Darkness at the Edge of Town (Iris Ballard #2)(85)

“Yeah, it all just…hit me. I-I’m gonna go lie down in the car. Thank you for a lovely evening, Joyce. Don. Excuse me.”

I started hurrying toward the gate and made it three steps before Luke was beside me. “Do you need me to carry you?” he whispered.

“What? No. Jesus!”

“What did she say to you?” he asked.

He’s in love with me. “Nothing. I just have a stomachache.” Not a lie; it just wasn’t from the food. “And I think I do have half an hour before I completely pass out.”

“Right,” he said curtly. He didn’t believe me. I wouldn’t have believed me either.

He followed me to the car, now keeping a few feet of distance between us. I climbed into the backseat, scooting as far from him as I could, rested my head on the door, and shut my eyes. The only sound was from his slightly deep breathing. He was angry at me again; I could sense it. It was an agonizing two minutes before Grandma and Grandpa finally got in too. “You okay back there, you two?” Grandpa said.

Like a coward, I kept my eyes closed and pretended to sleep. “We’re fine,” Luke said.

“Right,” Grandpa said before starting the car.



I actually did fall asleep for a minute on the drive, because I literally snorted awake when the car stopped. I snorted like a pig in front of the man in love with me. Everyone stared at me and laughed. “She’s awake now,” Grandma said.

“Sorry,” I said.

“Rise and shine, Miss Piggy,” Grandpa said. “We’re home.”

As Grandpa retrieved Luke’s suitcase, I walked toward the house. “Seriously, you don’t have to leave. I’ve slept on many a couch before,” Luke said.

“No. Really this gives us an excuse to spend time with Faye. You saw how she was. It’s time we all had a good, long talk with her.”

“Are you okay, pet?” Grandma whispered to me on the walk.

“Fine.”

She leaned in and whispered, “Joyce told us what happened.”

My stomach clenched again and that final spasm really did make me sick. Nerves, fifty-seven ounces of coffee and sugar, and seven emotional upheavals were too much for my digestive tract to take. I literally ran to the toilet, barely making it in time.

Day. From. Hell.

At least the pain and diarrhea helped me focus on something besides my increasingly complicated life. When I was done expelling my entire digestive lining, I didn’t want to leave the bathroom, mostly due to mortification. Mostly. Luke certainly wasn’t seeing me at my best. Mood swings, my mother, rudeness, now stomach issues. If he were ever going to fall out of love with me it would have been that night. When I left the bathroom and found the house empty, I feared that very event had actually happened. Feared as in the wind was knocked out of me and my legs felt as if they might give out. I felt as scared as I had been handcuffed in my basement with a serial killer aiming a gun at me. He wised up, I thought. She was wrong. He—



Thirty seconds of pure torture later, I heard the master bedroom toilet flush too, and Luke walked out of my grandparents’ room. He groaned and patted his own stomach. “Damn watermelon.”

I took a second to calm myself down, nervously chuckling like a clown on cocaine. “I know, right? Stomach. Horrible. Yeah. Yeah.” I was rambling. “Uh, my grandparents leave?”

“I think so. They took their toothbrushes just before I…you know.”

“Sorry you’re having such a shitty time,” I quipped with a smirk.

“Could be worse.”

“How?” I chuckled before rolling my eyes and frowning. “I know I’ve been Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride tonight. I’m sorry.”

“You’re going through a lot, and you’re exhausted. I get it. And I haven’t been much better. I’ve calmed down too.”

I was going through more than he realized. I gazed down at the ground. “Still. I’m sorry I was…weird about your Spain news. It was just a shock on a day of nine million.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t going to tell you until there was something more definite. I don’t think I’ll get it.”

“You should get it. You’re a hell of an agent. They’d be morons not to promote you.”

“So you think I should take it?” he asked.

“I think…” Be brave. I looked up at him. “I think I would miss the fuck out of you. I just got you back. If you’re asking if I want you to move across the ocean, then the answer is hell no. Of course not. I hate it enough when you’re just a state away. That we can’t have lunch every day. That we can’t even see a damn symphony together because we’re so fucking busy. But that’s selfish. I’m done being selfish. You should take it. It’s what you’ve been working for your entire career. So no. I don’t want you to go, but what I want really doesn’t matter.” I paused. “Does it?”



Luke stared at me, mouth slightly open, but no words came out at first. It was one of the longest moments of my life. “I…hope it does.” He’d had that same look on his face that night on my porch in North Carolina, right before the police came to ruin the moment. Anticipation. Lust. Longing. I’m sure I had the same look on mine. “Iris…I…”