Authors: Heidi Hutchinson
Nick shrugged and
then moved to his own table where Smitty and Trucker were seated.
“
Are
you asking me to leave?” Luke asked, his voice rough.
Lenny looked up,
seeing the rejection on his face and her heart sank. “I just
thought, it might be weird for you to stay since…you know.”
“
No,
I don’t know.” Luke’s eyebrows pulled in tight.
Lenny mirrored his
frown. He was more stubborn that she had anticipated. How could he
not see the eminent devastation that was their relationship?
“
I
just meant, you might want to get back home, that’s all.”
Luke lowered his
glower to his plate of food and shoveled in the last few bites of
omelet. He swirled the coffee in his cup, took a drink, and looked
up at Lenny again. His face was resolved.
“
I’m
staying,” he said simply. Lenny’s mouth fell open but
before she could protest, Luke stood up and pulled his wallet out of
his back pocket. He tossed a couple of twenties onto the table, more
than enough for both of their breakfasts.
He pushed his face
into her personal space, demanding eye contact. “This,”
he pointed between himself and Lenny, his voice a dark whisper,
“isn’t over.” He held her eyes for a heartbeat
longer than Lenny was comfortable with before he turned to leave.
Lenny watched his
back in silent frustration. Her face was warm from the intensity of
Luke’s final stare. Why was he making this harder than it had
to be? What could be solved by his staying here? What was he
possibly thinking?
***
Luke had a plan. It
wasn’t the best plan that he’d ever made but he finally
had one. Lenny thought their relationship couldn’t last in the
real world. She thought he didn't care for as much as he did. His
plan was to prove her wrong. And the best way to do that would be to
join her in her world.
Luke had been
snowboarding recreationally since he was a kid. He wasn’t the
best but he was better than most. Duke had set him up with a bunch
of gear before leaving Jackson Hole. He had all the equipment he
would need to join the other seasoned riders for the remaining week.
He just hoped it wouldn’t take long for Lenny to figure out
what he already had. They were meant to be together.
He showered and
dressed quickly, knowing he was going to have to permeate Lenny’s
life in a way he never had before. He had to learn about her friends
and colleagues. He had to dedicate himself to being her friend
again. And when she was ready, she would let her guard down and Luke
would swoop in and steal her heart.
He was pulling his
shirt over his head when he heard her come back from breakfast. He
grabbed his coat and went to her door and knocked. He noticed her
dumbfounded face when she opened the door. She stood there awkwardly
for a few minutes until he spoke.
“
Can
I come in?” He asked, trying to sound as platonic as possible.
“
I
was just leaving, actually.” Lenny replied, eying him
suspiciously. “I have to get some of these clothes washed
before tomorrow.”
“
I’ll
help you.” Luke stepped into her room, ignoring her annoyed
look and grabbed the couple of laundry bags she had filled. He
turned to find her staring at him.
“
Let’s
go,” he prompted.
Lenny hesitated
before reluctantly opening the door to the hallway. She grabbed her
coat and slipped it on. Luke did likewise and they traveled in
complete silence from the hallway to the elevator and down the street
to the laundry mat.
***
Lenny
self-consciously sorted her clothes while Luke got change. She
hadn’t brought anything too embarrassing with her. Just the
basics; jeans, t-shirts, underwear, socks, a couple sweaters and some
flannels.
Luke came back and
handed her a stack of quarters and she hurriedly started two loads at
once. The sooner this was over with the better.
As the washers began
their cycles, Lenny took a seat and Luke joined her. She was
decidedly uneasy. Luke’s presence still had an overwhelming
effect on her. She felt calm, relaxed, giddy even but that was
coupled with the fear, dread and paranoia that everything was about
to go terribly wrong.
***
Luke could sense her
tension and he got up and bought a couple of waters from the machine.
He handed one to her and took his seat again.
“
So,
you get any good runs in since you been here?” He tried to
sound as casual as possible but his heart was racing. Being in such
close proximity to Lenny was like being trapped in an open space with
a tornado bearing down him.
“
Yeah,
it’s been nonstop until this blasted storm.” Lenny
gestured to the snow that was starting to taper off but still heavy.
“
Tell
me about your favorite day.” Luke saw her eyes light up and he
was happy that she was feeling a bit more lenient to opening up to
him.
Luke paid attention
to every detail. He asked for specifics and tried to memorize all
the people that Lenny was close to. If he was going to gain her
trust again, he was going to need to give it everything he had.
He loved listening
to her voice and how, when she was really excited about something,
her smile was permanently crooked, making her talk out of the side of
her mouth. Sometimes he’d get distracted by the perfect shape
of her lips and he’d remember what it had been like to taste
them. He’d have to pull himself back into reality. If he was
ever going to get an opportunity like that again, he was going to
have to earn it.
***
Luke helped Lenny
switch her loads to the dryer. She continued to tell him all about
her week in Alaska. She recounted everything in vivid detail, using
her photographic memory to the best of its ability. Sharing with
Luke the adventure she’d been on made it feel like he had been
there with her. And for a moment, fleeting though it was, Lenny
forgot about the tabloid gossip and pictures. She was simply sharing
her life, turn by turn, with the one person she had wanted to be
there all along.
***
Luke hung on her
words. Thankful for the time he could spend with her. At first, he
had been jealous of the others who had gotten to share in the actual
events of the week but her memory was so perfect and clear, he knew
she wasn’t leaving anything out. He had noticed this about her
memory before and he had a hunch. Taking advantage of the relaxed
and warm atmosphere of the laundry mat, Luke decided to ask her about
it.
“
Do
you have a photographic memory?” He didn’t miss the
subtle intake of breathe at his words. “I’ve just noticed
that you never miss a detail.” Luke was trying to sound
complimentary.
“
That
obvious, huh?” Lenny’s eyes turned down like she was
embarrassed.
“
Only
to those who are paying attention.” Luke touched her
fingertips and she looked up at him.
“
Yeah,
I do,” Lenny confessed with a sigh. “It’s my best
kept secret. Duke is the only one who knows…and now you.”
“
Why
do you keep it a secret?” Luke asked gently.
“
I’m
afraid they won’t let me compete or people would be too afraid
to get to know me.” Lenny let her gaze drift to the outside
world and her eyes unfocused. “I guess, that’s why I
love the back country so much. It’s unpredictable and it
always surprises me.”
“
You
like to be surprised?” Luke’s question held a subtle
double meaning and Lenny didn’t miss it. But instead of
turning away from him she held his gaze.
“
Some
surprises are no fun at all,” she answered simply. He knew she
was referring to the pictures with the other woman. Luke cringed
internally. Knowing her perfect memory now, he could see why that
would be so hard to move past. It’s not that she was choosing
to remember it, she literally could not forget. He hated himself
even more.
“
I
don't know if I can do this, Luke.” Lenny blurted out. She
ran a hand through her long hair nervously.
“
Do
what?” He frowned, his heart flooding with panic.
“
It's
too weird. You showing up here after not calling me, making out with
random girls and then our meltdown in front of my friends last
night.” She looked weary and sad. “And you want to act
like nothing has changed, act like we're friends and you can put the
pieces back in places where you think they fit. But they just
don't.”
Her brows pulled
together as she tried to explain to him what he refused to accept as
fact. “I can't pretend like I'm okay. I'm not. I know I left,
because I thought it was the right thing to do. But you let me go.
You made it kind of obvious that you were fine with me being gone.”
“
I
was the opposite of fine, Lenny. I was a mess.” Luke calmly
confessed. “I realize that it might take some time to get back
to where we were...but I'm not going anywhere. I think we can fix
this...together.”
Before Lenny could
answer, the dryers buzzed simultaneously causing her to jump up and
begin putting her dry clothes on the folding table. Luke stood up
slowly and joined her. Again in silence, they sorted and folded her
clean laundry. Lenny was careful to make sure she folded all of her
own bras and panties, not letting Luke even touch them.
He found it amusing
that she was so protective of her undergarments. He didn’t get
to see Lenny behave like a typical girl very often and he liked it.
He finished folding
a shirt and reached for another. He pulled a large blue t-shirt from
the pile and frowned. It looked familiar, and it was obviously a
man’s shirt. It clicked in an instant. It was his shirt. The
one he had given her back when they were on tour. He glanced over at
Lenny who hadn’t yet noticed what he was holding and he
couldn’t help but smile. She had brought it with her. And it
had ended up in the laundry which meant she had been wearing it.
And that meant she
still had feelings for him.
He felt a sly smile
tug at the corners of his mouth. She was totally in love with him.
And he knew it. He was definitely not giving up now.
***
Lenny saw Luke
looking at her out of the corner of her eye and she glanced quickly
in his direction. Seeing the shirt he was folding, her eyes went
wide. She turned back to her task, maybe he didn’t recognize
it.
“
So,
you're still wearing my shirt?” Luke sounded amused.
Lenny grit her teeth
and grabbed the shirt from him. She threw all her clothes back in
the bags, not bothering to fold the rest.
“
C’mon,
Lenny,” Luke’s voice softened, “I was just
teasing.”
“
I
know.” Lenny answered flatly. “Maybe I don’t feel
like being teased right now.
Especially
about that.” She put on her coat and charged out the door.
She heard him follow
a few seconds later. When he caught up with her, he took the heavy
bags from her hands and continued forward.
She glared at the
back of his head but she followed him anyway. In the elevator,
Luke’s eyes twinkled with mischief. Lenny kept her face
straight, she refused to smile at him.
“
Do
you sleep in it?” He asked suggestively.
Lenny rolled her
eyes, silently staring at the door of the lift. Luke laughed at her
avoidance of the question. Outside of her door she fumbled with her
key, clearly having been made uncomfortable by Luke’s line of
questions.
Luke leaned against
the door frame, watching her.
“
You’re
gorgeous, you know that?” He said, oozing as much sensuality as
his longtime experience as a rock star would allow.
Lenny dropped her
key on the floor and when she bent down to retrieve it, Luke put his
hand on hers. She looked up into his penetrating gaze, their faces
inches apart. He leaned in fractionally and Lenny bolted upright.
She slid her key in the lock and quickly opened the door. Luke stood
up and Lenny grabbed the bags from his hands, throwing them into her
room.