Wait For Me

3. Lucas

Chapter Three

Lucas

I rolled my truck to a stop in front of my house. After Rylie’s mother died, I sold the place where we lived when Rylie was a baby and bought this place. I didn’t need memories stained with the mark Melissa left behind.

Grief is f****d up. I had loved Melissa. We had Rylie, and Rylie owned my heart. Whenever I thought back to that first year after Rylie was born—whether I wanted to or not, I picked it apart in my mind time and again—I recalled how differently we handled it. Rylie didn’t sleep well for over a year due to colic, but once she got past that, she was the best little sleeper in the world. Melissa never knew because she died before she could find out.

For that year, we were both tired all the damn time. Even if you don’t mind it, even if you love it because you love the reasons why, when you’re that tired, it wears on you. Don’t go thinking Melissa was getting up all night on her own. She wasn’t. In fact, it was more often me.

After Melissa died, I tore that year to pieces mentally when I found out she’d been having an affair for most of it. Her affair actually started sooner, but it was that year that bothered me the most. I honestly didn’t care about the rest.

An affair gave her something a lot more exciting than a few hours of sleep each night with a colicky baby and a husband who was run ragged between work and trying to hold his family together. That was me.

A ruptured aneurysm killed Melissa. There I was, trying to raise my little girl while grieving the loss of the woman I loved, when I came across the text messages between her and Seth a week later. I wasn’t even looking for anything because I’d trusted her. I’d idly picked up her phone as I tried to decide if I should ever turn the damn thing off.

I didn’t even know if I would’ve gone searching for the texts, but one was right there on the screen. They barely tried to cover their tracks. I couldn’t help but second-guess if she ever really loved me.

Some people might’ve said I had baggage. You try being tangled up in grief over someone you thought had loved you, only to find out they’d been having an affair with one of your friends on the side. Yeah, you might say I had trust issues.

I gave my head a hard shake. Rylie had recently turned six and would be starting first grade come autumn. The house we lived in now was tucked in the trees with a small river nearby and about fifteen minutes away from Stolen Hearts Lodge.

Usually when I drove up, I didn’t think about anything other than seeing my little girl. Tonight, Valentina came strolling into my thoughts the moment I kicked Melissa out. I had an insane f*****g train of thought, wondering how Valentina was with kids.

I climbed out of my truck, shaking that crazy train loose off the tracks in my mind. I opened the front door quietly because it was close to Rylie’s bedtime, and sometimes she fell asleep early.

Our house was a small ranch-style home built to blend into the surroundings. With cedar siding and a low-pitched roof, it faced the south to take advantage of the sun. The main entrance led into an open living room with windows running along the front and the kitchen off to the side. Jade waved from the couch with a smile, brushing her hair back from her face. My sister and I shared the same coloring—almost black hair and green eyes. Rylie was curled up beside her, tucked against Jade’s side and clearly asleep.

Slipping my shoes off, I walked over to the couch, sinking down onto the cushion on the other side of Rylie.

“Thought you might want to put her to bed,” Jade said softly.

“Always.”

Rylie stirred. Her bedtime wasn’t for another half hour. She lifted her head slowly, rubbing at her eyes with two small fists. “Hey, Daddy,” she said as she blinked up at me.

Just like Jade and me, Rylie had dark hair and green eyes. Except for her round button-nose, she was all Cole in her looks. I wondered how much of that would change as she grew up.

“Hey, sweet pea,” I said, brushing her tangled hair away from her forehead. “You ready for bed?” Although I could let her stay up for that half hour, I’d learned it was never smart. Not once she was already sleepy. Right now, she’d fall back to sleep fast, but if she stayed up, she’d get her second wind, and bedtime would become a nightmare.

For just a second, I thought she might put up a fight. But she didn’t. She nodded. “If you carry me.”

I knew there would come a day when she wouldn’t want to be carried at all, and frankly, there were plenty of times even now, so I took what I could get. I tugged her onto my lap for a minute, holding her close and pressing a kiss against her hair on the top of her head. “Of course. How’d today go with JJ?”

Ever since she could talk, Rylie had called Jade “JJ,” and the nickname just stuck.

“Good. We went for a play date at the park, and then Grammy came over, and we baked cookies, and she made lunches for you for all week,” Rylie explained, her voice sleepy.

“Did she now? I bet you were a big help,” I said as I stood with her in my arms.

Jade stood with us and leaned over to press a kiss to Rylie’s cheek. “Good night, little one. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Night, night.” Rylie blew Jade a kiss as I turned, adjusting her in my arms.

I walked down the short hallway. There were three bedrooms—Rylie’s, mine, and another that was a playroom for her.

Jade, because she was that amazing, had already made sure Rylie changed into her pajamas. Even though I knew the answer, I still asked, “You brush your teeth?”

Rylie’s chin bobbed against my chest as she nodded.

“Wash your hands?”

Another nod, this one a little more emphatic.

“Then you’re ready for bed.”

I eased her down onto her bed, throwing the covers back with one arm as I did. Rylie wiggled into the covers as I tucked them over her. Some nights I read to her, but I could tell tonight was not a book night. Her eyes were already drooping closed as I leaned forward to give her one more kiss. “Good night, sweet pea.”

“Night, Daddy,” she mumbled.

Sometimes I wondered if my heart would ever stop squeezing when she called me daddy. By the time I reached the door to flick the light off, Rylie’s breathing had settled into the steady, even rhythm of sleep. Her butterfly nightlight cast a soft glow in the room.

I left the door open a c***k and returned to the front of the house. Jade was rinsing dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. “You know you don’t have to do that,” I said, leaning my elbows on the counter.

Jade closed the dishwasher and turned to face me as she rolled her eyes. “Lucas, you know me. I’m not gonna twiddle my thumbs. I like taking care of stuff. That took me maybe two minutes, tops.”

“I know. But you do so much for me,” I said as I ran a hand through my hair.

“And you pay me for it. Quite well,” she said. “Not that that’s entirely necessary, I might add.”

“Jade, you gave up a full-time job to help me with Rylie. Of course, I’m gonna pay you. If it weren’t for you and Mom, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love that little girl. Don’t start with this now, you hear me?” Jade’s eyes narrowed.

“Fine, fine. Thank you,” I said for probably the thousandth time. Years of her helping me out gave me many chances to thank her.

“Mom will be here tomorrow, okay?”

“I know. Thanks, sis.”

Jade picked up her purse off the counter and leaned up to press a kiss to my cheek, squeezing my shoulder as she passed by.

She stopped when she reached the front door. “What?” I asked as she looked at me, her gaze considering.

“Do me a favor,” she said.

“Anything,” I replied without hesitation.

The moment I saw the gleam in her eyes, I knew I had walked right into that one.

“Stop planning to spend the rest your life alone. You’re a good man. You should give some woman a shot.”

“Oh, for f**k’s sake, Jade. I don’t have time for romance.”

“I’m not asking you to find time. I’m asking you to be open to the possibility. I’m not deaf, you know. We live in a small town, and people talk. I know you get your needs met, and you manage to find time for that. I guess what I’m saying is I hate seeing you alone. You’re one of the best men I know. I know what Melissa did sucked, but it doesn’t mean you should block out other options.”

She didn’t even give me a chance to reply. With a wink and a warm smile, my sister spun away and left, closing the door quietly behind her.

The moment she left, Valentina entered my mind. But I barely knew Valentina. Shaking my head, I forced those thoughts away.

I had one priority. Rylie.