Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Luke

I stretched out on my bed for a rest before the dance. As nice as it had been to get in a horse ride, a bike ride and a swim this weekend, I was looking forward to it all being behind me. I knew someone else who was thinking the same thing, and suddenly, I had an urge to talk to her. I’d texted her plenty of times, but this time I tapped the FaceTime app. She answered. It took me a second to figure out where she was, and even then, I wasn’t entirely sure until a puff of bubbles passed by the screen.

“Are you in a bubble bath?” I asked with a laugh.

“You can just see my face, right?” she asked with a sudden bout of fear.

“And mounds of bubbles and there is a nice view of a bare shoulder.” I imagined myself pressing a kiss on that bare shoulder. I had to shake the vision out of my head.

The screen moved around a second giving me a wild, motion-sickness view of the bathroom. When her face returned to the screen, she was hunkered down behind a wall of bubbles, and all I could see was her face from the nose up.

“I kind of liked the earlier view better,” I teased. She blushed, which was all part of my plan. “You sure do like that bathtub.”

“Someday, when my bakery takes off to Michelin star status, I’m going to buy one of these beauties. I never pictured myself as a pampered, bubble bath type, but apparently, that’s exactly who I am. So, there you have it—my shallowness on full display.” A cloud of the bubbles headed right to her face. She sank them with her hand. “Almost full display.”

“I doubt enjoying a bubble bath makes you shallow. In fact, I would never ever use that word when describing Isla Lovely.”

She sat up higher, while still staying mostly hidden by her trove of iridescent bubbles. The naked shoulder was back in view, and I had no intention of letting her know. “So, what words would you use?” she asked. “Or maybe it’s better if I don’t know.”

“Beautiful, clever, caring, funny, and far more interesting than 99 percent of people on this planet, and knowing her is so much better than not knowing her.”

Isla’s long lashes were stuck together in wet spikes. She stared at me from behind her frame of bubbles. “I like that.”

“I’m glad. Hey, Isla, I was thinking—I’m sure we can use another person in the office. Why don’t you come work for me?” Thick-headed idiot that I was, I was sure she’d be excited, but her lips pulled down, and there was nothing in her expression that said, “Gee, what a great idea.” “I just thought then we could still be friends, hang out, you know.” Rather than pull my foot out of whatever I stepped in, I jammed it down deeper and even gave it a hearty twist.

“I have day jobs,” she said quietly. “I have my dog-walking business, and I drive for Uber. Those two jobs give me some flexibility to work on my baked goods. I’m not a sit-in-the-office type.”

“I caused you to lose your job, and I thought it would be a way for us—to stay connected.”

“I don’t think I can be friends with you, Luke.”

The words were like a slap. “Oh, right. Yeah, I can see that.” As hard as I tried not to feel hurt, I felt it all the way down to my toes. I walked in heavy steps to the window.

“No, you’re not understanding me. But I can’t explain myself because I’m sitting in a tub of bubbles, and I am feeling a little vulnerable right now because those same traitorous bubbles are leaving me to return to liquid form.”

“You don’t need to explain,” I said. I was untangling what she said in my head, and I hoped that I was pulling the right threads. “I’ve never committed to anyone, Isla. I could blame my mom and my dad, but it’s just me. I never had a strong connection with anyone—and yes, that is because of my parents. Even my friends tell me sometimes I’m not worth the effort because I’m never there for people when I need to be. You deserve someone way better than me.”

Her curt laugh echoed off the marble walls. “Said every man to every woman he wanted to let down easy.”

“No, Isla, really, it’s not like that. I don’t know what to say to convince you.” My eyes coasted down to the pathway cutting through the rose garden. My bird’s-eye view showed my sister and her fiancé heading toward each other, although neither had seen the other yet because Rachel was still around the corner. David was walking hurriedly, smoothing his hair and tucking in his shirt. He glanced behind him and then faced forward quickly when he heard Rachel come around the corner. He smiled; it was at least a version of his smile. A few words were exchanged, nothing about them sweet or romantic, according to their postures. Then Rachel sidled past him and kept moving along the path. David watched her walk away, then turned and headed back toward the house.

“Everything all right?” Isla’s concerned tone floated through the phone. I forgot she could see my face.

I nodded. “Yeah, I just wish my sister wasn’t marrying David.”

“Luke, there’s something I wanted to mention,” she started, then stopped.

“Go ahead.”

She shook her head and a flurry of bubbles drifted around her. “No, sorry, this is none of my business. So, is your dance card filled this evening, Mr. Greyson, or do you have a space left for your fake girlfriend?”

I hated the sound of it— fake girlfriend . “Uh, I think the women have the dance cards, and the men are the ones who have to wander around like tragic, lost souls hoping someone will consider letting them put their name on the card.”

“You never ever had a girl turn down your dance offer,” she said confidently.

“You’re wrong. Melissa Vaughn turned me down at the eighth-grade dance. She never told me why, but I was devastated.”

“Well, Melissa Vaughn is probably still living with regret about it. How about a dance then? Please don’t make a woman sitting in shrinking bubbles beg.”

“Of course, we can dance. I guess I’ll see you later then. If you can work up the willpower to leave that bathtub.”

“The water’s getting cold, so it won’t be hard. See you later.”