“Please, don’t let my mistakes stop you from loving him. Because he deserves to be with someone who will give him what I never could.”
My hand fell to my side. “Did he tell you to come here?”
“No. He doesn’t know I’m here. But I owe him so much, Tess, more than I can ever make up for. I’m here because I owe it to him to fix what I broke, to clear his name. Luke said I have to do this alone, and he’s right. It’s time to move on.” She laid her palm on her stomach.
Something about the look on her face, the tone of her voice, the gentle honesty written all over her hit me deep in the recesses of my heart. She was alone and afraid, and she’d come to Luke. She’d sought safety, and as much as I hated what had happened and how it had happened, I found I couldn’t hate her for it.
She wasn’t evil. She was afraid. But not for herself.
For her child.
What she’d done, she’d done for her baby. And that was a truth I could find forgiveness for.
“You won’t hear from me again,” Wendy promised. “I won’t interfere, and as soon as I talk to Mrs. Bennet, I’ll be out of both of your lives. Make him happy, Tess. He deserves it.” She offered a small smile, bowing her head as she turned and walked away.
My mind reeled.
As long as I’d known Luke Bennet, I’d believed him to be flighty and unpredictable, unreliable and irresponsible. Even through the last few months I’d held on to that kernel of doubt, the old ideology never letting go.
But I was wrong—he was exactly the opposite. He was kind and giving to measures of absolute certainty. He sacrificed himself for others, even when it cost him dearly. He shouldered responsibility for things that were not his to be responsible for. He was steady and sure in ways I never thought he could be, in ways that had brought Wendy across the country strictly to seek safety in him. If the baby had been his, he would have done anything, everything to provide. Even now, even having endured what she’d put him through, I believed he would try to help her, do what he could to ensure her security.
And if I gave him the chance, he would do the same for me. More, if I let him.
I wanted to let him. And I wanted to give him everything he had given to me.
Ivy rushed to the back, wide-eyed and back stiff, but before she could ask any questions, I grabbed her hands, smiling.
“I need your help.”
“Anything,” she said with a sputter.
“Help me tell Luke I love him.”
And her own smile spread. “I thought you’d never ask.”
25
Moments
LUKE
The entire Bennet clan was squirrely.
The Bennet penchant for gossip—regarding Wendy, I assumed—was the cause. Every time I walked into a room, it was to whispers that burst into overly loud chatter. I was being systematically guided through my day in an effort to keep me out of the shop. My siblings disappeared at intervals. My mother led me around by the nose, citing my promise to make up my transgressions, an especially fresh bruise after Wendy had come by to talk to her. They’d said goodbye with a tearful hug, and afterward, I’d been surprised the Bennets didn’t bust out a preordered cake and pour the good scotch to commemorate the occasion. Instead, Mom had wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest while she cried. Partly from relief, I was sure. But her words only spoke of her pride in me.
That, and her desire for me to make things right with Tess.
But that was the thing. The only thing for me to do was wait, and it was driving me to the edge of insanity. I’d asked to see her, but she’d blown me off. I wanted her to hear the news about Wendy from me, but not over text. I needed to see her.
But I’d lost the right. And by this point, she’d probably heard from one of my siblings. No chance that news wouldn’t spread like wildfire.
That night, I lay in the top bunk with Kash snoring below, phone in hand and Tess’s messages pulled up. There were so many things I wanted to say. But I couldn’t say any of them. Not if I wanted her back.
And I wanted her back. I wanted her back so badly but had no control. The thought of losing her was white-hot pain in my chest, the knowledge that it was largely out of my hands crippling.
But I knew what she needed. I could be patient. I could give her space. Because I believed in my love for her, and I had faith that she’d come back to me. So instead of typing out all the words of my heart, I clicked off my phone and tried to sleep.
When I woke, it was with that same solid sense of hope I’d gone to sleep with, alive and tangible in my chest. In fact, it was stronger, more vital than it had been since everything came unraveled. Maybe it was because I was no longer beholden to Wendy, or maybe because my name had been cleared.
Or it could be the hope set in motion by Natalie’s agreement to come to the shop to talk to me about potentially working with the magazine again. That was, if I could convince her, which I felt certain that I could.
But today, I could sense a shift. I only hoped it was in the direction I wanted.
Kash was already gone for the day, and I pulled on clothes and padded downstairs, breaking up another Bennet whisper session. My mother, Laney, and Jett popped apart with comically wide smiles on their faces.
I folded my arms and gave them a lazy smile. “What are you whispering about?”
“Nothing! Nothing at all, Lucas,” Mom said, floating across the room with a flush smudging her cheeks. “Did you sleep well? Are you hungry? Laney, get the donuts. We have Blanche’s. Would you like Blanche’s?”
I eyed her as I baited, “No time. Going down to the shop.”
Her face snapped open like I’d known it would. “Oh, no—you have to have breakfast first! They don’t need you down there, no, not yet.” She hooked her small hand in my elbow and tugged me toward the table.
It was like the time they’d tried to throw me a surprise party. The Bennets sucked at secrets—everyone except Marcus and Dad at least.
“Not hungry, but thanks, Mom.” I dislodged her hand in the same motion that I kissed the top of her head. “Natalie’s coming to the shop to talk about the feature, and I need to meet her soon. Want to make sure everything’s looking good down there before she gets here.”
The three of them exchanged a worried glance.
Mom grabbed my arm again as Laney pulled out her phone and scooted into the kitchen.
“Well, if you have to go, I’ll come with you,” Mom insisted. “Just let me get my shoes on.”
The next fifteen minutes were spent being stalled by my mother. First with a case of missing shoes—her favorites for her outfit, she insisted. Then, it was a hunt for a sweater even though it was almost ninety degrees out. Whoops, look at that, she had forgotten to take her medicine, which killed another five minutes. A bathroom stop, a brief phone call, and a question Laney needed an urgent answer for in the kitchen, and we were finally walking out the door.
“Subtle, Mom,” I said with a smile as I opened the door.
She smiled slyly up at me as I passed. “It’s unlike you to be suspicious, Lucas.”
“You would make the world’s worst spy, you know that?”