“The hell you will.” Tom threw his arm across Patty’s shoulders. “The place is yours for the night and don’t mention money again.”
“Did you say tomorrow night?” Lucas asked. Sid tensed.
“Yeah,” Joe said. “Around six o’clock.”
Lucas rubbed a hand across his forehead. “I won’t be there.”
“What do you mean you won’t be there?” Beth asked.
Silence settled into the room like a fog blanketing the bay.
“Why won’t you be there?” Joe asked, gripping the back of his chair until his knuckles were white.
Sid knew what was coming next.
Because I’m going back to Richmond tomorrow morning,” Lucas said. He hadn’t intended to drop the words like a live grenade, but keeping them in was killing him. And now, with the dinner planned, he had to be honest.
His mother gasped. Beth dropped into her chair. Tom cursed under his breath, and Joe continued his vise grip on the buffed oak.
Sid didn’t react at all. Why didn’t she react?
“I don’t understand,” Patty said. “You’re supposed to stay a few more weeks. Why now?”
“Yes,” Joe all but growled. “Why now?”
“Something came up at work.” The words felt lame on his tongue. “They need me.”
He didn’t see any point in sharing the detail regarding his job security. They’d all think he’d jeopardized his career to come down here, and he didn’t want anyone feeling guilty on his behalf. He’d made his own choices.
Now he had to make another one.
“If they need you for a case, then you have to go,” Beth said, gripping Joe’s hand. “If we’d known—”
“I didn’t know until a couple days ago,” Lucas said. “It all happened pretty fast.”
He had yet to make eye contact with Sid. Afraid of what he’d see in her yes. Would she hate him? Would she care? When he finally glanced her way, the look on her face was inscrutable.
“If you all don’t mind, I’d like to talk to Sid outside.”
Lucas wanted to make sure she didn’t think he was leaving because of Beth and Joe. What he and Sid had the last two weeks was special. He’d never leave her believing she’d been a stand-in for another woman. She deserved to know how much she meant to him.
No one spoke. Sid nodded, pushed her chair further back, and walked out of the room. Lucas followed. When he stepped onto the porch, Sid was standing at the rail looking out toward the towering oaks.
“So this is it,” she said.
“I wanted to tell you before.”
“But you just found out yourself.” She turned, face placid. As if they were discussing the weather. “You’ll need to pack up your things. Get an early start on the drive.”
“Sid,” he said, and waited for her to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
She raised one shoulder. “For what? We always knew you were leaving.”
“But what we’ve had.” He moved toward her. She shrugged him off and dropped into a blue Adirondack chair.
“What we’ve had is a casual fling. That’s what we agreed on.”
Why was she being so callous? Didn’t she care about him at all?
“That’s how it started. But—”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I promised I could handle casual and would be fine when it was time for you to leave.” She picked at a spot of loose paint on the arm of the chair. “So it’s a little earlier than we planned. Shit happens.”
Shit happens? Shit happens?
“You’re right,” he said, a dead weight filling his chest. He’d done it again. Fallen for a woman who didn’t fall back. “We had a good time for a couple weeks. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.”
The words were cruel. He shouldn’t have said them.
“I have no complaints,” she said, rising out of the chair. He thought he saw her lip quiver, but when she turned his way, her jaw was set, eyes dry. “I mean, there was never any chance of you staying. Right?”
“Right. There’s nothing here for me.” Her chin flexed as if she’d taken a punch. Lucas fought the urge to break everything on the porch. “My life is back in Richmond. That’s where I belong.”
Sid nodded. “I forgot I told Randy I’d help him with something this morning.” She charged down the steps. “The door is unlocked so you can have someone run you over to the house for your things. You should probably stay here tonight. Get a good night’s sleep so you’ll be awake for the drive.”
She was in the truck seconds later. He wanted to go after her, tell her he was an ass, but what good would that do? He was still leaving. A piece of gravel pinged off his knee when she backed out of the driveway, but Lucas didn’t move. He just watched her drive away.
Leaving him before he could leave her.
He’d never know she pulled off the road half a mile away and cried until she couldn’t breathe.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The gut-wrenching cry took a full five minutes before Sid could pull back onto the road. There was still enough drizzle in the air to keep the tourists off the streets, thank goodness. By the time she found herself in the parking lot of Anchor Adventures, she’d pulled herself together as much as possible, blown her nose on some napkins from her glove compartment, and ruled out having Randy kick Lucas’s ass.
Partly because she didn’t believe her brother should fight her battles, but mostly because she knew she’d hurt Lucas as much as he’d hurt her. Maybe this was exactly what they needed to do to get him off the island. No tearful, sappy good-bye, see-you-next-time scene for them. Better to cut it off at the knees and kill it dead.
Which was probably why she felt like roadkill.
Sid slipped in the back door, hoping to reach Randy’s office without encountering anyone else. She may have pulled it together, but she wasn’t stupid. Her eyes were red and puffy, clear evidence she’d been crying.
With great relief, she reached the office unnoticed.
“Morning,” Randy said, pen poised over some papers. “I didn’t know you were coming by today.”
Sid sniffed. “If anyone asks, yes you did.” She didn’t make a habit of lying, which is why she’d driven to Randy’s at all. Because she’d said that’s where she was going.
Randy’s eyes narrowed. “Where is he?”
“Who?” Sid asked, examining the back of her hand as if something new had grown there.
“Is he still where I can reach him, or was he smart enough to hide?”
“If by he you mean Lucas, he’s still on the island. For another day anyway.”
“I see.” Her brother crossed the office and wrapped her in his arms.
And Sid fell apart. Again.
Several minutes later, Sid held a bottle of water in one hand and a tissue in the other. Her breathing was returning to normal and Randy sat beside her, patient and silent. He was using his Zen crap on her. She could feel it.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Sit there all silent and meditative.”
Randy chuckled. “Would you rather I rage against the walls on your behalf?”
Sid sniffled. “You couldn’t rage if you tried. I’m just not in the mood for deep thought right now. I want to wallow and not have to hear about how I should get in touch with my inner being and find peace with this situation.”
“For the record, all I’m doing is sitting here. But I would recommend you try some steady breathing to stop that hiccupping.” Sid took a deep breath and Randy asked, “Want to tell me what happened?”
Did she? Did she even know what happened? “It’s kind of a long, complicated story.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, crossing his arms, which was a feat considering his chest was nearly as wide as the doorway. “Did you have a fight?”