Deserving of Luke (4 page)

Slowly, very slowly, his hands and jaw relaxed. Then he blew out a long breath and said, “We need to talk.”

She wanted to disagree on general principle, to tell him that there was nothing she wanted to talk to him about. But another look at her son changed her mind. Luke's fascination with Logan was hard to miss.

Swallowing the bitterness that welled inside of her, she answered. “Yeah. I guess we do.”

“When?”

“I don't know. In a few days—”

“A few days isn't acceptable. I want to talk to you today.”

“Yeah, well, I gave up worrying about what you wanted a long time ago, Logan. I'm not here to see you. I'm here to help my sister. So if you want to talk to me, you're going to have to work around
my
schedule.”

“Your schedule? You have my kid and you have the nerve to talk to me about schedules?”

A million responses came to her—none of which were fit for polite company but all of which she wanted to say. “How about tomorrow afternoon?”

“I want to talk to you today.” He ground out the
words in a voice so harsh it hurt her ears. And still she wouldn't back down, wouldn't give in.

Her son was too important for her to roll over and play dead. And if his father thought differently, then he was in for a rude awakening. She'd never been one for power struggles, but on this front, she was digging in. There was no way he was going to move her.

“I want a lot of things. I always have. But part of growing up is realizing that you can't always have what you want. Isn't that what our mothers always used to tell us?”

For a second she thought Logan was going to lose the stranglehold he had on control and she regretted taunting him. Not because she was afraid of him—the Logan she knew would never hurt her physically and she'd kick his ass if he tried—but because Luke was watching. He didn't know what they were saying, which probably only made the tension between them look scarier.

Sure enough, his door cracked open a little. “Mommy. Are you okay?”

He never called her
Mommy
anymore, and she saw the second his words registered on Logan, the second the sheriff realized his son was afraid of what he would do to his mother. She watched as he forcibly made himself relax.

“I'm fine, sweetie. I'll be ready to go in a second.”

“What time tomorrow afternoon?” Logan demanded.

She knew it cost him a lot to ask her that, to give in without a fight simply because it would be easier for Luke. And she gave Logan credit for it, though it was hard. She'd spent so long loving him and wishing he'd call, so long hating him because he hadn't, that it was almost impossible to give him even the slightest benefit of the doubt now. Especially when he was still as arrogant and gorgeous and out of line as he'd always been.

But she would. For her son's sake, she would give Logan a chance and pray to God that she wasn't making a mistake. “Why don't you come by Penny's house tonight, after ten? Luke usually goes to sleep around nine-thirty. We can talk then.”

He nodded. “I'll see you at ten.”

“Okay.”

There was nothing left to say, and yet neither one of them made a move to leave. Instead they stood there looking at each other, the past yawning like a chasm between them, until Luke's door opened one more time.

“Mom?”

“I'm coming, Luke. We're done here.”

Logan nodded, and left without another word. As
she watched him walk away, Paige prayed again that she wasn't making the biggest mistake of her life. That she wasn't making the biggest mistake of Luke's life.

“H
OW WAS TOWN?”
P
ENNY ASKED
as Luke and Paige lugged their grocery bags into the house almost an hour later.

“Pretty damn awful.” Paige blew a stray hair out of her face. “I swear, I don't know how you can stand to live here. Nothing changes.”

“That's not necessarily a bad thing, you know.” Penny relieved her of a few of the bags.

“Easy for you to say. They don't look at you like you should come with a warning label—and a decontamination chamber—attached. I don't understand why you want to—” She broke off, refusing to ruin her time with Penny by bringing up an argument that dated to when they were kids. If they were going to fix everything that needed fixing—Penny's seaside house, her self-esteem after her boyfriend dumped her with this monstrosity, their sibling relationship, which hadn't been the same since Paige had left town nine years before—she needed to tread carefully.

“I stay here because this is home to me. I like it here,” Penny blithely answered the unfinished
question. “I know Prospect wasn't good for you, know you've done amazing things since you left. But this is the only place I've ever wanted to live. When I moved away, I missed it.”

Paige's nod was stilted, but she was saved from responding when Luke found the treasure he'd been searching through the bags for. “Look, Aunt Penny. Mom bought me a totally cool comic book. Do you want to see it?”

“Of course I do. Maybe you could read it to me while I put these groceries away.” She reached into a bag and pulled out a jar of pickles.

“And we ran into my dad in town. He was dressed in a policeman's uniform and he seemed really mad at Mom.”

The jar of pickles slipped from her sister's hand and shattered as it hit the kitchen's hardwood floor.

“Why don't you sit down?” Paige said, tongue firmly in cheek. “I'll put the groceries away.”

“You saw Logan and that's all you have to say?”

Shooting a warning look from her sister to her son, Paige nodded. “It's not quite as eloquent as dropping a jar of pickles, I know, but I do what I can.”

“Right. Of course.” Penny sounded as though she was being strangled, but she didn't say anything else as she started cleaning up the mess.

“Do you know my dad, Aunt Penny?”

She succumbed to a major coughing fit. When she
finally recovered, she said, “Um, I guess. A little bit. Why?”

“Because I don't think I like him. He was mean to Mom. On the way home, she said it was because he was surprised to see me, but I don't know. So I thought, if you knew him, you could tell me if you thought he was as bad as he seemed today.” Luke said the last words in a rush, his breath running out from trying to say everything in one fell swoop. She could see the hope shining in his eyes, along with the fear and prayed that Penny could as well.

Tenderness for her son welled up inside Paige all over again, even as she felt torn apart by the fact that she was going to have to see Logan in a few hours. Luke was so sweet and he wanted this so badly, that she wanted to want it, too. But she couldn't. She just couldn't—not when giving him his father meant allowing Logan in her life again.

He'd done so much damage the first time around it had taken her years to stop reeling.

“I don't think your dad is awful, Luke,” Penny finally said after an awkward silence. “I'm sure he wasn't trying to be mean to your mom. He was probably shocked to see you. He didn't know you were coming.”

“He says he didn't know about me at all.”

Penny's eyes darkened to forest green. “Well, then, he must have been confused.”

“That's what Mom says.”

“You should listen to your mother. She knows a lot more than your father does.”

“Penny!” Paige frowned at her sister.

“Well, you do. Men are—”

“I don't really think Luke is up for a diatribe against the male species at the moment, sis, but thanks all the same.”

“And yet I'm so clearly in the mood to have one.” But she turned to Luke and forced a smile onto her face. And if more teeth showed than Paige was comfortable with, she figured she couldn't really complain. Especially not when Penny changed the subject by asking, “What else happened in town today?”

“Nothing much.”

Luke became studiously interested in his comic book and Paige snorted. “If by
nothing much
you mean I ran through Mandala's Groceries like a crazy woman, than no, nothing much happened, Penny.”

“Ran through Mandala's? What happened?”

Paige told her, and though she gave Luke a number of stern looks as she did, she couldn't help grinning when he interrupted several times to give Penny his point of view.

As he talked, Paige shook her head repeatedly—though she didn't know if it was with pride or annoyance. Or both. The kid had a future as a politician
or an advertising exec. His gift of spin was truly awe-inspiring.

When the two of them had finished telling the story, Penny gave her nephew an admonishing look. “I think you owe your mom a week's worth of chores without complaint.”

“But—”

Penny raised one dark eyebrow and Luke subsided. They hadn't been here long enough for him to get used to Penny yet. And with his new iPod burning a hole in his pocket, he jumped every time she told him to. A habit that was not lost on his aunt.

“In fact,” she said, with a wink towards Paige, “why don't you start by going upstairs and finishing unpacking all of your toys? I hauled a bookshelf in there earlier, so you can spread them out. And I even dug up a TV, so you can move your Wii up there instead of down here.”

“Excellent!” Luke nearly flew out of the room on his way upstairs. “I just got this cool new baseball game I want to try out.”

“Luke! Aren't you forgetting—”

“Thanks, Aunt Penny.” His voice drifted down the stairs.

Penny laughed. “I don't know how you keep up with that kid. He's a natural born charmer.”

“Tell me about it. He's had every single one of his teachers wrapped around his little finger from
the get-go, not to mention all the neighbors. They're convinced the sun rises and sets on his shoulders.”

“Must make it hard to discipline him.”

“You have no idea. No matter how in the right I am, I always end up looking like the bad guy. It drives me nuts.”

“It always did.”

Paige shot her a sharp look. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means, he's like his father, Paige. Everything about him—from his looks to the sparkle in his eyes—screams Logan. No wonder the man had a fit when he saw him today.”

Paige didn't answer until she heard the door to the room she and Luke were sharing firmly shut. Then she turned on her sister. “He doesn't have any reason to throw a fit. He's the one who dumped me when I told him I was pregnant. He's the one who accused me of sleeping with half the football team. I told him Luke was his and he didn't believe me.”

“A point I think you should bring up to him when you see him again.” Penny paused. “I assume you will be seeing him again?”

“He's coming here later tonight, after Luke is in bed.”

Her sister cursed. “That was quick.”

“Tell me about it. I really thought I'd have a little more time before I had to deal with this.”

“Me, too.” She paused. “So what are you going to say to him?”

“That he hasn't been around for the first eight years of Luke's life and there's no reason he needs to be around for the next ten years of it. Luke and I are doing fine without him.”

“Yeah? And do you think he's going to buy that?”

“Of course he's going to buy it. He couldn't wait to be rid of the responsibility when I was pregnant.” Her voice cracked on the last word so Paige focused on emptying the bags in an effort to keep herself from freaking out. “No, Penny, I don't think he's going to be reasonable about this. You should have seen him in the diner. I thought he was going to blow a gasket.”

“Is that where you guys met up? At Pros pector's?”

“Naturally. Hasn't my dirty laundry always been aired in front of half the town?” She proceeded to tell Penny the whole sordid story. Her sister didn't say anything through most of it, just made sympathetic noises.

When she was done, Penny crossed the kitchen and pulled her into a huge hug. “I'm sorry you've got to deal with this guy again, Paige. He's a total jerk.”

“Tell me about it. Nothing like paying for the mistakes of your youth forever, huh?”

“Yeah, well, you don't have to be young to be stupid,” Penny said with a grimace.

Paige knew better than to express sympathy for Penny's current male-induced crisis—that was the quickest way to get her to shut down.

With a sigh, Paige rested her head on her sister's shoulder and said, “What am I going to do?”

“Whatever you want to do.”

“I wish. If that was the case, I wouldn't let Logan near my kid.”

“Then don't. You don't have to explain anything to that man. What he did to you is unforgivable and you don't owe him a damn thing.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?”

“Of course I do. But it's not him I'm worried about. It's Luke. And I do owe him the chance to get to know his father, if that's what he wants.”

“He's eight. He doesn't know what he wants. If he knew Logan the way we do, he wouldn't be so quick to imagine how great his life would be with him.”

“It's not that simple. Now that Logan knows about him, what am I supposed to do if he decides he wants to see Luke?”

“Tell him to buzz off. He had his chance nine years ago and if he suddenly decides that he regrets the choices he made, well, that's tough for him. Some mistakes can't be undone.”

Paige nodded her agreement, but as she put the milk and eggs into the fridge, she couldn't help wondering if thinking that was unrealistic. Sure, she didn't think that Logan had any claim to Luke. They'd broken up nine years ago, with Logan telling her he wanted nothing to do with her or her baby. Why should he get to change his mind at this late date?

But as the sounds of Luke's video game console buzzed overhead, she felt a niggle of doubt. The Logan she'd known had been a cold bastard when it came to getting what he wanted—even at eighteen—but the man she'd met today had seemed downright frigid. If he wanted a part in Luke's life, she wasn't sure how she was going to stop him. Especially if he filed for custody here, in this town where everyone hated her. What if he actually succeeded in convincing a judge to take Luke away from her? She'd die. She would just—

Paige slammed a door on her thoughts, refusing to let them freak her out any more than she already was. If there was one thing her twenty-six years had taught her, it was that life would happen the way it was going to happen, no matter how much she worried about it. Besides, she had a lot better things to think about than the arrogant, devious ways of Logan Powell.

Even if she couldn't remember what any of those things were right now.

“He can't hurt you, you know,” Penny said. “You won't let him.
I
won't let him. Not ever again.”

Warmth filled Paige. “You know, for a bratty little sister, you're pretty awesome.”

“For an obnoxious, know-it-all older sister you're not so bad yourself.” Penny paused, and Paige desperately hoped for a shift in the conversation. But Penny didn't give it to her. “But seriously, Paige, how are we going to handle this?”

“
We?
It's my problem, Penny.”

“The only reason you came back here is because I totally screwed my life up. I'd say that makes it
our
problem.” She gestured to the paint cans and building supplies that filled up the living room. “I don't know how I'd get this place together without your help.”

And there it was, the reason Paige had returned to Prospect even though it was the last place on the planet she wanted to be. She'd skipped out of town nine years ago, pregnant and devastated. But she'd left Penny alone with their parents, and though her mom and dad treated her sister a lot better than they'd ever treated her, it still hadn't been a cakewalk.

But Paige hadn't cared, hadn't let herself care. She couldn't if she wanted to survive. So she'd cut ties with her sister completely. And though Penny had reached out to her a year ago, trying to reestablish
those ties, it had been slow going. At least until her fiancé had run away from her and this monstrosity of a house, leaving Penny almost broke and in a hell of a bind.

There had been no way Paige could leave her to muddle through on her own. Not when she was between set decorating jobs. She'd built in two weeks between movies to use as a vacation, but helping her sister was going to be so much more satisfying. And if she'd had to juggle things around and work like mad in order to make that two-week break a two-month break, well, then no one else had to know that.

“Luckily, you won't have to find out.”

“But—and don't take this the wrong way as you know I love that you're here—but maybe you should go back to L.A. Get Luke away from Logan as fast as possible.”

The same idea had occurred to her, oh, about every fifteen seconds since Logan had chased her down the street. “I'm afraid he'd follow me. He seems really determined to see Luke.”

Penny snorted. “Yeah, nine years too late. But even if he follows you, won't that give you home court advantage. Literally? He's the sheriff here and one of the town's golden boys. Wouldn't it be better to fight this battle in a Los Angeles court?”

“I'm hoping it won't come to that.”

“But if it does?”

“If it does, then yes. L.A. would probably be a better venue for it.”