Jenny’s expression morphed from a grimace to a small smile. “They brought Lucky along. They’ve been trying to match him up for years.”
“Lucky?” Zach said.
“Lucky Steele. Mrs Churchill and her sister live down the road, next door to one another. Lucky’s Mrs Churchill’s nephew. He stays out here when he’s down.”
“Are you sure his name isn’t Unlucky?” Zach mumbled.
Jenny laughed. “He’s a sweet little flirt. Charms all the girls, but never leaves with one. I’ve always wondered if . . . well. Feel sorry for him if it’s true. With family like that.” Jenny waved. “Seat free over here if you want it, Lucky.”
Noah stiffened, Zach already ahead of him.
The Churchills approached and Jenny cut the older two off, steering them to the opposite corner of the room and a romantic table for two.
How smoothly Jenny had separated Lucky from his overbearing family. Lucky sagged into the chair opposite them in relief. “Oh, thank God. Or . . . not, come to think of it.”
He grinned at them—a very soft, pretty smile, showing a wedge of very white teeth. His hair was carefully coiffed and he was blessed with very dark lashes, making his eyes magnetic. Not Noah’s type at all, but clearly born to beauty.
They took awkward turns introducing themselves, Lucky’s hand stiffening in their handshake when he heard Noah’s name. His gaze was shrewd, as if maybe he remembered Noah from somewhere. Noah couldn’t say the same.
Zach groaned. “Now they’ll be looking at us all night.”
“Better than preaching at you,” Noah said.
Lucky agreed. “Oh, look. Jenny’s thought of that. Her daughter’s coming to join us. Let’s all scooch.”
Jenny’s daughter looked exactly like Jenny, wild and spirited, but thirty years younger and in the tightest pair of jeans Noah had ever seen.
She winked, in on the whole joke, and flirted with Lucky, hand squeezing his bicep frequently.
Noah rather wished his beer would go down faster. Although, he had wanted distraction . . .
Zach glanced up from his phone suddenly, sharply, green eyes lighting up. He stood, cupped his lips and called for Brandy.
The pressed suit slid between Noah and Zach and all at once Noah felt quite isolated. He wanted Wade here, too.
Jenny’s daughter disappeared, and Noah found himself being stared at.
He smiled. “Jenny said you stay around here when you visit. Where are you from?”
“New Plymouth.”
Noah shifted, and his beer inched coldly down his throat. “New Plymouth. I know someone who’s just moved from there. He was up just last week helping a friend move.”
Lucky laughed but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I wonder if that someone is someone we know in common. Wade Ferrars?”
Noah dropped his beer glass back to the table. “Lucky. Luc.”
“I grew up being called Lucky. Wade was the only one who refused.” Luc smiled fondly. “He would always say ‘be in charge of your own name. Make your own Luc’.”
So many thoughts hit Noah at once, he wasn’t sure what to fix on. His smile, the quality of it . . . it suggested depth. As did his story. “He would always say” —a smoothly dropped pebble in still water. Wade and I have known one another a long time.
Well. Fair, wasn’t it? Luc was Wade’s best friend. It was only natural to emphasise the scope of their relationship, the sentimentality of it.
Noah met those long-lashed eyes. “Did you recognise my name when we shook hands?”
Luc chuckled. “I did wonder if you were the Noah I’ve heard so much about.”
Wade spoke of him. That . . . Well. He smiled into another sip of beer.
“I’m glad he’s made some friends down here. It will help, when . . .”
“When?”
Luc glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the Churchills. “Another time.”
They were surrounded by music and movement and hot food and laughter, and Noah might have been standing outside, barefoot on the pavement, looking in. He couldn’t shake off the creeping cold.
Luc smiled and Noah didn’t want to believe it patronising, but that’s the word that flitted to mind.
“Let’s just say Wade and I have plans.”
Zach ripped out of his conversation with Brandon, bright eyes shifting to Luc. “Wade? You know Wade Ferrars?”
Noah groaned softly.
“Yes. We met at intermediate. Then in college I was his English tutor, among other things.”
Zach whipped a grin to Noah and back. “Was he always so bad at singing?”
Luc laughed. “We still joke about it.”
The words stole something from Noah. A moment he’d thought belonged to Wade and him and his brother. It was hard to swallow, the realization Wade shared similar moments with others.
But again. He was being too sensitive. Wade had never hidden his friendship with Luc. Had even proclaimed he’d do anything for Luc. They had a history.
Noah was the interloper here. To Luc, Noah was the one threatening to push all those memories to second place.
