“What girl?”
“I ran into Jared Wallace during spring break. He told me you were hanging around with some girl at school.”
“There was no girl, Allie.” He sounded confused but adamant. “Wait, was he talking about Sam? She was just a good friend, a study partner, but only a friend.”
Sam. She remembered Luke mentioning the name, but she’d thought it was a boy.
“I wanted to take you to prom, Allie. I wanted to be with you. I—”
Had he been about to say he loved her? Probably wishful thinking. She’d been head over heels for him. Truth be told, she’d never felt as strongly for anyone else. But maybe that was just because she’d carried a torch for him for so many years.
“I was just afraid of losing the only family I had. And in the process... I ended up losing you.”
A crack splintered her heart. Not for her own pain, but for his. He had so little in the way of family, and she’d taken a bit of that from him. She’d carried this grudge like a shield for seven years. She was finally ready to lay it down.
“I understand now, Luke. I forgive you. I’m sorry for giving you the cold shoulder all these years.”
“Thank you.” The rain let up, the shack going quieter. “Could we...? Do you think we could ever be friends again? I’ve missed you, Allie.”
Her lips tipped up in a smile, warmth filling her insides. “Sure. I’d like that a lot.”
Chapter 9
“What happened? Did you wreck the car? Oh, Bill, Allie wrecked the car!”
Allie shifted in the passenger seat, rolling her eyes at Luke. “No, Mother, I didn’t wreck the car. There was a thunderstorm in the mountains, the bridge was flooded, and then it started hailing and—”
“Hailing!”
“No worries, the car is fine. We had to stay overnight, but I lost signal and couldn’t text you. Everything’s fine now. The storm has passed, and we got over the bridge just fine. We’re almost out of the mountains, in fact.”
“We?”
“Oh...” She spared Luke a glance. “Yeah, I, um, invited Luke along.”
Even though her truce with Luke was still going strong, when she pulled up to her grandparents’ place in this beautiful car, she was going to get credit for its delivery, daggonit.
Her mother’s sigh of relief could be heard from the far sideof Neptune. “Why didn’t you say so, dear? Bill,Lukeis with her—we were worried all night for nothing. Allie, your father hardly slept, honey.”
“I’m sorry, Mom, but like I said, I lost signal in the mountains and we felt it best for the car if we found shelter. Everything is fine though. The car looks great. Perfect.”
Her gaze connected with Luke’s, and she winced, knowing the car was, in fact, a muddy mess. Well, itwouldlook perfect once they took it through the car wash a dozen times or so.
“We’re still about seven hours away.” It was going on nine now, and the party didn’t start until five. “We’ll make it before the party starts.”
“Well, we’ll be outside setting up, so pull all the way around to the back. I’ll make sure your grandparents are out there. They’re going to be so surprised! Bill, put that table down! You’re going to hurt your back again!”
Would it be awful to ask Luke to switch places once they pulled into the driveway? Maybe she could coast into the backyard—it was downhill.
She reassured her mother some more, though it seemed unnecessary now that the responsible Luke Fletcher was along for the ride.
Allie’s entire day’s worth of energy now spent, she said goodbye and tapped the button to disconnect. “Oh my gosh. And why is it that you persist in claiming my parents?”
Luke gave her a sideways look. “Youinvitedme along?”
Allie cringed. “I invited you. Sort of.”
From the back seat Walter yawned and set his big head back on his paws. They’d already stopped to let him out twice, and he’d filled the car with his special aroma three times.
