Wild Angel

Chapter 1-4

Luke frowned briefly when he looked at the image, but it shifted into a wistful smile. He didn’t respond but neither did he give her any indication that the topic was prohibited.

“You guys are still featured all over town.”

“Four straight state titles is a rare feat.”

“This one here. That’s Mike Thompson, isn’t it? I remember the buzz about him coming to play for the Griz. Such a tragedy.”

“Yeah.”

“He looks so different in this shot. Happy instead of serious.”

“I don’t get to remember him like that much because the only time he smiled for pictures was after a win when the photographer caught him off guard. Shane, too.” Luke paused, and sadness shadowed his eyes. “Neither of us smiled as much after that summer.”

“You three were close?”

“Mike and I got along well enough, but Shane was my best friend.”

Her heart pounded, and she was both hopeful to hear more and afraid of what he might say. “Was?” she asked as lightly as she could manage.

“It’s a long story.”

Luke abruptly got up to bowl.

Point taken. As badly as she wanted to press him for more, she couldn’t without raising his suspicion. Truthfully, she was relieved. It wasn’t something she should be thinking about tonight let alone talking about, so she tamed her anxiety and restricted the conversation to lighter topics when Luke returned.

“Speaking of football….” she said. “I heard a rumor about you.”

“You don’t strike me as the kind to listen to rumors.”

“Normally, I’m not, but I’m hoping this one is true. Did a certain assistant football coach call you washed up and end up on his back when he tried to tackle you after you threw a seventy-yard pass to your foster son?”

“How did you hear about that already?”

“I bumped into Brady Paulsen and his mother at the store before I came here. So, it’s true?”

“It might be.”

“Alex, is it true?”

“Yep.”

Alex was only too happy to share the whole story in detail, and the pride in his voice painted a very enticing picture of Luke as a caring guardian. The almost indulgent patience with which he listed confirmed it, as did the absolute lack of arrogance and the way he praised Alex’s perfect catch. Their colleagues were idiots. Oblivious, malicious idiots.

Having finished his story, Alex hopped down the step to the lane to bowl again.

“I have to say that I’m a little surprised you agreed to come out with me tonight,” Ryan remarked. “You usually keep to yourself unless you can’t avoid it.”

“It has nothing to do with you, and I’m sorry if I ever made you think that.”

“You didn’t, and it really isn’t that hard to figure out why you might prefer to be alone.”

“I don’t prefer to be alone,” he said so quietly she almost missed it. “I prefer to get through the day without being harassed. Being alone seems to be the only way to achieve that.”

“I don’t understand it,” she murmured. “Well, I understand what you’re saying. I don’t understand them.”

He shrugged.

“Is that why you keep turning Coach Wells down?”

“It’s hard enough to get through the day without putting myself out there as a target.”

“You shouldn’t let them stop you from doing something you love.”

“I know I shouldn’t, and believe me, I want to coach. Don’t tell Coach Wells this—because he’ll just bug me more—but the more he asks, the harder it is to say no.”

“So say yes.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“I didn’t say it was.”

Their food arrived, putting a hold on the conversation for the time being. When it resumed, they again shifted to more pleasant subjects like their game, which Alex was currently winning by fifty points.

After they’d eaten and bowled two games, Ryan and Luke took a break to cover the purpose of their evening while Alex bowled a game by himself. Without the three older junior class sponsors there to argue every point, they sketched out their plans in a handful of minutes. With that out of the way, they got back to enjoying the evening, talking about everything from their families and school to their favorite activities. When Luke listed hiking as a favorite summer pastime, she wondered if he’d be up to going hiking with her sometime.

“Crap,” Luke said, staring at his watch. “It’s almost ten. I need to get Alex home.”

Already?

They gathered their belongings, returned their bowling balls and shoes, and headed out to their vehicles. Ryan leaned against her car, not ready for the evening to end, and watched Alex climb into the passenger seat of Luke’s black Jeep Wrangler. Luke didn’t immediately get into his vehicle, either, and Ryan smiled, strangely gratified by his hesitation.

“I had a great time tonight,” she said. “I hope you did, too.”

“I really did. And I know Alex did. I’ll probably be hearing about how thoroughly he beat me for the next week.”

“Right now, I feel like I should have stood up for you a long time ago.”

“For curiosity’s sake—and running the risk of sounding ungrateful—why didn’t you? And why now?”

“I finally got tired of being a coward. I was afraid, not of you, personally, but….” She lowered her gaze. How could she explain why she’d kept her distance and her silence without insulting him or revealing her tie to his former best friend? Taking a deep breath, she said slowly, “My last boyfriend broke my heart pretty thoroughly, and I guess you could say I got in the habit of keeping people at arm’s length because I was afraid of being hurt again.”

“I hope you know I’d never hurt you.”

“You wouldn’t mean to, but it’s impossible to say you never would. I never thought he would hurt me, either, but he did.”

“I’m sorry. Unfortunately, I understand well why it’s safer to keep people away, and if I could, I’d take that need away from us both.”

Coming from him, the offer of sympathy meant a lot because he did understand, perhaps even better than she understood it herself. Without considering what she was doing, she pushed off her car and hugged him. She half-expected him to pull away, but instead, he hugged her back, preventing the embrace from becoming awkward. In fact, once Ryan was able to suppress the unexpected surge of bitterness and heartbreak, it felt amazingly natural to be in Luke’s arms. She nearly jerked away at that thought but too much of her enjoyed this.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who could use a friend around here,” he murmured.

She stepped back but let her hand rest a moment on his shoulder. “No, you aren’t.” Finally and reluctantly, she broke contact. “And seeing as we’re officially friends now, we need to make plans to go hiking together. I haven’t been out in too long, and I hear there are some great trails in the Northstar Mountains.”

“There are. And actually, we’re hiking to Sawtooth Lake on Saturday. It’ll probably be the last hike of the year, and you’re welcome to come along.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Mom asked me to invite you up to the cabin for the weekend, as well, since it’s usually an all-day hike.”

Her automatic response should have been no, and the invitation should have triggered a warning claxon, but neither came. She tried to remind herself that there was a reason she’d stayed away from Luke for the last four years, but that didn’t work, either, and the faint hope on Luke’s face made it impossible for her to decline. At any rate, it was too late to turn back now, so she smiled. “I’d love that.”

Amusement quickly replaced the flash of relief. “Mom was right again. I didn’t think you’d say yes, but she said you’d surprise me.”

Ryan tilted her head. June Conner—whose teaching position Luke had filled—had substituted a lot during Ryan’s first couple years, and Ryan had liked her at once, just as she’d been immediately drawn to Luke. As she recalled, June was a very kind and remarkably insightful woman, and Ryan wondered how Luke’s mother had known she would accept the invitation. Had Luke said something? She doubted it because, unless he was lying—she dismissed the thought as soon as it entered her mind—the invitation had originated from June. Shrugging, she decided it didn’t matter.

“I surprised myself, too, honestly. And I’m going to do it again right now. Join me for lunch tomorrow?”

“I’d love to.”

As Ryan drove home, a tiny voice in the far reaches of her mind chided her for being reckless. A much louder voice applauded her.