“Emily’s thinking with her heart instead of her head. She’ll understand later.”
“Don’t you want to see her wedding?”
She thought his hands tightened on the steering wheel. But all he said was, “She’ll be married whether I’m there to watch or not.”
“You didn’t answer my question. Don’t you want to be there?”
He phrased his answer carefully. “If I thought I could go without causing a stir or taking attention away from Emily, I probably would.”
Rachel settled back into her seat, satisfied that she’d finally gotten an honest answer out of Lucas. She didn’t know why that had been so important.
She almost groaned aloud when a new song started playing on the radio. Neil Diamond’s “Hello, Again,” Which had been one of her favorites when she and Lucas were together. It still made her throat tighten every time she heard it.
She wished Lucas would change the station to something less evocative of the past. Country, maybe. Or rap. Anything but Neil Diamond.
Lucas nodded toward an all-night diner ahead. “How about some pie and coffee?”
“Yes, all right.”
She didn’t really want pie or coffee, but maybe being in a brightly lit, public place with other people around them would dispel the disturbing feeling of intimacy created by being alone in a quiet, darkened car with him while old love songs played on the radio. At least, she hoped it would.
LUCAS LOOKED across the table at Rachel and wondered what she was doing here with him. She toyed unenthusiastically with her pecan pie, avoiding his eyes. She looked as though she’d rather be anywhere but here.
So why had she come?
For that matter, he wasn’t exactly sure why he had asked her.
He’d always been lousy at making small talk. He and Rachel had
never had trouble talking in the past, but a lot had happened since then. He cleared his throat and tried to think of something to say. Almost anything would be better than this strained silence.
When they weren’t talking, it was far too easy—uncomfortably easy—for him to remember how they’d passed the time together on those long, lazy afternoons fifteen years ago.
“How do you like accounting?” he asked awkwardly, forcefully shoving memories of hungry, innocent kisses out of his mind. “I guess it gets pretty busy at the end of the year.”
“I like it okay,” she replied absently. “And, yes, it does...”
She stopped suddenly and frowned at him. “How did you know I’m an accountant?”
“You, er, must have mentioned it.”
“No.”
“Someone else, then.”
She looked at him suspiciously. Lucas returned the look without expression. He had no intention of telling her that he’d kept tabs on her—just as he had his sister—during the past fifteen years. Rachel might be amazed at what could be learned by someone who knew his way around the Internet.
“Lucas...”
“How’s your pie?”
She looked automatically at her plate. “It’s fine.”
“More coffee?” He signaled the waitress, pointing toward his nearly empty cup.
The efficient server had their cups refilled before Rachel could answer. “Y’all need anything else?”
Lucas shook his head. “Just the check.”