Page 25 of Falling Hard
At the door, I slipped into a light jacket and pulled my shoes over my heels, and then I heard the bell ring. Since I was already so close, I didn't pause before pulling it open.
"Hi."
I looked at Jacqueline, then Luke.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
He reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me from falling over. "I called your secretary and heard you took a personal day, and now I have two things to apologize for."
"Jacqueline and I are going shopping," I said, then pulled my hand from his. Luke looked at me, then back at my sister. He stuck out his bottom lip in an exaggerated wounded expression. I would've rolled my eyes if he wasn't so darn cute.
"Why's it so hard these days to spend some quality time with my best friend?"
Unable to help it much longer, my eyes rolled in their sockets. "Let's plan something for another time."
"This is the last fall it will just be me and you." Luke's words hit harder than he knew; it sounded like he was already writing us in past tense. "The next one, we will have to make room for Solenne to join our group. Let's go get some pumpkin cinnamon rolls at Sonny's for the good times."
The mention of Soleil Moon Frye made me give him a look. However, I was never one to turn down a trip to Sonny's, and he knew that. The place was a hole-in-the-wall diner we’d found in high school. The owner changed his menu each season. If you asked Luke and me, apple cider French toast, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and waffles made fall the best menu they carried.
"You two go ahead. I'll take a rain check," my sister said.
I looked away from Luke to double check if she was sure, but Jacqueline was already heading out the door.
The next thing I knew, I was being shoved into Luke's car.
"Buckle up," Luke ordered, and I did.
As I reached for my phone, his hand came down on mine to stop me. "Liv, I'm sorry."
"For what?" I asked, thinking of all the ways Luke had hurt me. Getting engaged was the cruelest.
"I could tell I hurt you the other day, when I yelled at you, and I really want to apologize."
Not about to let him get off that easy, I asked, "Which time? Since getting engaged, you seem very angry."
Luke should have been watching the road, but instead he glanced at me. "I know. I’m sorry. Things have been crazy, and you’ve been so … off with me. I didn’t know how to handle it. You’re my best friend. I can tell you don’t approve of the wedding."
I swallowed hard as Luke spoke, because he wasn't wrong, but didn't know the half of it.
"What difference does it make? You're in love and going to marry the woman no matter what I say."
Silence.
"Your opinion matters to me,” he continued. “It's just … well … it's just I'm looking to make a lifelong commitment, and you’re not exactly an expert in the area."
"And you are?"
"I'm trying," Luke replied, then shook his head. "I think you’d like Solenne if you gave her a chance. Plus, I miss you. Once I get married, we’ll have to hang out more, the three of us, so I want you to get to know her."
I already know enough. What I want is for her to disappear.
I didn’t reply.
"No pressure. It's just you're the most important person in the world to me. I'd love if you two got along."
The way I saw it, if I told him flatly that Soleil Moon Frye and I would never be friends, he would harass me for an explanation, and I wasn't prepared for that, so through gritted teeth, I lied. "I'm game if she is."
Luke’s expression shifted, and then he smiled. I fumed inside. If he believed me, then he really didn’t know me at all.
