Her laugh was bright, and her eyes shone. For her, it was a nice memory. For him, it was a flashback to the day he and Heath met. This was the grand story he hadn’t been able to deliver. Shame Heath hadn’t stuck around to hear it.
“Tell me.”
“I was literally in my hotel suite, in my dress, when he burst in and dropped to one knee.”
“And you said yes.”
She nodded, fiddling with the rings again. “I’d been in love with him for a while, but despite a few close encounters, he’dnever confirmed he felt the same. I think it was because of you.”
“I’m… sorry?”
“No, I’m sorry, and I mean it. I shouldn’t have said yes. I shouldn’t have gone through with the planning. I do care for you, and a life together wouldn’t have been horrible, but it wasn’t really what I wanted.”
“You’re really fluffing my ego here, Lu.”
“Empathy isn’t my best trait, Evan. You know that.”
“The special arrangements at the resort. Why?”
“I wanted you to know I was sorry.”
It was his turn to blink. “By rubbing my dead mother in my face and stranding me on two sides of an island alone?”
“How often do you drive past that house and check on the flowers?”
He looked at his shoes. “Occasionally.”
“I obviously don’t have the full picture of your relationship with your mom, but those roses are important to you. They’re a tangible connection to her. I wanted her there with you, so you wouldn’t be alone.”
“That is dangerously close to empathy, you know.”
“I said it isn’t my best trait, not that I don’t have any at all.”
“Okay, so the stranding?”
“Evan, you’re always on. I remembered how you’d sometimes wish you could disappear to an island and just exist as you are, especially after rough cases. That was a day totally to yourself, to just exist.”
He coughed to smother the tickle in his throat that felt uncomfortably like a sob trying to sneak free. “Dammit, Lucy.”
“What?”
He couldn’t tell her how sweet that was, because she’d roundhouse kick him for implying she was capable of such a thing. “What about the plane?”
“I’ve flown commercial on that route. It’s awful. After everything else, I thought you’d appreciate a ride.”
He thought back to the commercial flights and where they’d led him. “I dunno. Commercial isn’t so bad.”
“Have you told him?”
“Told who what?”
“Coy isn’tyourbest trait.”
“I just talked to him. He’s not interested in picking back up.”
“Did you tell him how you feel about him?”
“So he could tell me to my face that wasn’t what he’d been looking for? I’m good, thanks.”
