Page 80 of This Loving Feeling (Mirror Lake)

“Anytime. He’s a sweet child. The kids are playing in the yard. Want a Coke or something while I round them up?”

“I’m good, thanks.” Steviewasa sweet child. And Lukas had to do everything in his power to protect him from being hurt ever again.

“Sam told me you’ve started adoption proceedings. How’s that going?”

Lukas shook his head. He’d had his lawyers working on drawing up the paperwork. Only he hadn’t discussed it yet with Stevie. He wanted to make sure Nico was out of the picture for good so there was no chance of him coming back. “Trouble is I have PIs looking for my brother so he can sign it.”

“Well, we all love Stevie. Hope it gets settled soon.”

“Lukas,” a voice called from behind them. He turned to see Brad wearing the scowl he usually wore when Lukas was around. “Do you have a minute to talk?” Talk? With Brad?

Olivia frowned at her husband. “Brad, no. Come on, give the guy a break.”

Brad flashed his wife a whose-side-are-you-on look.

“Hey, it’s all right. I’d love to chat,” Lukas said, more because Olivia looked worried. Besides, a stubborn part of him wanted to show Brad that he’d changed, that he wasn’t the same guy from years ago who left town because he had nothing to offer. So he followed Brad down a wood-floored hall, sidestepping a couple of Barbie shoes and a Barbie camper—which was parked halfway into a bathroom that appeared to be the vacation destination, judging by the dolls, furniture, and other stuff corralled there—into a wood-lined library.

The room was tidy and elegant except for an explosion of papers on the desk, with even more fanned out on the floor behind it. Brad sat down in the desk chair, leaving Lukas to sit in one of two eggplant-colored leather easy chairs in front of it. An interrogation setup if he ever did see one. In aGodfathermovie.

“Olivia’s got a book deadline so I’ll be quick,” Brad said.

“Maybe I can save you the trouble. I care a lot about Sam. I’ve matured. I’m not going to up and leave like I did six years ago.” Lukas shifted his weight in the chair. Folded his hand loosely in front of his body. Made sure to keep his posture easy and relaxed although his stomach felt like it was lined with a bed of nails. Brad had intimidated him once, a long time ago, when he was little more than a kid. But that kid had grown up to be a man.

“If you knew what was best for my sister, you would.”

“That line worked on me six years ago, but come on already.” Lukas kept his voice calm and level. He was no longer the impulsive rebel, the magnet for trouble, but rather a businessman, a recording industry entrepreneur who’d achieved success through hard work and persistence.

“Look, Lukas, it’s a little shocking to have Sam call it off with Harris and take up with you and, as her brother, I want to be clear we both understand each other.”

Lukas thought of Harris, with his vanity and his untouchable car and his Supreme Court Justice pedigree. There’d been a time when Lukas believed a guy like Harriswasbetter for Sam, but that had cost him precious years away from her and now he knew better. He’d seen what was underneath the status and class and it hadn’t impressed him. He knew that Sam was no longer in love with Harris. But it appeared maybe Brad still was.

“What’s your plan with my sister?”

“I was hoping she’d join me and Stevie on the road.” Even as he said it, a weird feeling churned his stomach. It seemed wrong, as it had every single time he’d thought about it over the past few weeks. He’d hated that Harris had asked Sam to give up her job and move for his benefit. Wasn’t this the exact same thing?

Brad snorted. “Forgive me, but I just don’t see how living on a tour bus with a handful of sweaty guys and trying to somehow build a stable lifestyle for a five-year-old boy is much of a life. In fact, it strikes me that taking Sam on the road is like asking her to trade in her life for yours. She loses her jobandher family. What does she gain? And don’t you dare sayyou.”

Brad was close now, out of his chair and in Lukas’s face, and he was looking down his strong nose, glaring into Lukas’s eyes. Lukas didn’t fold. “I’m not even going to mention the fact that you’ve got a child in this equation,” Brad said.

Brad’s words hit their mark. Made his stomach sicken. He’d avoided thinking about the truth, but there it was. How long would Sam stay happy in a world where shows ran late and the bus left early for destination after destination, where meals and schedules were hit-and-miss and there wasn’t time for much of anything but practicing, playing, working on new music, and getting up and doing it all again the next day?

Still, the decision was his and Sam’s. Brad was worse than a buttinski mother-in-law. “I’m surprised you’re one to be so judgmental about unconventional ways of raising a family,” Lukas said.

“I didn’t have a choice. I played the hand that was dealt to me.”

“Maybe you’re forgetting that Samdoeshave a choice. And it’s hers to make, not yours.”

“I’m her oldest brother. I care about her welfare. Nice that you’re playing house but who’s the one that’s going to get hurt here? I care about my sister. I can’t sit by and pretend that I don’t.”

And Lukas didn’t? He would always be that across-the-tracks kind of guy and Brad would always assume the worst no matter what he did.

“Okay, hey, guys.” Sam popped her head into the room wearing a baseball cap with her ponytail threaded through the back, looking fresh and sweet and happy. Like she clearly hadn’t heard what they were just saying. “Is the Inquisition over yet, big bro? Because I’d really like to talk to Lukas. Meg and I just found out T-ball sign-ups are tonight and now that the blankie’s gotten ditched, I thought it would be a great idea to sign Stevie up so he could meet more boys.” She made a double-biceps flex and looked at Lukas. “What do you say?”

“Sounds great,” Lukas said, rising from the chair and forcing a smile for Sam’s sake. “Nice chatting with you,” he said to Brad.

As they walked out and gathered the boys, Lukas realized that no matter how much he’d matured over the years, there would be no winning Brad over. And no matter how happy he was with Sam, pretending to be a regular guy with the possibility of a regular life in Mirror Lake, his time here was drawing to a close.

He had to make a decision soon about the Stones. If he said yes, the tour would take him away the rest of the summer.

---