They were on their way back up the dirt road for some last shots in the wildflower field when another figure came into view, walking down the track. As soon as they were close enough, his eyes found Luca’s. When he politely pulled Luca aside, Luca’s stomach sank with inevitability.
“Jayden,” he said with a solemn nod.
“Luca,” Jayden returned. He looked away, eyes squinting into the distance, while Luca’s tracked the wedding party, fading away up the hill. As the silence stretched, Luca almostexcused himself. Even though he’d known, as soon as they’d left the livestock, that his help with the photos wasn’t actually needed. Still, he could maybe make sure they kept away from the bee boxes.
“Look,” Jayden said, before Luca could bail. “This isn’t my finest moment, I know. But I just need to know, because I know Em will never tell me.”
He took a deep breath before looking Luca in the eye.
“Are you sleeping together?”
Well. There it was.
And maybe Luca should have hesitated. Thought more about what Emerson would’ve wanted him to say.I know Em will never tell me.But in that moment, the heavy resignation he’d felt ever since Jayden had shown up started to lift.
Because whydidLuca feel so resigned? This man didn’t have the sole rights to Emerson King.
Emerson and Lucaweresleeping together, and Luca wanted Jayden to know. Luca wanted everyone to know.
“Yes.”
Jayden inhaled. Exhaled as he looked down at his feet. Nodded to himself.
“Okay,” he said before he once more met Luca’s gaze.
“I still love him,” he said. “And I always will. Which I’m only telling you because—if you hurt him, I’ll kill you.”
Luca clenched his jaw. A litany of possible responses scrolled through his mind.
You think I don’t already know that?
Rich of you to threaten me when you’re the one who left. You’re the one who’s already hurt him.
Or perhaps a simple, time-tested,Fuck you.
The one that echoed in his head the longest, though?—
I love him, too.
And it was this that made Luca keep his mouth closed. That made him think it through first.That made him think about the look of relief on Emerson’s face this morning when Jayden said he was here to help. Those photos on Emerson’s wall, his and Jayden’s arms around Daisy, Daisy smiling back at both of them. He tried to picture what kind of father this man in front of him was. What songs he sang to her when she couldn’t sleep. If he ever got down on the floor with her to play with Moomoo.
Luca didn’t know what was happening between him and Emerson, not truly, not for sure. But he knew, if he wanted to at least try to keep Emerson King, he couldn’t punch his ex-husband. He probably couldn’t even secretly hate him.
“Okay,” Luca said.
And then he and Jayden stared at each other for another ten seconds. Until Jayden eventually nodded again. “Okay,” he echoed.
And he started to turn away, until he turned back.
“Oh,” he added. “And my daughter talks about you all the time. So if you hurt her too, I’ll kill you twice.”
Luca clenched his jaw again, the implication that he would even consider hurting Daisy making him want to punch something again.
But then—Jayden was Daisy’s actual father. He had the right to protect her. Luca would’ve done the same.
“Understood,” he said, voice tight.
Jayden nodded.
