“Get your fucking hands off of me” She growled and Luke had no idea who the woman in front of him was. This wasn’t the sweet Cara that had wormed her way into the heart of each one of the Lanza’s. This wasn’t the woman Jake was hopelessly in love with. This woman was broken and it would take a small army to put back the pieces of her, either that or one patient son of a bitch.
Luke took a deep breath and searched her eyes. Hoping that in the depths of those green eyes there was a shred of the woman Jake left behind. “Jake’s service will be tomorrow. Don’t you want some sort of say on how that plays out? You’re his fiancée. You should make a decision as to what kind of flowers he has or where his resting spot will be.” He paused for a moment. “Wouldn’t it be nice if he was close to your mom?” He watched her eyes fill. “I can take you to the undertaker and we can pick out the plot.” He bent his knees so that their eyes were level. The dam broke and her tears fell. “You should have that say, Cara.” He spoke softly.
They were silent for a moment, and then between her sobs she nodded. “I want him close to my mom.”
“Okay.” He whispered. When her body began to tremble and she wept uncontrollably he released her wrists and wrapped his arms around her. She grabbed his shirt and cried into his chest. He sighed and glanced up towards his heavenly father, wondering if his brother was with him, and thanked them both for allowing him to win this battle.
It was dark by the time Sam made her way back to her apartment that night. She was willing to spend the night at her parents, but they told her to go home and get some rest. She assumed they needed some time alone. She wouldn’t pretend to know what they were feeling. She opened her door, and stepped into her pitch black apartment. She threw her keys on the small table in her entryway and flicked the lights on. She took a quick look around. It was exactly as she had left it this morning, sans the discarded clothes trailing towards her bedroom.
She bit her lower lip and tried to block out the previous night. She tried not to remember Nick’s touch. Her house still had the faintest scent of his cologne and she knew once she lay in her bed, his scent would fill her. She would be consumed by the memories of their night together.
She walked into her bedroom, and headed to her closet. She removed her black dress from inside and hung it up on the back of her door, relief hit her that it was already ironed. She removed her earrings and went to place them on her nightstand when she noticed the note she had left for Nick. She placed the earrings alongside the note and lifted the two halves of the paper. Wondering why he chose to rip up the piece of paper. She stared at the torn paper for a moment longer before placing it back on her nightstand. She laid down on the bed, bringing the pillow Nick slept on the night before against her chest. She closed her eyes, letting the exhaustion caused by the whirlwind of emotions, consume her.
Nick couldn’t sleep. He lay in his bed with his arms propped behind his head and he stared aimlessly at the ceiling. If he was back in Seattle he would fix his insomnia the only way he knew how. He’d pick up a woman and exhaust himself all night with her until he fell into a slumber or a coma from intoxication whichever happened first. Those days felt so long ago now, but they weren’t. The truth was he was beginning to think that maybe coming back to Riverdale was a mistake.
Did he really think that he could reclaim the life he left seven years ago? That he would just be able to pick up where he left as if time stood still in the small upstate town. He shook his head. He didn’t really know what he expected when he came back home, he just knew he was tired of living a life he pretended to enjoy and yearned for the one that Sam had been a part of.
What had happened to her? The girl he remembered wasn’t so cold and full of bitterness. The girl he left was a girl willing to go to the ends of the world to be with him. Now when she looked at him all he saw was hatred and pain. As much as Nick would like to blame Sam being the reason Riverdale wasn’t appealing to him anymore, he couldn’t. Everything and everyone were changing.
Jake was gone. Luke was falling apart at the seams and the scariest part of Luke unraveling was that he had never done that before. No one knew what to expect when Luke lost his grip on life because the man always held on firmly for the ride. The business was on Nick’s shoulders and that didn’t bother him, he’d done that before. He threw himself into work and forgot about the other parts of life. Sure, it was for his father’s business and not his own, but he still knew what it was like to live for the job and nothing else.
His phone vibrated on the table beside his bed. It was nearly two in the morning. Who could be calling him now? He reached over and grabbed the phone. He stared at the Caller Id and groaned. Seeing Erica’s number calling again from Seattle. She had called him twice today and much like now he ignored the last two calls, he declined the call and placed the phone back on the table.
He didn’t care to hear her voice. He didn’t care to listen to what she had to say. The fact that she was in Seattle, was making Riverdale look more like the better choice.
Chapter Eleven