I am blown away by Luke's story and stay silent as I sit and listen to him. Tears roll down my cheeks when I hear about what happened to his mom and what he went through. Hearing him speak about the kindness of my father warms my heart. My father was a saint, and he'd give the shirt off his back.
Luke proceeds to tell me that my father talked about me a lot, and he wanted us to meet, but he wasn't quite sure how to break the news to me. He said it was probably due to his troubled past and not knowing how long he planned to stick around. Luke tells me he spent his holidays at Ernie and Gladys's, due to his growing friendship with Jason.
He liked my dad, Ernie, and Jason so much that he decided to stay once his bike was good as new. He and Jason eventually moved into a house that Ernie and Gladys bought to give to Jason with some help from my father.
Then Luke starts to talk about what happened the night of the fight between him and Jason.
"Bridget came into my room after I left the party to go to bed. She woke me up and started doing a striptease even though I asked her to stop and leave. She vomited all over my bedroom floor, and when I was in my bathroom, getting some towels to clean up the mess, Jason walked in to see Bridget passed out naked on my bed. That's when chaos ensued," he mutters.
Luke continues to tell me that he never touched Bridget that night. Since then, they've kissed a few times but are only friends and who hang out from time to time. He wanted to pack up his stuff and leave after the fight. He was worried about possibly going back to prison, but my dad talked him out of it, telling him that he's family and Jason would eventually get over it. My dad then helped him build a living quarter attached to the back of the pole barn and made him head mechanic a few months later at his shop, in the hope that he'd stay.
"We would work on vehicles together at the shop, your dad's old barn, and my pole barn. Your dad told me often that it was something he used to do every day with you, so it was nice to have a partner again." Luke says with sadness in his voice.
"Your dad helped pick out this truck that we are in, set the chrome accents on it, and put the lift kit in," he boasts.
"He planned to finally introduce us on the fourth of July when you came home for the holiday and his birthday," he sighs.
My eyes are blurring and filled with tears. Luke spilled almost his entire life story to me, well at least the past five or so years. I feel as if I've now known him my whole life. His mysterious persona has dissipated some, and he is more attractive to me than ever before. It's safe to say that Luke and I aren't related.
My dad always saw the good in everyone. He never judged people and always gave them the benefit of the doubt. My father knew that Luke was a good man, or he would never have helped him beyond fixing his motorcycle. I wish he would have told me about Luke, though. Nearly two years is a long time for my father to keep something from me. I am sure he thought I would fall for Luke and did not want me to get hurt if he left or want me to drop what I've worked so hard to achieve to move back home.
Chapter Twelve
I wipe the tears from my cheeks and flip down the visor in Luke's truck to check my makeup.
"I'm sorry for dropping all that on you, like that," he says while looking at me.
I needed to hear all of it, and it made me emotional. My father treated him like a son. He never had one, so he formed a relationship with Luke, which was heartwarming to hear.
"Thank you. It's exactly what I needed to hear!" I reply.
I give him an awkward smile, not knowing what else to say or how to show sympathy for what he went through without looking more like a complete weirdo.
"Are you hungry?" Luke asks.
I look over at his gorgeous face.
"I could eat!" I reply with confidence that screamed cockiness.
I want to slam my forehead into my palm or throw up in my purse in embarrassment. I am sure my cheeks are flush. Thankfully, he smiles and laughs under his breath before pulling into Mary's Cafe. Luke opens my door and helps me out of his truck.
"It's a beautiful truck," I say and add, "Why the color white?"
"I live down a long dirt road, so white looks clean the longest," he says as he smirks.
A sexy smirk at that. We sit down by the window, and Mary greets us as she passes out some menus.
"Two days this week! How did I get so lucky? Glad to see you are still here, Ali," Mary declares.
She gives me a devilish smile and raises her eyebrows twice as she looks over at Luke then back at me.
"Tell me a little bit about yourself. Your dad said you're brilliant, and you received an amazing job right out of college." Luke conveys, looking very interested in knowing a little about me.
"I attended Stout, majoring in Architecture with a minor in Graphic/Interior Design. I was blessed to receive an internship my sophomore year based solely on my grades and one of my professors' recommendation, whose good friend happens to be the CEO of the company where I work. After I graduated, I was asked to stay on as a full-time Designer. Currently, I design the lighting concepts mainly for commercial businesses but sometimes for personal clients." I take a breath,
