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“She was beautiful.” Now Holly knew where Luke got his eyes. And that rich, black hair. “I’m sorry you never knew her.”
“Yeah. Me, too. Seeing this, it made me want to visit her, take flowers maybe, to her grave.” He shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “But my father never told me where she was buried.”
Holly didn’t think she could loathe Luke’s father more than she already did. All these years and Luke hadn’t been able to even visit his mother’s grave? “Maybe you’ll find it in his papers.”
“Yeah.” Luke nodded. “I’m boxing them up. I’m thinking about talking to Abby about renting one of those cottages at the Flutterby. Make a clean break of things. Maybe burn the old house to the ground. Make a nice bonfire.”
“I thought you were joking.”
“I was at the time. Now? The property would be worth more without the house on it. Besides, it’s falling down. There’s no salvaging it as far as I’m concerned. The place is toxic. What happened inside is stuck in the walls, in the floors. I wouldn’t wish that place or those demons on anyone.”
Neither would Holly, but there was more to putting demons to rest than setting them on fire. Making a break of things, moving somewhere new, was a good start.
“We do what we have to in order to move past the pain.” Holly stuck her hands into her pockets and lifted her face into the gentle breeze. “After Gray died, I was so angry. At him, at his addiction. The fact he couldn’t seem to find the strength to fight for us. But mostly I wanted the opportunity to tell him how much he hurt me. He lied. All the time at the end. I couldn’t believe anything he said, and if he took Simon anywhere I had this lump in my chest.” She pressed a fist against her sternum. “As if I couldn’t breathe until I saw them again. By the end, I wouldn’t let them be alone. I know addiction is a disease, but it was Gray I ended up battling with. Once he was gone, it was almost a relief.” She stopped walking and forced herself to look at Luke, half expecting to see condemnation on his handsome face. She deserved it. “Sounds horrible, doesn’t it?”
“No.” Luke brushed the back of his fingers against her cheek. “It sounds human.”
“You’re the only person I’ve ever told this to.” And the admission loosened that splinter of guilt that had lodged in her heart the day Gray died. “I don’t think anyone else would understand. Not even Abby, and she was by my side the whole time. She saw what was happening, but with this thick silver lining she can never dismiss. I loved him. Even at the end. Because he was Simon’s father. It didn’t matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t turn those emotions off.” Even though it would have hurt less if she had. “Sorry.” She grabbed hold of his hand and gripped it hard. “They say confession is good for the soul, but I didn’t mean to drop all this on you.”
“Thank you for trusting me with it.”
“I trust you with more than that.” Holly was ready to address, however indirectly, what was stopping him from realizing he was worth fighting for. “I’m turning Simon over to you for the weekend. Other than my father or Abby, I’ve never done that before. Hopefully you won’t hate me for it come Sunday afternoon.”
“I could never hate you, Holly.”
Holly’s heart fluttered. Not the reaction—or the words—she’d been expecting. He really did know the perfect thing to say. But words escaped her. All she could think to do, when he attempted to pull his hand free from hers, was to hang on and weave her fingers through his as they continued their walk.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“JUST GOT WORD Rex Winters’s wife bailed him out of county jail this morning,” Fletch told Luke as he joined him by the van in front of the freshly painted youth center. Jake was occupied marking off items on his clipboard as Matt helped him load sleeping bags, tents and boxes of food into the back of Luke’s truck. The four coolers would make things a tight fit, but they’d manage.
At ten to three, most of the kids had already arrived and were milling about the parking lot, talking excitedly about the outing. They were still waiting on a couple of campers, including Simon and Charlie and... Luke continued to scan his surroundings and tried not to let the disappointment sink in. No sign of Kyle.
“Certainly she bailed him out.” All the more reason Luke was anxious to set eyes on Kyle again. The farther away they could keep him from his father, the better for everyone, especially Kyle. “Why break the cycle now?” But Luke was determined to. Even if it meant having to press charges...
“Don’t look now.” Matt finished tying down the tarp to cover the truck bed. “Looks as if you got through.”
Luke peered toward the beach and saw Kyle trudging their way, a sleeping bag tucked under one arm, a ragged duffel over his shoulder. Relief surged through him, but Luke kept his face passive, giving Kyle a sharp nod as he reached them.
“I don’t have a tent.” The defiance remained, as did the suspicion, but the spiked hair had been tamed, as had the hostile attitude.
“We have extras,” Luke said. “We’ve got you bunking with your friend Henry. That work for you?”
Kyle shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Great. Get your stuff to Matt. He’ll stash it in my truck and we’ll finish loading up. Kyle?” Luke called when Kyle walked past him. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Another shrug.
Fletch chuckled. “So sorry I’m not going with you.”
“I can tell.” Luke smiled. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this good about life, about what he was doing, the possible difference he could make with these kids. The jumbled pieces he’d struggled for years to put together were finally falling into place. “I grabbed a couple of the sat phones from the station. Milkweed Lake is a good starter camp area. Don’t want to overwhelm them.” He looked at his watch. “Okay!” he called. “Let’s load up. Kyle, you take the front seat, please.” The last thing he needed was Kyle getting into a tussle with...anyone. “Come on, Holly,” he mumbled to himself and then saw a streak of color exploding down the street: Charlie and Simon, followed by Holly and Paige bringing up the rear.
“Sorry we’re late!” Charlie panted as she halted in front of Luke. “Simon forgot his surveillance notebook. We had to go get it.”
“Can’t leave it alone, can you?” Luke teased as Simon grinned at him.
“No, sir!” He pointed to the plastic gold badge pinned to the collar of his T-shirt. “It’s my job.”
“Drop your stuff by the truck before you get into the van. Ladies, come to see us off?” Luke couldn’t pull his gaze off Holly. She radiated, from her twinkling eyes to her sparkling white sneakers. How could she continue to do this to him? Make everyone around them vanish by coming into focus.
“We’ve come to make sure this is really happening.” Paige was practically skipping with joy. “Thanks to you, I’m getting my first official Butterfly Harbor girls’ night with Holly and Abby. There is much wine to be drunk and boys to be spoken of.” She waggled her eyebrows at Luke, who shook his head and tried to stop from blushing.
“Hi, Paige.” Fletch’s voice caught in his throat and had Luke arching a brow in his direction. “What?”
“I didn’t say a word.” Luke’s amusement vanished when Paige merely gave Fletch a dismissive smile. Ouch.
“Sheriff? A moment?” Holly crooked her finger at him and he followed her around the corner of the building. “I wanted to thank you again for taking this on. It’s a lot of work.”
“It’s camping,” Luke said. “A whole half hour away. And they’ll be doing most of the work.”
“Just promise me you won’t let Simon out of your sight. Not,” she added when Luke frowned, “because I don’t trust you with him. I heard him and Charlie talking about Kyle. They think he’s up to something, and you know Simon. Once he has an idea in his head—”
“Got it.” He nodded. “Please don’t worry about him, Holly. I’ll take good care of him.”
“Do I look worried?” She cocked her head to the side and peered into his eyes to the point he felt like squirming. What did she want from him? “When you get back, you and I are going to have a long talk about this thing we have going on.”
Unease washed over him. “What thing?”
“This thing.” She stepped forward, placed her open palm on his chest and rose up on her toes. She pressed her lips lightly against his, smiling as he skimmed his fingers over the curve of her hip. “See you Sunday, Sheriff. Take care of my boy,” she called over her shoulder as she sauntered away, leaving Luke feeling as if his brain had been deep-fried. “Both my boys.”
