“I’m eating.” Cara said defensively and popped a water chestnut into her mouth. “See.”
Sam rolled her eyes as she swallowed her mouthful of food. “Sure you are.” She put her carton down and pointed her chopsticks at her friend. “Are you going to tell me what is wrong or am I going to have to force it out of you?”
“Be careful what you wish for.” Cara said softly and then blew out a breath. “Okay, okay.” She looked at Sam. “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to hate me afterward.”
“I promise.” Sam said and leaned forward anxiously.
Cara bit down on her lip as she placed her chopsticks down and met Sam’s waiting gaze. “The night of your wedding, Luke and I, well, we slept together.” She said with a sigh. “We barely slept.” She felt her cheeks flush as she remembered Luke’s hands all over her body. She closed her eyes and relished in the memory, his big palm sliding over her ass as she crawled onto the bed, she needed those hands on her again or she would burst.
“I knew it!” Sam exclaimed happily pulling Cara from her daydream. “Wait until I get my hands on my husband. He walked in on you guys the next morning didn’t he? Oh, he’s going to pay for keeping this from me.”
“Did you hear what I said? I slept with Luke? You know your other brother?”
“Cara I’m pregnant, not deaf. I heard you. Was it good?”
“You really don’t care.” Cara said in wonderment
“Are you serious? Cara I knew you and Luke would eventually give into your feelings for each other. . The man let me sign him up for dancing lessons, all because I told him you wanted to dance. I have never in my life seen Luke crazy about anyone the way he is crazy in love with you.”
“He’s not in love with me.” Cara said sadly.
“He most definitely is in love with.” Sam said confidently.
“No, trust me, he’s not. He ended things between us.”
*
“Ava can you give me and Uncle Nick a minute?” Luke asked his daughter.
Ava looked back and forth between the two men, her eyes settling on Nick’s.
“Go ahead kiddo. We’ll be just a minute.” Nick said reassuringly, letting her know he was on her side. Ava sighed before hurrying into the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone.
“Way to go, getting my daughter involved.”
“Your daughter has more brains than you.” Nick said, sensing the hostility in Luke’s voice.
“She’s seven.” Luke said incredulously.
“She’s smart, man. She knows you’re hurting. Shit, she’s hurting too.” Nick stood up and walked to Luke, getting in his face. “For a man who claims he reads women you’re pretty clueless when it comes to relationships.”
“Nick…” Luke warned.
“You’re a dickhead.”
“Fuck you.” Luke spat back.
“You’re not my type. Now listen up jackass, I don’t know what the hell you did to mess things up with Cara, but you’re going to fix them before it’s too late.”
“She doesn’t want me!” Luke hollered.
“That’s the biggest load of crap I ever heard. You’re being a complete pussy.” Nick said his patience teetering. “We all fucking see it, even your daughter does!”
Luke shook his head. “Cara isn’t ready to move on, Nick.”
“Wake up! She already did. Every minute the two of you spent together was another step she took to move on. Maybe she didn’t realize it, maybe you didn’t either. Her getting herself well, her spending time with you, were all signs of her moving on. The morning after the wedding I saw you. I saw her. I saw the look in both of your eyes, that shit was real Luke.”
“Maybe it was. Maybe in that room it was, but the minute we stepped out of that safe haven everything went to shit. She wasn’t ready for people to know about us, and I was done hiding how I felt. I can’t go on pretending that I don’t love her with everything I’m made of.”
“Then don’t.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Bullshit. She probably just needed time to get used to the idea. You’ve had months to get used it, did she? I mean all the while she was in Lakeview you were dealing with your feelings. Alright, so maybe you didn’t do a bang up job at that, but still, you had the time to figure out that shit. She was too busy getting well to give what was going on between the two of you a second thought. Man she was grieving on top of that too. Cut the girl some slack.”
“You don’t get it!” Luke said, frustrated as he combed his fingers through his hair. “I pushed and pushed just like I did with Marie. Only difference is I walked away this time. I didn’t give her the chance to turn her back on me like Marie did because quite frankly, I don’t think I could handle that again.”
“She’s not Marie, man.” Nick said, his voice softening at the realization of his friend’s tortured past haunting him. “She’s just Cara, the Cara we all loved and lost for a while there, until you brought her back.”
Luke swallowed hard and shook his head. “She brought herself back.”
“With your help.” Nick added.