“Cheesecakes?” Luke perked up.
***
Luke walked his mother to her car, mostly to make sure she didn’t corner Harper and try to wrangle any more information out of her.
“I like the new furniture,” she told him, digging her keys out of her purse. “It’s starting to look like a home.”
“Ma.” Luke didn’t try to keep the exasperation out of his voice.
“Don’t you ‘Ma’ me. I’m allowed to check up on my children. Forty-seven hours of labor gives a mother certain privileges.”
“For the love of —”
“I really like her, Luke. You’re smiling again.” She brought a hand to his face. “It’s been a long time.”
He grumbled, but took his mom’s hand and kissed her palm. “She’s a good girl, Ma. I like her, too. Now can we stop talking about my love life?”
She gave him a peck on the cheek. “Fine. Now go take your girl out to dinner. She deserves it.”
Luke waited until his mother had pulled out of the driveway before whipping out his cellphone. His parents liked his girlfriend and that was a problem.
“I need sneaky, underhanded advice so I’m coming to you.” Luke paced the driveway.
“Is it weird that I’m flattered?” Sophie asked.
“What do I tell Mom and Dad about Harper leaving?”
Josh screamed in the background.
“Is everything okay over there?” Luke asked.
“What? Oh, yeah. That’s his happy scream. Hang on, let me lock him in the basement.”
“Sophie!”
“I’m just kidding. I walked into the pantry. I need silence so I can focus on the lies you’ll be telling our parents.”
“Need I remind you that this whole thing is your idea?”
“Need I remind you that you’re enjoying this whole thing that is my idea?”
“Touché. Now tell me what to do.”
“Well, when is she leaving? Before or after you leave?”
“I don’t know. After?”
“Do you have a timeline?”
“We haven’t really talked about it.”
“It would probably make more sense to have her hang around for a little after you leave, plus then you wouldn’t need James looking in on the house right away. I’m assuming you don’t want either one of you to look like an asshole, right?”
“You assume correctly.”
“Well then it has to be a good news thing that’s so good it makes the sad news of her leaving less sad.”
“You’re losing me.”
“You’re such a man. Something wonderful happens to Harper and she has to leave town. Like she gets a part in a movie or she meets the man of her dreams.”
“I’m supposed to be the man of her dreams.”
“I’m just spit-balling here,” Sophie said with a sigh. “But, since you said it, why not ask her to stay?”
“That’s not the plan, Soph. And it’s not fair to ask Harper to put her life on hold for six months to see if this might turn into a relationship.”
“Okay, okay. Just throwing out options.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
The next day, Luke and Aldo were needed on base for the standard pre-deployment medical exam and some briefings. Before he left, Luke kissed Harper good-bye and got carried away. By the time he pulled up in front of Aldo’s house, he was running twenty minutes late and his friend was waiting on the front porch.
When Aldo chose the tidy craftsman cottage over one of the new townhouses on the edge of town, Luke hadn’t batted an eye. A family home over a bachelor-friendly condo? It wasn’t what he expected from his play-the-field buddy, but there was a lot of things they never discussed. They didn’t have to.
“About time.” Aldo climbed into the passenger seat and belted in.
“I’m not that late.”
“No explanations needed. I can see from the stupid look on your face why you’re late.”
“You’re full of shit.” He wasn’t. Luke knew he was walking around with a stupid look on his face these days. He’d just been hoping that no one else noticed it.
“I’ve known you since I saved your ass from that beat-down in first grade. I know your stupid looks.”
“I still maintain that I could have taken those guys on my own.” Luke pulled away from the curb.
“There were three of them and they were in the fourth grade.”
“Well if you did assist me in that situation, I saved your ass from drowning in the lake when we were twelve.”
“I thought the ice would hold,” Aldo shrugged with a white-toothed grin.
“We were grounded for all of January for that one.”