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“What?”
“My family is having a little Purple Heart ceremony for me. Tomorrow. They wanted to make sure they got it in before the arraignment. You know—” He paused. “Just in case.”
“That’s wonderful.” I smiled at him. He smiled back. My skin got warm.
“Yeah, Yarvis will be there. It’s going to be really small. But nice.” He looked shocked. “Do you want to come? I mean, if you want. I would love for you to come.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I would like that a lot.”
I could feel my face flush warmer, this time out of discomfort. “We’re going to Galveston tomorrow,” I said. “On tour. We got a record deal out of the show last night.”
“No!” he almost yelled, more animated than I had seen him in a long time. “Cassie, that’s amazing!”
“Yeah,” I said, letting a grin break through my nerves. “Yeah, it’s kind of the shit.”
His phone buzzed. He looked at it, and looked at me. “Jake’s outside with JJ in the car seat, so.”
I stood. He stood, slow.
“I’m sorry I probably can’t make the ceremony.”
“No, no worries,” he said, his voice deep, restrained. “I’ll just see you...”
“At the hearing?”
“Yeah.”
My hands twitched at my sides. His made fists. We walked side by side to the door, and he braced on his cane as he stepped down.
On the stairs, he looked back at me for a long minute. I didn’t break his gaze. “Bye, Cass.”
“Bye, Luke.”
The hole in my chest was back. My ears followed the steady rhythm of his footsteps growing fainter. Tension in every muscle released at the hope that we were going to beat the charges, balled up again at the thought that he might not want to see me anymore, and released at the memory of his calm words, his conviction, his determination to make this right.
“Hey!” I heard, muffled, from below.
I panicked, dashing to the door, my heart racing. He was looking up at me, waiting, his chiseled arms resting on either side of the door frame at the bottom of the stairs, now open to the porch.
“What?” I said, laughing a little. “You scared me.”
“Sorry. I forgot to tell you. I did it!” he called up the stairs. He gestured toward his injured leg, where he had leaned his cane, and I gasped, knowing what he meant.
He nodded. “I ran. I went running!”
But before I could congratulate him, the door was closed, and he was gone.
