Free Just a Little Honesty by Tracie Puckett

and his brow furrowed.
    “Everything okay?”
    “Can’t sleep.”
    He nodded and shut the book as I came closer. He’d already pulled the sofa bed out, so I took a seat on the corner of the springy mattress and watched him closely. 
    “Can I ask you a question?”
    His lips twitched at my question, but he nodded. “Sure.”
    “Will you… will you put your personal feelings about Derek aside for a minute and tell me something?”
    “I can try,” he said, scooting forward in his chair. “What do you want to know?”
    “The truth,” I said, trying not to let my tears come to surface. “We’ve been through a lot. And I can’t remember a time when we’ve ever seen eye-to-eye, Luke.” He nodded, but his expression didn’t change. “And it’s no secret that one of our biggest issues—if not our biggest issue—was Derek, right from the very start.” Again, he nodded. I dropped my head and looked at the ground, but only because I didn’t dare look him in the eye when I found the nerve to ask him, “he’s the reason why they haven’t found Conan, isn’t he? He’s helping his father?”
    Luke scooted himself to the very edge of his seat, reached forward, and lifted my chin. But his touch didn’t linger; he simply pulled his hand back and lowered his gaze.
    “No,” he said, and there was more honesty in that one word than I had prepared myself for.
    “What?”
    “I don’t think Derek knows any more than we do at this point,” he said, and for the first time in months, I actually believed that Luke was being honest with me. “Julie, I talked to Charlie this morning; Bruno’s had eyes on Derek ‘round the clock; that’s why he stayed back in Oakland. He’s watched him day and night since the moment we rolled out. Honestly, kid, Bruno thinks Derek is just a baffled and just as fearful as the rest of the town.”
    It almost hurt; I’d been trying to tell him for months that Derek wasn’t a problem. I’d tried assuring him (time and time again) that there was no threat; he had nothing to fear. But Luke never believed me. But the moment Bruno and Charlie tell him—the moment they confirm their beliefs are the same as the ones I’d had for months— then Luke was ready to listen?
    “You talked to Charlie?” I asked, watching his eyes as they locked on mine. “Did he say… is Derek… is he—”
    “He’s fine,” Luke said, and he only leaned closer. There wasn’t an edge to his voice, or even the slightest bit of hostility. For the first time in a long time, Luke was talking to me as an equal; he wasn’t trying to placate me, or even shut me up. He was trying to give me the honesty I’d been asking for from the very beginning. “They’re going to catch Conan, Julie. And they’re going to stop at nothing to make sure he doesn’t hurt a soul, and that includes his son. Derek might not be as safe as you are right now, but he is safe. He’s one of the safest people in that town because of the eyes that are on him. He doesn’t make a move without us knowing— not a single move. ”
    I nodded and looked down at my feet.
    “Julie,” he said, reaching forward to lift my chin again, but this time he didn’t let go. “He’s going to be okay. I promise.”
    I let his words sink in before I met his stare, and the sincerity in his eyes trumped all the doubt I’d felt coming into that moment.
    He could’ve just sat there and let me fret over the uncontrollable, but he didn’t. Luke gave me all the confidence I needed to keep my head up.
    “Thanks,” I said, and I didn’t have to say what for. We both knew that his words meant more than a simple thanks could’ve expressed, but it was easier to just walk away and let the silence speak for itself.
    I started to stand when Luke reached forward and took my hand.
    “One more minute,” he said as if he still had something else to say.
    I settled back in and watched as he gnawed on his bottom lip.
    “Luke?”
    “When I told Derek to