“Why the FBI? Why not local law enforcement?” She tilted her head at him.
He sighed, swirling his straw through his water. “How much has Mom told you about us?”
“Honestly, I didn’t know she had more than one son until she fell. We don’t get a lot of chances to chat when we’re working.”
Luke nodded, well aware of how busy a day at the diner got. “She met my dad when I was nine. They got married when I was ten. And then when I was seventeen, they had Aaron.”
Her eyebrows formed a red vee on her forehead. “I don’t follow.”
“My Dad was not my father. Aaron and I are only half-brothers, but we’ve never made the distinction. Legally, Marcus was my father because after he and Mom got married, he adopted me. It never mattered to him.”
Immediately, Maggie picked up what he wasn’t saying. “But it mattered to you?”
He blew out a breath. “I couldn’t say anything, but yeah. The kids at school weren’t kind, and the stigma of a single mom was a lot worse back then. Everyone knew he wasn’t really my father because…” he made a waving gesture with his hands, “… small towns.”
Maggie nodded. Her attention was a heady thing. It had him spilling things he had never told anyone before.
“I never wanted to hurt his feelings, so I didn’t say anything. Honestly it wasn’t a big deal until Aaron came along. There I am, seventeen and getting ready to go to college, and they’re starting over with a brand-new baby.”
“You felt replaced.” Her hand reached for his, the understanding in her tone making his throat tighten.
“A little,” he admitted. “I left for school and got my criminal justice degree. While I was there, I went to a career fair and talked to a recruiter for the FBI. It sounded good. I didn’t wantto go back home and interrupt their lives so when I graduated, I started at the Academy.”
“You had to go back to school?”
He nodded. “It’s a short training program for agents. You have to have a degree already.” He paused, sipping at his water. “But the FBI recruiter made it sound like I’d belong there. And for a kid who felt like an outsider in his own family, that was a big draw.”
“How do you like it?”
“It’s… tiring.” She squeezed his hand, encouraging him to continue. “I love how what I do makes a difference, but I’m tired of being sent undercover and not being able to live my life, you know?”
“Can you tell me about your cases?”
“Ehhh…” he made a so-so motion with his hand. “I can’t get specific. A lot of them are classified and I can’t talk about anything that’s an active investigation.”
“That makes sense.” She pulled her hand back, and he almost reached for her again, but the server was laying their plates down. Steam rose from their steaks and Luke’s stomach grumbled.
“Let me know if you need anything,” the server said.
“Thank you,” Maggie replied, then lifted her silverware. “This smells divine.”
Luke hummed in agreement as he cut the first bite. Then he decided to flip the tables on her and find out more about Maggie.
“What drew you to the diner?”
She didn’t look up from cutting into her steak. “I went to several businesses when I got to town, but no one was hiring. It was lunchtime, so I stopped in the diner to grab a bite. Your mom was trying to cook and wait on tables at the same time. I just sort of jumped in.” Maggie chewed her bite and swallowed.“I used to do social media marketing, but that was a long time ago.”
“Did you go to school for that?”
Maggie made a so-so gesture with her hand. “Not really. I got my degree in communications and ended up doing the social media for the startup I landed at. But they failed, as many do.”
“Is that why you left Oklahoma?”
She stilled. “No. That’s not why I left. But I haven’t had a full-time job since then.”
Luke thought back to that first day in the diner when she’d gotten injured. The scars on her arm, the way her wrist seemed … wrong. His instincts were telling him that had more to do with why she left.
“Do you think you’ll go back to that?”
