“Yeah, you do. Now, tell me about Lancaster.”
I sigh. “Found a weird email from our darling CEO to a guy named Linus, his Head of Security, talking about some kind of clean up at the Lynn Factory.” I drop my voice lower, knowing I’m about to start yet another disagreement. “So, I headed over there to check it out on Wednesday afternoon, just to see if there was anything strange going on.”
“What the fuck were you thinking, going there alone?” Luca explodes, stopping mid-stride. “Everyone knows Lancaster is a shithead. You find evidence he may be even more of a shithead than we originally believed, and you decide to go traipsing through his factory by yourself.” He shakes his head. “You should’ve called me, babe.”
“I wasn’t speaking to you,” I remind him.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t say we had to sit down over tea and discuss our feelings. I said I would’ve come with you, provided a little muscle if you got into trouble.”
“I didn’t.” My lips twitch at his words. “But I did find something weird at the factory. It looked like someone had been inside, messing with the pipes. Problem is, I wouldn’t know a cooling system from a carburetor, so I sure as shit don’t know why Lancaster would go to all the trouble of replacing pipes in a factory he just closed and is scheduled to knock down in a few months.”
“Well, babe, for starters, carburetors are in cars, and no one even uses them anymore—”
“Luca. Save the mechanical lecture for another day.” I hold his gaze. “I think there’s something going on with the plant closing. Something more than just budget cuts and screwing workers out of pensions. Something… bigger.”
His brow wrinkles. “I’ll go take a look, when I get a chance. You don’t go back there alone, you hear me?”
“I hear you, you big softie.” I punch him lightly on the arm. “Let’s go. We’re already late for this damn thing.”
“It might not be so bad,” he says. “Hell, if that redhead is there, I’m thinking my night may actually be excellent.”
“Do you ever think about anything but sex?”
He shrugs. “Maybe when I’m unconscious.”
“I still don’t know how I let you talk me into this,” I mutter darkly as we pass a row of wreath-covered brownstones. We’ll be at Phoebe’s any minute.
“Babe, I know this time of year is tough for you. But you don’t ever run from a fight. You don’t let shit scare you.” Luca glances at me. “I’m tired of watching you disappear every December. I’m tired of seeing that sad look in your eyes.”
“You think it’s easy for me, Luke? You think I’m not tired of it, year after year?” I ask, voice breaking a little. “You think it’s as simple as just throwing on a Christmas sweater, singing some carols, and embracing the holiday spirit?”
“I never said it was gonna be easy. Nothing good in life ever comes easy — you know that better than anyone. But you keep closing yourself off from everything, you’re gonna wind up as alone as the day we first met.”
“Since when are you Mr. Well-Adjusted, Luke?” I shake my head. “I don’t see you in any long-term, healthy relationships. You don’t have any family. You can count all your friends on one fucking hand.”
“Maybe I’m ready for something different.” He stops walking and looks down at me. “Change is scary. I get that. But you’re not required to be the same person you were ten years ago, ten weeks ago, ten days ago. Hell, you don’t even have to be the person you were ten minutes ago. You’re free to be whoever the hell you want, Zoe Bloom.” His mouth curves. “If that person happens to be a bitchy, misanthropic, Christmas-hating curmudgeon, so be it. I’ll still be here. But if you want to be someone different — someone who let’s herself laugh, and have fun, and go sailing in the goddamned icy tundra we call home with some idiot who probably spends too long styling his hair… that’s okay too.”
“Is this — you dragging me here tonight — about Parker?” My tone has surpassed incredulity and gone straight to stunned disbelief. “You nearly killed the guy. Now you want me to see him again?”
Luca’s eyes narrow. “It’s not about what I want. It’s about what you want, babe.”
I pause. “How do you know I want him?”
“Ten years I’ve known you, we’ve never gone more than a day without checking in.” His eyes darken a bit. “I ruin your date with the rich boy, and you freeze me out for an entire week. Not rocket science, babe.”
I press my lips together, trying to come up with a retort. Nothing comes to mind.