Mr. Imperfect

chapter 33



Closure. Rori was pretty sure that neither she nor Luke wanted it, but it looked like they were going to get it anyway thanks to Kris. It made sense to have a conversation that made their “break up” official, of course. It was just going to be unbelievably awkward.

When her phone rang at 9:10 p.m., Rori took a steadying breath then picked up. She skipped the hellos. “First you insist on this call, and then you’re ten minutes late making it? Nice, Luke.”

“Yeah, well, that’s how long it took Kris to find me tucked in the back of Mike’s SUV, so blame her.”

After everything Rori couldn’t believe that got a laugh out of her. “You hid? From a phone call?”

“I didn’t mean to. It kind of just happened that way.”

“Wow. And to think I almost married you.”

“I know, right?” he said. “Seriously. What were you thinking?”

Rori’s smile faded. “That you weren’t in love with anyone else.”

There was a beat of silence. “In my defense, I totally didn’t know that was the case. I mean, I knew I loved her, but I never thought in a billion years that Kris would want me back. She always gave me so much attitude.”

“And hopefully now you know why,” Rori said. “Are you going to marry her?”

“I—well, I mean, I want to.”

Rori shook her head, running her fingertips over her paint brushes as she sat on her studio stool. “You said that about me, too, but you let me walk out the door without a fight then hid in a car to try to avoid talking to me again.”

“Dude, you make me sound like a total loser.”

She grinned. “If restating facts makes you look bad, Luke, don’t blame me.”

“Now you sound like Kris.”

“She’s obviously a smart woman.”

“Yeah.”

The silence that followed was filled with all the words neither of them was saying in the midst of the small talk. Rori was going to have to be the one to say them. Luke was too much of a chicken to make the first step.

“So I know that Kris wants us to make our break up official, so I’ll make it official by saying that while I don’t need a man to love me, I definitely need him not to be in love with someone else. So on that premise alone, Luke, I decline your offer of marriage. We’re done.”

On the other side of the phone, Luke breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Kris was right. It does feel way better to have it all official. I kind of felt like I was cheating before. I mean, I totally didn’t care, but things didn’t feel clear. They do now.”

This guy was a head case. Rori could only imagine what her mom would have said if they’d ever met. “Well, I’m glad it’s now clear that you’re not cheating, even though you didn’t care in the first place.”

“I know that sounded bad, but you know what I mean, right? The heart wants what it wants.”

“Sure,” Rori agreed, placing a blank canvas up on the easel and trying to decide how she would depict the connection between her and Luke. Something twisted, for sure.

“Like you and Mike.”

Rori froze. “Excuse me?”

“Like you and Mike,” he repeated. “Kris was talking about how you always stared at his mouth when you spoke. She thinks you like him.”

“I don’t even know him.” The words came out of her mouth even as her brain stuttered over other denials. Luckily none of those made it to her mouth.

“You don’t have to know someone to like them,” Luke said easily. “In fact, sometimes it’s easier to like people you don’t know.”

The guy was smart at the most inconvenient times. “I’m not interested in your friend.”

“I’m just saying it’s okay if you are. Kris and I talked about it, and I’m totally not weirded out by the thought of you two together. In fact, you two kind of make more sense than me and you.”

Why was he saying any of this? And why were his words pulling up graphic images in her mind? “Well, Luke, while that is very generous of you, I guess I should clear the slate by stating that I have moved on as well. As we discussed my plans for marriage in Thailand, and my matchmaker has already found me a great, new candidate.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Are you two engaged?”

Well, considering she hadn’t actually received his file yet, no. But Luke didn’t have to know that. “Steps are being taken. We won’t finalize everything until the Fall, but I think it’s safe to say that both of us should be on the path to getting what we want by the end of the year.”

“Oh. Well, that’s…cool, I guess.”

It struck Rori then exactly how frustrating it would have been to be married to Luke based on his communication skills alone. “I’d say we both dodged a bullet.”

“I guess. I mean, you’re nice and all, but you kind of freaked me out.”

“I freaked you out?”

“Yeah. It’s the eyes, I think. All dark and old soul-y. And you don’t blink very much. You just look at things like you’re trying to see into the heart of them and you don’t say anything when you’re done. It always made me feel stupid.”

“Uh, good to know, I guess.”

“Anyway, are we done? We broke up, right? It’s official?”

Rori laughed, deciding that her ode to Luke should be more scattered and less twisted. Maybe even a collage. “It’s official.”

“So you’re moving on to the dude that your matchmaker is lining up for you and I get Kris?”

“Well, that last part is up to Kris, but the rest is true. Yes.”

“Awesome. Well… thanks for not crying or anything. That would have been way uncomfortable.”

“No offense, Luke, but the loss of our relationship doesn’t really merit tears.”

“Ouch. But okay. Totally agree.”

“Goodbye, Luke.”

He actually took a breath before replying. “Bye, Rori. It’s been an adventure.”

“Indeed it has.”

“Oh, and Kris wants me to make sure I make it super clear that I’m totally okay with it if you hook up with Mike.”

“Not in my plans,” Rori said without hesitation even as her heart hammered at the lie. September was looking more and more promising.

“Right, but I just had to say it. Her little sister radar went off on you two, so I’m just throwing it out there as ordered.”

“Well, tell Kris I can handle my own sex life.”

“I, uh—”

“Bye, Luke.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Rori hung up before he could get another word out. It was done. Their break up was official. She deserved a drink for making it through that car wreck of a conversation unscathed.

You, me, wine, and story time, she texted to Fredrik. You in?

While waiting for his response, Rori stared at the blank canvas in front of her. She definitely couldn’t use oil to capture the essence of Luke. Watercolors were a better fit as far as the properties of the medium, but the final result wouldn’t look right. In reality she would be better off just buying a bunch of video game posters and using portions of them to create.

Rori grinned just as her phone beeped with a message. Fredrik was headed over, plus one. And while Rori waited for him to arrive, she hopped online and looked up the posters she could remember from Luke’s walls back in Utah.