Waterfront Weddings (17 page)

He blushed. Her kind words made him feel awful considering what he was about to ask. “Thanks. I’d do anything for the little guy. He needs a man in his life.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “But is there any way you and Dad could keep him for a few hours tonight? I already had plans, and hate to cancel.”

Mom raised her eyebrows. “Your dad and I already have plans to have dinner with a couple from church. Why? Do you have a date?” Her voice rose at least an octave as she asked the question.

He groaned. His mother worried nonstop about his love life. “Yes. I do. A date that I’ve already gotten off on the wrong foot with. I’m pretty sure canceling because I have to babysit an old girlfriend’s son isn’t going to win me any points.”

“Is she a nice girl?” His mom sounded so hopeful.

He chuckled. “Yes. Very nice.” Ashley was the kind of woman he’d always hoped to find. But he’d hoped to get to know her better before springing his relationship with Colton on her.

“Well, then she should understand.” His mom smiled and held out her keys. “Now go pick that sweet boy up before he gets sick.”

He kissed his mom and got into the older model white Taurus. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. May as well get this over with. He scrolled to Ashley’s name and hit the button to call her before he lost his nerve. He hit the S
PEAKER
button as he backed out of the driveway.

“Hello,” Ashley said on the other end.

“Hey, Ashley, it’s Justin.” He took a deep breath. Would this end things for good? Only one way to find out.

“I’ve got some bad news.” He forced the words out. He’d disappointed her with the way he’d acted last week. And now he was disappointing her by canceling.

Justin felt certain he would never regain her trust after this.

Ashley furrowed her brow. “What’s wrong?” She set down her coffee cup and waited for the bomb to drop. Getting a “bad news” call from a guy on date night never ended well.

“I’m not going to be able to make it tonight,” Justin said. “Something’s come up.”

Ashley waited for him to explain, but he didn’t. “What do you mean? Do you guys have a show tonight or something?”

“No, nothing like that. It’s a favor I have to do for someone.”

She could hear noise in the background. He must be in the truck. “A favor?” She knew she sounded like a parrot. But what was the deal with this guy? First he acted like a jerk. Then he apologized and she totally bought his explanation. And now he was canceling because of some kind of vague favor? Something didn’t feel right about this.

“I’m so sorry. I hope you’ll let me make it up to you. Maybe one night next week?”

She furrowed her brow. “Next week? I’m free tomorrow night after church. And off work on Monday for the holiday.” She hated this position. If she gave him a hard time for canceling, she would come across as unreasonable. But if she let him get away with it, it would set the wrong tone for any future relationship that might happen.

“Oh, well…” He trailed off. “I’m actually going to be busy for a few days.”

Right. Busy. “You know what, Justin? Maybe we should forget it. If you can’t give me a reasonable explanation for canceling, then I’m not sure we should bother rescheduling.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt proud of herself. The old Ashley would’ve let him get away with canceling and treating her badly. But not anymore. It was time to find a backbone. No more doormat.

Justin sighed. “Okay. Tell you what. I’ll be there tonight. But there will be something we have to take care of. I’ll need you to have an open mind.”

She had to admit she was curious. “Fine. See you at six?”

“We’d better make it an earlier night if that’s okay. Can you be ready at four?”

Four? What had she gotten herself into? “Yeah, I can do that.” She clicked off the phone and wondered what Justin had up his sleeve.

He was clearly up to something.

S
o how is Daddy anyway?” Luke asked.

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Finally, she looked up. “Not well. Not well at all.” She sighed. “He couldn’t recover from Bobby’s accident.”

Luke at least could identify with that. “So his memory is. . .gone? Like he doesn’t know you at all?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “Not exactly. Alzheimer’s is a tricky thing.” She tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “He’s best in the morning. Sometimes he will know who I am then, and we can have lucid conversations. But there are days he doesn’t know, days he thinks I’m Mama.”

“Really?” He knew the resemblance was strong. It made sense that Daddy would think that.

“I let him hold my hand and talk to me. He talks about us and Bobby. And sometimes work.” She smiled. “I used to try to correct him and explain who I am. But it seemed to make it worse. This way he stays calm.”

“How often do you visit?”

She met his eyes across the table. “Daily. And quite frankly, you should be ashamed. I know you haven’t been there even one time, because there’s a guest book in his room.”

He leaned back and rested his head in his hands. He and Daddy hadn’t gotten along when the old man was lucid. Why should it be any different now? “I’d probably only upset him.”

Rose narrowed her eyes. “He’s our daddy, Luke. He provided for us for all those years. I don’t care that you didn’t have the best relationship with him. He’s still the only daddy you’re ever gonna have.”

Luke nodded. Summer had said much the same thing to him in February when he turned down Rose’s invitation to Daddy’s birthday celebration. “I know. But he wouldn’t want to see me anyway.”

Rose shook her head. “He talks about you. And it isn’t anything bad either. I think you should go.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, I need you to change that ‘maybe’ to an ‘I promise,’ because I need to be out of town for a few days.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Where to?”

Rose smiled. “We’re taking the kids to Disney World in Florida. They’re so excited. At Christmas this year, we gave them little Mickey Mouse ears with their names on them. Katie Beth knew immediately.”

“That will be awesome.” Luke had always envisioned that kind of family vacation. But they hadn’t had the funds when he was growing up, and now he and Summer didn’t have a family and probably never would. “When do you leave?”

“It hinges on your promise.” She reached out and gripped his hand. “I can’t leave town for five days without knowing you’ll go visit him.”

“So you are saying that if I don’t go visit Daddy while you’re gone, you’re gonna disappoint your kids?”

She nodded. “Yep. And I’m going to tell them it’s because Uncle Luke is so selfish.”

He scowled. “Sis, I think you might be a little evil. You know I don’t want to be the reason your kids don’t meet Mickey.”

“Then you’ll do it? Just an hour or so a day?”

“Fine. But some of it will have to be after work.”

She jumped up and came around the table to throw her arms around his neck. “Thank you so much.”

He laughed. It had always been impossible to stay mad at Rose. “When do you leave?”

“Two weeks from today.” She jerked her head toward the living room. “Now why don’t you go on in Bobby’s room and look through his stuff while I get lunch fixed?”

He set his milk glass in the sink and made his way toward his brother’s room, not sure he wanted to look through Bobby’s things.

Somehow divvying up his stuff made everything feel too final. It was time to let his little brother go, and Luke still wasn’t ready to do that.

He walked into the room and sat on the bed, remembering when it had been decked out with a Star Wars comforter.

Unexpected tears filled his eyes, and he angrily batted them away. He hadn’t cried. Not when the call came. Not at the funeral.

Summer had tried and tried to get him to talk about his feelings, and each time he’d pushed her away.

But today, in the silence of Bobby’s room, he wished she were there holding his hand.

Summer sank onto the leather couch and flipped through the DVR to see what she had saved to watch. It was hard to believe there was a time when the DVR was the source of most of the fights between her and Luke. He’d store as many shows as they had memory for, but she liked to keep the list pared down. Especially old sporting events. What was the point of having an old football game saved? He knew the outcome. When he’d find out she’d deleted some old game, he’d get so upset.

Most of their fights had ended in laughter and kisses. Not like now. But she didn’t feel like they were fighting as much as they were simply no longer connecting. Ever since she told Jefferson about their temporary separation, she’d been wondering if it was really temporary.

They’d promised to stay together until death parted them. And she’d always thought those vows were serious. But maybe they weren’t as binding as she’d expected.

She took off her wedding ring and looked at it. She still wore the same ring Luke had given her nearly seven years ago. Even though he’d offered numerous times to buy her a bigger ring, she refused. This one was her. Was them.

She wondered if Luke was still wearing his ring. It had been days now since they’d talked. She’d expected him to call by now.

But her phone stayed silent.

She clicked off the TV and went upstairs. When she got to the top of the stairs, she turned right instead of going to her bedroom. She opened the only closed door down the hallway.

The room that was to have been the nursery.

A wooden rocking chair was the lone piece of furniture in the room. Luke had gotten rid of everything from the nursery except for the rocker. It had been the one his own mother had rocked him in.

She sat in the chair and slowly rocked back and forth, just as she’d always imagined rocking their baby. Even though they’d never found out if she’d carried a boy or a girl, she’d always thought the baby was a boy. She never told Luke though. When he’d ask, she’d smile and say they’d have to wait and see.

But she’d known how much he wanted a son, and she felt in her heart that a son was what they’d lost.

And even though they hadn’t had a real memorial service, there wasn’t a day that Summer didn’t remember her baby. Even if Luke tried to pretend it never happened, Summer knew better. She’d carried that tiny life inside of her, and that was something she could never forget.

Y
ou okay?” Rose asked from the door of Bobby’s room. Luke looked up from the papers and books he was sifting through. “Yeah. I found a couple of mementos. One of his high school yearbooks and a tattered copy of
The Old
Man and the Sea.”

Rose smiled. “You want any of his old T-shirts?”

Luke shook his head. “No. I wouldn’t wear them. And then they’d be in my closet staring at me, reminding me that he’s not here anymore.” He met her gaze. “Not that I need reminding.”

She sat next to him on the bed. “You’ve had a tough time with it. Tougher than the rest of us, I think.”

“I still wish we would’ve fought harder for a prosecution.”

She sighed. “It was an accident. That other driver was so upset, he didn’t know what to do.” She patted Luke’s back. “You know that.”

He let out a breath. No one else had seen it like him. Not even Summer. He’d pushed everyone to go after the other driver, certain the guy had been doing something wrong. But everyone had tried to get him to drop it.

Summer had even mentioned him seeing a grief counselor. They’d had a huge argument about it. She’d thought it would do him a world of good, but he couldn’t stomach sitting in a room with some stranger and sharing his feelings.

“You sure that’s all you want?” Rose asked, motioning toward his paltry stack.

He nodded. “Yeah.” He didn’t need material things to help him remember Bobby. He’d remember him when he saw a Ford Mustang drive past or when he heard a Kenny Chesney song or when he saw two little boys with their fishing poles at Folly Beach. Memories like that were worth more than material possessions anyway.

Rose walked over to Bobby’s dresser. “There’s something I’d like for you to have.”

“What’s that?”