Never Lie (66)

“It’s in the documentation office,” she says. And she winks at me. “You should go there right now.”

I follow Gloria’s cryptic instructions and head to the documentation room. I’m guessing it’s donuts. Patients love to bring in donuts. I skipped breakfast this morning, so I suppose I wouldn’t mind a munchkin or two. Just this one time, I’ll live dangerously.

But when I get to the room, I discover what Gloria was excited about. It’s not donuts.

It’s Luke.

I stare at him for a moment, my heart pounding. I haven’t seen him in nearly five months, since that day he stormed out of my house after I asked him to… Well, we all know what I asked him to do. I had forgotten quite how handsome he is. He’s clean-shaven, his dark brown hair newly clipped, wearing a freshly ironed dress shirt and a brown tie. And he’s wearing that aftershave again. The same brand he was wearing the first night we were together.

Luke looks up from his computer at the sound of my footsteps in the entranceway to the room. He sucks in a breath when he sees me. “Adrienne…”

“Oh.” I tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I… I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Just had to do a software update.” He coughs into his hand. “You usually come on Tuesdays. So I figured Thursday you wouldn’t be here…”

“I’m working an extra day.” I hate how formal we sound when we’re talking to each other. Like we’re strangers. Like we didn’t almost move in together. Like he wasn’t the first man I had ever fallen in love with. “I’m playing catch up after my book tour.”

“Right.” He bobs his head. “I saw your book came out. Congratulations.”

“Thank you. You didn’t… Did you read it?”

He hesitates for a beat. “Yes. I did. It was really good. Better than your last book even.”

“You think so?”

“I wouldn’t lie.”

“Well.” I plaster a smile on my lips. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

We both stare at each other for a moment, the air between us heavy with everything that happened the last time we saw each other. When he stormed out of my house.

Finally, he blurts out, “I miss you.”

A lump rises in my throat. “You do?”

“I really do.” He stands up and leans against the desk. “A lot. You have no idea…”

I attempt to swallow the lump. “I took care of that… situation. I paid him off.”

A lie, of course. I wonder if Luke knows it. Maybe he’s decided not to care.

“I shouldn’t have run out on you like that.” He adjusts his glasses on his nose. “I know you didn’t really mean that we should… I mean, I should’ve helped you figure out the situation. I just got freaked out. I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you.” I clear my throat. “And… I miss you too. A lot.”

His shoulders sag. “I’m so glad to hear that. Honestly, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you the last few months. I tried—believe me, I tried. But it’s no use. I can’t even sleep at night because I keep tossing and turning, thinking about how I blew it with the best woman I ever met.”

I arch an eyebrow. “I could call in a prescription for some Ambien.”

He reaches over and takes my hand in his larger hands. I missed this feeling. “Or you could have dinner with me tonight.”

My lips stretch into a smile. “I’m going to have a late night at the clinic tonight.”

“I can wait.” He leans in towards me. “Also, I have a confession to make. I wasn’t entirely truthful with you.”

My stomach flips. Does he know what I did to EJ? “You weren’t?”

He grins. “The truth is, I knew you were going to be working today. Gloria told me. I asked her what days you would be in this week before I planned my schedule.”

That’s his confession—that he was trying to see me. My knees wobble with relief. I grab his shirt collar and pull him towards me, then I press my lips against his. The way he kisses me back, I know he’s been missing me as much as I’ve missed him.

He’ll never know what I’ve done. I’m going to keep it that way.

_____



Luke and I are meeting tonight at nine o’clock. I tried to finish up the clinic as quickly as I could, leaving behind a stack of paperwork at the end. I’ll probably have to come back tomorrow, but Gloria was nice about it. She knew I made plans with Luke, and she was practically shooing me out the door.

Luke is picking me up at my house, then we’re going out to a restaurant. As much as I’d like to have him inside the house, there’s no way I’m allowing him inside while that body is still underneath my floorboards. Even though the smell seems to have abated, I swear I can still detect a faint whiff of death, especially in my office. I can’t risk having him in the house. If he knows what I’ve done, he’ll never forgive me.

Eventually, I’ve got to get rid of the body. I’m dreading it. It’s like when I was a child and I used to smash a large insect with a heavy book. I knew eventually I would have to pick up the book and clean up the smashed insect. But I always dreaded it.