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Once I’m free, I lean against the wall, close my eyes, and sigh in relief.
“I owe you an apology.”
I yelp and straighten, whirling to see Luke’s dad Roger looking at me.
“Oh?” I ask, trying to calm my heart rate.
He adjusts the cuff of his suit self-consciously. “I’ve assumed the worst of you, more than once. I didn’t know Luke was seeing anyone, and I suppose...Well.” He stops fussing with his cuff and looks me squarely in the eyes. “It was more comfortable for me to tell myself that you were out to get Luke, than to accept that my son had fallen in love with a wonderful woman, and I hadn’t even noticed.”
“Oh.”
“I’m sorry,” Roger says. He’s clearly as unused to apologizing as his son is. But he awkwardly gives it his all. “I’d like to start over. But I understand if that’s not possible.”
“It’s possible,” I rush to say. “Of course it’s possible. You and Luke...you shouldn’t be fighting over me.”
Especially because I’m leaving in six months, I think.
Roger gives me a sad smile. “Monica...my wife...she would have loved you.”
The wave of guilt I didn’t feel during the ceremony crashes over me now. “That’s very kind of you to say.”
“She was like you. She lit up a room. Everyone could feel it, but for those of us who loved her...Well.” He looks down and blinks rapidly, clearing his throat.
That’s when I notice he’s still wearing his wedding ring. His wife’s been gone for fifteen years, and he’s still wearing the symbol of his love to her.
I almost reach out to, I don’t know, pat him on the shoulder? Give him a hug? But Roger has that imposing WASP-y thing going on. He doesn’t seem like the kind of man you casually touch.
Roger gets himself under control, and when he looks up again his expression is stoic. “The point is, I’m glad Luke can have that type of family again.”
I swallow against the unexpected emotion building in my throat. I’ve been building Roger up as this cold villain in my head. A rude man with impossibly high, standards for his son, who cares more about whether Luke is married than happy.
But clearly Roger cares, even if he’s doing his best not to show it.
He reminds me of Luke in that way.
Maybe that’s why I do what I do next. On impulse, I lean in and wrap him in a hug. “You and your wife raised an amazing young man.”
Roger freezes. “Oh. Ah. Thank you.”
Then he hugs me back, albeit stiffly and awkwardly.
Maybe this fake marriage isn’t just about helping mine and Luke’s career, I think.Maybe I can help him and his dad learn how to talk to each other again.
The thought stays with me long after Roger has gruffly excused himself and escaped back to the reception. If I can give Luke something important, something that really matters...well, maybe that can make up for us lying to everyone we know.
I head back to the reception, looking for Sarah.
I need another hit from that vodka flask.
18
LUKE
Iescape my kind but mind-numbingly boring uncle by saying I need another drink and heading to the bar. But the last thing I need is more alcohol. Kissing Hazel over and over again has already got me feeling half drunk.
Cooper is going to kill me.
He never responded to our email wedding invitation, so I assume he’s deep in the wilderness somewhere, collecting samples or measuring pollution levels or whatever environmental scientists do.
