Up to the Challenge

Lucas did as Sid asked. Packed his things. Gave Drillbit a pat good-bye. Locked the door behind him. Then he sat in his car in her driveway, unable to turn the key.

She’ll come back, he thought. She’d realize he only wanted to make her happy. To give her what she wanted most. If he could do that for her, why wouldn’t he?

But Sid didn’t come back, and eventually he had to admit the truth. He’d fucked up. He didn’t know exactly how, but that’s what he’d done. Even after he started the car, Lucas remained there in the driveway, staring at the little beach cottage he’d begun to call home. Not a permanent home, since the cottage was on Anchor, and Anchor wasn’t his home.

But the cottage meant Sid and Sid felt like home.

With little thought to what he was doing, Lucas drove the short distance to his parents’ house, checking his watch after pulling into the drive. He’d need to be at the restaurant in less than two hours. Would Sid come to work? Would she talk to him? Would she listen to him?

What would he say if she did? He couldn’t pretend nothing had happened, and he knew Sid would never put on an act. She was incapable of being disingenuous. One of the many things he loved about her.

Well, shit.

Lucas pressed back against the headrest. Maybe this was for the best. Leaving would be easier this way. For both of them. If anything, Sid would be relieved to see him gone. She could be rid of him. Maybe she’d turn to Manny as an alternative. The thought made him want to rip the steering wheel off and throw it out the window.

“Hey there,” came a voice from outside, startling him out of his misery. Lucas looked up to see his dad hovering on the porch. “You going to stay out there all day?”

Just what he needed. Captain Cranky-pants. Grabbing his duffel bag from the passenger seat, he stepped out. “I’m coming in, if that’s all right?”

Tom stared, face pinched. “What kind of a question is that?”

He just could not catch a break this morning. Embracing his right to remain silent, Lucas climbed the stairs and followed his father into the house. “Got any coffee?” he asked, dropping his bag beside the doorway to the living room.

“Help yourself,” his dad said, taking a seat at the table. “Rough morning?”

“You could say that.” Lucas searched for the sugar, but it wasn’t in the usual place.

“She’s hidden everything I’m not supposed to have,” Tom explained. “There’s a bunch of those yellow packets in the top drawer.”

Lucas needed the swift kick of bitterness anyway. “I’ll pass, thanks.” Bringing his mug to the table, he pulled out a chair. “Where’s Mom?”

“Ladies Auxiliary meeting.”

“Oh.” Lucas sipped the coffee. Definitely bitter. “Went to the bank yesterday. Money is ready for transfer as soon as the papers are signed, but I want to run them by another lawyer first.”

Tom huffed. “Aren’t you a lawyer?”

“Last I checked,” he said. “But you deserve to have an unbiased legal review. Someone looking out for your interests.”

Tom huffed again. “That’s a load of crap. Bring me the damn papers and I’ll sign them.”

Lucas considered arguing, explaining the risks and intricacies of the situation, but his dad was right. Believing he’d ever not protect his parents’ best interests was a load of crap.

“They’re in my car. I’ll bring them in tonight.”

“Tonight? So that and the bag mean you’re back, huh? Want to talk about it?”

The last thing Lucas wanted to do was discuss his relationship.

“I don’t think so,” he said, cringing as he took another sip of the tar in his mug. “Did you make this or did Mom?”

“I made a new pot after she left. You don’t like it, don’t drink it.”

Lucas pushed the mug away. He preferred to keep the lining of his stomach intact. “I’ll just let it cool.”

The two men sat in silence, Tom scratching his chest while Lucas picked at the corner of his place mat, searching for something to talk about.

“When you buy someone something they really want, aren’t they supposed to be grateful?” he asked, choosing to broach the subject with a hypothetical.

Tom shrugged. “That’s the protocol. What’d you buy Sid?”

So much for hypothetical. “Something she said she really wanted.”

“Did she ask you to buy it?” Tom asked, hitting close enough to the mark to make Lucas uncomfortable.

“No. She said she wanted to buy it on her own, but this way she can have it sooner.”

Tom shook his head. “Classic mistake. Though I’m not surprised.” He crossed his arms, flinched, then rested his elbows back on the table. “Sounds like something you’d do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? And are you still in that much pain?”

“I just forget and it pulls sometimes,” he said, waving away Lucas’s concern. “Even as a kid, you’d barrel through with your own agenda, regardless of what anyone else was trying to do. Probably a good trait to have in the courtroom, but that shit doesn’t fly out here in the real world.”

Not the most flattering assessment. “You make me sound like an inconsiderate jerk.”

“Nah. Not inconsiderate. Most of the time, your heart was in the right place,” Tom said, cracking a smile for the first time since Lucas arrived.

That’s exactly how Beth had described him. The guy who barreled ahead without ever stopping to ask what she wanted. Sid hadn’t needed to be asked. She’d made it clear the garage was something she wanted to do on her own. Only he hadn’t listened. He’d brushed off the words as if what she wanted didn’t matter.

He was an inconsiderate jerk.

His head dropped into his hands. “How do I fix this?” he asked. “How do I make this right?”

His dad stayed silent long enough to draw Lucas’s gaze. Brows drawn together, Tom rubbed his chin, deep in thought. “Don’t think I can answer that. Being with the same woman more than twenty years means I know that particular woman. Rest of the species is still a mystery.”

Not the answer Lucas was hoping for. “I can withdraw my offer on the garage,” he said, thinking out loud. “Seems like that would be taking it away, but in a weird way, I’d be giving it back to her.”

“You bought Sid a garage?” Tom asked, surprise taking his voice up an octave. “One of those steel building things?”

Lucas shook his head. “No, an actual garage. It’s off Pamlico Shores. Red brick. Run down. She has plans for a boat repair and restoration place.”

“I’d forgotten all about that place. It’s been empty for decades.”

“Looks it too.” Lucas remembered he’d just shared Sid’s secret. “But don’t tell anyone. Not even Mom. Sid doesn’t want anyone to know.” He ran a hand through his hair. “And now I know why. She was afraid someone would butt in like I have.”

“I thought maybe you bought her a tool or something.” Tom leaned forward. “You tried to buy her a building?”

“It’s an old, dilapidated garage, not the Taj Mahal. She has her heart set on opening this business, but she’s insisting on doing it all by herself. She won’t take money from her brother or Joe, which I suggested.” She’d definitely made her intentions clear, and he ignored them. Such an asshole move. “I thought if I could give this to her, then …”

“Then what?” Tom asked, as Lucas trailed off. Excellent question.

Lucas shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Lucas,” Tom said, his voice quieter. “Do you plan to stay here on the island?”

“What? No. My life is in Richmond.”

“Then do the girl a favor and walk away.”

The words were like a gavel upside the head. He’d given her the garage because he couldn’t give himself. Because he had to leave. Because he loved her.

“I can’t,” he said. “Not yet. I need to make her forgive me. Show her I understand and that I screwed up,