The Bad Boy of Butterfly Harbor(52)

“I just...” Simon shrugged his shoulders. “I was just so mad. I wanted you to go away.” He ducked his head and stabbed his thumb deeper into the padding.

“And you thought hacking our computers, destroying our coffee machine and locking us out of the office was the way?”

“It was a start?” There was an odd hopeful light in Simon’s eyes as he peered at Luke and cringed.

He would not laugh. But the desire to haul the kid into his arms and hug the stuffing out of him returned full force. Criminal tendencies aside, there was so much potential in this little boy, so much energy needing to be focused in the right way. But how to do that and keep an emotional distance was the question.

“So what?” Luke persisted. “You wanted to make my life miserable here so I’d leave?”

“Yeah.”

“And then your grandpa would get his job back and everything would return to how it used to be.” How many times had Luke wished the same thing himself? That he’d never gotten into that car that night. That he hadn’t had that first drink. The list went on and on.

Simon nodded, but there was a glimmer in his eyes, as if he hadn’t expected Luke to understand his intentions.

“Mom was so angry when you came here,” Simon said. “I’d never seen her like that, then I heard her talk about how you hurt Grandpa, and I wanted you to hurt.”

Try as he might, Luke couldn’t blame Simon for what he’d done. If anything, it made the boy’s actions all the more admirable, if not misguided. “I bet reading all those superhero comic books made tricks and revenge look pretty fun.”

That spark ignited again. “They get to help people and stop them from feeling bad. People are so mean sometimes it makes me want to make them be nice.”

“And I was someone else who was hurting people you care about.” Luke nodded. “You know what, Simon? I might have done the same thing in your shoes.”

“You would?” Awe and wonder shining in the boy’s eyes made Luke recall Simon’s father.

“Before I knew better, sure.” Luke slid off the desk and bent down beside Holly’s son. “Not a day goes by I don’t think about what happened the night I crashed my car into your grandpa’s. It’s like a scar, up here.” He tapped the side of his head. “It won’t ever go away because I know how much pain I caused both him and your mom. It doesn’t matter how much I apologize—nothing can ever make up for the choice I made. But now that I think about it, I never apologized to you directly. And I should have.”

“Why to me?” Simon’s face twisted.

“Because I hurt people you love, people you only want to protect and defend. But, Simon.” He patted the boy’s arm. “You can’t bend the rules and break the law because you think you know better. That’s only going to make things worse for you in the long run. Stop you from doing what you need to do.”

“You mean like getting into my new school?”

“Exactly. What do you think they’d do if they knew what you’d been up to tonight?”

“They wouldn’t want me anymore.” His chin wobbled, not a lot, but enough to prove to Luke he was getting through.

“You want to go there, don’t you?”

Simon nodded. “It’s gonna be so cool, Sheriff. All their computers and classes. I’m going to join the engineering club, so I can learn to build things. I can take what I want to take and you know what the best part is? No homework! Everything gets done in the classroom. I’ll just be there longer.”

Giving Holly even more of a break. All the more reason to make sure Simon was admitted.

“But if they find out about all this, you can’t go there,” Luke said. “And all the money your mom’s borrowed to pay for your school, she’d still have to pay it all back. Did you know that?”

Simon shook his head.

“You know what I think? I think you’re so determined to help other people, you don’t consider the consequences of your actions if you get caught. Because you haven’t been caught before, have you?”

“He’s been caught,” Holly said from the doorway, her father behind her. Luke rose, the strain on Holly’s face making Luke second-guess his decision not to give her a heads-up. She aimed angry eyes on her son. “Your grandfather filled me in on what you’ve been up to, young man.”

Luke looked between mother and son, his heart stuttering. There was anger, yes, but there was nothing but love radiating between the two of them. There wouldn’t be any fists flying or glass breaking or raised voices. There would be talking and punishment and actions to be taken, but at the end, Simon and Holly would be better for it.