Chapter Fifteen
Luke
“I’m so tired,” Parker said, coming out of the ICU ward.
Luke stepped out of Zoey’s hug and pointed her toward his brother. She held out her arms, and he leaned in gratefully. “That’s my girl…holding the two of us up, like always.”
“You know it.” She kissed his cheek and pulled away. She looked as tired as Luke—and probably Parker—felt. “I think we need some sleep.”
She’d stayed all night, trading hugs between Luke, Parker, and their mom. If she hadn’t been there, Luke imagined that they’d have collapsed sooner.
“You two go,” Luke said. “I’ll stay here with Mom so she has a way home when she’s ready to leave.”
“Are you sure?” Parker rubbed his eyes. “You’ve been up all night, too.”
“Excuse me?” A nurse stood in the doorway to the waiting room holding a box and a thermos. “Are you the Madison family? This came for you.”
“I’ll take it.” Luke reached for the box. It was heavy, warm, and smelled like a grandma’s kitchen.
“What is that?” Parker stepped closer, sniffing at the box like a hound.
Luke read the note on top of the box and laughed for the first time in hours. He felt rusty all over, and it was good to laugh. “The girl I was out with? Charlotte? This is from the café where she works.” He frowned back the way the nurse had gone. “This had to be hand delivered. I wonder why she didn’t come back.”
“No idea.” Parker was already removing the paper plates and forks tucked in next to the cake. “But we’re going to eat this.”
Zoey smacked his hands away. “It’s Luke’s cake. He takes the first slice.”
“Then I get first coffee!” Parker reached for the thermos. “God, this is the real stuff. Not that crap from the cafeteria.”
Zoey ruffled Parker’s hair. “I’ll go get some cups.”
Luke put a piece of cake on a plate and broke off a corner. “Oh my God. This is almost better than sex.”
Parker shot him, then Zoey, a wicked smile. “Depends on the sex.”
Luke’s eyebrows shot up, and he pointed at his brother. “Stop talking. I mean it.”
Parker opened his mouth to say more, but Zoey punched him in the arm. She was bright red. “You heard him.”
“Besides, I said almost.” Luke took a big bite of cake. Oh my God, so good. They had to put crack in this or something. He’d have to go up to the café tomorrow, if Dad was in a regular room by then, and say thanks in person.
Zoey came back with coffee cups, and they ate quietly, too hungry and tired to talk. Once he was done, Luke reached for his phone to text Charlotte.
The cake was amazing. Did you drop it by? Sorry if I wasn’t around when you came. I’ll come up tomorrow if I can. Maybe we can pick up where we left off?
He hoped she’d say yes—he was ready to try going all-in with someone, see what it was like. A smart, sexy, scrappy someone was even better. He laughed softly, thinking about her chasing those D-bags down outside the café. He’d been glad to help her out, but he had no doubt she wouldn’t have given up without giving those guys hell first. Claw marks and all.
“What’s funny?” Zoey asked, smiling at him.
Warmth stole through Luke’s chest. “Just thinking about a crazy situation from a few days ago, that’s all.”
“Uh-huh. I want to meet her.” Zoey nudged Parker’s side. “Don’t you?”
“Oh, yeah.” Parker grinned. “I want to meet the girl who’s about to domesticate my brother.”
Luke rolled his eyes. He couldn’t argue with them. Not when he was kind of hoping the “domesticate” part was true. He hadn’t been able to make a relationship work for longer than three months. This time, though, he wanted to try. Luke knew if Michael were here, he’d lecture him about having time for only one focus, but he couldn’t make himself care. Luke needed this. He needed her.
“I’ll bring her by when everything settles down,” he told them. “Now you two go home and get some sleep.”
Zoey rose gracefully from the couch and pulled Parker to his feet. “Good idea.”
After they left, Luke stood and stretched, working the kinks out of his back. He didn’t like sitting still for this long. He was built to move, to drive forward. His joints creaked, and his feet ached to pound a treadmill. Maybe once Mom was ready to go home, Luke could hit the gym for a quick jog.
Restless, he pulled out his phone. It was well past five now. The café closed at two, so Charlotte should be able to answer texts, but she hadn’t responded. Maybe she was studying and hadn’t looked at her messages. Needing to hear her voice, he called her instead.
The phone rang four times before she picked up. “Hello?”
He drew in a breath. Her voice was hurt, cold. What the hell? What could he have possibly done? “Hey. Did you bring us the cake? Because if you did, I’m going to have to kiss you breathless for that.”
A soft snort. “Mr. Bzdyl made it for you. I’m sure he’d appreciate the offer, but I bet the mustache tickles.”
Funny as that sounded, Luke frowned. “Is something wrong? I’m sorry I haven’t texted sooner…”
“It’s not that. It’s what I saw when I came to deliver the cake.” She sighed. “Who’s the blonde, Luke?”
“Blonde?” His forehead wrinkled as he tried to figure out who she meant. There hadn’t been a blonde in the waiting room, except… “Wait, you mean Zoey?”
“Looks like a movie star? The one you were draped over when I came to visit? Yeah, her.”
“Is that why you’re mad?” Luke let out a weak laugh—he couldn’t help it. He was so goddamned relieved. “Zoey is Parker’s girlfriend. I’ve known her since she was in diapers. She’s…she’s like a sister to me.”
And it was true. Any trace of “what if” had trickled away in the last few days. He cared about Zoey, but only as a big brother would.
“Oh.” He could almost hear Charlotte’s embarrassment over the phone. “I’m sorry. I thought…”
“That I had a few girls on the side, and one showed up to comfort me in my time of need?” Luke was still chuckling. So stupid to be laughing right now, but he was punch-drunk from the lack of sleep and glad Charlotte wasn’t mad about anything that mattered. “The only one who’s done that is you. And Mr. Bzdyl, but I’m not counting him.”
“God, I’m so stupid.”
But there was a softness, some hope, in her voice again, and that was all that mattered. “No, you aren’t. I should’ve mentioned her. You ever read Harry Potter?”
“Uh, yeah. What person our age hasn’t?” She sounded confused. “Why?”
“Zoey’s part veela. You look at her head-on and she kind of dazzles the eye. But that’s really it. She’s Parker’s, through and through, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. They’re a matched set.”
Charlotte laughed. “Okay, good. Because there’s no competing with someone like her.”
I love making her laugh. “Oh, so you’d compete for me?” Luke let his voice drop low, husky. “What tasks would you be willing to perform?”
“You’d have to come over to find out.” She sounded coy. “But you should stay where you are. Your family needs you, and we have time.”
Disappointing, but his family did need him. “Fair enough. If Dad moves to a regular room tomorrow, I’m going to do a few runs up at Snowmass day after. Is Mr. Bzdyl still feeding me for free?”
“Until New Year’s.” She paused. “Although, he really likes you, which makes you family in his book. You might eat free forever.”
“I’d like that, especially if it means seeing you every day.”
“You have a line for every occasion, don’t you?”
He leaned back against the couch, imagining her teasing smile. That image lit him up from end to end. “It’s not a line if I mean it.”
There was a long pause. “Then I’ll see you once your dad is settled.”
“Can’t wait.” Grinning, he ended the call. Between Charlotte, his dad making it through the surgery fine, and his mom’s sort of acceptance of his plan to pursue SBX, the last twenty-four hours had turned out better than he could’ve expected.
Now he just had to put it all into motion.