Luke still wasn’t sure what the explanation was for Tommy’s appearance, but it instinctively worried him. Apparently old habits died harder than he thought. “You’re sure you’re not sick?”
“I am not sick,” Tommy repeated emphatically, then shot him a wry look. “Though it would probably serve your purposes better if I were.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you could use it in court as further evidence of my unsuitability to be a parent to my boy.”
“How can you even say such a thing? I wasn’t looking for ammunition,” Luke protested. “You look lousy. I wanted to know why.” Suddenly an explanation came to him, one that would answer a lot of the questions he had about Tommy’s motivations of late. “You said you left your job in Birmingham?”
Tommy regarded him resentfully. “Yeah, so what? I told you I’m heading to Alaska just as soon as this stuff with Robby is settled.”
“How long have you been out of work?”
“Hey, man, it’s none of your business. I’ve been getting by, okay? Now drop it.”
Certain now that he was on the right track, Luke shook his head. “I don’t think so. You see, it seems to me a man who’s been out of work for a while might get desperate. He might do something that would never otherwise occur to him.”
Tommy’s shoulders stiffened. “Such as?”
“Maybe filing a custody suit he had no intention of winning, hoping to get a little cash so he could start over somewhere new.” He reached for Tommy’s shoulder, clasped it with a firm grip and forced him to turn around. “Is that what the suit was about?”
Suddenly Tommy looked about seventeen again, young and scared and proud. His chin lifted belligerently. “I don’t want your money,” he declared.
Luke sighed. “Oh, I can believe that. I worked damned hard to instill that streak of stubborn pride in you. That doesn’t mean you don’t need money, though.”
“I’ll do just fine once I get to Alaska,” Tommy insisted.
Luke carefully weighed the pros and cons before he said anything more. He didn’t want to make a mistake that could cost them all. But this was his brother and, as Katie had known, despite everything he loved him unconditionally. Even as angry and as threatened as he’d felt these past months, a part of him had struggled to find an explanation that would make Tommy’s betrayal less painful. He still wanted to believe there was something worth salvaging.
Tommy was barely twenty-five. His whole life stretched out in front of him. Maybe all he needed was a solid push in the right direction.
Finally he said, “You could work for me.” When Tommy immediately started to object, Luke added, “Just to get the stake you need, if that’s the way you want it.”
“Bad idea,” Tommy said without giving the proposal any thought at all.
“Don’t reject it just because of your stupid pride,” Luke warned. “At least think about it.”
“There’s nothing to think about. You don’t want me around my kid, and I don’t want to be anyplace I’m not wanted. As soon as the judge makes his ruling, I’ll take my kid and go.” He glared at Luke. “I don’t need handouts from you. I don’t need anything from you.”
Luke didn’t believe him. He realized he had started to see him through Katie’s eyes, and what he saw was a young man desperate for a sense of belonging. “So why are you here now?”
“You mean tonight? Because Katie invited me.” He grinned faintly. “Twisted my arm was more like it.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Luke commiserated. “But I meant why did you come back to Clover in the first place? The custody suit is being handled in Atlanta. You didn’t need to come all the way to South Carolina.”
“I wanted to see my son,” he insisted.
“You knew I wouldn’t let that happen, not under the circumstances.”
Tommy shrugged. “I figured you might change your mind.”
If he hadn’t been so frustrated, he might have laughed at Tommy’s stubborn refusal to admit what had been obvious even to Katie. Tommy had come home to be with family. Luke could see that as plainly now as if his brother had scrawled it in a note and posted it in the town square.
But until Tommy could admit he needed help, until he could accept what Luke was willing to offer, there didn’t seem to be much Luke could do for him. He’d opened a door tonight, but Tommy had to walk through it.
Fortunately, before his frustration caused him to say something that would set them back, Katie emerged from the house with a platter of hamburgers. She put it down on the picnic table, then lifted her gaze to survey the two of them.
“Everything okay out here?” she asked, regarding them hopefully.
“Terrific,” Tommy said with a forced note in his voice.
“Terrific,” Luke echoed.
Katie looked pleased. “Well, that’s...terrific. I’ll be out in a minute with the rest of the food. Is the fire hot yet?”
“The coals are glowing like a lover’s eyes,” Tommy said.
Used to Tommy’s tendency to talk explicitly when it came to women, Luke shot him a dark look, but Katie only seemed amused by the response.
“I’ve never heard anyone get poetic about charcoal before,” she said.
To Luke’s amazement, Tommy looked faintly sheepish. “Seems like I have a turn of phrase for every occasion.”
Katie seemed to forget all about the food that was still waiting inside. She observed Tommy speculatively. “Maybe you should be writing country songs,” she said, clearly warming to the possibility.
Luke regarded her with astonishment. “Why the devil would you leap to a conclusion like that?”
“Because he’s obviously got a flair with words,” she said. “What about it, Tommy? Have you ever thought about it?”
“I’ve done a couple,” Tommy admitted, drawing a smug I-told-you-so look from Katie. “Haven’t sold ‘em, though. Everybody tells me I’d be a fool to just put ‘em in the mail to some singer I don’t even know. Like
