in and tore out everything that made you human, then left you to figure out how to keep living with the hole. And the worst part? The absolute worst part is that somewhere, deep down, you start believing you deserved it.”

“Sophie isn’t Claire,” Mabel said gently. “She isn’t your mother. She won’t leave you.”

Luke looked Mabel dead in the eye. “But you can’t say that for certain, can you?”

She didn’t answer and that was all the answer he needed. Luke looked at his watch. “Next booking’ll be here soon, you better head back before you get drenched.”

“I insist you cancel that booking,” Mabel instructed. “You have no business going out on the lake the way it is.”

Luke glanced out the window. Sure, clouds were gathering on the horizon faster than he thought. But from the looks of it, it was going to bypass this part of the lake. Plus the thought of sitting in his empty boathouse with Coral and a six-pack, nothing but his thoughts for company—hell, he’d rather take his chances with a bit of lightning.

“Nah,” he heard himself say. “Storm’s still a ways off. I’ll keep it short.”

“Abbey!” Mabel called through to the other room.

Abbey came out. “Yep?”

“Cancel the next booking.”

Abbey’s eyes flitted over to Luke then back to Mabel.

“Mabel,” Luke said with a sigh, “I’ve been working this lake for years. Abbey, too. We don’t need anyone telling us how to do our jobs.”

Abbey went to open her mouth.

“Mabel was about to leave,” Luke said, steering Mabel to the door. “Don’t want her getting drenched.”

“Don’t want you dying!” Mabel shot back over her shoulder. She glared at Luke and he glared right back. So she shook her head and walked out, grumbling about a “suicide mission.”

When she’d gone, Luke slumped on the beat-up chair across from Abbey, taking a sip of his coffee. “That woman.”

“She’s definitely a one-off,” Abbey said with a smile. “She’s just worried, that’s all. I agree with her, it’s a real shame about you and Sophie. Sophie’s lovely.”

Luke’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, I thought that, too. Turns out she’s like all the rest.”

“By all the rest, you mean Claire?”

“Yeah, Claire…and my mom.” He bunched his hands into fists as he looked out at the gathering storm.

Abbey frowned, considering this. “People aren’t always who you think they are, Luke,” she said eventually.

“Yeah, sure as hell right there.”

She leaned across the table, looking him dead in the eye. “No, I mean they’re not always the villains we sometimes make them out to be. Like…” She paused, seeming to wrestle with something.

“Like what?” Luke asked.

“Like with your mom.”

Luke shook his head sharply. “Abbey, don’t you even try to defend her. You were there when it all went down. She left me and Pa for some city type, hasn’t looked back since.”

“Ever thought there might be more to it?” Abbey’s voice was careful, measured as she said that. “Ever wonder why your ma, who I know was devoted to you, would just…leave like that?”

Luke examined her face, something cold settling in his stomach. “What are you trying to say, Abbey?”