Walk on Water (25 page)

“Congratulations,” Corrine was saying. “And speaking for our team, thanks.”

“For what?” asked Luke with his own smile.

“Since you came along the rest of us finally have a chance at getting the outstanding employee award.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Nothing like being in love to reset a girl’s priorities and cure her workaholism.”

And there it was: the
embarrassing thing
, except that I wasn’t unhappy that Corrine had said it, even though the notorious 4-letter word hadn’t been spoken between Luke and me at all. Not twenty years ago, not now. Luke rarely talked about feelings and taking my cues from him, I didn’t either. And yet I had been able to feel it, his feelings for me; and I had shown it, my feelings for him. I had learned to think that maybe you didn’t need to say it, that maybe showing it, feeling it was enough. However, the bright twinkle in Luke’s dark brown eyes now suggested otherwise.

“I hope you’re right,” he replied to Corrine although he was looking at me, his beautiful smile tingling every nerve cell in my body.

“Oh trust me, I am!” declared Corrine from a place apart from us.

“We better get going,” I said thinking again about the time.

“Where are you taking him?” Corrine wanted to know.

“I was thinking Mac’s. It’s quick.”

“Oh, Luke, they’ve got the best potato soup you’ll ever eat in the world,” Corrine enthused.

“Is that right?” asked Luke.

“It’s to die for! I could eat it every day.”

“Well I better try it then. So you, uh, want to join us, Corrine?”

“I thought you’d never ask!” she quickly replied, yanking open the backseat car door to get in.

Luke threw me a quick apologetic grin.

“Just push my chair out of your way,” he said over his shoulder to Corrine.

“No problem!” she replied. “Besides lunch-time is usually my Rachel-time anyway, but I guess you’re taking that too.”

I cringed but Luke laughed merrily. So much for our
alone time
. But what could he do? Corrine was my best friend. And lunch was fun. Luke liked telling Corrine stories about my undergraduate days, and she relished getting him up to speed on me since I had come to work for our agency. For my part, I mostly had to sit there like an audience to my own life as they interpreted it, but I enjoyed it too.

Once we got back to the office, Corrine jumped out of the car as quickly as she had gotten in before, thanking Luke again for picking up her tab and wishing him a happy Thanksgiving.

“Take your time, Rae,” she offered hurrying away. “I’ll cover for you.”

“She’s a trip,” said Luke with a chuckle as we watched Corrine go into the building.

“I know,” I agreed. “But I love her to death.”

Turning back to me, Luke pulled me into his arms. His breath smelled minty from the stick of gum he had popped into his mouth after lunch.

“What about me?” he asked. “Love me to death?”

Was he joking with me or being
deathly
serious? The answer was
yes
of course, but was I supposed to admit it now? And if I did would I get it back? Butterflies hovered over the potato soup in my belly. My best bet was to stay with the joke, telling the truth just not really.

“Absolutely,” I replied seductively. “I’m surprised you had to ask.”

For a moment, Luke studied me intently, then kissed me intensely.

Thank goodness for tinted glass.

“I’ll call you tonight,” he said when we eventually had to part to catch our breath.

“You’ll be busy with your kids,” I replied giving him an out in case he did get too busy.

“I’ll call you tonight, Rachel,” he repeated firmly.

“Okay,” I smiled at him, stroking his chest through the fine knit of the sweater. “I’ll wait up.”

Catching my hand he held it tightly against him, squeezing my fingers.

“I may be a selfish bastard,” said Luke. “But I’d wake you up anyway.”

Thursday morning, Mommy and I set out for Mommy’s hometown, Ennis, Texas for Thanksgiving dinner with our family. Mommy was at the steering wheel for ninety-minute drive south of Dallas. The car radio dial was set to Christian music. I gazed out the window at brown pastures and bare-branch trees.

Thanksgiving dinner always turned into a Cunningham mini-family reunion. Since most of the clan had never ventured much farther than central Texas it was relatively easy for us to get together. It was forbidden to miss graduations, weddings, Big Daddy and Granny’s anniversaries, and of course Thanksgiving. With us all around him, Big Daddy, my grandfather, would strut around like a tribal chief, constantly flirting with Granny as if he were eagerly ready to add to his enormous brood.

Mommy had been the only one of her sisters to get
in trouble
in high school, and during the pregnancy Big Daddy had been so ashamed of her that he would barely speak to her. “But once he saw your cute little puckered-up face,” Granny had assured me when I was older. “All that changed. You was his little doll, and he’s been proud of you ever since.”

Yet as good as he was to me, Big Daddy was not my father, and I had always felt funny being the only one without a father among my cousins. My grandparents’ home was filled with the studio portraits of their children’s families, and among them only Mommy’s had two people. The addition of Robert may have helped appearances but once the divorce had been settled, Granny’s copy of my wedding picture had been put away, although you could still come across Robert in some framed family get-together shots.

“So I guess Betty Sterling’s in her element today, this whole week for that matter,” Mommy said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“For sure,” I agreed. “I’m sure she’s very happy. She likes having her grandchildren visit.”

“You meet them yet?” asked Mommy.

“Friday,” I replied. “We’re having dinner together.”

“How do you think that’s gonna be?”

Her tone sounded like Mommy already knew, and that it wouldn’t be good.

“It’ll be fine,” I said.

Mommy grunted.

“It will,” I insisted. “I’m looking forward to meeting Luke’s kids.”

“They’re Christina’s kids too,” Mommy reminded me. “They’ll take her side.”

“What side? There is no side.”

“Trust me there’s always sides.”

“They were divorced before I came into the picture, Mommy.”

“Before you came
back
into the picture, you mean. Just what do you think Christina’s going to say once she finds out that Luke is involved with one of her bridesmaids? You mark my words, there will be
sides
.”

.

TWENTY-FOUR

I
t was Friday afternoon, evening almost since it was close to six o’clock. I had worked a half-day and then gone home and baked a batch of brownies to take to Luke’s house. According to Luke, at his kids’ request, dinner was going to be pizza. I hoped brownies would be okay. I wasn’t about to show-up empty-handed, and in the office I had a fabulous reputation as a baker. Yes, I wanted to impress.

For all intents and purposes, it was a very big
first date
, fraught with all the perils of the
fix-up
. I tried not to think about what Luke might have told his kids about me since his descriptions would probably be too generous for me to live up to. I needed to be smart
and
attractive, so naturally I had been nervous about what outfit to wear. I wanted to look cute enough for their handsome dad but not slutty. Maybe a little preppy but not persnickety. My makeup had to be age-appropriate and pass an adolescent girl’s review, which I had decided meant a little powder for shine control, a little eyeliner for eye definition, a tiny touch of blush, and lastly some tinted lip balm. Christina’s daughters were as pretty as their mother. I just hoped they weren’t
mean girls
.

Parking my Corolla on the street just to be sure I wasn’t in the way, I took a deep breath and opened the car door. At least I wasn’t in a pink satin dress and my shoes were comfortable. I had studied blended families in my
Marriage and Family
classes when I was getting my Master’s degree. While all families took some work, step-families had special challenges that could be particularly stressful for the children. Maybe that was why Mommy had never married. Divided loyalties could be painful. Not that we were going to become a step-family any time soon, or ever. I didn’t even know for sure if I was an official girlfriend.

I rang the doorbell and readied a friendly smile. It was Luke, however, who opened the door, and I smiled with happiness and relief.

“Hi!” I said.

“A little early,” he observed grinning warmly.

I was looking around for the kids.

“Relax,” he told me. “I sent them for the pizza.”

“Oh,” I said a little sheepishly.

He grinned again, obviously amused by my discomfiture. Once inside he closed the door behind me.

“So what’s in the basket, little girl, asked the wolf?” teased Luke.

I looked down at the basket that I was carrying as if just remembering it.

“Oh, uh brownies. I made them today. With extra chocolate chips.
Ghirardelli
. They’re supposed to be the best. I hope every—”

Abruptly Luke grabbed me by the arm and pulled me down to him, kissing me hungrily.

“What were you saying?” he asked when he let me go.

I tried recall but my heart was beating rapidly, and my legs were all wobbly.

“I-I just wanted,” I stammered. “I mean, we have to have dessert, don’t we? Unless you planned for something else.”

Taking the basket of brownies from me, he set it on his lap.

“Better hang up your jacket,” he said before heading for the kitchen.

The family room showed signs of his kids being here. There was a backpack on the floor, a pair of shoes by the couch, an opened can of
Coke
on a coaster on the coffee table, and DVD boxes scattered around. Somebody’s sweatshirt was draped over the arm of the leather couch.

“Excuse the mess,” said Luke pouring me a glass of merlot. “Comes with the territory,” he added in a reference to his kids I assumed.

“I kinda like it,” I replied as he handed me the wine. “Gives the place a lived-in look.”

He had prepared a big colorful salad to go with the pizza. Red and yellow bell peppers were mixed in with romaine lettuce, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It sat on the kitchen table in a big ceramic bowl. Next to it Luke had placed the basket of brownies. I took a seat at the kitchen bar.

“So you think my place is sterile,” he smiled crookedly.

“I didn’t say that,” I chuckled. “But maybe you are a little OCD.”

“I didn’t used to be.”

Being married to Christina would have changed that I thought. Or maybe just growing up and becoming a father had been the inspiration.

“No,” I agreed smiling back at him and sipping my wine. “You were kind of a slob in school. An adorable one of course.”

“Well I learned the hard way clutter and wheels don’t mix.”

Of course
.

“Makes sense,” I said.

“But I’m still adorable, right?” he asked rolling his chair closer to me and surreptitiously cupping my denim-clad crotch.

As he gently massaged between my legs I squirmed a little and squeezed his hand with my thighs.

“Very much so,” I said catching my breath and enjoying myself.

“You know you might be little OCD yourself,” Luke suggested.

“Can’t be. Cats. They run the house. Toys everywhere.”

I came off the bar stool and sat in Luke’s lap.

“I’d like to meet these creatures of yours,” he said.

But they hated going anywhere and he couldn’t climb the stairs.

“Mm-hmm,” I murmured nibbling his earlobe before moving to his mouth.

The garage door opening ended our miniature make-out session and I quickly collected myself. A minute later Luke’s youngest, TJ, preoccupied with some kind of hand-held video game came into the kitchen, and behind him were the two girls, Kimberly and Patricia. One of them carried a large pizza box. Although I knew all of Luke’s children by their photographs, the girls were close in age and resembled each other and I was scared to make a mistake with their names, so I waited to be formally introduced. The last one in was Luke Jr. who carried two more large pizza boxes.

“Gang, this is Rachel,” Luke introduced me and pointing to each one of the kids he listed their names. “That’s TJ, Pattie, Kim, and Lucas.”

We exchanged hi’s and hey’s, and I thought about shaking their hands but decided that was really just too formal.

“Nice to meet you, Rachel,” Lucas said pleasantly.

“Yeah,” added Kim. “Dad talks about you all the time.”

“Well I hope he’s kind,” I replied nervously, realizing that that sounded dumb as soon as I said it.

In their various pictures I had been able to see the combination of Luke and Christina’s genes on display, but seeing them in person provided a whole new level of revelation. They were really good-looking kids. Pattie and Lucas had their father’s height, while Kim was a little shorter, and either TJ hadn’t had his growth spurt yet or he was going to be shorter too like his mother.