Free Waterfront Weddings by Annalisa Daughety Page B

pulled onto the main road. “No problem.” He sighed. “Your dad invited me to go fishing with him. And I had a run-in with Jefferson. And Chloe and Preston.”
    She removed her hand from his knee. “Sorry.”
    They rode in silence for a few minutes. Luke wanted nothing more than to get home. He needed to mow the yard, and one of the flower beds could use some mulching. Sometimes it seemed like he could never get everything done.
    He flipped on the radio and turned it to an ’80s station. The sound of U2 filled the vehicle, and Luke felt the tension begin to leave his body. Until he felt Summer’s eyes on him. He finally turned the volume down and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “What? Is it too loud?”
    “You don’t think we should talk about things?”
    He sighed. “I know we argued earlier, but can’t we put that behind us?”
    “You want to put everything behind us. Pretend like nothing has happened.” She sniffed. “It doesn’t work like that.”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “Don’t you? Because if you’re serious, then you really are the world’s worst communicator.” She crossed her arms. “You didn’t want to talk about Bobby’s accident. You didn’t want to talk about our baby.” Her voice shook with emotion. “But maybe
I
need to talk about those things.”
    Luke shook his head. He knew her well enough to know that when her voice took that tone there was no reasoning with her. “You’re upset about Chloe’s pregnancy. You can take it out on me if you want to. I’m used to being the scapegoat.”
    “You’re wrong. I’m not upset about Chloe. I’m
happy
for her. It was a shock, that’s all. I wish I’d had some warning. Learning about it in such a public place was hard.” She sighed. “You know how much I looked forward to making our own announcement.”
    He’d looked forward to it, too. He’d had this image of himself passing out those pink or blue bubblegum cigars to all the guys at work. He’d seen that once on some TV show, and it had stuck with him. But he could never tell Summer that. There was no reason to make her any sadder than she already was. “I know. And I’m glad you’re happy for Chloe. Me, too.” Maybe not, but he would be by the time the baby arrived. It’s not like they saw her that much anyway.
    Summer sighed. “I don’t want to fight anymore. It’s been such a long day.”
    “You want to go out to dinner tonight?” He glanced over at her. “We could go to Magnolia’s.” Her favorite restaurant was bound to lift her spirits. “I’ll even spring for fried green tomatoes.” He hated fried green tomatoes, but Summer had always loved them.
    “Yeah. That sounds great.” She reached over and turned up the radio.
    The familiar strains of Bon Jovi’s “Never Say Good-bye” filled the vehicle.
    “No way.” Luke chuckled. “Do you remember this?”
    “Of course I do,” she said. “How could I forget the first time you told me you loved me?”

    Luke reached over and took her hand.
    “What a night that was,” he said. “And just think…if I’d have had my way, you would’ve married me as soon as we could get to a justice of the peace.”
    She looked down at their intertwined hands. She’d held on to his hand through so much. The first time he’d told her he loved her had been such a magical night.
    “You were the most beautiful debutante I’d ever seen.” Luke squeezed her hand. “And I still say that you could’ve passed for a bride in that white dress.”
    Summer’s mouth turned upward in a smile. “I must’ve looked like some kind of crazy person sneaking out of Gram’s house in that dress. But I wanted you to see it. When I got ready that night, it was you I wanted to impress.” After the ball, she’d climbed down a ladder from the second floor piazza and hurried to the Battery to meet Luke.
    “Have you been waiting long?” Summer hurried up the steps to the bandstand
.
    Luke let out a low