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6
Lucas
I’d booked everything before asking her.
I had known her long enough to know she’d balk and come up with every excuse she could. Abbie worked too hard and deserved a break and to not spend Christmas in her little apartment above the Chinese restaurant. If a storm hit and she couldn’t drive home, it was exactly what would happen, and that was the last thing I wanted.
Especially if I wasn’t going to be there to rescue her if necessary.
It had happened two Christmases ago. She’d gotten stuck in the snow, and I’d had to drive out and help her. We’d waited together for the tow truck to eventually show up when we realized there was no way we could push it back up the embankment.
I didn’t get her sometimes. How she was content to just let life keep passing her by, nights in the diner, days with her cameras. I wished she’d do something with her photography.
She had the degree.
I’d been there to see her graduate.
And it sat there, not even up on her wall, but in a file folder in a pile of paperwork on her desk.
It was one of the reasons why I’d decided that this trip was going to be more than just a nice little beach vacation. I’d spent an entire night looking up as much as I could about the island, watching videos, and even texting Dr. Allen a few questions. He’d suggested a guide for a few days, saying he’d ask his staff if they could recommend someone. The next morning, he’d texted with a name, and by the afternoon, I’d set up a meet and greet for us and paid for a few days of the guide’s time.
I’d mentioned Abbie was big into photography and that was what we were there for. To relax and for her to get some amazing photos.
It was the least I could do for my best friend. She’d helped me stay sane all through law school and studying and taking the bar exam. She’d dealt with my anxieties, my freak-outs, my everything.
And sometime over the last five years, all right, probably the day we met, I’d fallen in love with that girl.
I just never worked up the nerve to say it.
And she’d never seemed to notice how she was the one person on Earth I’d drop anything and everything for.
Abbie had always been so focused on her schooling or her photography or just herself that I never took the chance. I’d been relegated to the friend zone the day we’d met, and I’d stayed there ever since.
Hell, she was too good for me. I knew it, and Abbie likely knew it. Everyone around us had known it, too.
It seemed like after inviting Abbie and getting everything booked, the days began to melt into each other. I couldn’t tell what day it was. I got buried in work before we took time off for the holidays. If I spent less than sixteen hours a day at the office, it was a good day. The only reprieve was that all my meetings were done by the fifteenth, which meant everything else?
I could do from home.
Which I gladly did.
I even skipped the company Christmas party at one of the nearby fancy hotels, claiming I needed to get some work finished before I went away. My boss understood, wished me an early Merry Christmas, and patted me on the back before I left the office.
I’d stayed home the last two days, working, taking breaks to run last-minute errands I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do. I’d finished the files up yesterday and had taken the day to get ready to go. I’d booked the car to pick me up first, then I’d go pick Abbie up. I wasn’t giving her the chance to back out and not make it to the airport. I loved the girl, but sometimes, she was her own worst enemy.
I rubbed the back of my neck and checked the time. Still had about an hour before the car would be there. I was a last-minute slacker. I had a list of what to take—I just hadn’t amassed everything into the suitcases yet.
And I still needed to phone my mother.
I wassonot looking forward to this.
Maybe multi-tasking would make it easier.
I picked up my phone, hit my mother’s number, and set it on the bed while I scanned through the list in front of me. Clothes, toiletries, charge cords, wallet, passport…
“Lucas, darling.”
“Hi, Mom.”
