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Why had she come?
She already knew the answer to that question. She was here because as much as she wanted to avoid Lucas, she couldn’t. All of the pros and cons that filtered through her head had been a jumble since the moment she’d broken things off with him. And since that moment, she couldn’t recall a time when she’d felt more alone.
“I have a feeling you’re here because there is someone you need to see.”
Ella glowered at her friend. She refused to play this game. Her love life was private. She deserved to keep it as such.
Eloise tilted her head, which still rested on her arms. “It’s okay, you know. Trying to patch things up with a guy—even a guy like Lucas Keagan—isn’t a bad thing. No one is perfect. Not Shane, not me.” She rose to her full stature and pulled on the door. “Not Lucas.” Eloise held out her hand, causing Ella to glance at it as if it were a predator ready to strike.
Even as she hesitated, her hand reached for Eloise’s and she took hold of it.
Eloise pulled her to her feet with an empathetic smile. “Not even you, as much as you might want to believe it. We have to accept that we all have baggage. More than that, we make choices in the heat of the moment because of reasons we can’t share. I would guess that whatever has been going on between the two of you will be resolved if you just take a moment to talk it out.”
Ella opened her mouth, ready to argue until she was out of breath. She had already tried to tell Lucas where she stood on all of this, and he had refused to accept it. He’d been the immovable one.
But then out of nowhere, her own memories of her inflexibility reared their ugly head. She wasn’t innocent in all of this. Lucas might have been guilty of a lot of things she wasn’t thrilled about, but the one that had pushed her over the edge had more to do with the company he kept and not the person he was.
What did that say about her?
She had decided to judge someone based on something that wasn’t really in their power. Sure, Lucas could walk away from his friendship with Taven, but it was Taven’s behavior that she despised.
Forcing him to choose between the two of them wasn’t right.
Losing him hadn’t been worth it.
Ella closed her mouth into a grim frown. She gestured toward the barn. “Okay, show me where this thing is that I should look at. Then I’ll go talk to him.”
Eloise grinned, swooping her arm into the crook of Ella’s. “I knew you would see it my way.”
“I don’t know what it is about this town and everyone’s incessant need to put their nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Oh, this isn’t for you,” Eloise said lightly. “I mean, it’s good for you. But I’m not trying to mend bridges because it will makeyou happy. I can’t tell you how much Brielle has been whining lately.”
“Has Lucas really been that terrible?”
“Hmm?” Eloise glanced toward her. “Oh, not really. In fact, he’s been pretty tame by his standards. From what I’ve heard, he’s not nearly as stuck up. He’s been moping around, and she said it’s no fun poking fun at him when he won’t fight back.”
Ella paused their walk before they entered the barn and stared at Eloise. “What?”
Her friend laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s this thing they have. Lucas teases her and she pushes back. With him out of commission, she’s been picking on Mason, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in playing the game either. I think she misses being the center of attention.” Eloise shrugged. “I personally think she just needs to find a hobby or something.” Eloise tugged Ella back to the entrance of the barn and everything was drowned out by the music playing over the loudspeakers.
Ella wasn’t proud of it, but her eyes darted this way and that, searching for the one person she knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid. Eloise was likely taking her right to him.
Unfortunately, Lucas wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and Ella couldn’t even see Candy. For all she knew, they’d both left. Her heart stumbled with the realization that she shouldn’t have left. She should have pulled him aside and told him that she wanted to talk even though it hurt to do so.
Eloise nearly pulled them both into a crowd of young men who weren’t paying attention to where they were going. Laughter burst from the group and they split like the Red Sea before combining again. Eloise pointed to the right. “It’s over there. It’s more cosmetic than anything else.”
“Wait, there really is something? I thought you were just going to take me to talk to Lucas. There’s really something you want me to check out?”
Eloise’s eyes darted in Ella’s direction and then shifted to the stage that was now directly to their left. The music stopped suddenly, and the room went deathly quiet as Lucas tapped on the microphone he held in his hands.
27
Lucas
The blood rushed in Lucas’s ears, and he felt lightheaded. He wasn’t against having all the attention centered on him. In fact, it was something he enjoyed. That wasn’t the cause of his current state of anxiety.
Right now, Ella stood only a few feet away and she was staring at him like he’d lost his mind. Somewhere in the crowd, Taven was probably doing the same. If his friend had known of Lucas’s plans, he surely wouldn’t have allowed him to climb the platform steps and take over the microphone.
