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At first, she didn’t think he was going to answer her. She was probably being too direct. People were always telling her she had no filter.
“What makes you think I never come here?”
“Your sister mentioned it.”
“What else did my sister tell you about me?”
“Not much.” She decided to leave out the part about how he’d been this morning’s topic of conversation at The Bistro. From what she knew of him so far, Luke seemed like the kind of guy who kept his personal life to himself. His own family included. “So, when was the last time you were here?” she asked.
He thought about it. “Last year,” he said vaguely.
“Last year?” She set down her fork.
“I’ve been busy.”
“I could never be too busy to come visit this place.” He didn’t say anything, so she continued. “Mimi said you live in Atlanta and that you travel a lot. You’re some kind of big shot engineer, huh?”
“I’m an environmental marine consultant.”
Fan-cy. “What does that mean exactly?”
“It means I tell companies who want to build around the water how their construction will affect the surrounding marine life so they can be environmentally responsible.” He recited it like he’d said it a thousand times before. It was probably a line ripped straight off his company’s website.
“So, you’re a save the whales kind of guy, but you’re not against catching fish and eating them, just against destroying their natural habitats?”
“Exactly.”
“And you have a condo in Atlanta and you travel all over the world and you have this great beach house here.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Nothing. I mean, it sounds like you have an awesome life. But if you’re never here, why buy this place?”
“I didn’t buy it. It belonged to my grandfather. He left it to me after he died.”
“Nice grandfather,” she mused.
“Gramps was a great guy,” Luke agreed.
It was dark now, which meant it must be after eight. Normally, after dinner she’d go for a swim, then read or watch some TV and hit her bed, completely exhausted from getting up early and working all day. But tonight she found that she wasn’t tired at all. It was like she felt a weird kind of energy she couldn’t put her finger on. Probably nerves leftover from worrying about where she was going to sleep for the next month.
“All these places you’ve worked,” he said, redirecting the conversation to her, “that’s what you want to do with your life? Work temp jobs? Travel around? Like Steinbeck did with his dog?”
Steinbeck? Oh. He must have found her copy of Travels with Charley. “Not exactly, although I wouldn’t mind a dog.”
“Then what’s stopping you from getting one?”
Lack of a permanent home for one. But something about the way he said it sounded like a challenge. “What’s stopping you from proposing to Victoria? I mean, besides the fact that you’re broken up.”
He sat back in his chair and stared at her like she’d grown an extra head. Whoops. There went her big mouth again. She was about to apologize when—
“That’s exactly what I’d like to know,” said a familiar voice. They both turned to find Ann Powers standing in the small backyard.
Luke stood. “Mom, I—”
“Does Victoria know that you’re here?” she whispered dramatically. She looked at the two of them as if she’d caught them in bed.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Sarah said quickly. “Luke wanted to call. He really did, but he got in so late last night and then he found me here, sleeping in his bed, and well—I’m so so sorry about deceiving you at the grocery store, but—”
