Page 80 of Sunny Skies Ahead
“You didn’t actually think I’d come here and us not talk about it.”
“Lucas.”
“Imogen.”
I opened my eyes and found Lucas staring back at me.
“Ican’t,” I whispered.
“Can’t or won’t?”
Ouch. Lucas came to play hardball, and I knew there was no weaseling my way out of this conversation. This was Lucas. IfI couldn’t talk to him about what I was feeling, there were few people on the planet I could.
“You have me there.”
“What are you afraid of?”
Everything. All of it. The whole fucking thing felt too big for me to hold. And it wasn’t just the incident at the bar. I could compartmentalize that event; I could distill my feelings about it down to a neat set of boxes on a spreadsheet and go on about my life as if nothing about it had hurt.
“I should also tell you that I know,” Lucas said.
“Know what?”
Lucas gave me a wry grin. “Come on now. That was a weak attempt and you know it. Let’s cut the crap. You love him.”
I averted my eyes.
“There’s no sense in denying it.”
Love. Kameron.In the same sentence.
Of course I’d thought about it. My body knew it. It was in the way my body leaned into his nearness, the way my hand always seemed to find his, even when there was no reason for us to be touching each other. My very bones knew it. It’s why I’d been so shocked and scared at the bar. If I didn’t love him, I never would have reacted so severely to seeing him lose control.
“I’m scared to ask you how you figured it out.”
Lucas laughed and shook his coffee, ensuring the milk was evenly dispersed—having an unbalanced ratio of milk to espresso in his lattes was a pet peeve of his.
“I’ve had my suspicions for awhile, but I didn’t have any hard evidence to support my conclusion. Until the night at the Roadhouse. Because after Kameron launched himself atJacob, everyone else was looking at the two of them, but I was looking atyou. I saw your trembling hands and the way you clutched Abbie like she was your lifeline. At first, I thought you were looking at Jacob, but then I realized you were staring at Kameron. And I knew in that moment exactly what kind of narrative you’d written in your head.”
“I’ve never seen him angry,” I whispered. “I know it sounds so stupid and naive of me, but I think I’d convinced myself he never got angry.”
“Everyone gets angry, Im,” Lucas said. “But Kameron wouldneverlay a hand on you. Ever. God, he’d fling himself into space before he ever touched you out of anger.”
“I know,” I said. “I believe you.”
“You don’t have to believe me,” Lucas said. “I want you to let Kameron explain, in his own words. Do I have your permission to invite him over here tomorrow? It’s the last day we’ll have together before we have to leave for Seattle, and I’d really prefernotto be stuck with two brooding lovesick idiots in the car.”
“That’s rude, Lucas,” I replied, teasing. Lucas rolled his eyes and finished his coffee, setting the empty plastic cup down on the coaster.
“What’s the verdict?”
“Okay,” I said. “He can come over tomorrow.”
“Thank God.”
“What would you have done if I’d said no?”
Lucas rubbed at his chin as he considered. “Honestly? You saying no didn’t cross my mind. Because I know how you feelabout him. You just needed someone to lay out all the data points. I had confidence you’d come to the right conclusion.”
