Page 89 of Need You Now

“She’s trying to make this vacation perfect for everyone—”

Lacey smiles. “And you just want to make it perfect for her.”

“Yeah.” He takes a step toward her. “I’m glad you’re here, Lacey.” He smiles at her with a genuine warmth that hasn’t been there in a long time.

She finds it hard to believe that only three years ago she and Luke were at each other’s throats, each of them trying to protect Sal in their own way. She’s thankful Luke’s forgiven her after every awful thing she did. She’d gone off the deep end after Sal disappeared. Trying to force him to declare Sal dead. Accusing him of cheating with Alabama. She’s so ashamed of herself. She never wanted to ruin things between Sal and Luke. She just wanted her sister back and went about it very, very wrong.

Lacey clears her throat. “Luke, can I talk to you about something?” Tonight’s the night for going all in. Baring her truth like she’s bared her scar.

“Sure.” He sits across from her, his expression intent. “What’s goin’ on? You okay?”

Her chest tightens at the kindness of his words. In his eyes, she sees determination to help her, to listen. In that instant, Lacey detests herself. How could she ever think Luke was anything but a good guy? He’s Seth’s brother, and Seth’s the best.

“I was thinking ...” She glances down at her hands, wired together like a bomb. Then looks up and takes a breath. “I wanted to tell Sal about why I lived with you two in college.”

She waits for it, waits for him to tell her it’s a bad idea, that Sal doesn’t need the stress. Instead, Luke exhales, says, “If you want to tell her, I ain’t gonna stop you. I think it’d be good for her. For you too.” He gives her a gentle smile, and it’s the Luke from the old days. Like none of their issues ever existed.

Luke heads back to the deck and Lacey stares into the fire, piecing together the fluttery feeling in her chest.

Hope.

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