Catching Lucas Riley (22 page)

“Well, you can’t expect them to adore me right away,” Alex replied, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. “They don’t really know me yet.”

“And they didn’t even try to get to know you,” Lucas said, and his voice had an edge to it. “They could have at least tried.”

“Come on, Luke,” she said, reaching over and massaging between his shoulders. “There’s no need to get all worked up about it. We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other, I’m sure.”
Did that last sentence ring false?
she wondered, as Lucas glanced at her quickly. Sighing, she finally decided to drop the façade for once. “This has something to do with Olivia, doesn’t it?”

Lucas flinched a little. His hand tightened almost painfully on hers. “Why do you say that?” he asked.

“Well, I know you guys have known each other forever, and I know your parents know and love her. Sealey said as much,” Alex said quickly to explain her knowledge of Olivia’s connection with Marcus and Candie.

“You talked to Sealey about Olivia?” Lucas asked, eyeing her warily. “Why?”

“I was just . . . ,” Alex said, thinking fast. “Curious. You know. I wanted to know more about her, but I thought it might be awkward to ask you. You mentioned that you’d dated her for a while, so I figured Sealey must know her, since you guys are such good friends.”

“What did he tell you?”

“Well . . . you know. Not much.”

Lucas waited, indicating that her answer was not good enough. She attempted to come up with a better one.

“You know . . . just . . . everything.” She finally gave up, letting her breath out in a whoosh. “I know you all grew up together, and that she is Ashley’s age and that they’re best friends. I know that you and Sealey and Ashley all went to the same schools, but that Olivia attended private school. And I know that pretty much everyone you know wants you to end up with her.”

Lucas made a funny face at her last sentence. “Well, I wouldn’t say
everyone
,” he defended. “Sealey doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Actually, he’s been really supportive in my relationship with you. I’ve never known him to ask so many questions about my love life.”

“He’s a good friend,” Alex said quickly. “Maybe he wanted to encourage you in something that seemed to be making you happy. Just a guess, though.” Blushing, she looked away. She was not off to a good start, here.

“You do make me happy,” Lucas assured her, squeezing her hand.

“I’m glad,” Alex replied. “You make me happy too.”

After that, Lucas seemed to relax. His outlook was sunnier and he spoke merrily of his memories of many of the party’s guests, entertaining her with funny stories about them. By the time they got back to Logan, it was as though the conversation with his parents had never happened.

“Hello?” Alex gasped as she struggled to grab her purse, keys, sweater, and hold her phone to her ear all at once. She was already ten minutes late for her shift at the hospital and while she knew Karen would never confront her about it, Alex hated to agitate her.

“Alex?” said a female voice on the other end. “Alex Foamer?”

“You got her,” she replied breathlessly as she attempted to shove her feet into her tennis shoes.

“Alex, this is Fiona Welch,” said the voice on the other end. Alex froze, one finger stuck behind her heel as she attempted to force her foot into the stubborn sneaker. Attention now totally focused on the other end of the line, Alex fell backward onto the couch, her finger still wedged in her shoe.

“Dr. Welch!” she exclaimed. “It’s great to hear from you!”

“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you.”

Alex made a nonchalant, snorting sort of noise that sounded more disturbing than she had meant it to. “It’s only been a week and a half,” Alex said quickly to cover the noise. “It’s no problem. I know how busy you are.”

“I appreciate your patience,” Dr. Welch said. It sounded like she might be smiling. “But between our current symposium series and all the interviewing I’ve been doing to fill these positions for our next one, I really have had very little time. But at least I’m calling with good news. I am pleased to offer you a position in our next conference series if you’d like one.”

“Seriously?” Alex gasped. She had hoped and wished and pleaded with the heavens that this phone call would come, but the longer silence reigned, the more she had suspected that it never would. “You really want me?”

“Absolutely,” Dr. Welch responded, and now there was no doubt that she was smiling. “What you lack in professional experience, you make up for in energy. And what we really need is someone to excite the audience about our goal, and quite frankly, to speak to them on a less technical level. What do you say?”

Alex nearly opened her mouth to shriek in the affirmative, but suddenly Lucas’s face was swimming in her head. Three months without him? For some reason it had never actually occurred to her that she would have to be separated from him until that moment. She suspected that she had been suppressing the thought.

“I know this is going to sound ridiculous after that display of enthusiasm, but can I have a bit to think about it?” Alex asked. “I actually just recently had a big change take place in my personal life and I need to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I commit to a three-month absence. When do you need my answer by?”

“Hmmm,” Dr. Welch replied uncertainly. “That might be tough. The symposium begins in mid-December and while I do have enough solid applicants that I think I can give you a little wiggle room, I can’t offer much. How does Thanksgiving weekend sound? That should give you another week and a half to decide. Do you think you’ll have an answer for me by then?”

“That I can do,” Alex said quickly. A week and a half was much more than she’d hoped for. That would give her plenty of time to talk this over with Lucas. “Thank you so much, Dr. Welch! I can’t tell you how excited I am by this opportunity.”

“Well then, I hope you decide to join us,” Dr. Welch answered. “We’ll talk in a week and a half, Alex.”

Alex hung up and collapsed against the back of the couch, her tardiness completely forgotten. She had just been offered her dream job—something she had never really believed she’d get the opportunity to do. It had just fallen into her lap . . . and at the very moment she would have the hardest time accepting it. Why did life always have to throw you
curve balls like that? Sighing, Alex closed her eyes and tried to figure out how to broach the subject with Lucas. Would he be excited for her, or would it just be a continuation of the last time they’d discussed the opportunity the week before? She didn’t want to argue with him.

That wasn’t exactly all of it, she knew. Olivia would be coming home in just a few days. Did Alex really want to leave Lucas at home with his former love for three months, especially when their relationship was so new? Was that the wisest strategy?

And just as though her thoughts had called Lucas forth, her phone rang and his name appeared on the screen. She smiled brightly as she lifted the phone to her ear.

“Hey, handsome,” she greeted, her voice sultry and inviting, mostly in jest. Sort of.

“Well, hello,” came the voice on the other end that was not Lucas’s.

“Sealey!” Alex exclaimed, feeling her cheeks go pink. She checked her phone again. Yes, it was indeed Lucas’s number. “What are you doing with Lucas’s phone?” she demanded.

“Beats me,” Sealey replied. “He dialed your number and then threw the phone into my lap. I think he finally heard the timer in the kitchen that’s been going off for the past ten minutes. His macaroni and cheese is done.”

Men. “Nice to know I rank second to Kraft Specialty,” Alex muttered.

“Hey, at least he dialed first,” Sealey consoled. “Oh wait, he’s back. Here.”

“Alex!” Lucas’s voice burst onto the line, the word sounded garbled through the mouthful of his precious mac and cheese.

“Hey,” Alex replied, not able to work up the energy to re-create her “come hither” tones from before. “What’s up?”

“I was just wondering if you were free tomorrow,” Lucas replied. “I’d like to head up Smithfield Canyon before all the fall colors fade and I wondered if you wanted to go with me.”

“Love to,” Alex replied enthusiastically. A romantic stroll along the rosy canyon’s famous “river walk” would be the perfect time and place to broach the looming subject of her job offer. How could he refuse to lovingly support her dream and faithfully wait for her return while she stood in front of him, surrounded by vibrant hues?

“Great, I’ll pick you up at eleven, if that’s okay,” Lucas said, his words still mixed with macaroni.

“I’ll be ready,” Alex responded. “See you then.”

“Bye, babe,” Lucas said and disconnected.

Babe. He’d called her babe. It was her first official pet name! Alex felt the sudden and driving need to document. Knowing it would take far too long to hunt down the journal she hadn’t written in since she was fifteen, she grabbed her phone and opened up her note-taking app. That would have to do. Tapping the conversation out furiously with the tips of her fingers, Alex felt the almost painfully wide perma-smile hanging goofily on her face. She didn’t care. Despite the fact that Alex knew she still had a difficult conversation ahead with Lucas, at that moment, she felt ready to take on anything.

“So, just curious, are we ever going to be allowed to go on a date
without
you?” Alex teased Sealey from the front seat of Lucas’s car. Sealey rolled his eyes at her from the backseat where he sat passing his iPod back and forth between his hands.

“Trust me, the only reason I’m here is because my car is in the shop and I still haven’t had the chance to run the canyon this fall. As soon as this vehicle stops, I’m outta here and you two can have your private romantic interlude.”

“I’m just too nice of a guy,” Lucas sighed from Alex’s left. “I would have just made him walk, but I figured by the time he made it to the canyon on foot, he wouldn’t have the energy to run anywhere, let alone walk home again. So I’d end up having to pick him up anyway.”

“Sound reasoning,” Alex agreed, nodding. Sealey muttered something indiscernible from the backseat.

“So what do you lovebirds have planned, anyway?” Sealey asked a few minutes later. “Romantic stroll through the exotically colored flora and fauna?”

“Your vocabulary is too big and too fruity for your own good,” Lucas replied with a smirk. “But, yes, that is the general idea.”

“Original.” Sealey snorted, kicking the back of Lucas’s seat. “And let me guess, you have an adorable and oh-so-cheesy picnic set up in a little grove of trees, just off the path.” His tone was teasing, but Lucas
was uncomfortably quiet. “Oh, um . . . do you?” Sealey asked suddenly, registering the awkwardness in his best friend’s silence.

“Well, I hope you don’t like surprises, Alex, because you’ve just had one completely ruined for you,” Lucas replied, ignoring Sealey.

Alex melted, and she reached over to take Lucas’s hand. “You came up here and set up a picnic for us?” she asked, her voice sounding a bit more sickly-sweet than she really liked. But she couldn’t help it. What a guy.

“I know it’s corny, but I wanted to do something special for you and I lack creativity,” Lucas replied, shrugging. “I would’ve asked Sealey, who, believe it or not, is a wizard at putting together schemes of that sort, but I didn’t want to go on a date with you that someone else had planned. Not this time.”

“It’s perfect,” Alex said, squeezing his hand. She glanced behind her into the backseat, expecting to see Sealey pretending to vomit or something, but he sat quietly, expressionless, looking out the window.

The moment the car was parked, Sealey was out the door and running down the riverside path away from them.

“Um, see ya!” Alex called after him, surprised at the suddenness of his departure. He waved vaguely over his shoulder and kept going, shoving his earphones in his ears. He disappeared quickly around a bend.

“Well, shall we go?” Lucas asked, holding out his hand to her. She smiled at him and took it.

They walked in silence for several minutes, enjoying the pleasantly cool temperatures and the fiery colors surrounding them, although to Alex they looked a little tired. Pretty soon, the multi-colored leaves would abandon the trees and the snow would arrive in their wake—and boy, was Logan, Utah, enthusiastic about snow. Alex sighed, thinking of the miserably frigid temperatures that were only a few weeks away. Winter was her least favorite part of the year in Logan. In fact, she flat-out dreaded it. But this year, she had the opportunity to miss it altogether . . . if she took the symposium position.