After opening the passenger door for her, he got in and cranked up the heater. It was too loud to talk with the air on full blast, and for a minute they just sat there in silence. Once it was warm, he turned the heater down and sat back.
“Just tell me, whatever it is.” Tara gave a nervous laugh. “It can’t be worse than anything my imagination is coming up with. Did Derek declare me off limits or something?”
“I was the one who broke the two of you up.”
Tara stared at him in shock.
“I… I was never a big fan of his quick jump into getting engaged to you after he broke up with Jody, and I didn’t exactly keep that secret. I stayed away from you two. Yeah, I was busy, but I was purposely busy when he invited me to things. It ticked him off, and he stopped talking to me for a while there, but then he called me the week of the wedding, just wanting to talk. It took him a while to get around to what was bothering him. But he finally said he didn’t know if he was making the right decision in marrying you. So, I told him… I told him he should call it off. He didn’t want to. He said it was too late and he had to go through with it. I told him no way. I told him…” Luke squeezed his temples. He had to get it all out. Holding anything back now wouldn’t be right.
“I told him Jody still had feelings for him and if he still had feelings for her, he shouldn’t marry someone else.” Meeting the pain in Tara’s eyes just about killed him. “I’m so sorry.”
She nodded, keeping her palms squeezed together between her knees. “Wow. Okay, um. I don’t know what to say to that.”
“You don’t have to say anything. Again, I’m sorry.”
He pulled out of the parking spot and drove back to the sushi place, not wanting her to have to tell him to do it. The date was officially over. He felt like a big piece of his happiness was officially over.
She touched his arm briefly, said nothing, and got out of the car, heading directly for hers. The pain and disappointment in her eyes had said it all. The drive home felt like the longest of his life.
