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Connor waved to her from Hugo’s doorway—You doing okay?
She waved back.You bet. You?
He raised his chin.Doing fine.
Good. She turned back to the wine-tasting table and reached into the cooler for another bottle of the unoaked Chardonnay, which always ran out first.
“Colleen.”
She jumped as if electrocuted.
Lucas stood in front of her table. With him was his cousin.
“Hey, Coll!” Bryce said as if he hadn’t been at the Black Cat just last night “How you doing?”
“I’m good,” she said faintly. “Hi, Lucas.”
“Hi.”
He was so beautiful. No, that wasn’t the right word. Bryce was beautiful. But Lucas...he wasenthralling,and dear God, she’d missed that face. His voice. He wasn’t smiling, not yet, but that was okay.
She felt a smile start in her heart, warm and full. Finally, he was back.
His eyes dropped. “Can I talk to you?”
“Sure! Um, Faith, I have to—”
“Get out of here, go, away with you,” Faith said, smiling. “Hi, Lucas.”
“Hey, Faith.” He gave her a nod.
“Should I say something bitchy?” she whispered to Colleen.
“Are you capable of it?” Colleen whispered back. She untied her Blue Heron apron and skirted around the table. He was here. Finally, he was here.
“Where should we go?” she asked.
“We could get a drink,” Bryce suggested.
“Bryce, I need to talk to Colleen alone,” Lucas said. She could smell his nice smell, soap and laundry detergent and sun, and holy St. Patrick, her knees almost buckled with longing, and she felt so damnrightagain that she wondered if she’d just float away.
But yeah, privacy. That would be good because she wasn’t going to last long without wrapping herself around him and kissing him with some happy crying possibly thrown in for good measure.
He took her hand and led her off the green, and Colleen felt like a blushing bride leaving the wedding...as if everyone knew where they were going and exactly what they’d be doing. His hand was work-roughened from the construction work he did each summer, and his olive skin was darker than usual from the sun.
The library was closed for the festivities. Lucas took her behind the pretty limestone building, where it was shady and cool and quiet.
“About time you came to see me,” she said, and her voice was shaking. “I missed you so much.”
“I think you should listen to me before you say anything,” he said, not quite looking her in the eye.
A tremor of fear wriggled through her knees. But no, it was okay. He wanted to go first. That was fine. That was better, really. “Apologize away,” she said with a smile.
He looked at her. Still no smile, his eyes dark and fathomless. A second passed. Another. Another. The tremor became a spasm.
“I’m getting married,” he said.
It was so...freakish...that she almost didn’t understand the words. A chipmunk cheeped from under a dogwood tree, and the sounds of music and people drifted from the green.
