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“Our food was comped, you know,” she said.
“Yeah, but this way, your mom gets a nice tip.”
Marley had already told him that her mom owned the café, but if he wanted to pay for their free meal, she wasn’t going to stop him. As they passed by the glass display, Luke paused.
“What?”
“What the heck are those?” he asked.
Her gaze fell to what he was pointing at and she smiled. “Strawberry cream cheese tarts.”
“Yeah, we’re getting two of those.”
She laughed, and went around to bag up two of the tarts. They were her favorite too.
Luke put another ten up on the counter and she placed the money in the till. As they left the café, she waved at her mom, who gave her a thumbs up. She supposed that meant she approved of Luke, not that it mattered.
“How much longer do you have for lunch?” Luke asked.
“I have another meeting at three, but nothing until then.”
Her stomach flopped over as he grinned at her. “Good. Then why don’t you point me in the direction of a nice spot to eat these.”
“Well, there’s a park just up the road along the river.”
“Sounds perfect. Wanna take one car?” he asked.
“Sure, I’ll drive.”
They climbed into her white Malibu, and she headed down the road to the park. Marley laughed every time Luke opened the bag and inhaled.
“God, these smell good.”
“If you keep sniffing them, I’m going to let you have them both.”
“Cause you don’t want to deprive me? You’re so sweet,” he said.
Marley made a face. “No, so that I don’t accidentally eat one of your boogers.”
Luke roared with laughter, and when she pulled into the parking lot, he was still guffawing.
“I like that you don’t monitor everything you say carefully, afraid of offending someone,” he said.
Marley’s happiness dimmed a bit, thinking of Beth, who had never pulled any punches. Her sister had always been brutally honest, even when she knew she was about to die.
“If you let mom pick out the dress I’m buried in, I’ll come back to haunt your ass.”
“Yeah, well, life’s too short to pussyfoot around. You got to take it by the balls and enjoy every minute of it.”
“Agreed.”
“Besides, I spend too much time holding my tongue with clients. No way I’m doing it in my personal life.”
Luke climbed out first and Marley followed, trying to push Beth from her mind. She didn’t like to think of her vibrant younger sister, who would forever be sixteen. Beth was still the only thing that could break her; just a flash of memory and she’d be weeping into a bottle of tequila like a hysterical baby.
When Luke took her hand, she jumped at the shock that shot up her arm, focusing on his concerned dark eyes. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’m fine.”
