Page 58 of Between the Lines

“Same coin, boss. Different sides.”

Theo stared at her. “No, you’re wrong. Luca said from the start that he wasn’t interested in anything like that. No mushy stuff, he said. Those were his exact words.”

“Right,” Miranda snorted, eyes back on the road. “Because that’s how feelings work.”

Antsy, itchy under his skin, Theo swiped his hand over the misty window, trying to clear it enough to see out. Luca certainly knew Jude had no choice but to sell the Majestic now, he’d even intimated as much last night. But could Miranda be right? His heart kicked in a nervous rhythm, mind racing with the impossibility of her suggestion. Could Luca have been more hurt by Theo’s perceived betrayal than by the actual loss of the Majestic? If so, did it mean he felt something for Theo? The same thing Theo felt for Luca? Stomach tensing, he sat up straighter. “He’s heading to California at the end of the summer,” he said carefully. “He won’t stay in New Milton, he told me that. And he never suggested he wanted things between us to...to continue.”

“Didyousuggest it?”

“Of course not.” He pressed his fingers to the cool glass, drawing sharp geometric patterns in the condensation. “How could I, after Grant?”

Although he couldn’t see her face, he heard her sigh. “That bastard. Okay, I get why you didn’t want to get shot down again, but, Theo, not everyone’s like Grant fucking Daly.”

It hadn’t just been that, though. They’d had their agreement and he’d thought that was what Luca wanted, he’d thought it would keep him from screwing up. But if Miranda was right then he’d screwed up anyway. Massively. A fist clenched in his chest, squeezing his lungs in breathless horror. Dear God, was it possible he’d been so afraid of reading too much into Luca’s feelings that he hadn’t read enough? Was it possible that Luca had wanted more, but, blind to the truth, Theo had walked away? Walked away and taken the Majestic with him.

Numbly, he pressed his forehead to the window and forced himself to consider the fact that, in closing the sale with Jude, he may have thrown away everything he wanted.

“You know,” Miranda ventured, “it’s not too late to—”

“It is.” Eyes burning, he stared at the cars edging along in the soggy summer heat. “I took the Majestic from him, Miranda. I promised him I wouldn’t, but I did.” His throat ached, heart leaden. “I betrayed his trust, and I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Eventually, the rain stopped.

But Luca didn’t go back inside. He’d found a bench near the hospital’s entrance and sat there, staring out over the parking lot as the sun burned holes in the clouds, setting the world steaming.

He felt shell-shocked. Blank.

His throat was raw from shouting, his jaw stiff. His whole body felt rigid. With anger, he supposed, but it was buried deep now, beneath a dry and cracked surface. He preferred it that way, didn’t like the ugly ways it erupted—didn’t like the memory of himself yelling at Don. At Theo. Didn’t likethatat all.

But it was done now, all of it.

In hindsight, everything looked ruthlessly clear. Theo had come to New Milton for one reason—the Majestic—and he’d left with Jude’s signature still wet on the paper. He’d crept out of the bed he’d shared with Luca to tackle Jude at her most vulnerable, finally claiming the prize he’d wanted all along. None of his sympathy for Luca’s heartache about the Majestic had stayed his hand, because Theo was just like everyone else—out for what he could get and indifferent to the people he trampled along the way.

And so what if Luca had fallen in love? What difference did love make? He’d loved his dad and he’d still left, he’d loved Jude and she’d still married Don. Loving people didn’t stop them from throwing you under a bus when you stood between them and what they wanted, it only made the hurt harder to bear.

Luca stared out over the parking lot, watching cars come and go. The asphalt gleamed in the returning sun, the air clinging humidly to his skin. Everything would change now, he thought. And perhaps it had always been inevitable, but he’d been dreading this moment since Jude first mentioned the possibility of selling, and now it was here. The home he’d once known—once run from—would be torn down, transformed into something lesser. New Milton, too, would change. And Luca would never come back. Bad enough that his childhood memories lingered here, homeless, but now they’d be joined by memories of Theo and a love he’d never wanted but would never forget. One more blow this place had dealt him.

A scuff of footsteps to his right made him look up, unwilling to share his solitude. But it was Don who stood a couple feet away, approaching him with the caution a man might reserve for a rabid dog. His hands clenched in his pockets, jingling his keys, his balding head gleaming in the watery sun. Don didn’t say anything, and Luca looked away, back over the parking lot, and hoped he’d take the hint.

He didn’t. “There are a couple things I think you should know.”

Luca gritted his teeth. “I’m not in the mood for—”

“I don’t much care about your mood, Luca. It’s a matter of justice that you hear what I have to say.”

Luca glanced at him, watching from the corner of his eye. Don’s khaki shirt and pants made him fade into the brickwork, his face shining and sweaty in the humidity. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Theo Wishart,” Don said, and Luca’s stomach tensed. “You’re too quick to judge people, Luca, but Theo’s a good man. You treated him badly today.”

He almost laughed at the lecture, although he felt nothing approaching amusement. “I’mquick to judge people?”

Don’s jaw set. “Calling Theo an ambulance chaser? Well, that wasn’t right, Luca. He didn’t do anything today that Jude didn’t ask him to do.She’sthe one who told him—”

“Give me a break.” He pushed a hand through his damp hair. “You expect me to believe that?”

“I do, because it’s true.” Don’s voice hardened. “But if you don’t believe me, you can ask your mother. The fact is, you accused Theo Wishart of disgraceful behavior and that’s not right. I’d have thought you, of all people, would want to do him justice.”

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