Waiting On You (Blue Heron #3)(78)

He put his arm around her—dangerous, that—but he was helpless not to. Pulled her against him, even though she resisted a little.

She fit the same as she always had, the feeling old and new at the same time.

“That was quite a play you didn’t make today,” he said.

“You mean stopping the ball with my head?”

“I meant the one before that.” He kissed her damp hair. “You’re a good sister.”

He heard her swallow thickly. “Did my father check on me?” she asked in a small voice. “While I was out?”

Lucas hesitated. “He knew you were okay.”

“In other words, no.” Her breathing hitched. “Ah, shit,” she whispered. “I’m jealous of a nine-year-old. My father’s a prick, and I still want him to pat me on the head and tell me I’m a good girl. How stupid is that?”

“It’s not stupid. It’s human.”

“What’s wrong with me?” she asked. “I have this thing for men who reject me.” Her dog came over and put his enormous head in her lap. “Except you, Rufus.”

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, then extricated herself from him and the dog and went over to the phone. Dialed in angry jabs. “Hi. This is the other daughter, the one who went to the hospital. Yeah. Whatever. Put Savannah on.” She took a shaky breath, then changed her tone to chipper. “Hey, sweetie! No, don’t cry, really. I’m perfectly fine. They don’t let you use your phone in the E.R. No, no. I’m home. Yep. Rufus is taking good care of me. I’m gonna eat ice cream and watch movies. Okay, honey. Hey. You did great tonight. I was so proud of you.” She smiled. “You bet. Nighty-night.”

She hung up and stood there for a second, looking into space. “Lucas,” she said carefully, “I can’t fall in love with you again.”

The words hit him hard. As if sensing that, the dog shifted his giant head to Lucas’s leg and licked his chops.

“And yet, I can’t stay away from you. You’re horribly irresistible. It’s very embarrassing.” She gave a half smile, but her eyes were serious.

He lifted Rufus’s head from his lap and went to her. “Colleen,” he began, and he didn’t know what would’ve come out of his mouth then, but his phone rang.

Damn it.

It rang again, and he pulled it out to silence it.

“Answer it,” she said.

“No.”

“It might be Joe.” She took a step back and picked up her own phone and started texting.

He sighed, took his phone out of his pocket and looked. Ellen. He glanced at Colleen, who was still tapping away at her phone. “Hey,” he said.

“Hi, Lucas. How are you? How’s Uncle Joe?”

“Holding his own, more or less.”

“Good.” She paused. “So I’m coming to town next week. I think I might have a lead on something for you, divorcewise.”

“Great.”

“Got any idea on where I might stay?”

He looked at Colleen. “I’ll email you some places.” He paused. “You okay to fly?”

“Sure, sure. So okay, I’ll let you know when I’m coming in. It’ll be good to see you.”

“You, too. Thanks for calling.”

He hung up. Looked at Colleen. Her face was neutral.

“The wife?” she asked, though it was obvious she knew who it was.

“The ex-wife.”

She nodded. “So. Back to what I was saying. Thank you for driving me home. But we shouldn’t...get involved. Even if you’re very gorgeous and so am I and all that.”

“I think we should talk, Colleen,” he said.

“Faith will be here any minute. Pajama party. Girls only, I’m afraid.”

“Colleen—”

“Lucas, you have a life back in Chicago. I have one here. It’s just stupid to get all tangled up. I...I can’t do that. I only have flings. Since you, I haven’t had a real boyfriend. Just flings. And that’s fine. I like it that way. I’m kind of a slut, in fact.”

He remembered her kissing that other guy, and the long-ago memory still ached, like a bruise that had faded but not quite healed. “I doubt that,” he said.

“Well, read the bathroom walls, then.” She swallowed, and shifted her gaze to outside the window. “But I don’t think I could have a fling with you.”

“Mía, don’t—”

“No, please. I mean, as irresistible as you are, I’d get hurt, you’d leave, I’d hate you again, and I don’t hate you now, and I’d rather not hate you ever again. Okay?”

The door to the apartment opened, and in bounded a golden retriever. “Did someone call a landscape architect and her faithful puppy?” Faith said. She came into the living room, cradling four pints of Ben & Jerry’s in her arms. “Oh. Hey, Lucas.”

“Faith.”

She looked back and forth between them. “Um...want me to go?”

“No,” Colleen answered. “He was just leaving.” She turned to Lucas. “Thank you very much for staying with me. See you around.”

She was right. He’d be leaving again. Soon. Whatever he found himself thinking whenever he was around her was just that. Thought. She was being the smart one here, and he should be grateful.