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The baggage carousel surged behind her and she turned to watch. Lucas wasn’t one for mystical or symbolic signs, but his mother would have said that meant to move on. Why wasn’t he surprised?
He shook his head. This was so Emma. They were so wrong in what they’d done to themselves and, more important, to Doreen. Who exactly did they think they were? Hollywood celebrities?
He touched Doreen’s arm and she looked at his hand, then his eyes.
“We haven’t officially met, but I feel like I know you already. Lucas McCoy. Terrible way to meet, but it is what it is.”
“You do know me, Lucas,” she said, touching his hand. “I’m so sorry.” She then did an unexpected thing: she hugged him.
Instinct made him hug her back, but the man in him enjoyed the feel of a woman who genuinely wanted to comfort him. He caught his breath and let his mind race back over the last months to all the signs he should have paid attention to. All the questions he should have asked. The additional trips to New York he should have taken. He needed to officially end things with Emma.
Doreen stepped back.
“There,” she said, looking embarrassed. “At least I feel a bit better. I’m still sorry, though.”
“Don’t apologize unless this was your idea.”
Her smile was quick. “It definitely wasn’t.”
“Emma and I should have had a conversation on the phone and saved a whole lot of money.”
“Sometimes those conversations are the hardest ones to have, Lucas. I guess that’s why she couldn’t come. I’m not making excuses for her. I’m suggesting that she just couldn’t say the words.”
Doreen shrugged and turned to look at the luggage. Her hair was gorgeous as it swung well past her shoulders, cut into a shagged V, ending between her shoulder blades. The cut didn’t make sense to him, but it looked good.
“You expecting a bag?” he asked.
“I am.”
“So you’re the bearer of bad news? This in your job description?”
Pain seemed to shoot up her right cheek and end in her forehead. All of the muscles moved and she stopped them with her fingers, and he was sorry he asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“What color is your suitcase?”
“Red.”
“Not black? That’s good. Easier to spot.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. He wasn’t usually so sarcastic. He searched for another line of conversation, but he decided that silence in the midst of the airport noise was better.
Her bag popped up, and like a New York woman Doreen reached past businessmen and wrestled her bag off the conveyer. Men stepped to the side, some acting scared, others laughing. She ignored them and him.
“Doreen, let me get it.” Lucas eased it from her hands. “How long are you intending to stay?”
“I have a flight out tonight, but I thought perhaps we’d have time for a bite and I could see the house.”
“First thing’s first. Leaving tonight isn’t going to happen. While you were flying down, all of the flights going out for today were canceled. You see that long line over there?” Lucas pointed to the row of people snaking up and down like the security check-in line.
“Yes.” She looked crestfallen, her mouth hanging open.
“That’s for flight reservations to get out of here.”
“That’s terrible.” She looked even more uncomfortable. Her black bag slipped down her shoulder and landed in her fingers. She looked like she was thinking of her next move. “I need to get back.”
“Not happening tonight. Let me borrow your phone.”
Lucas dialed Emma’s number and she picked up immediately. “How’d he take it?”
His heart didn’t skip a beat as it had earlier when reality had set in. It hadn’t yesterday or last month. His body didn’t go through any of the physical transformations it used to at the sound of her voice. None of the reactions happened that used to happen, and he knew they were over. He hadn’t heard her voice in two weeks, and for a second he wished their end could have been different, but they’d been over for a while and nothing would change that.
“I’m taking our breakup just fine, Emma. It would have been better if you’d just come out and told me, though.”
Doreen walked off and he appreciated her discretion.
“I’m sorry, Lucas.”
“Yeah, me, too. Why couldn’t you just tell me it wasn’t working for you?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to get into an argument. I could ask you the same thing.” There was no accusation in her voice, just a bit of melancholy.
“I’d hoped we could have fixed whatever was broken this weekend.”
“I’m not a piece of wood that can be crafted. We would have had a chance if you’d stayed up here, but you chose to go to Key West.”
“You’re right. But work took me up there to New York and brought me back here. Had you not agreed to come here, I wouldn’t have started with you,” he said gently. “This is the last thing I wanted.” His family was so small. Just him and his mother. While she was alive, he wanted to be near her.
“I know, sweetheart.”
She relented her tough New York stance, the ball-breaking woman she’d sometimes become when she had to have her way. He’d loved to watch her move between both worlds, though she’d done it rarely the last few times he’d seen her. Lucas blamed himself. He should have known then she was making a permanent change. He doubted he’d ever see this side of Emma again—if he ever saw her again.
“I know your business is important, and your mom,” she said. “You know I don’t need my family, and I didn’t mind the idea of moving away from them, but it’s New York I’d miss.”
“You’re a hustler, baby. You love your job, the pace of the city, and the wheeling and dealing. Key West is too sedate for you.”
“NYC is in me, Lucas.” Emma laughed softly and he joined her. “Just like I know it’s not in you.”
“Come on, now. I liked New York well enough,” he said. “But there comes a time when you have to follow your priorities. Money isn’t everything. Family, love, all mean something to me.”
“We hadn’t had love for a while. I never had the guts to ask you to come back here when it wasn’t in your heart, Lucas. I just hoped you’d want to and you never did. If you’re honest, you’ll find out you stopped loving me a while ago, but honor made kept you pursuing our relationship. Now I’m going to let you go.”
“Wait.” He sighed her name softly. People were coming in from the rain, but he focused on none. “I’m sorry, Emma.”
“Me too. I’ll never forget you.” Her voice cracked. “You’re a really good man.”
He turned, looking at Doreen and her brown highlighted hair. Crouched over her bag, she pulled out a coat and was unzipping compartments in search of something else. Every minute or two she’d scoot up to keep up in line. Why was she in the car-rental line anyway?
He pulled himself back to his phone conversation. “Listen, Emma. No more flights are going out tonight, so Doreen will be here overnight. Maybe a couple nights, depending on the hurricane.” He rubbed his eyes, ready to hang up and drink a beer to forget this day.
“No problem. Tell her to call when she’s on her way home.”
“Okay.