The Bad Boy of Butterfly Harbor(27)

“Why would it?” Holly licked her suddenly dry lips. “It’s not as if you’re here to preserve anything. You’re making yourself at home and moving in as if he never existed. What’s next, painting the walls? Rearranging the furniture? Maybe you want to gut the entire building while you’re at it. Tell me, how much destruction do you plan to do to my family?”

His eyes sparked; his mouth tightened as if he had a response poised behind his lips, but she waited. Part of her wanted him to fight back, to give her the argument she was looking for. Maybe then she’d finally be able to exorcise the bitterness, the anger and the resentment that, despite her best intentions, continued to build inside her.

“I’m sorry this situation hurts you, Holly.” Luke’s voice had switched to cool politeness. “But I’ve got a job to do and I can’t do it if I’m constantly worrying about setting off your righteous indignation. Be angry with me or don’t, but stop the flip-flopping. It’s exhausting. The world is bigger than the sheriff’s station and your father’s stellar career. I can only do what I think is best from here on. You might be okay living in the past, but I’m not. I’ve worked hard to move on from what happened twelve years ago and I don’t want to go back. You know what? I think you were right. Keeping our distance from one another would be best for everyone involved.” The forced civility in his tone raked her already frayed nerves. “Thank you for the muffins.”

A utility van rumbled to a stop on the side of the road. Luke gave the driver a wave and called a greeting before returning his attention to Holly. “Have a good day—” Luke cocked his head to the side “—ma’am.”

Holly’s mouth dropped open. Had he just dismissed her? “Infuriating, irritating—” Holly muttered.

“Mom?”

Holly sucked in a breath. Simon. She dropped a hand on top of his soft hair and brought him in for a quick hug and pat on the back. “Sorry, bud. Just a little angry at the whole situation.”

“He made you cry.”

“No.” Holly shook her head and dropped down to meet him eye-to-defiant-eye. “No, Simon. Gert made me cry. There’s a lot of memories for me and your grandpa in that office. And you, too. They’re hard to let go of.” But she had to. Accept the idea of her past folding up behind her with every step she took... It made her heart hurt.

Simon looked at the door as Luke carried in a new flat computer screen. “Grandpa taught me go fish in his office.”

“Me, too.” She brushed a finger down the side of his face. And gin rummy and later, poker. Now she routinely beat him at all three. “Simon, Sheriff Saxon is right.” She swallowed the truth of it and wished she’d maintained better control, if for no other reason than to spare Simon from witnessing her flash of temper. It seemed as though every time she saw Luke she was thrown into that hospital waiting room, praying her father was going to survive with no one to cling to, no one to blame, except Luke. “None of this is his fault. It’s time for things to change, even if we don’t want them to.” It was one fight she’d obviously lost long before this morning. Butterfly Harbor, along with her father’s job, was rocketing in a new direction. She’d have to jump on board or risk getting vaporized in the after burn.

“I don’t like him,” Simon argued. “He hurt your feelings and took Grandpa’s job. He’s mean and I want him to go away.”

“Simon.” She stroked a hand down the side of his face, hating the frustration and anger she saw on his normally smiling features. “We don’t always get what we want. And as much as I wish this was all Luke’s fault, it’s not. There are other grown-up things going on. And Luke’s not mean.” At this point, she’d grasp any silver lining, however thin, she could. “He’s trying to make the best of a bad situation.” She couldn’t keep living in the past. She wasn’t that scared sixteen-year-old girl anymore. She had to quit thinking—and acting—like one. “Let’s head to the diner, okay? I bet Paige and Charlie are there by now, and you like Charlie, remember?”

“Of course I remember,” Simon said in such an annoyed tone, Holly laughed. “She’s my new sidekick.”

“Sidekick, huh?” She stood and steered him toward town. “And what does that entail exactly?”

“We’re not sure yet.” Simon scrunched up his face and looked up at her. “We’re still working out the details. But I’ve got some ideas.”