“What? He doesn’t know he has a son somewhere in the world? How did she hide it from him?”
“She was young, and he was overseas in the military. She went and stayed with a friend and gave me up for adoption. He never knew.”
“Wow,” I said, trying to think about what it would be like to discover that you had an adult child that you had never known about.
“She’s going to tell him, though, and see if he wants to meet me. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I really want to meet my birth father.”
Luke seemed so wholesome, so sweet, that it nearly broke my heart. “I hope you do,” I said, not sure what else to say.
Luke reached out and picked up my hand, not caring about the lemon juice that covered my fingers. “Thank you, Krystal. I just had to tell someone, and you’re the only person I know in town. I feel like celebrating.”
“I bet you do,” I told him, taking my hand back to wash it.
“Come have dinner with me,” he said, barely able to contain his excitement. “We’ll go someplace outrageously expensive, and we’ll drink champagne until sunrise.”
For a second, I let myself think about what it would be like to spend the evening with Luke. Dinner, expensive drinks, conversation with a man who actually listened to me and didn’t think I was a whore. It sounded like heaven to me.
But it couldn’t happen.
“You have no idea how much I’d love to have dinner with you tonight, but I can’t.” I decided not to explain any further. He didn’t need to know that my evening was likely to consist of me ignoring Bug’s insults and end with an unsatisfying sixty seconds of Bug pumping away inside me while I pretended to enjoy it.
“C’mon,” Luke pleaded. “Cancel your plans, just for tonight. Come celebrate with me. I’ll make it worth your while,” he said, with a sexy gleam in his eye.
He had no idea how gorgeous he was and how much I wanted to take him back to his hotel room and not come up for air for days. But I couldn’t. If I didn’t meet Bug at the clubhouse that evening, any chance I had at moving up to be his old lady would be gone. I was gonna have to work my ass off to afford my apartment on my own, but if I could move in with Bug, even if it was for a couple of years, I could afford to finish college and maybe even make a respectable living on my own. I couldn’t throw that away for the first sexy blond guy who walked into the bar.
“I can’t, Luke. You have no idea how much I wish I could, but I have something I have to take care of tonight.”
He actually looked disappointed. “I understand. We’re still on for Friday, though, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I answered. I was sure I could come up with some way to get out for one night without making Bug too suspicious.
Luke finished the rest of his beer while I wrapped up my side work, making sure that the bar was in better shape than it had been when I’d come in the day before. We chatted a bit, but he seemed a little subdued after I refused his offer to take me out for dinner. He asked for the check, and I printed it and put it on the bar in front of him.
“Luke, I’m glad you came in to tell me about finding your parents. I’m so happy for you that it went well.”
“You’re very sweet, Krystal. I hope that your boyfriend — or whatever you call him — appreciates you.”
I smiled. “Thanks again for the invitation for tonight. You have no idea how much I wish I could go.”
“That makes two of us, but I’ll just look forward to Friday.”
“Me, too.”
Luke put some cash down on the check, and he waved as he walked away. I noticed that I wasn’t the only woman watching the tall, blond man cross the room, and I hoped that he wouldn’t meet some gorgeous woman who actually had her shit together before Friday. I just knew that if Luke realized how screwed up my head was, that he’d run and never look back.
Without thinking, I automatically picked up the cash and took it to the register to close out the check.
“Holy shit,” I said when I looked at the denomination of the bill Luke had set down. He’d left me a hundred dollar bill on a six-dollar tab. Adding up the tips I’d already made, I realized that I had enough to pay some bills and probably even have enough to set a little aside for the summer class I wanted to take. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Luke’s leaving so much money, though. I might be desperate, but I didn’t want a man to think he could buy me.
I picked up my phone.
You left $100 on the bar. I’ll give you ur change on Friday.
I got back to work and was about to leave when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.