Back to Luke (3 page)

He had to tread carefully here. For twelve years he’d kept his previous relationship with Jayne Logan secret from everyone, not because Jayne wanted it that way, but because initially he’d been embarrassed about how it had ended—a woman had actually dumped him! And then, when he’d gotten home and found out about Jayne and Jess, Luke had been humiliated at how she’d taken him in. “Do you remember Jayne Logan, Jess’s friend?”

“The woman from college.” Belle’s eyes widened. “Oh, the one Naomi suspected Jess was involved with?”

Right after Luke came back to town, over a few late-night beers, Belle had told him about Naomi’s suspicions concerning Jess and Jayne’s relationship.

“Yeah, she’s the one. She’s in town and went looking for Jess. Since he’s at Disney World, she hunted up Miss Ellie.”

Belle cocked her head. “Miss Ellie loved Jayne. She came to Riverdale on vacations and even a summer or two and stayed with them.” She frowned. “Much to Naomi’s distress.”

“Yeah, but Jayne abandoned Miss Ellie when she got rich and famous.” She was very good at abandoning people.

“Why’s she here now?”

“She’s in trouble.”

“What kind?”

“I didn’t stick around to find out.” In truth, he didn’t want to know. He remembered his protective instincts where Jayne was concerned and he certainly didn’t want to fall victim to them again.

Picking up her soft drink, Belle frowned. “Didn’t you work with Jayne in New York?”

“Uh-huh. Briefly.”

“Naomi said she made a name for herself in the architectural world in California and got caught up in the glamour and success there.” Then Belle added gently, “You did too, Luke, when you became partners with Madison Conglomerates in New York.”

“Yeah, but I learned my lesson. From what I’ve heard, she still feeds on fame.”

Belle stood. “I’ll be right back.” She hustled off the porch and in no time returned with her laptop.

“What’s that for?”

Luke had developed an aversion to the Internet. He kept all his business records on a computer, did e-mail and often ordered materials online, but he didn’t surf in cyberspace anymore. He’d done all that when he’d first become successful. The Net was a connection to his previous life that he wanted to forget.

“
This
is a way to find out what trouble Jayne Logan’s in.”

Hmm, he guessed he could make this one exception. “Good thinking, Isabella,
mi amore
.”

“Smarts run in the family, little brother. Now, isn’t her first name spelled funny?”

O
NE OF THE BEST
things about Eleanor was that she took pleasure in small things, like this outing. For years,
Jayne had spun fantasies that if she ever had children, Eleanor would be a surrogate grandmother.

Jayne and Ben Scarborough, her college boyfriend of two years, had talked about having kids. Then he’d betrayed her, and that dream, with him at least, was dashed. Even when she’d met Luke, five years later, she was never able to completely trust him. When their relationship had begun to get serious, she’d fled.

“I’m paying, dear. I dragged you here.” Eleanor was standing with Jayne in line at the Fox Theater, the only cinema in town, waiting to see the matinee of the new release of
The Little Mermaid
.

“You didn’t drag me here. I’m happy to come. The last time I saw a Disney movie was when—” Jayne had to think “—I came with you and Jess to one in college.”

“Ah, yes. He indulges my whims, too.”

As they moved along, a warm breeze ruffled the tails of the pink shirt Jayne wore with jeans. “Jess sounded great on the phone when you let me talk to him.”

“He was delighted that you’re here.”

Jayne smiled. “He threatened never to speak to me again if I left before he got back.” She cleared her throat. “I didn’t tell him what happened. I was afraid it would ruin his vacation.”

“It would have. He loves you like a sister.”

After Eleanor paid for their tickets, they went inside and crossed to the refreshment stand. “Smell that popcorn,” Eleanor said. “I think I’ll have some, with extra butter.”

“You should be watching your cholesterol.”

Unfortunately, Jayne recognized the deep masculine rumble from behind her. She turned to acknowledge Luke, but instead stood openmouthed when she took in
the sight of him dressed in jeans and a green chamois shirt, holding a little boy of maybe two against the soft material that covered his chest. Clinging to his other hand was a child of about five, who looked exactly like him.

So he
was
married. With kids. For a moment, Jayne felt the world tip on its axis.

Eleanor said, “Hello, Luke. Oh, Kasey, you sweet boy. And Karl. Let me buy you a treat.”

“Yes, Miss Ellie.” The bigger one spoke first and the baby gave some version of it.

Luke raised his eyes to the ceiling. “I promised their mother I wouldn’t let them have too much junk.”

“How is Belle?” The name sounded familiar. Had he married an old girlfriend?

“Spending some time with Kenny while he’s on his school break, so I’m babysitting.”

Jayne frowned. “I wonder why it is that when men take care of their own kids, they call it babysitting?”

His expression turned blank, then he laughed.

Before he could respond, Karl said, “Uncle Luke, what’s funny?”

Jayne flushed. “I thought…”

“Yeah, I can tell. They’re my sister’s kids. Karl, Kasey, meet Miss Logan.” With a scowl, he added, “Is it still Miss?”

“Yes.”

Karl greeted her, but Kasey buried his face in Luke’s neck. And something inside of Jayne shifted. The gesture showed such spontaneous trust, was such a baby thing. Combined with what she’d been thinking earlier, about having her own kids, it had her…yearning.

“Would you like to sit with us, Luke?” Eleanor’s ex
pression was hopeful. “It would be such fun to see the boys’ reactions to the movie.”

Oh, no,
Jayne thought, just as Luke said, “Great. We’d love to.”

Inside the theater, the boys sat on opposite sides of Eleanor, and Jayne took the seat next to the littlest. But then Luke said, “Excuse me,” and crawled over her to snatch Kasey out of the chair. He plunked down right next to her, with the baby on his lap. “There now, isn’t this cozy?”

It was cramped and, this close, she could smell his aftershave—incredibly, the same one that he used to wear. The associations that brought back made her entire body respond. So she said, “I can move down so Kasey can have his own seat.”

Luke gave her an are-you-stupid look. “He’s too little to sit by himself.”

And Kasey was apparently used to resting on his uncle’s lap, because he cuddled in, stuck his finger in his mouth and began to watch the previews.

Jayne tried not to be distracted by the rhythmic stroking of Luke’s big hand down the baby’s wispy hair. She tried not to watch as he kissed the baby’s head. But she began to experience an overwhelming sense of loss watching the gestures, being so close to Luke again. If she hadn’t chickened out on her relationship with Luke, these could have been their kids. They could be married now and spending a lazy day as a family. When the movie began, she tried doubly hard to focus on Ariel and her adventure, until Karl leaned over Eleanor and whispered, “Uncle Luke, I gotta pee.”

Luke said, “Great.” He glanced at Eleanor, who held
a full bucket of popcorn on her lap, then lifted the baby and plopped him into Jayne’s arms.

“What…what are you doing?”

“Taking Karl to the john.” He stood, scooped up the boy, climbed over the back of his seat to an empty row and went out to the aisle.

Kasey looked up at her with wide blue eyes. She had no idea what to do with him. A smile spread across his adorable face, then he batted her cheeks with his chubby hands.

And she cooed, “Aren’t you beautiful.”

As if he’d gotten the answer he wanted, he nestled into
her
chest. He smelled like baby shampoo and powder, and Jayne reveled in the scent and the feel of his little body.

By the time Luke got back, Kasey was fast asleep, curled trustingly into her.

“I’ll be damned. I wouldn’t have guessed you had it in you.”

Her either. “Just goes to show you how much you know.”

“We’ll see about that.” He bit into a piece of licorice. “We’ll just see about that.”

L
ATE
S
ATURDAY AFTERNOON
, Jayne reached for the gardening shears to deadhead the snapdragons and pricked her thumb on the tip of a blade. “Ouch!”

By the gazebo, where he’d finished painting the first post blue, Luke snorted. Had she known he was going to show up so late in the day to put in an hour on the structure, she wouldn’t have come out here. Now, he sat on one of the benches he’d built—she liked the way the legs of it angled—sipping a beer and making no effort to hide his study of her. “Watch out, Sleeping Beauty, or you’ll go into a deep snooze.”

Which Jayne wouldn’t mind doing. Perhaps when she woke up, the nightmare of the investigation would be over. She’d checked with her lawyer this morning and there was no news.

What exactly does that mean, Michael? It’s been three weeks.

These things take time. The architectural board is addressing it. You have to be patient.

What about the independent firm I hired to do its own analysis?

Nothing yet.

I can’t believe this.

I’m sorry. I’ll call you when I hear something.

“Hey, I’m talkin’ to you.”

She made a very unladylike noise. “Just so you don’t get any ideas about playing Prince Charming.” Again.

“No worries about that, babe. Once burned…”

Hmm. She’d always wondered how he’d handled her leaving, always wondered if it had left a hole inside him as it had, unexpectedly, in her. Probably not. He’d never tried to contact her. Most likely, she’d just bruised his ego.

There was no point in going there, though, so she nodded to the gazebo. “You know, you should paint the posts white.”

He shook his head. “God, I hate it when people play Monday-morning quarterback.”

His forceful tone reminded her of his reactions on the construction site in New York. She couldn’t resist the temptation to jab him. “So you still think it’s your way or the highway?”

“Yep.”

“White would be a striking contrast.”

“In case you didn’t notice, I’m going for the fitting-in look with slate-blue.”

“Too much fitting in is boring.”

“Concentrate on those flowers, will you?”

Turning back to her plants, she picked up a trowel and began to loosen the dirt around the base of one. The rich loam of the earth was cold as it sifted through her fingers. She hadn’t put on gloves because she liked the texture of it.

Luke sighed. “I wish Jess had made his plane connection in Atlanta this morning.”

“He could still get back today.”

“I know. Eleanor’s keeping watch just in case.”

Her head down, Jayne wiped her hands on the jeans she’d cut off to work out here. She’d borrowed some old work shoes she’d found in Eleanor’s downstairs closet. “I love how close Eleanor and Jess are.”

Before he could comment, someone called out, “There she is!”

At the sound of the voice, Jayne glanced up and saw Jess standing at the base of the porch steps. He looked so good, so safe and unbreakable, that she threw the shovel to the ground, stood and ran toward him. Jess met her halfway, picked her up and whirled her around. When he stopped, one arm banded her around her waist and his other hand went to her head to bring it to his chest. Jayne was so grateful for the embrace she wanted to cry. But she hadn’t shed one tear since college and had vowed, with this very man during the ordeal at Cornell they’d shared, that she’d never cry again.

Luke watched the reunion. Jess held Jayne as if he’d found gold, and she clung to him like they’d been lovers separated for years. And goddamn it, sparks of jealousy shot through him and he hated feeling that way about his best friend.

Then he caught sight of Naomi. The kids must be in the house, but Jess’s wife had accompanied him back here and was standing behind him. Her face was pale, despite her tan, and her brow was furrowed.

As Luke witnessed the reunion between the two college friends and Naomi’s devastated expression, he cursed Jayne Logan’s return to Riverdale. Especially after he’d found out on his sister’s computer that the woman had botched her last job and might be permanently available to wreak more havoc in Jess’s life.

W
HEN
J
AYNE OPENED
her eyes and saw Naomi staring at her and Jess as if they were embracing naked, she immediately drew back. Damn it, why had she been so spontaneous in greeting Jess? And what had he been thinking? She looked at him and saw that he
wasn’t
thinking. Tears clouded his warm hazel eyes. Naomi obviously caught on to her husband’s sentimentality, because she paled. Jayne tried to pull away from Jess completely, but he slid his arm around her and held her close to his side.

Jayne was the one to acknowledge the other woman. “Hi, Naomi.”

“Jayne.”

Spinning around, Jess got a glimpse of his wife. “I thought you were in the house.”

“Obviously. I’m going to take the girls home.” Naomi added brusquely, “They’ll be getting cranky.”

Jess frowned. “But I want Jaynie to see them.” When Naomi simply stared at him, he added, “We agreed on that.”

“
Jaynie
can do that tomorrow.” She glanced behind them. “Hey, Luke.”

Luke crossed to the group but went straight to Naomi, hugged her and whispered something into her ear. Then he turned to Jess. “Hey, buddy.”

“Man, hi. I missed you.”

“You’ve only been gone two weeks.”

Jess let go of Jayne to give Luke a quick hug. “But I’ve gotten used to you being around.”

Luke smiled. “I missed you, too.”

Grabbing Jayne’s hand, Jess tugged her forward. “I take it you got reacquainted with our girl.”

“Yeah.” After glaring at her, Luke pivoted. Naomi
had already started to walk away. “Wait up, Nay, I want to see the girls.”

She glanced at her husband, then at Luke. “Maybe you can give us a lift home. Goodbye, Jayne. Jess, I’ll see you…whenever.”

When the two of them disappeared into the house, Jayne faced Jess. “Why don’t you go with Naomi and we can catch up tomorrow? She’s not happy about you staying with me.”

“Hush, it’s the same old, same old.” His features took on a hard edge. “And damn her for it. We had an agreement six years ago.”

Again, he took Jayne’s hand and they walked to Luke’s gazebo. Inside, the scents of paint and fresh wood enveloped her; they made her think about working on a construction site. Once they were sitting on a curved bench, she told him about the collapse of the walkway in the Coulter Gallery.

“I’m so sorry, Jaynie.”

She swallowed hard. “Sometimes I still can’t believe it.”

“Why didn’t you call me when it happened? This is the kind of emergency we agreed to contact each other about.”

“I didn’t want to burden you.”

“Tell me about the collapse.”

Because he’d been an architectural student, he understood the logistics. “You know the walkway circles the second floor of the gallery.”

“I saw pictures on the Internet. It’s beautiful.”

“It was. Other galleries have done the same thing, so it wasn’t that risky. But something went wrong, and a portion of it just…fell.”

“How much?”

“Maybe twenty-five feet. Thankfully it was at night, so no one was hurt. I don’t know what I would have done if…” She shivered and Jess squeezed her hand.

“Don’t think about that.”

“You’re right. There’s enough to worry about.” She told him the staggering cost of the damage. She had insurance, thank the Lord, but her reputation could be in tatters if she was somehow found at fault—or even if she wasn’t. Bad press could ruin an architectural firm. She might not even keep the jobs already contracted.

When she finished with the details, Jess sighed deeply. “It is what it is. If you made a mistake, which I’m not saying you did, there are ways to deal with it.” He added soberly, “You can do anything you have to, honey, you know that. Just like the Snyder incident.”

Al Snyder had been their third-year design teacher at Cornell. He’d based a major portion of the grade for the semester on a group project. Though Jayne hated being evaluated on others’ efforts, she’d felt comfortable that time because the members of her group were Jess and their two housemates—Ben, her boyfriend of two years, and Sally, a close girlfriend.

At least Jayne had thought they were her friends, until their part of the project came under scrutiny. When it was discovered they’d cut corners by falsifying data, Ben and Sally blamed it on Jess and Jayne. Jayne ended her relationship with Ben, but her confidence had been shaken. If he could betray her so badly, had he ever really cared about her? Had she ever been enough for him?

That event had touched off Naomi’s animosity. Jess had called Naomi, his fiancée at the time, to tell her what had happened. Without informing him of her plans, Naomi had driven up to Ithaca to comfort him.
Instead, she found him, literally, in bed with Jayne. Jess was bare chested and in boxers; Jayne wore a skimpy tank top and short pajama bottoms, so the scenario was incriminating. But it was totally innocent—they’d both been devastated after the betrayal of their housemates and Jayne had gone to Jess’s room for comfort. Naomi never believed it, though. And in subsequent years, she’d found more and more reason to be jealous of any time her husband spent with Jayne.

Hurt all over again by her recollection of the devastating event, Jayne shook off the memory. “I know I can get through it. But I never thought I’d have such a monumental thing to deal with again. And I hated that the first one caused you to leave school.”

“It wasn’t the only reason I left, Jaynie.”

“I know it wasn’t. You weren’t really happy at Cornell and couldn’t wait to get back to Riverdale. If it hadn’t been for my dad bringing in a team of New York lawyers, I would have left, too.”

By the end of the year, both she and Jess had been exonerated—and the college had dropped the whole matter, punishing no one—but kind, sweet Jess’s heart wasn’t in architecture like hers was. He’d come home to Riverdale, finished a four-year degree at a local college in social work and went into community service. He’d been ecstatic when, ten years ago, he’d been appointed head of Harmony Housing, which built low-income housing projects subsidized by the government and involving several volunteer groups.

“Anyway, there’s nothing you can do but wait, so you’ll do it here.”

“That’s what your mother said.”

“She’s a smart woman.”

“Luke Corelli doesn’t feel the way you do.”

Jess shook his head. “He’s way overprotective.”

“Because he knows how Naomi feels about me and you?”

“You know about that?”

“Luke made a point of bringing it up.”

“Maybe that’s why he’s protective, but other things have happened to him.”

Jayne didn’t ask what. She’d decided last night that the less she knew about Luke’s life, the better.

“I’m sorry Naomi still misunderstands our relationship.”

“Me, too. I know intellectually it’s because her father and brother cheated on their spouses, and I try to understand that, but I resent her for grouping me in with all of them. Hell, we’ve been married for seventeen years.”

“You can avoid feeding her fears, Jess, like we decided to do six years ago.”

Again his features hardened and his hazel eyes sharpened. “That’s not going to happen. I stopped seeing you then to appease her. It worked. No fights, nothing. I told her, though, if you ever needed me, I was going to be there for you. Now, she’s reneging on her part when I kept my promise. I haven’t put my foot down about anything else, but I won’t let you go through this alone.”

“I…”

“Damn it, Jayne. It infuriates me that we never gave her reason to be jealous and I still had to end my relationship with you.”

“I know.”

“Please say you’ll stay.”

She wanted to, badly. And she was weakening.
“Well, it might be a good idea to put off working on those new projects until I’m sure the firm will keep them. What could I
do
here?”

Jess chuckled. “I know just the thing.”

L
UKE SAT
on Jess’s front porch and watched dusk fall on Riverdale. He was so glad to be back in town, he sometimes wondered why he’d ever left in the early nineties.

Fame and fortune,
Timmy had said.
We’ll make millions in the building boom in Dubai. Just think, no more depending on family. No more scrimping or dilapidated cars.

Luke hadn’t minded depending on his family, but the fact that there was never enough money to go around always bothered him. And he’d lost his chance at an athletic scholarship when he blew his knee out playing football, so he’d thrown caution to the winds and gone overseas with Timmy. It had been the worst decision of his life, because they had indeed made money, and it destroyed his friend.

“Want something?” Naomi stood behind the screen leading to the kitchen.

Luke held up his beer. “Already got it.” When she came out, he studied the slim blonde with sad blue eyes. “You look as tired as the girls. I should leave.”

“No, don’t.” She dropped down beside him on a padded porch chair. “I won’t sleep until Jess gets back.”

“Will you fight?”

“Who knows? Now that Jayne Logan is back in our lives, anything could happen.”

“This is so unlike Jess. I can’t figure it out.”

Naomi shook her head. “Join the club.” Her voice
trembled. “I can’t believe he’s doing this to me again. It was horrible when he went to California to see her, or when she visited here and they spent time together. But I thought his contact with her was over.”

“He swears there’s nothing between them, Nay. That they never had an affair.”

“I’m so sick of that argument. Even if it never got physical—which I find hard to believe, especially after seeing her again, seeing how pretty she is—the emotional connection between them is enough of a betrayal.” She shook her head. “They’re so close, Luke.”