In Your Honor (26 page)

“
Lucky,” he began, knowing that he
could at least give her what she needed in this moment. “I don't
know if Shane is the guy, but you have to find out. I can't make
that decision for you.”

Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears
and he couldn't let her cry. If she started to cry then he would
never let her go. He brushed a stray hair out her face with his
fingertips.

“
If the guy is a total douche nozzle
then call me, I'll come and get you.”

She gave him an almost-smile. “Promise?”

“
With everything I have,” he replied
seriously. Leaning in, he kissed her forehead, letting his lips
linger on the softness of her skin. He inhaled the sweet smell of
honeysuckle one last time and then stepped back, letting her
go.

She got in the cab this time without
hesitation. He watched it drive away and ran both hands through his
hair. His lungs blew all the air out of them and he shoved his
hands in his pockets.

This week was going to be important for both
of them. He knew she'd be safe. Shane was a good guy. A great one,
truth be told. She'd have a wonderful time and more than likely
come back in love. That's what made sense.

And Blake was going home. To do what he
should have done years ago.

***

Lucy held the tears at bay until she was
alone in the airport bathroom. The emotional and confusing goodbye
with Blake, the crowded and busy terminal, and the fear that Shane
might not be there when she arrived in San Diego had her
overwhelmed.

She crouched down in the stall and let her
tears out. She didn't weep or ugly cry. Just small, simple tears.
She took several steadying breaths, fixed her makeup in the mirror
and made it to her gate just as the call to board was
announced.

The flight wasn't long, and she focused on
putting her thoughts in order. She couldn't explain the emotional
upheaval she had found herself in that morning. She knew that
things with Blake were over, but it still hurt like hell to have to
say goodbye.

Maybe it was because she'd never gotten the
chance before. He'd always slipped out in the middle of the night
or had left at the height of a horrible fight. She'd never been
given the chance to look him in the eye and been evenly and
reasonably told goodbye.

It sucked.

She was looking forward more than ever to
Shane's steady and grounding presence. She needed to be
anchored.

***

Shane packed and then unpacked and then
repacked his suitcase. He didn't want to bring too many clothes,
but then he thought maybe he might not have enough.

He sighed with frustration. He was over
thinking it.

He'd been back home for a couple days, just
enough time to check in with Clarke and sign some papers. He told
her where she could reach him for the next week and then went home
to freak out.

He liked Lucy. More and more every
day. But this was
the
most
unconventional pursuit of a girl he had ever experienced. Texting,
phone calls, their first date was also going to be their first trip
together... it was surreal.

He had never been so nervous in his life.
And considering what he did for a living, that was saying
something.

He settled on the least pretentious clothes
he owned, a couple of wetsuits and a bunch of pillows and blankets.
He had no idea what the sleeping arrangements were going to look
like, and he didn't want Lucy thinking that he'd assumed they'd
just sleep together. And with that thought, a whole new realm of
panic set in.

Get it under control, Brookings. Don't freak
out, you got this.

He threw his luggage into the back of his
Land Rover and pointed it back towards the shop. He normally would
take the Mercedes on a first date to impress the girl, but he
needed to carry the surfboards somewhere. Besides, he figured that
Lucy wasn't the kind of girl to be impressed by shiny things.

“
Back again? Dontcha trust
me?” Clarke asked with a smirk as he jumped out near the
doorway.

“
I need a couple boards
for the week.” He eyed Clarke up and down. “Lucy is about your
size. You think you can set me up with a wetsuit for
her?”

“
No problem, boss.” Clarke
was already turning to go back inside.

Shane was strapping the boards to the roof
when she reemerged with a brown paper bag in hand.

“
I grabbed a few bonus
items you may have overlooked.” She gave a cocky smile and he
looked inside the bag. Sunscreen, the new women's Oakleys they were
stocking, a couple of women's tank tops, and board wax.

“
You're always making me
look better than I am.” He grinned at her and she pretended to tip
her hat. He threw the bag in the backseat and straightened the
second board before wrapping the strap over the top.

Clarke leaned up against the Land Rover and
patted the side of the vehicle tenderly. “I love this thing. I have
this hope that someday it'll end up being my Christmas bonus.”

Shane chuckled. “That is a very real
possibility.”

“
Don't tease me!” she
gasped, her turquoise eyes went wide as she clutched her chest
dramatically. “I don't think my heart can take it.”

“
You make it sound like I
don't pay you enough.” Shane arched an eyebrow and Clarke looked
over her shoulder, pretending to avoid him.

“
Is that what that sounds
like?”

“
You live in a far
swankier zip code than
I
do,” Shane reminded her playfully, tightening the
last strap with a grunt.

“
Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Clarke
waved off his words and crossed her arms over her chest. “Not to
add to your anxiety but...” She raised an eyebrow at him as he came
around the side of the SUV. “Harmony came in while you were
gone.”

Shane rolled his eyes and dug his keys out
of his pocket. “She steal anything?”

“
No, but I did overhear
her talking about staying in a beach house with a bunch of people
this next week in Encinitas.”

“
Figures,” Shane
grunted.

Clarke pushed off the car. “I thought you'd
like a heads-up.”

Harmony was one of too many girls that he
had chosen to use. She didn't exactly overlap his time with Lenny,
but it was close enough to make him still feel guilty about it. The
difference with Harmony and most of the other girls who'd made
their way in and out of his bed was that she didn't seem to mind
being used. She didn't expect a relationship from him, and all they
shared in common was their selfish desire for physical
satisfaction.

That aspect had its pros and cons. The pro
was that she didn't mind when he cut her loose. The con: she was
usually sleeping with someone in his circle of friends, so he still
ended up seeing her all too often. A constant reminder of his past
sins and how he had screwed up every decent relationship he'd ever
had.

“
Thanks,” he replied, and
meant it. He wiped the sweat off his face with the hem of his shirt
and faced the head of his West Coast operations. “Not just for the
warning about Harmony, but for everything you do around
here.”

Clarke raised her hand, thumb and pinky
extended, waving the shaka sign. She was already heading inside the
building, her caramel hair bouncing around her shoulders. She was
the perfect embodiment of the surfer-chick look and she represented
his company well. “Have fun and tell Serge I said 'what's up.'”

“
Will do!” Shane chuckled,
and climbed back into his vehicle. He checked the clock, it was
time to get to the airport and pick up his Oklahoma
wildflower.

***

Lucy flowed with the other passengers off
the plane, no need to go to baggage claim because she only had her
one small carry-on. More than once during her two and a half hour
flight, she wondered if she'd brought enough clothes, but then
she'd remember that she didn't have many clothes to speak of so...
no real choice there.

She scanned the waiting faces of people
picking up their loved ones, trying to push the crouching anxiety
further into the pit of her stomach. Her eyes caught a handmade
sign that read: BIGFOOT. She smiled as she saw Shane peeking at her
over the top of it.

“
I couldn't remember your
name,” he teased as she gave him a reproving look.

“
Hi,” she greeted him
simply, knowing her ears were already past pink and heading to full
on crimson.

“
Hi.” He grinned at her.
“You look surprised to see me.”

“
Not surprised. Relieved,”
she corrected.

“
You didn't think I'd show
up?” His brows pulled together.

“
I didn't know what to
expect,” she admitted shyly. “Everything about you seems too good
to be true. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“
I know exactly what you
mean.” His honey eyes scanned her face, and she felt her blush
spread throughout the rest of her body.

Giving her a crooked smile, he shouldered
her duffle with one arm and grabbed her hand with the other. “Are
you hungry?” he asked as he led her out the door and into the
California sunshine.

“
No,” she replied, shaking
her head, “but I will be in a couple hours.”

“
Perfect,” he replied with
a nod. He guided her through the parking lot to his waiting
vehicle. Opening the back door of the Land Rover, he set her bag
inside. “I have a place in mind then.”

She felt a jolt of excitement go through her
when she saw the surfboards strapped to the top. This was really
happening.

She looked up to see Shane leaning against
the car door, studying her with that calm confidence that seemed to
roll off of him in waves, his dark shaggy hair dropping down low
over his eyes.

“
What?” she asked, unable
to stop the silly grin that wanted to take over her
face.

“
You know how you build
something up in your mind and it becomes better than the
reality?”

She nodded apprehensively, not really
knowing where he was going with this.

“
That's not the case with
you. You're even prettier than I remember.” He stepped towards her
and grabbed her hand. “I'm so glad you're here.”

“
Me too,” she replied
honestly, noticing his gaze shift to her mouth and back to her
eyes.
Yes, kiss me. Please kiss
me.

But he didn't. It was like he knew what she
was thinking, and he smiled slyly before opening her car door. She
got inside, feeling a combination of disappointment and
giddiness.

Oh, he would be kissing her. Or she would be
kissing him. Either way, it was totally happening.

***

Blake's flight left Seattle a couple hours
after Lucy's. He hadn't wanted her to know where he was going, so
he made sure to get a flight that would leave well after hers.

“
You can tell them after I
go.” Blake tossed his bag into the back of the waiting cab and
turned to Sway. He didn't want a bunch of questions or to have to
look at their worried and pinched faces when he departed. They'd
all want to hug and shit.

“
You gonna be all right?”
Sway, for all his vainglory and swagger, was a really good and
sincere friend. It was evident in the grey tint to his periwinkle
blue eyes that he was concerned for Blake's mental well-being.
Blake never went too far without one of the guys in his shadow,
either sharing in his debauchery or trying to save him from it.
This time, there would be thousands of miles in between them all,
and Blake would be on his own.

“
Yeah,” Blake nodded, and
Sway clapped him on the shoulder and added a chin lift. It was as
sentimental of a goodbye as they were both comfortable
giving.

The noon flight put him in Tulsa around five
o'clock local time. He picked up his little rental car and made the
thirty-plus mile drive to Pryor. He hadn't been home without the
band surrounding him in years. They had always been his excuse and
reason for why he didn't do the things normal people did when they
visited their hometown. His own safety net.

Weirdly, he'd discovered a peace once he'd
made the decision to come here. He still wasn't looking forward to
what he knew was lurking in the days ahead, but he felt, more than
ever, that it was time. And he would find a way to get through
it.

The familiar small town and side streets
caused a wave of nostalgia to roll over him, not something he was
used to. He must have missed this old town after all. The
well-manicured lawns and simple farmhouse décor of his old
neighborhood brought a smile to his unshaven face. It was almost
exactly as he'd left it.

He pulled into the driveway and stared up at
the house he had grown up in. He had no idea if she would be home,
and he hadn't told her he was coming. He let out a heavy sigh and
ran his hand over his face.

“
Here we go,” he muttered
to no one.

His feet felt like lead weights as he
climbed the worn wooden steps of the porch. A thousand different
memories played in his head in the short journey. More than half of
them included Lucy.

The porch swing his dad had built still hung
strong to his right. He'd slept on that thing more nights than he
could count when Mama had locked him out because he'd missed
curfew. Those nights had usually involved Lucy as well.

He paused for far too long, staring at the
front door. He finally blinked hard and shook his head, rapping on
the screen door with his knuckles.