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The receptionist stood up and hollered, “Okay, now, I get that you’re all worried about someone close to you, but you can’t all be here. It’s family only, and you are gumming up my emergency room. So either take it home and wait for a call or take it outside.”
“We aren’t going anywhere until we know Rose is okay!” Turner called out, and the other town members agreed.
The receptionist made a call and a few minutes later, Marley came through the door, her eyes red and swollen. Luke stood up and made a move toward her, but Kendall put a hand on his arm. He paused, frowning down at her, but all she did was shake her head.
“Thank you all for being here,” Marley said, her hands clasped in front of her. “They’re going to keep Mom for a few more hours, and then we’ll be heading home. I promise to let you know the moment we get in.”
Marley disappeared into a sea of heads and hugs as the people of Sweetheart swarmed around her. When only Rylie, Dustin, Brent, Kendall, Luke, and Marley remained, Luke ignored Kendall’s warning look and made a beeline for her side, only to be blocked by Rylie giving her a hug.
“I am so very sorry,” Rylie said.
“Thanks.”
When it was Kendall’s turn, she sobbed uncontrollably and Marley looked pained.
“I can’t…I am sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself,” Marley said.
Finally, Luke stepped up to hold her and she held up her hand. “Can we talk for a moment?”
He nodded, a lump of dread balling in his stomach. Everyone seemed to be looking anywhere but at them, and he had a feeling they all knew what was coming next.
They stepped outside and he watched Marley wrap her arms around herself, as if she was mentally putting up a wall between them.
“You should catch a ride back with Brent and Kendall. I’m going to stay with my mom and I’ll be fine to drive us back.”
He wanted to reach for her so badly, but he knew she was distancing herself from him. He just had no idea why. “I don’t mind being here for you.”
“I get that, but I do mind.” Her voice was harsh and raspy. “I want to be alone with my mother. I want you to leave.”
Even though he’d known the words were coming, hearing them aloud didn’t hurt any less. “So, that’s it? You’re back to pushing me away?”
“I’m not pushing you, I’m telling you that I don’t need or want you here right now. I want to be with my mother, and I don’t want some guy I’ve fucked a couple times on weekends hanging around.”
Luke’s cheeks burned and his stomach churned with humiliation and anger. “I understand that your mom had a close call tonight, but taking it out on me—”
“You don’t understand anything or you would know that this”—she waved her hand emphatically—“right here, is not about you. It’s not about how you feel or what you want. It’s about me. It is about me spending all summer trying to avoid getting involved with you so that I wouldn’t lose my job and the biggest account I’ve ever had. Money that would guarantee me a new life, and I blew all that. But it isn’t just that. My actions tonight—telling off Sonora, stopping the wedding when I outed her, taking you back to my place—all had consequences. Nearly fatal consequences. Whatever we had has been tainted and I can’t…” Her voice broke and he wanted to hold her, to take her in his arms and forget about everything she’d just said.
And then she finished her sentence, crushing him into a pile of dust. “I can’t even look at you right now.”
After several excruciating moments, Luke cleared his throat, trying to hide the cuts of pain every vicious slice of her words had caused. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out her keys and held them out to her. “Here.” When she tried to take them, he circled her wrist with his other arm, holding her there. She tugged, trying to get away, but he was too strong.
“Let go of me, Luke.”
“Not until I have my say.” He was trying to hold it together so she wouldn’t hear the hurt, but he wasn’t that good of an actor. “I get that you have lost people you loved, and that tonight you almost lost Rose. I understand that I might just have been some guy you fucked a few times, but that isn’t all I was. And you can’t admit it now because you’re blaming yourself and you’re looking for a way to punish you and me and everyone, but you weren’t just a bit of fun for me. You were more than that. When all this shit blows over and you realize that you didn’t have to give me up, and throw away whatever we could have had, I want you to remember that I wasn’t the one who hurt you.”
He let her go and walked off into the parking lot, pulling his phone from his
pocket to text Brent. He took a deep, shaky breath, fighting back the tears. He hadn’t cried since his mama’s funeral, not since Henry had told him that real men don’t show weakness.
I need a ride. In the parking lot waiting.
He stopped under a parking lot light and the emotions rushed to the surface, making him tremble. Fury, disappointment, rage, bitterness all rose like bile in the back of his throat.
Before he thought it through, he hauled off and smashed his fist into the metal pole. Pain radiated from his knuckle up his arm and as he cradled his injured hand against his chest, a single tear escaped, the wet drop trailing over his cheek.
That’s it. All she gets of me.
