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All these years, Colleen had stayed in this little town. She seemed to be friends with everyone—Bryce and Levi and the British guy Tom and just about everyone he remembered from high school. She worked with her twin. Adored her sister, that was clear.
Colleen was tied to this community in a way that Lucas couldn’t imagine. Sure, he was a Southie, but his time away had made him suspect in the eyes of those who’d stayed. He didn’t belong anymore, and that was fine. He’d left when he was fifteen, after all. When he and Ellen divorced, he’d moved from the Gold Coast neighborhood (and where Lucas had always felt like an impostor) to an apartment building near Irving Park.
But even though he knew Chicago like the back of his hand, sometimes he got lost driving home. Not because he didn’t remember how to get where he was going, but because he wasn’t sure where he was supposed to be.
Rufus gave a little moan and stretched out his paws. The dog had to be more than six feet long.
The water shut off in the bathroom, and he heard the sound of the curtain moving. “You hungry, Colleen?” he asked.
“No,” she said, cracking the door a little. “I ate before the game. But I’ll probably lay waste to some Ben & Jerry’s, even so.”
She came out a few minutes later, wearing white cotton pajamas and looking like a freakin’ supermodel.
“Feeling okay?” he asked.
“A lot better.” She checked her answering machine. “Ooh! Sixteen messages, and ten more on my cell. I feel like prom queen.”
Except she hadn’t gone to her prom.
The memory flickered across her face, too. Before he could say anything, though, she pressed the button to listen to her fans expressing their concern.
Her face fell with each message. She checked her phone, too. Then she walked over to her computer, touched a key and scrolled through her emails.
“Well. I guess I can return those tomorrow,” she said. There was a small note of sadness in her voice.
“Come sit down,” he said, taking a seat on her sofa. She did. Didn’t look at him, just curled into herself and stared straight forward.
He put his arm around her—dangerous, that—but he was helpless not to. Pulled her against him, even though she resisted a little.
She fit the same as she always had, the feeling old and new at the same time.
“That was quite a play you didn’t make today,” he said.
“You mean stopping the ball with my head?”
“I meant the one before that.” He kissed her damp hair. “You’re a good sister.”
He heard her swallow thickly. “Did my father check on me?” she asked in a small voice. “While I was out?”
Lucas hesitated. “He knew you were okay.”
“In other words, no.” Her breathing hitched. “Ah, shit,” she whispered. “I’m jealous of a nine-year-old. My father’s a prick, and I still want him to pat me on the head and tell me I’m a good girl. How stupid is that?”
“It’s not stupid. It’s human.”
“What’s wrong with me?” she asked. “I have this thing for men who reject me.” Her dog came over and put his enormous head in her lap. “Except you, Rufus.”
She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then extricated herself from him and the dog and went over to the phone. Dialed in angry jabs. “Hi. This is the other daughter, the one who went to the hospital. Yeah. Whatever. Put Savannah on.” She took a shaky breath, then changed her tone to chipper. “Hey, sweetie! No, don’t cry, really. I’m perfectly fine. They don’t let you use your phone in the E.R. No, no. I’m home. Yep. Rufus is taking good care of me. I’m gonna eat ice cream and watch movies. Okay, honey. Hey. You did great tonight. I was so proud of you.” She smiled. “You bet. Nighty-night.”
She hung up and stood there for a second, looking into space. “Lucas,” she said carefully, “I can’t fall in love with you again.”
The words hit him hard. As if sensing that, the dog shifted his giant head to Lucas’s leg and licked his chops.
“And yet, I can’t stay away from you. You’re horribly irresistible. It’s very embarrassing.” She gave a half smile, but her eyes were serious.
He lifted Rufus’s head from his lap and went to her. “Colleen,” he began, and he didn’t know what would’ve come out of his mouth then, but his phone rang.
Damn it.
