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Hannah had no response to that. Luke had mentioned that he had some money in his back account due to his prize fight winnings. He’d said his mother was a Bee, and that they owned a few resorts in this part of Texas.
She hadn’t realized they owned half of the town, and that their bank accounts were probably padded to the hilt too.
As he continued driving down the main street in the town’s center, he pointed out the building that said LIBRARY across the top of it in clearly old stones. Blocky capital letters that reminded Hannah of simpler times. “We own that building,” he said. “The town rents it for the library.”
“How much of this town do you own?” She must have carried something in her voice, because he looked at her out of the side of his eye.
“I told you my mother is a Bee.”
“You mentioned that. I thought maybe they’d owned a big ranch or something, and then the resorts you mentioned. I didn’t realize you owned the mayoral house.”
Luke smiled and looked out his side window. “The Bees own a lot of Beeville,” he said. “My mother has a sister and a brother. They both live here. My aunt Clementine has a real green thumb, and she runs all the yard care and landscaping for the properties we own here. My uncle manages the resorts and rentals. My brother works for him, and he’ll take over when Uncle Tucker is ready to retire.”
“Fascinating,” Hannah said. “You’re not interested in joining the family business?”
“I suppose,” Luke said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. “I was on a different path.”
“But you’re not now,” she pressed. “Why are you at Hope Eternal, when you could be here, doing something for the family? Something to invest in yourself?”
The mask Luke sometimes wore slid right into place, and Hannah sighed.
“What?” he asked.
“You just shut down,” she said, deciding not to hide how she felt. “I can see it on your face. You put this mask on, and it’s like, that’s it. I’m not going to get a real answer.” She folded her arms and looked at the shops still passing by.
Restaurant, pet store, boutique. The town was charming, and she’d forgotten it. Her family went down to Sweet Water Falls to the discount stores to shop for food and clothing, and once she’d learned to drive and got a bit more freedom, she still didn’t have money to spend in Beeville.
“I could come back here,” he finally said, turning right and heading down a lovely little street that could’ve been taken straight from a Hallmark movie. Flags in the shape of flowers hung from every pole on both sides of the street, varying in color from pink to yellow to purple.
The benches had flower boxes hanging off the backs of them, and petunias spilled over everywhere. If time stopped, and Hannah stood on this street, it could become a painting people would hang above their fireplaces for generations to come.
“What would you do?” she asked. “If you came back.”
“I’d probably work with Aunt Clementine, honestly,” he said. “She does a ton outdoors, and she’s got crews with foremen and supervisors.”
Hannah nodded, knowing Luke liked to work with his hands, and he had no problem working outside all day. “You don’t want to?”
“It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s…it’s not something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about,” he said. “Ever. It’s taking me some time to even come to it as something I could do with my life.”
“Would you have a house to live in here?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “There’s a couple we own out on the west side of town. I grew up out there. Joey lives in that one, but it’s pretty big. I could easily move in there. The one next door is ours too, and my sister lived there with her husband for a while as he finished college. Then he got a job in New Orleans, and they moved. That house is empty.”
Hannah could not fathom owning an empty house. “You don’t rent it?” Her voice pitched up for a reason she couldn’t name. Shock, maybe. She felt a bit gobsmacked, like Luke should’ve told her all of this before they’d come to Beeville, as it was a lot to absorb and consider.
“Not that one,” he said. “We do have a farm out there, and my mom is pretty particular about the houses out there.”
“Yet she lets her bachelor son live in it,” Hannah said dryly. “Sounds like a recipe for disaster.”
Luke laughed, and Hannah basked in the sound of it. He hadn’t done a lot of laughing recently, despite clearing the air with his friends. They’d done that right at the wedding, actually, in the few minutes between the end of the ceremony and the beginning of the dinner. Ted had grabbed Luke and everyone else—Slate included—and the five of them had huddled together out in the field for several minutes.
When Hannah had asked Luke about it, he’d explained quickly. Hannah had been thinking a lot about Nate’s assessment that Luke hadn’t accepted his verdict, but she’d said nothing to him about it.
The truth was, she could see both sides. Luke had been boxing for years before that fateful fight. He’d done exactly what he’d been trained to do. Most boxers also took steroids. On his side of the equation, she could see why he felt like he’d done nothing wrong.
On the other side, the fact remained that someone had died at his hand. Whether he’d kept punching when he should’ve stopped, Hannah didn’t know. Whether he’d been in a steroid-induced rage, she also couldn’t judge.
That was why lawyers and judges had jobs, and they’d decided that yes, Luke had unintentionally killed his opponent. He’d gotten a sentence, which he’d completed. Was more required of him? Did he have to believe that he’d done something wrong before he could be forgiven?
