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Luke turned to her. “You saw my mother at the grocery store and you didn’t tell me?” The accusation in his voice made her wince.
“There’s no need to apologize for my son
’s behavior, dear.” Ann reached inside her purse, pulled out a hankie, then dabbed the corners of her eyes. “And…I believe you when you say there’s nothing going on between the two of you. At least, I want to believe you. No mother wants to think that she raised a cheater.”
Oh, boy. This was getting sticky fast.
Luke sighed heavily. “I’m sorry I didn’t call, Mom, but like Sarah said, I just got to town last night.”
“Imagine my shock when I drove by here and saw your truck parked in the driveway! It’s a good thing I just had a physical with Dr. Miller. He says my heart is fine, but I don’t know. How can that be when it’s being broken?” She dabbed at her eyes again.
“Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?” Sarah asked, pulling out a chair for her.
“My mother is fine,” Luke said.
“How would you know?” Ann said. “You never come home anymore. You barely call…”
“Mom, let’s take this inside.”
“Oh, no. I couldn’t possibly talk about this right now.” She sounded surprisingly strong for someone who seemed to be having cardiac issues just a few seconds ago. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow, Luke. At dinner. Six pm sharp. And don’t be late.”
Chapter Six
First thing in the morning, Luke called his assistant, Lori.
“How was Louisiana?” she asked. “Oh, and the guy from Syntech wants to meet with you next week. And Victoria called and asked if you’d received her wedding invitation and if I knew whether or not you were coming. She said the deadline for the RSVP was last week but she’s holding you a spot.”
“Louisiana was fine. Cancel the meeting with Syntech. And yes, I got Victoria’s wedding invitation.”
His assistant of seven years responded with silence. It was louder than anything she might have said, so he tried again. “Louisiana was hot and humid just like the rest of the south is right now. On second thought, don’t cancel the meeting with Syntech. Have Gary meet with them. He’s ready for this project,” Luke said, referring to one of the junior biologists at his firm. “And I’ll take care of Victoria’s RSVP.”
“Does that mean you’re actually going to this wedding?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, Lori, but no, I’m not going to the wedding.”
“Thank God, because, you know, boss, that would just be too weird.”
“I agree.”
After he hung up with her, he called Ethan. “Have we heard anything about the Alaskan contract?” Luke asked. His company was in the running to perform an environmental impact study on the construction of a new port for the state’s growing cruise line business.
“Not yet. Maybe next week,” Ethan said, sounding upbeat. “If by chance, we get that contract, have you thought about how we’re going to handle it?”
“You mean how I’m going to handle it?” Luke said. Since Ethan’s marriage a couple of years ago, he’d taken on more of a managerial role, preferring to stay close to the Atlanta office and leave the bulk of the traveling to Luke. Which was exactly how Luke preferred it. “I thought maybe we’d open up that office in Seattle we’ve been talking about.”
“And expand to the Northwest,” Ethan said. He whistled under his breath. “You do dream big, Powers.”
“Yeah, and don’t you love it?”
Ethan chuckled. “My bank account isn’t complaining.” There was a somber pause. “But aren’t you tired of all the travel? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I see the allure. It’s just got to be exhausting. I don’t want you to get burned out before your time.”
“Not gonna happen. And if it makes you feel any better, until we hear from the Alaska gig, I’m going to hang out here in Whispering Bay and catch up on my fishing.”
“Well, if anyone deserves a few weeks off, it’s you.”
“Hopefully, we’ll hear back sooner than that.” They talked some more about the contract and about another project the company was involved with. Ethan promised to keep him updated and they hung up.
Now that Luke had been outed, there was no use hiding, so he went for a run, then showered and hit the streets of Whispering Bay. Blondie had long since gone. He’d heard her rattling around in the kitchen, then out the door by four-thirty.
