She threw him a curious look. “You don’t have to do it, you know. You’re not responsible for your father, especially not to your sisters.”
“Thing is, I do feel responsible. And guilty, too. My sisters all despised him even before he finally deserted my mother, but somehow I couldn’t work up the same hatred.”
“You’re more forgiving.”
At that, he grunted. “You’re giving me more credit than I deserve. No, the horrible truth is, my father was nicer to me than to my sisters. He favored me, for some reason.”
“Because you were the baby of the family?”
He shrugged, still appearing uncomfortable. “Maybe.” He didn’t speak for a while. “But maybe it was also because we shared a love of books. I never saw him read to my sisters, but he was always reading to me.”
“It’s not your fault he neglected them. You shouldn’t feel guilty about that.”
Luke grunted again, and she knew she wasn’t making him feel any better. It was time to change the subject. “So what was it like growing up in Goulburn?” she asked.
“Quiet, down-to-earth. It’s not as trendy as Burronga, mostly working-class families. We have the state’s maximum security prison plus the police training academy, so I guess we cater to all types.”
“What did your mum and dad do for a living?”
“My mother worked in a sock factory. My father was a traveling sales rep, but he was always changing jobs, keeping odd hours. When he left us, my mother took on a second job flipping burgers at the local bowling alley.” His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. “Soon as I was old enough, I had a part-time job too, but Mum wouldn’t let me work very many hours. She insisted I concentrate on my studies.”
He spoke quite freely about his mother, but Tyler could sense the depth of emotion lying beneath his deceptively casual tone. “It’s a pity she only got to enjoy your success for a short time,” she said softly.
He didn’t answer, just compressed his mouth and kept his gaze on the road. She wanted to reach over and squeeze his arm to show her solidarity, but the remoteness in his posture held her back. Luke was used to bearing things on his own, she reminded herself. He didn’t need her. She leaned back in her seat and watched the countryside as they drove into Goulburn.
Helen lived in a modern villa not far from the center of town. Since she was a widow and her two daughters were at university, she’d moved into a smaller place, Luke explained to Tyler as they approached the door. Inside, the house seemed even more compact, crowded as it was with Luke’s sisters, their husbands, and their children. For a few minutes a noisy clamor rose as Tyler was introduced to everyone she hadn’t yet met.
After a few moments, she noticed that Chloe wasn’t clinging to her as she usually did when confronted by a roomful of strangers. Instead, she’d taken refuge with Luke. The sight of her daughter clasping Luke’s sturdy hand made her heart pinch. Had she let Chloe grow too attached to Luke? Wouldn’t her little girl be devastated when he left, even if he did keep in contact? As she watched, Luke murmured something to the girl and pointed at a big box of toys in the corner of the living room. Reassured, she let go of his hand and scampered to the box. Luke caught Tyler’s eye and grinned, making her heart constrict even further.
“I asked Rosie to bring over a few toys,” he said as he came toward her.
“Thanks,” she said. “That was really thoughtful.”
“It’s nothing.”
It wasn’t nothing. He knew how Chloe would feel and had considerately provided for her. He was so good to her daughter, which would only make it worse when he eventually quit their lives. Maybe she should have been thinking more of Chloe instead of herself. Shoot, why couldn’t she appreciate his kindness without dwelling on the consequences?
Helen opened her gift from the twins and gratified Tyler when she exclaimed over the necklace. “It’s so pretty,” she said as she hooked it around her neck and everyone admired it.
“Uh-oh, wonder what this is?” Helen grinned teasingly as she picked up Luke’s gift. Her grin turned to a gasp of delight as she held the earrings. “Oh, Luke, they’re b-beautiful.” She teared up while she examined the pieces. “I never expected”
Luke put an arm around her. “You’re disappointed because you were expecting that waffle iron, weren’t you?”
“Silly duffer.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You could never disappoint me.”
“Yeah? I should try harder, then. Anyway, I don’t deserve the credit. Tyler suggested I buy the earrings.”
Helen smiled at Tyler. “Thank you. If you don’t mind my saying so, you’ve done wonders with my brother.”
Tyler felt her cheeks heat. Avoiding Luke’s eye, she cleared her throat. “Uh, I got you a little something, too.”
“Aw, you shouldn’t have.”
Tyler’s gift was a couple of silver bracelets decorated with a simple Celtic design. After all the presents were opened, everyone descended on the casual buffet lunch, piling food onto plates and sitting wherever there was space. Chloe was more interested in the toys—other people’s toys were always more interesting than her own—but Tyler managed to get some food past her lips. After lunch the younger kids persuaded her to go outside with them and play.
“She’s doing great,” Luke murmured to Tyler, his lips agreeably close to her ear.
All through lunch he’d sat next to her on the couch, and because of the crowd, he’d been squeezed right beside her. She had a sneaking suspicion he didn’t have to be quite so close, but she wasn’t complaining. Her qualms about Chloe growing too attached to him had faded as the length of his muscular thigh pressing against hers had induced a warm buzz in her, aided by the faint scent of his sandalwood soap wafting from his shirt. With his arm stretched out along the back of the couch behind her head, she was practically scooped in by his body, and she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
While she was basking in his half embrace, Helen pulled up a stool next to them and pinned Luke with a determined look. “I went over to Mum’s place yesterday and gave it a good clean.”
Instantly Tyler felt Luke’s leg tense up against hers. “You didn’t need to do that,” he said cagily. “I can clean it myself.”
“Well, I didn’t know when you’d turn up.” She crossed her arms and legs and waggled her foot before she directed her gaze at Tyler. “Has Luke shown you the house where he grew up?” Tyler shook her head. “Why don’t you take Tyler there now?” she said to Luke.
Luke shifted about. “It’s your birthday.”
“So? It won’t take you long to stroll over. You’ll be back before teatime, and I’ll look after Chloe. Go on, it’s just around the corner.”
Luke opened his mouth as if about to argue further, but then he shrugged and turned to Tyler. “When my sister gets going, she’s like a bulldozer. It’s easier just to do as she says, and probably quicker.”
“Okay,” Tyler replied, getting to her feet. “I’ll tell Chloe where we’re going. She might not want to be left here.”
But Chloe was in the middle of a complicated game with the other kids and shooed her away. Tyler went back to Luke, and they slipped out of the house. She was eager to see his old home, even if he wasn’t. So much of his formative years had passed in that house, good and bad years that together made him who he was today. And he’d been avoiding his home, had run away from it and landed next door to her. She wouldn’t be human if she wasn’t interested in what had made him flee.
From the outside, the house looked virtually unchanged since he’d been a boy. A humble, workingman’s cottage, it sat square in the middle of a plot dotted with rose bushes and garden gnomes. A concrete path edged with bricks led to the plain blue door. Luke unlocked it and beckoned Tyler to go ahead of him.
Even six months after Luke’s mother’s death, the house still retained that unique scent of hers, though it was fading now. They stepped into a narrow, enclosed veranda running the width of the house.
“This is where I used to sleep,” he said. Roasting hot in summer, freezing cold in winter, but at least he’d had his own little space. “There used to be a partition wall here.” A flimsy particleboard barrier that blocked out little of the noise coming from the rest of the house.
They moved into the low-ceilinged living room. Tyler glanced around at the plain, sturdy furniture. Everything was twenty years old but in pristine order. “I see where you get your cleaning genes from.” She nodded toward the ancient television in the corner. “Does that thing still work?”
“Yes, which is why my mother kept it. She couldn’t bear to throw out things that were still useful. Even after my sisters were working and my royalties started rolling in, she refused to let us buy frivolous things for her.”
“Looks like it was a tight squeeze in here when your whole family was together.”
Luke nodded. “There are only two bedrooms. I got the sleep out, but my sisters all had to share a room. When I could afford it, I offered to buy my mother a house. I thought she’d choose a modern one, but she insisted this was the home she wanted.”