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Not a cold-blooded killer who could get called away to do this at any given moment.
39
Tough Enough For This
The next morning, Heather was up earlier than normal. She wanted to text Luke but told herself not to. He was probably sleeping and he’d reach out when he was ready to.
“Is it over?” Daisy asked when she walked into the kitchen.
“Some time in the middle of the night it ended,” she said.
Daisy had her phone out. “It says he was killed by police. Do you know what happened? Have you talked to Luke?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not sure he can even tell me or if they release things like that to the public. We don’t talk about his job much.”
“Do you want to know more?” Daisy asked. “I’m not sure if I would. I mean, don’t take that the wrong way, but it’s scary.”
“It is,” she said. “I didn’t think of it as much as last night. I know he was probably safe. He’d be out of the line of what was going on.”
“I guess that means something,” Daisy said.
She ate her breakfast and sent a text to Luke because she couldn’t wait any longer. She only wanted to know if he was okay and nothing more.
When she didn’t hear from him within thirty minutes, she left and went to work. She’d try to keep herself busy and with any luck he’d reach out at some point.
She wasn’t in the greenhouse for more than twenty minutes when she looked up and saw Zane standing there. “Tell me he’s okay. He’s not answering me.”
“He’s fine,” Zane said. “He’s probably sleeping. He replied to my text a little after six.”
“Oh,” she said. “I texted him shortly after and he didn’t reply to me.”
“He might not for a bit,” Zane said.
“Because he’s sleeping or something more?” she asked. “Do you know what happened last night?”
“I know enough,” he said.
“Did Luke tell you? Is that something I should or shouldn’t know?”
“You need to be there for him,” Zane said. “He’s going to close down and then he’s going to be the person you met at my wedding.” Which meant a front for everyone.
“It was him, wasn’t it? They said the guy died during a standoff. He was taken out by a sniper. By Luke?”
By Zane not saying a word was saying enough. “The gunman killed one person and injured two others. He had two young girls hostage.”
“I don’t need justifications, Zane. I don’t think of Luke as a killer. It’s his job. I know that. I’ve told him before that I’m tough enough for this.”
“And it’s what he needs. Don’t let him do what I said he’s going to. Don’t let him put distance up. Don’t let him put on a front or a face that the world is fine around him.”
“But will he be fine?” she asked. “You’re the only one I can ask. The only one that would know.”
“He will be,” Zane said. “In time.”
She supposed that was the best she could hope for now and went back to work when Zane left.
Lily came out to see her before she left for the day, then Violet stopped out later in the afternoon.
She’d still hadn’t heard from Luke.
