Everything You've Got: Anything & Everything, Book 2 (32 page)

Or New Year’s Eve parties, card parties,
American Idol
parties… Luke took any reason to get huge groups of friends together.

He was scowling now. “Is that all?”

“No.” She’d come this far. She had to make sure he understood that she was not the right woman for him. In pretty much every way. “I want maybe two kids. Definitely not six. Definitely not more than six. And I don’t want them for a while. My job is demanding and I won’t be good at playing with Play-Doh, or reading Dr. Seuss four million times, or making science projects, or teaching them to ice skate.”

Tears were threatening now. This hurt her, but she knew it hurt him too. He’d want to fix this and he couldn’t.

“Anything else?” he asked tightly.

“Just…” She knew this answer was the only one possible. But once she said it out loud it would be real. Finally she managed to whisper, “I’m going to Rolland.”

Several seconds ticked by. She couldn’t look at him.

Finally Luke asked, “Stan offered you a job?”

She nodded, gathering her courage for one more question. She blew out a long breath and asked, “Will you come with me?”

He said nothing for a long moment. When she finally looked up she saw that he was clearly stunned. “Go with you?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Move to Rolland?”

It was too far for either of them to commute. “Yes.”

“But…” He seemed genuinely confused by the proposal. Of course he was.

This wasn’t part of
his
plan. “What about the Camelot?”

“Hire someone to manage it.”

He shook his head before she even finished the suggestion. “And my parents? Marc, our friends…”

Right. All the things that were actually way above blow jobs on his top ten list.

“What about us?” she asked quietly.

That made his frown deepen. “Let me think.”

“Think?” He had to
think?

“I’m sure I can come up with something that will work,” he insisted.

Something that would work with his plans. Kat knew that was what he meant. Rolland wasn’t even an option to him. Leaving Justice, sacrificing wasn’t even on the table. For a month, all for
him
, she’d been working her ass off, putting up with all kinds of bullshit without a complaint while still putting out every night and now that it was his turn to consider what she needed he was still trying to manipulate it to work his way.

“I’m going to Rolland,” she said again, her chin up.

“With or without me?” Hurt flashed in his eyes before it was replaced by anger.

She pressed her lips together and blinked hard against the sting of tears. Finally she said, “Without you, I’m guessing.”

Luke took a deep breath in, staring at her. Then he nodded once, turned, pulled the door open and left the room.

Leaving her alone.

More alone than she’d ever been.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

Luke looked up from the paperwork he’d been pretending to do for the past hour to find Sabrina tossing her purse into one chair in front of his desk and dropping herself into the other.

“Do what?” He knew exactly why she was here.

She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

He sighed and put his pen down. “Okay.” She was here to yell at him. Finally. It had been two days since Kat had told him she was going to Rolland. Without him.

“So should I start with the obvious stuff or do you want me to go straight to the analysis?” Sabrina linked her hands over her pregnant belly and regarded him seriously.

He leaned back in his chair. “Give me something obvious.” He needed a warm-up for the deep stuff.

He knew exactly what she was going to say too.

“You’re an idiot.”

Yep, word for word.

“She’s the one leaving. I don’t get why I’m the bad guy.” His heart clenched like it had for the past forty-eight hours whenever he thought about the fact that Kat was leaving him. Leaving period. But definitely leaving him.

Sabrina tipped her head to one side. “Who said you’re the bad guy?”

“Marc. Steve. Brad. Bill.”

“My dad said you’re a bad guy?” Sabrina asked with obvious surprise.

It was no secret that Bill Cassidy was one of Luke’s biggest fans.

“Apparently the popular opinion is that Kat is perfect for me and I should do anything necessary to keep her with me.”

Sabrina just looked at him for a moment. “So why aren’t you?”

He felt the weight that had been in his chest since leaving Kat in his office grow heavier. “She has blue hair.”

“Sometimes,” Sabrina agreed.

“And piercings. And black leather boots.”

“Always has,” Sabrina pointed out.

“Do you really think that’s what people want to see as the wife of their future mayor?” His gut clenched even as he said it out loud.

“Future mayor?” Sabrina asked. “I didn’t realize that was on your to-do list.”

He shrugged. He supposed on some level he’d just assumed he’d keep on serving Justice until he’d done it all. “I could get elected if I wanted to.”

“You sound like an ass.”

He knew that. “Yeah.”

“I was actually talking about the thing with Kat. But yes, the mayor thing too.”

He agreed.

But it was Kat’s argument—that this was who she was in Justice and that wouldn’t change. Which might be true. And maybe no one would take her seriously. Or take him seriously if she was beside him.

That made his heart feel like a block of ice in his chest—hard and cold. Kat was amazing and the idea that the town he loved couldn’t see past the hair dye was painful.

“There’s the kid thing too,” he said. It wasn’t just about her blue hair. She wasn’t the right woman for him. She’d been very clear about multiple points that proved that.

“What kid thing?”

“She only wants two.”

Sabrina said nothing to that.

“She doesn’t want to play with Play-Doh.” Kids needed to play with Play-Doh. They needed parents who would play with Play-Doh with them.

Of course, the Play-Doh was only symbolic of the bigger issue—she had a demanding job that she was great at and didn’t want to give up, but that would make being a mom a challenge.

Sabrina sighed with obvious frustration and sat forward in her chair. “So
you
play with the Play-Doh. You’d love that.”

“I…”

Sabrina raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to think that through.

Okay, he would love that. He’d also love to read Dr. Seuss four million times. And all the other things Kat might not be able to do. Being self-employed would make it very easy for him to be there for their kids.

“I’m really good with finger paints,” he said.

“I have no doubt,” Sabrina answered with a smile. “You’re really good at almost everything. Except…”

He looked up with interest. “Except?”

“Knowing when a woman is right for you.” She met his gaze directly, the obvious affection in her expression softening her words. “You were convinced I was right for you and I most definitely was not,” she said. “Now you’re trying to give me a bunch of reasons that Kat’s not right for you when she’s clearly perfect.”

“She doesn’t want Justice. She can’t be herself here,” he said, the misery of it hitting him square in the gut. Again.

“Then why do you want her to be here?”

“Because I’m here.”

“Only because you’ve never imagined you could have the life you want anywhere else.”

He sighed. “Are we to the analysis part already?”

Sabrina gave him a small smile. “The obvious you’re-an-idiot stuff didn’t take long.”

He took a deep breath. “Okay, lay it on me.”

Maybe it should have been weird to have the woman he’d proposed to twice giving him advice about another woman. But it wasn’t. Sabrina knew him, cared about him, accepted him. She also knew, cared about and accepted Kat.

And he knew her. There was no way she was going to leave him alone until she’d said this.

Sabrina leaned closer.

“Your idea of keeping her is keeping her
here
.”

He gripped the arms of his chair. Somehow he knew this wasn’t going to be a pep talk. “It’s killing me,” he said tightly. “Wanting her, loving her, but knowing we can’t be together…it’s killing me.”

Sabrina rolled her eyes, obviously unmoved by his plight. “Rolland would be even better for you than it would Kat.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve spent your whole life helping this town. You’ve always been there, always been the one to count on. You know what Justice needs before anyone else does. You fix everything.”

“And
this
makes me a bad guy?”.

“Of course not. But it makes you…lazy,” she said, meeting his gaze steadily.

“
What
?” He’d gotten up before dawn, sweated and worked and—

“Being a hero is easy for you here,” Sabrina said with a shrug. “Heck, your cape and tights can be wrinkled and have holes in them and no one would care. But in a new place, a place like Rolland, you’d have to prove yourself again, wouldn’t you? The hero title might even be taken already. By Kat even. So, it’s a lot easier just to stay here and keep doing your thing.”

He scowled at her. “I’m not staying here because it’s easier than starting over somewhere else.”

“Then why are you staying here?”

He couldn’t believe this. “Because I love this town. And
most
of the people in it.”

She shrugged again. “We’re not going anywhere. Whenever you miss us or want to visit, just come back.”

“You make it sound simple.”

“No, you make it seem hard.” She sighed. “Luke, you need to be a hero. That’s not going to change. But you’re not a hero because you’re from here or because there’s no one else or because we don’t know any better. You’re beloved here because of you. And that will be true anywhere you go. You don’t have to worry about that.”

It hit him that Kat had said something similar to him when they were on the road. She’d called him on the fact that he thought he needed to
do
things for people to like him, for them to want him around. She’d told him that people liked him for who he was.

Was he worried about that? Was that why he’d stayed in Justice? Why he was so bound to this town?

Very possibly.

Being liked always outranked not being liked.

He looked out the window again at the Main Street of the only place that had ever really been home.

“What about The Camelot?” he asked.

“It’s a building full of tables and chairs,” Sabrina said simply. “The feeling that’s here, the reason that people come back, comes partly from you, Luke. That will happen wherever you are, in any building full of tables and chairs.”

Another restaurant? In another town? Could he create this again?

He thought about it. He wouldn’t have Marc full-time, but his friend would gladly come and train another staff and share his recipes. He wouldn’t have the same crowd of people but… He thought of the people he’d met in Rolland, how welcoming and energetic and caring they’d been. It wouldn’t be the same crowd, but the atmosphere of fun and acceptance and community wasn’t exclusive to Justice.

It could be done.

“What about you guys? The baby? Mom and Dad?”

“Oh, for God’s sake!” Sabrina exclaimed. “You’re not moving to Africa. It’s a few hours’ drive. We have an RV. We can come visit. And vice versa.”

It would be different. Strange. He said as much out loud.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” Sabrina said. “From someone who’s been there—different and strange are scary. And being scared can be the best thing that ever happens to you. Getting outside your comfort zone makes you do one of two things: either change for the better, or make the conscious decision not to change because it’s better to stay the same. Either way you’re
deciding
what’s best. It’s too easy to get in ruts and not even think about what you’re doing and why.”

Well, it was a damned comfortable rut he’d been in all this time.

“So, you think I should go after her?”

“You’ve never gone after anyone before,” Sabrina said with a soft smile. “Isn’t your soul mate the perfect person to be the first?”

“Okay,” he said slowly, feeling the weight in his chest lift. He grinned as a sense of rightness—and a new
plan
—coursed through him. “But I’m not giving you full price for the RV when I buy it from you.”

Sabrina laughed. “There will be some negotiating on that.”

“And there’s no way I’d ever wear tights,” he added as she got to her feet. “And certainly never with holes.”

“But the cape?” she asked.

“Oh, I could definitely pull that off.”