Page 126 of After We Fall

“Yeah,” he growls. “It’s off the hook. And your cell phone was going straight to voicemail.”

“Sorry,” I say sheepishly.

A text alert dings, and I smile at Meredith’s message.

Glad you’re fine. I told Luke you were. Mr. Cargo Pants can get bossy.

Everything must be well at the ranch if Meredith’s making jokes.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“Am I okay?” He blows out a long breath. “I was surveying a farm in the middle of nowhere Nebraska, with no idea that I didn’t have any cell reception until the owner finally tracked me down. He told me Mary called and said it was urgent. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to manage the situation in Colorado Springs remotely while figuring out how to get home as quickly as possible.”

Good. I’m glad he checked on the ranch. “That sounds stressful.”

“That’s not the worst of it.”

“No?” I ask, drawing my knees up to my chest.

“Ever since Mary said Twelve Bluebells was involved, I’ve had trouble breathing. It’s like someone’s sitting on my chest.” He pauses. “I was so worried about you.” His voice cracks.

“Luke.” I pick at a spot on the bedspread. “I’m okay.”

“All I could think was that something was going to happen to you, and you’d never know.”

I wrap my arms around my legs and hug them to me. “I’d never know what?”

“That I got it wrong.” His deep voice sounds thick. “I didn’t know it, but I got it wrong.”

A cautious hope trickles down my spine. “What did you get wrong?”

“There was a woman at Robert’s funeral. She came with her two daughters and some friends of theirs. Carol Reynolds.”

He must be talking about the woman I noticed crying. “Carol Reynolds?”

“Robert’s fiancée.”

Luke’s mentor had a fiancée.

The air hangs heavy between us.

“I had lunch with Carol. She laid out their entire relationship. Met him a few years ago, and he fought their connection the entire time. But she said he broke down and they got engaged. He wanted to tell me, was waiting to introduce me, but he got cancer. Then, she said, it was all about him trying to beat the cancer in time for their wedding. Didn’t let anyone know, really, how bad it was.” His voice clogs with emotion, and he’s silent for a few beats.

I turn my head to the side and rest my cheek on my knees, trying to imagine what it would be like to learn too late that your friend had met his future wife. But more, that he was sick.

Tragic. At the very least, profoundly sad because you didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to the person you revered, the only father figure in your life, the one who shaped you into the man you are today.

“I’ve spent the last week trying to wrap my head around something Carol said.”

I clear my throat. “What’s that?”

“She said Robert told her he had one regret. That he fought his feelings for her and lost time he could’ve been married to her and doing life with her.” He pauses, and I can almost feel his pain through the phone. Then he whispers, agony in his voice, “That’s what I got wrong, Penelope.”

“What did you get wrong?”

“I shouldn’t have wasted more time. I should have told you the truth. I should have told you what I wanted.”

Lean in.