Free Back to Luke by Kathryn Shay Page A

Timmy?”
     

    B EREFT , L UKE SAT in the gazebo at eleven that night. All of the guests had found their way out, even Elise, who’d gone home a half-hour ago, leaving him alone with his misery. Jess was right. He’d lost Timmy through his negligence, and now he was on the brink of losing Jess, too. Though he’d never expected an attack from the very man who’d tried tirelessly to convince Luke he’d been innocent in Timmy’s death, he deserved it. In spades.
    He heard a rustle and saw Jayne limping toward him with a suitcase in her hand. She reached the gazebo, stepped inside and set the case down. Moonbeams kissed her shoulders like a lover might. Damned if he could stop his reaction to her again. Still, he could be civil.
    She said, “I, um, I’d like to talk to you.”
    “I know. I’m an ass. I made Jess choose and he chose you.”
    Dropping onto the bench next to him, she ran a hand through her hair, messing it. “I think this goes deeper for Jess. He hates it when he feels people he loves are being unfair to him. In college, when our friends turned on us, he couldn’t deal with it. Because he’s so loyal and trustworthy, he expects everyone else to be.” She cleared her throat. “You and Naomi, especially.”
    Luke started to speak but she held up her hand.
    “No, it doesn’t matter anymore. I came out here to tell you I’m still leaving on that red-eye.”
    “Despite Jess’s objections?”
    “Yes.” She indicated the suitcase. On top of it was her purse. “I know you don’t believe me, but I never wanted to cause trouble. Like I said earlier, I love Jess too much to stay now.”
    He just watched her, his emotions playing paddleball with each other. He didn’t want her to go, and he didn’t want her to stay.
    “I need to know something, though, before I leave.”
    “What?”
    “What happened to Timmy? Did you have a falling-out?”
    Again, Luke froze, just like up in the bedroom.
    “I asked Jess about him but he wouldn’t talk about it.”
    Still, Luke couldn’t answer.
    “I mentioned it but we were interrupted. Then I got so caught up in what was going on with me…” She halted. “Luke, what’s wrong?”
    Luke shook his head and felt his eyes mist. She must have caught on and touched his arm. “Luke, what happened?”
    Suddenly, the words he’d said to no one, the whole sordid story that he hadn’t told to a single soul, just tumbled out.
    “We were so young, Jayne, for all that success, after we went to Dubai.”
    “Why did you go? I never knew.”
    “I wrecked my knee playing football. It healed enough to run and stuff, but no contact sports, so my college scholarship went down the tubes. Mom and Dad would have helped, but Dad had just had his first bypass surgery and I couldn’t burden them with this. I told them I was hot to go overseas.”
    “You weren’t?”
    “In some ways I was. I loved my family and didn’t really want to leave them. But I wanted fame and fortune, too.”
    “All kids do.”
    “Timmy especially.” He told her about Paddy O’Malley’s abuse.
    “So you went to get him out of that situation?”
    “Partly. It’s another thing Mick holds against me. We left him here alone to protect his mother and himself.” He shook his head in disgust. “Anyway, we made scads of money, banked it, and after four years, returned to the States.”
    “That’s when you joined Madison Conglomerates?”
    “Yes. They wanted to make us junior partners because we had the upfront money. So we made a ton more.”
    “You seemed to handle it okay.”
    “I did. But Timmy didn’t. He loved the high life a little too much.”
    “He was a partyer when I knew him, but not to that degree.”
    “He got worse after you left.” He swallowed hard. “God, this is hard. I think it started to go bad while you were still in New York. I just didn’t notice.” Unable to help himself, he reached out and ran a hand down her hair. “I got involved with you, spent all my time