Back To Luke

“It wasn’t the only reason I left, Jaynie.”

“I know it wasn’t. You weren’t really happy at Cornell and couldn’t wait to get back to Riverdale. If it hadn’t been for my dad bringing in a team of New York lawyers, I would have left, too.”

By the end of the year, both she and Jess had been exonerated—and the college had dropped the whole matter, punishing no one—but kind, sweet Jess’s heart wasn’t in architecture like hers was. He’d come home to Riverdale, finished a four-year degree at a local college in social work and went into community service. He’d been ecstatic when, ten years ago, he’d been appointed head of Harmony Housing, which built low-income housing projects subsidized by the government and involving several volunteer groups.

“Anyway, there’s nothing you can do but wait, so you’ll do it here.”

“That’s what your mother said.”

“She’s a smart woman.”

“Luke Corelli doesn’t feel the way you do.”

Jess shook his head. “He’s way overprotective.”

“Because he knows how Naomi feels about me and you?”

“You know about that?”

“Luke made a point of bringing it up.”

“Maybe that’s why he’s protective, but other things have happened to him.”

Jayne didn’t ask what. She’d decided last night that the less she knew about Luke’s life, the better.

“I’m sorry Naomi still misunderstands our relationship.”

“Me, too. I know intellectually it’s because her father and brother cheated on their spouses, and I try to understand that, but I resent her for grouping me in with all of them. Hell, we’ve been married for seventeen years.”

“You can avoid feeding her fears, Jess, like we decided to do six years ago.”

Again his features hardened and his hazel eyes sharpened. “That’s not going to happen. I stopped seeing you then to appease her. It worked. No fights, nothing. I told her, though, if you ever needed me, I was going to be there for you. Now, she’s reneging on her part when I kept my promise. I haven’t put my foot down about anything else, but I won’t let you go through this alone.”

“I…”

“Damn it, Jayne. It infuriates me that we never gave her reason to be jealous and I still had to end my relationship with you.”

“I know.”

“Please say you’ll stay.”

She wanted to, badly. And she was weakening. “Well, it might be a good idea to put off working on those new projects until I’m sure the firm will keep them. What could I do here?”

Jess chuckled. “I know just the thing.”

LUKE SAT on Jess’s front porch and watched dusk fall on Riverdale. He was so glad to be back in town, he sometimes wondered why he’d ever left in the early nineties.

Fame and fortune, Timmy had said. We’ll make millions in the building boom in Dubai. Just think, no more depending on family. No more scrimping or dilapidated cars.

Luke hadn’t minded depending on his family, but the fact that there was never enough money to go around always bothered him. And he’d lost his chance at an athletic scholarship when he blew his knee out playing football, so he’d thrown caution to the winds and gone overseas with Timmy. It had been the worst decision of his life, because they had indeed made money, and it destroyed his friend.

“Want something?” Naomi stood behind the screen leading to the kitchen.

Luke held up his beer. “Already got it.” When she came out, he studied the slim blonde with sad blue eyes. “You look as tired as the girls. I should leave.”

“No, don’t.” She dropped down beside him on a padded porch chair. “I won’t sleep until Jess gets back.”

“Will you fight?”

“Who knows? Now that Jayne Logan is back in our lives, anything could happen.”

“This is so unlike Jess. I can’t figure it out.”

Naomi shook her head. “Join the club.” Her voice trembled. “I can’t believe he’s doing this to me again. It was horrible when he went to California to see her, or when she visited here and they spent time together. But I thought his contact with her was over.”

“He swears there’s nothing between them, Nay. That they never had an affair.”

“I’m so sick of that argument. Even if it never got physical—which I find hard to believe, especially after seeing her again, seeing how pretty she is—the emotional connection between them is enough of a betrayal.” She shook her head. “They’re so close, Luke.”

“I could tell.”

“You don’t like her much, do you?”

He had a blinding flash of tangled sheets, sweaty bodies, and Jayne clinging to him as he drove into her. “Uh, no.”

“Why?”

“For one, I know the part she’s played in the trouble between you and Jess. Second, I met women like her in my old life.” He thought of tall, slender and very sophisticated Elizabeth Madison, whom he thought he was going to marry. “They aren’t known for their loyalty. She also reminds me of me when I was working in that world.”

“You weren’t so bad.”

“Thanks, sweetie. But I was.”

“Is this about Timmy again?”

“I don’t want to talk about Timmy. In any case, Jess should respect your wishes, Nay.”

Slowly, she ran her finger around the top of the glass. “To be fair, he’s done that for six years.”

“What do you mean?”

Looking up at him, she asked, “He didn’t tell you why he hasn’t seen her in all that time?”

“No. I thought he just realized the cost was too high.”

“He didn’t go into specifics?”

Luke shook his head. He’d never wanted to talk about Jayne with Jess, because of what he’d found out when he got back to Riverdale, and because of what had occurred between the two of them in New York.