Page 15 of Meet Me in the Blue

A laugh burst past my resolve and God, the smile on his face. It nearly took my breath away. It was every bit of,I’m still meandwe’re still usand as I caught my breath, he laughed too.

“How did that happen?”

“It’s an L.A. thing. I fell in love with street tacos. I think I gained like fifteen pounds in the first few months I was there.”

“And you didn’t get E. coli?” I asked, adding every ounce of sarcasm I could muster.

“Miraculously, I didn’t.” He grinned, laughing under his breath. “I’m not as picky as I used to be. It’s liberating.”

“I bet.”

Harriett brought our drinks to the table then, and as she set them down, I caught Luka staring at me. When she walked away again, he said, “You can have as much time as you need, Rook, but I promise, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here, and I want my friend back.”

I wanted more than anything to believe him.

• ••

My last appointment of the day went longer than it should have, and by the time I’d gotten home it was after seven. The guys were supposed to come over tonight for our monthly card game, but after lunch with Luka and getting hardly any sleep last night, I almost wanted to cancel. I opened the back door to let Maribelle outside, watching her from the porch as she barked at a squirrel.

“Leave it be, Belle.”

She snapped her teeth at me in a silent bark and headed into the trees to pee. Leaning against the railing, I exhaled. All the things Luka had talked about at lunch spun inside my head like a rat on a wheel. He had changed. He was quieter than I remembered, nervous, like he was afraid he’d say something wrong, as if he was holding on to something, and if he let go of whatever it was haunting him, he’d unravel. I didn’t think that would have been such a bad thing, watching him let go of whatever it was wedging itself between us. Maybe then I might’ve believed him when he’d said he wanted to stay. After a few minutes, Maribelle made her way back to the porch and I ran my hand through the thick thatch of curls on the top of her head. She wagged her tail as we headed inside, and for the moment, the loneliness creeping its way inside me won.

I decided not to bail on my friends after all and cleaned up before I ordered a pizza, finally going through the growing pile of mail I’d been avoiding all week. I took a quick shower and threw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I debated whether or not I should call Luka and invite him over, too, but he needed to spend time with his dad. And I’d meant it when I’d said I needed my space. My life wasn’t complicated. I worked. I had a few friends. I lived. Luka was complicated. His absence the last five years had created an emptiness I was used to ignoring, but now it ached. It ached so much I couldn’t take it. I flipped on the radio, needing something to quell the silence, and sighed in relief when the doorbell rang.

“Hey,” I said, giving my friend Ron a smile. “Come on in.”

“Why am I always the first one here?” he asked, laughing as he bent down and scratched the dog behind her ear.

“I always equated your punctuality with you being an ex-Marine,” I offered and shut the door behind us.

“Ah… the whole, ‘You can take the boy out of the Corps, but you can’t take the Corps out of the boy.’”

“It makes sense,” I said, and he laughed.

Rubbing his palm over his short and tightly trimmed dark brown hair, he gave me a shy smile. “Yeah. Maybe next month I’ll show up late. Shock everyone.”

“Uh-oh… don’t get too wild.”

He leaned against the kitchen counter, and I grabbed us both a beer from the refrigerator. “The pizza will be here soon.”

“Perks of being on time. Hot food.”

“Spoken like a true man,” I said and handed him his drink.

He held up his bottle and lightly knocked it against mine. “Oorah.”

Ron took a sip of his beer as he pulled out a stool on the other side of the kitchen island.

“So… Carter mentioned he saw you and Luka walking in town today.”

“We went to Two Trees for lunch,” I said, and he nodded, a spark of a smile hiding behind his bottle of beer as he took another swig. “What?”

“How’s that going? You already forgive him for being a dick?”

“He’s not a dick, he…” I groaned. “I’m not sticking up for him.”

“Uh-huh.”

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