Page 78 of The Long Way Found

When he got home, Marley greeted him at the door like he'd been gone for days. Luke sat on the floor, letting the dog climb into his lap, all seventy pounds of unconditional love.

His phone buzzed. Another text from Jack.

Luke looked at it for a long time.

Then he set the phone aside and sat there with his dog, in his house, in his life he'd built from nothing.

Tomorrow, he'd deal with Jack.

Tonight, he was going to sit here and be okay.

And he was. Mostly.

CHAPTER 29

LUKE

He wasn't surprised to see Jack's Jeep in his driveway. Luke and Marley had jogged to the Sunday morning meeting and back, a nice, grounding workout on an overcast morning. He watched Jack get out of the vehicle and wave. Marley trotted up to greet him, and Jack bent down to pat him on the head.

"Hi," Jack said to Luke.

"Hi."

Silence for a couple of beats, and Jack opened his Jeep door and took out a wrapped gift.

"I was going to give you this at the party," Jack said. "And please, I'm so sorry I couldn't come. I just… well, it doesn't matter why. I'm not going to make excuses. I was wrong. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Luke remained silent, listening.

"Can we go inside?" Jack asked. "You must hate me."

"I don't hate you," Luke said quietly. "Come on."

Inside, Luke set the gift on the coffee table without opening it, then walked into the kitchen. He made sure Marley's food and water bowls were full, then put on coffee. After an agonizing wait for the damn coffee to brew, he sat down at the kitchen table with two full cups.

Jack sipped and looked up at him expectantly.

Luke looked out the window for a second, gathering his thoughts, then turned to Jack and finally spoke.

"Thank you for apologizing," he said calmly. "I don't hate you. But I was angry and probably still am. You really hurt me. And we need to talk about why."

"Luke, I⁠—"

Luke held up his hand gently. "Please. Let me say this first."

Jack nodded, his jaw tight.

"I'm not just talking about Friday night," Luke said. "Friday was just the clearest example of what's been happening since we started this."

"What do you mean?"

"You. I’m talking about you, how every time we get close, you pull back. You leave in the middle of the night after we fall asleep together. You fuck my brains out instead of having difficult conversations with me. You told me to 'be cool' about my own birthday party, like I was asking too much by wanting you there."

Jack's hands tightened around his coffee cup.

"And when I told you I loved you..." Luke's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "Do you remember what you said?"

Silence.