Several times as they ate Elroy made reference to when she finally came home and they “settled down”. This whole deal became weirder than ever to her. Was Elroy content to just wait for the four years of law school in Utah? The idea of hanging out waiting to marry someone for four years was mind boggling to her, especially when Elroy had never actually discussed the topic of marriage with her. She thought about having to wake up next to this guy for the rest of her life and just the idea depressed the heck out of her, even knowing that it wasn’t a possibility.
She listened to him small talking through breakfast and finally, after having put up with him for an acceptable length of time, she thanked him and excused herself to go back upstairs to help with the kids. After telling him good bye, she was disgusted with herself all the way up the stairs for not telling him out right that she wasn’t marrying him. Ever.
Luke answered the door when she knocked at Richard’s suite and he gave her a heart stopping smile as he let her in and asked, “How is Elroy this fine morning?”
She couldn’t help but smile back. “Marvy, Luke. You can wipe that grin off. Please tell me your dad is in desperate need of assistance this morning. I used him as an excuse and I need to be honest.”
“In that case, he’s in dire need. Actually, he does need help, but it’s with Chase.” He grinned again. “Will that be a problem?”
He asked it far too innocently and she nudged him with her elbow. “What does he need help with Chase for?”
“Uh, apparently there is some kind of high school softball tournament in town. Dad was just trying to convince Chase the players were off limits. Chase can’t figure out why.”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “That’s not very funny, Luke. Especially after Lindie’s baby. With a high school girl he’d go to prison. This is serious.”
Luke nodded. “Believe me, Charlie. I know that. That’s why Dad needs help. He’s about ready to put Chase right back on a plane.”
“Chase’s twenty seven years old. God Himself won’t
make
him behave. He has to decide to behave on his own doesn’t he?”
“This may come as a surprise to you, but self discipline isn’t Chase’s strong point. From time to time, we have to make him. Dad might actually have to put him on a plane.”
Charlie sighed. “Being in Montana won’t guarantee good behavior, will it?”
“No, but at least that way he won’t embarrass the whole family or get shot by an irate father.”
“I doubt that would be as much a risk here as it would be in Montana. But then again, Chase could temp a saint. Seriously, what can I be doing this morning?”
He came up to her and looked at her frankly and asked, “How is the shoulder? Are you up to going to the ocean with the kids and me? Maybe riding the ferry and going to the aquarium? How much are you up to?”
Raising her arm, she moved it gingerly all around and then admitted, “The arm is still sore, but honestly I’m much more up to going to the coast with you and the children than not. I need you to need my help.”
He rubbed the shoulder she was stretching. “And I do. I need you desperately, both with the kids and with knowing where to go and what to do here. How soon can you leave?”
“Anytime. Just let me grab my purse. Thank you, Luke.”
****
Charlie had been to the Maritime Aquarium a number of times, but it had never been like this before. Being there with Luke and the children made it seem a whole new experience for her. She tried to see the displays and the different tanks through the eyes of a Montana child and it was as amazing to her as it was to the three little ones. Being with Luke was more comfortable than she ever dreamed she’d feel after only knowing someone for a couple of months. His calm, happy demeanor and the way he treated both her and the children definitely didn’t quell the way she’d been feeling about him.
When she caught herself watching him and admiring the way his shirt stretched across his shoulders when he leaned down to hear something Evie said, she had to mentally put the brakes on. She needed to get a handle on these feelings or she was going to be a mess when she went back to school. She took Jamie’s hand as he went across to look at a tank set up as a tide pool and wondered if it wasn’t already too late. Law school was stretching out there more and more lonely by the minute.
She shook herself out of her reverie when she heard Luke’s low, sexy chuckle near her ear and realized Jamie had both of his sandals off and was trying to climb up into the tide pool tank while she still held his hand. Luke looked at her as he gently took the two year old off of the stone wall he beginning to climb. “Those thoughts are somewhere far from this aquarium. What are you thinking about while Jamie goes wading?”
She turned and looked at Luke’s long legs in his faded jeans and didn’t dare tell him what she was really thinking. “Just thinking about school. Sorry. I didn’t realize he was going in.”
When she mentioned school, Luke met her eyes for one long look, but she couldn’t face those green eyes and had to look away. It was going to be hard enough to climb into the Taco Rocket and drive away without him knowing how she was feeling as well. The rest of the afternoon she spent waffling between enjoying being with him and trying not to feel so good about being with him, but it was hopeless.
Riding the ferry in the breeze off the water, with him standing beside her at the rail while the kids sat on the bench below them, made it all the harder not to imagine her and Luke, with kids of their own doing this same thing some day.
A gull cried as it wheeled in the spray and as she turned to look at it, the wind caught a curl and blew it across her lips. She reached to brush it out of the way, but Luke’s calloused brown hand beat her to it, and she looked up into his eyes as he gently smoothed the curl from her face. Glancing down from her eyes to her mouth, he softly ran a thumb across her bottom lip and her stomach did some little gymnastic thing as he did it. He looked back up into her eyes and gave her that easy smile before he turned away to answer a question for Elsa. The electricity of the moment was gone again as quickly as it had come, but the butterflies it had loosed in her heart were still fluttering like mad and she had to work to be able to breathe. She had no idea what that casual touch meant to him, but she had never felt like this before. It scared her.
Her lip tingled all the rest of the boat ride and even during the drive back to the hotel and as they walked in the glass front doors, Evie asked her, “Are you sick, Charlie? You’ve been very quiet.”
She glanced at Luke, carrying a sleeping Jamie beside her and knew he’d been watching her as well and she tried to brush it off. “I’m fine, Evie. I’m just thinking, but thank you for asking. The party tonight is going to be fun, isn’t it?” The little girls went off chattering about how excited they were and Charlie was able to try to get some semblance of a normal state of mind back before they made it up to the hotel rooms. But she never was able to get Luke off of her brain, even when she was back in her own room and dressing.
****
The reception that night was fun in some ways. The little girls thought they had died and gone to the prom and that Jamie was their own personal prom king. They were all three dressed for it in their lacy little dresses and a suit and tie and they were unbelievably cute. After the dinner they wanted to dance and Charlie stayed near them on the dance floor. It was supposedly to keep tabs on them, but Luke stayed nearby as well and Charlie was definitely enjoying her duties when he danced there with her. She tried to laugh and maintain her cheerful distance, but when the band played slow songs it was heaven to be in his arms. All of her earlier ideas about keeping her distance went out the window and it was all she could do not to melt. The best she was capable of was trying not to let it be obvious.
Chase came by occasionally and tried to get her to dance with him as well, but she politely declined him every time. Even though she tried to pretend that she was only being sociable to Luke, she definitely drew the line when it came to purposefully letting Chase get his hands anywhere near her.
Several times Fo came by, but there were always either girls he’d known forever with him or new girls that someone had introduced him to, and Charlie hardly even got to talk to him all night.
When her parents showed up, they had Elroy in tow and when they located Charlie on the dance floor, they brought him with them there as well. Her parents began to dance and she dutifully danced with Elroy, telling herself it was just for this one song. That song was followed by another slow one however and she found herself being maneuvered away from the others to a more secluded corner where Elroy apparently finally felt the need to discuss their future.
At first, Charlie didn’t understand what was going on, but when he stroked her hand with his and leaned in to kiss her temple she began to wise up fast. She was just pulling away to put more distance between the two of them when Elroy said, “Charlie, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” She looked up at him wondering what exactly was coming when he went on, “You must know your parents have spoken to me several times about taking care of you.”
At this, she stopped dancing altogether and pulled away from him. “Yes, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that as well.”
“Oh, good. Then you know what I’m about to ask you.”
She looked up at him and knew she needed to stop him before he asked something he’d be embarrassed about when she told him unequivocally no. “No. I don’t know what you’re going to ask me, but you need to know, Elroy. I’m not really interested in having any kind of relationship just now. Especially not one that my parents have any say in. I’m heading to law school here in a few weeks and that will take years. I know my mother has a tendency to want to micromanage my life and she thinks she’s in charge, but I’m simply not interested. I’m sorry.”
He only smiled serenely and, completely unconcerned about what she had just said, replied, “You’re mother told me you would probably say something like that. Don’t worry. I’m incredibly patient and have no problem waiting for you to deal with whatever you need to to arrange to come back here for law school and your internships. And trust me; I do understand your hesitation. Take all the time you want until you feel comfortable with me. Your mom has told me about how you sometimes need extra encouragement in making decisions.”
Charlie’s mouth dropped open and she looked at him in disbelief. He hadn’t taken her anymore seriously than her parents usually did. For a long time she had assumed he was a bit simple, but he wasn’t. He was merely as power crazed and out of touch with reality as her parents and the rest of her family.
Just as she was about to tear into him and let him have a piece of her mind right here at the reception, Luke danced over to her with Elsa and Jamie in his arms. He whispered something to the children and then set them down to dance together as he said to Charlie. “I’ve been looking for you. Isn’t this the song you said to save for you? Come dance with me and save me from these two will you?”
Without even waiting for her answer, he stepped neatly in front of Elroy and took her in his arms and then subtly danced her away from the speechless attorney. Elsa and Jamie followed them and soon they were back over on the other side of the small dance floor near where Fo was dancing with a very animated Evie.
Charlie literally sighed with relief and Luke smiled hesitantly down at her and asked, “Are you as thoroughly disgusted as you looked over there, or am I reading you wrong?”
She leaned into him instinctively and asked, “Does it show that clearly? I’m sorry.”
His breath fanned her heated brow as he spoke. “I’m not sure if I rescued you or him. What did he say to you?”
“I don’t know that I can even tell you without wanting to swear. I tried very politely to tell him I wasn’t interested in any kind of a relationship, and he replied that my mother had told him I would say that. He said my feelings weren’t a problem. That he could wait until I arranged to come back here to go to school and that my mother had warned him I’d need help making my decision about him. That he could wait. He didn’t even begin to consider that I could actually decide for myself that we weren’t going to have a relationship.”
Luke chuckled at her outrage. “After knowing you these last weeks, I have a hard time picturing them assuming things like that. You haven’t seemed very indecisive to me.”
She thought about that. “Elroy doesn’t even know me. And I don’t truly think I am indecisive. It’s just that they’re so unbending and so self assured, they don’t stop to consider the fact I might have a brain or that I’m not a child anymore. I don’t think it’s ever crossed my mother’s mind I might have an idea of my own that could be viable.”
He gathered her into his arms more tightly almost as if to hug her and said, "Maybe what you need to do is simply get married. They’d never wonder about arranging your life again.”
Charlie laughed and it felt good to let the frustration go. “That’s a great idea, Luke. But I’ve spent most of my life learning to be pro-active and not basing my decisions on what someone else does or wants. Wouldn’t marrying almost in revenge be just a trifle foolish?”
He smiled down at her. “That would depend on who you married.”
His green eyes looking down at her with the little smile lines starting around them and talking about marriage, even in an off hand way, made her a bit breathless. For a second there she wasn’t thinking all that clearly. Then Luke chuckled again and Charlie looked up to see what he was laughing at. “The tough old birds aren’t very happy about me rescuing you. I’m not sure, but I believe the look I just got could be considered a glower.”
Still more than a little outraged at Elroy, Charlie moved even closer to him and said, “Yeah, well, here’s to being rebellious. Let’s turn our backs to their glowering, shall we? Being rebelliously pro-active would dictate that I not let them and their scheming ruin my night.”
Luke laughed again and turned away from her parents. “Now, I’ve read a few books in my day, but rebelliously pro-active sounds suspect to me. You’re not taking those pain pills again are you?”