Free Return by Karen Kingsbury Page B

wiped the back of his hand over his forehead. Nerves had no place in what he was about to do. He would have to go in the strength of what he knew was right, and pray that somehow Luke heard his heart. Because John Baxter’s days of sitting back and waiting for everything to work out were over.
    Even if Luke hated him for it.

    Luke’s poli-sci book was spread open before him, but he couldn’t focus on the words.
    Something about the judicial system or the process by which a judge could be removed from his place on the bench. But Luke’s concentration was gone, and this time it wasn’t only his past that plagued him.
    Lori was gone again, and he had no idea where she was. She’d spent Monday at the doctor’s office, and Tuesday she’d stayed home with back cramps. PMS…it had to be PMS. He’d been right all along. But then this morning she was gone before he woke up. Her first class on Wednesdays was at ten o’clock. So where was she?
    Luke spent most of the afternoon wondering. Was she seeing someone else? Getting involved in some club or group that demanded all her time? If so, why hadn’t she told him? They’d agreed to have an open relationship. Lori said their inner beings couldn’t be free unless they kept their commitment open-ended. Luke agreed, because who cared what Lori did? He wasn’t in love with her.
    But if she had something else taking up her time, the least she could do was tell him. He forced his eyes back to where he’d left off in the book, but three lines later he stopped. Not one word had registered, and not just because of Lori’s strange behavior these past days.
    But because of Reagan.
    He pushed his chair back, planted his elbows on his thighs, and dropped his head into his hands. Why’d she have to call, anyway? Couldn’t she have let well enough alone? She didn’t love him anymore, hadn’t since that night they were together. If she had something to say to him, she could’ve said it any of the dozens of times he’d tried to call her.
    But now? What good could come of talking now? Did she really think he’d simply sit back and wait for her? That he’d keep going to church and believing God was good and chalk up her sudden disappearance to something that had never been meant to be in the first place?
    Hardly.
    Luke slid his chair closer to the table again. The poli-sci test was tomorrow at eight in the morning. He had to study or he’d never get a passing grade. He brought the book closer and found his place just as he heard a knock at the door.
    He looked up and knit his eyebrows together. Who on earth…? No one ever came over to hang out. And Lori would’ve used her key. A sinking feeling tightened around Luke’s airways. It couldn’t be his mother, could it? Twice before she’d stopped by with fresh-baked banana bread or a pile of mail.
    “Mom,” he’d told her the last time, “you’ve gotta call first. I deserve my privacy.”
    She’d promised him: no more surprise visits. So, then, what was this?
    Luke stood, crossed the room, and opened the door. Standing a few feet back was not his mother but his father. For the briefest flash of a second, Luke almost went to him. Not because he wanted to hug him or be close to him or confide in him, but because his reflexes remembered that as the thing to do at a time like this. He’d shared a lifetime of hugs with this man, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. He used to hug his dad every time they were together.
    Not anymore.
    “Hello.” Luke held his ground, his tone a gruff mix of frustration and curiosity. His father had honored his wishes these past few months and stayed away. Luke couldn’t think of a single reason why he would be here now. Even so, he stepped back and held the door open. “Come in.”
    “Thank you.” His dad’s businesslike tone bordered on angry.
    Luke took the seat opposite his father in the living room and clasped his hands. “What brings you?”
    “Lori.” His father