The Return of Antonides: Christmas at the Castello(17)

She imagined Lukas did considerably more than he said. He'd never been a hands-off sort of guy. "What's it like?" she asked.

So Lukas described the gallery space on the first floor, the studios  where some of the artists would be "in residence," working while people  watched. He told her about the office space and the seven apartments.

"Some are even done," he added with a faint grin. "Mine is. And the one  for my gallery manager, Jenn, who's coming on Monday. And two on the  third floor. None of them would be finished if I were doing it myself.  You should come see it," he suggested.

"Maybe." But Holly knew she wouldn't. Today was a one-off. Get the deed  signed. Move on. "I'm getting ready to leave. I have to pack and still  make the condo look presentable for potential buyers. I should have  started a few weeks ago," she admitted. "But I couldn't get my mind on  it until now that school's almost over."

"Haven't they tried to talk you into staying at St. Brendan's?" Lukas  asked. "I figured they'd fight like hell to keep a good teacher."

"They asked. But it's time to move on. You should understand."

Lukas raised a brow. "Me?"

"It's what you did," she reminded him. "When you left."

Lukas let go of her fingers and put his hand on the steeling wheel, all  the while keeping his eyes on the road. "That was different."

"Different how?"

He didn't answer, just rolled his shoulders in silence. She thought he  wasn't going to answer. But finally he said, "It just was."

"So you're not going to talk about it?"

A muscle ticked in his jaw. "I'm not."

"But-"

"You've only got to think about it, Holly," he said gruffly.

She frowned. So, okay, he'd betrayed Matt. He'd said that already. And  there wasn't anything to stay around for. He'd said that, too. But he'd  left his degree half-done. He hadn't come back. She turned her head so  she could look at him, try to see what had been turning the wheels in  his head. But as always, what went on inside Lukas Antonides's thick  skull was beyond her.

So she turned away and stared out the window. They were nearing the  turnoff for the boatyard. The late-afternoon sun had dropped in the sky  behind them. It beat on the back of her neck through the truck's window,  but it was no longer as hot as it had been earlier. The boatyard was  deserted when they arrived.

"I'll open the gate," she said. "The boat is around back of the  boathouse. You can park there." She nodded toward a place near the  office where she and Matt had parked when they had come here. "I'll show  you where it is."

She didn't wait for him, though. It was the memories of Matt, she told  herself, that were making her weepy. They had come out here only a  couple of weeks before his death. Matt had been so eager to see the boat  again, yet had walked slowly, holding back, almost as if he were afraid  that it would be beyond repair. She knew he hadn't wanted to get his  hopes up. Of course he had talked about Lukas that day, too. Lukas and I  were going to do this, and Luke thought we should do that.                       
       
           



       

Of course Lukas had never been around to do any of it. But as always,  any mention of Lukas had brought back Holly's feelings of guilt.

And now...coming here with Lukas felt like a very bad idea indeed.  Behind her she heard Lukas shut the truck's door. Then his footsteps  came across the gravel after her.

"Wait up!" he called. "Going to a fire?" he began with a grin when he  reached her. But when he saw her face, his grin faded. "What's wrong?"

"Everything's fine. Come on." She started walking again. But Lukas caught her wrist and hauled her to a stop.

"You're crying." He sounded appalled, looking at her worriedly, out of his depth.

"It's okay. I was just...remembering...the day Matt and I came here."  She swallowed. "He was so happy. He had so many plans. I...don't usually  get weepy anymore. Sorry." She wiped a hand down her face.

"You don't have to apologize." Lukas's voice was gruff. "I didn't mean to bring it all back. Do you want to wait in the truck?"

"No. I said I'm fine."

He didn't look convinced. "It won't take me long. I just...wanted to  see it again." He took a breath. His gaze was dark and serious, as if he  were intending to lay some ghosts to rest, too. "Come on, then. Let's  get it done."

She would have gone along without being held on to. But Lukas didn't  let go of her hand, and Holly was exquisitely conscious of the hard  strength of his fingers, though he grasped her lightly enough.

Only when they reached the boat itself did he loose her fingers,  letting his own drop to his side as he just stared at it. Holly,  watching him, couldn't begin to read the shuttered expression on his  face.

As she watched, Lukas walked around the sailboat in silence, his  expression hooded and unreadable. The boat's name, Promise, was still  faintly legible on the bow. Matt had traced it with his finger and  grinned. "That's perfect for the kids," he'd said. "A promise they can  keep."

Unlike the one Lukas had made to you, Holly had thought at the time.  She would have bet he didn't even remember it. But now, watching Lukas  circling the boat slowly before pausing and hunkering down to examine  the work Matt had done on the hull, she thought she'd been wrong. She  saw sadness in his gaze. She saw a flicker of pain. Lukas ran his hand  over Matt's patching effort.

Holly waited for him to acknowledge it, but he didn't speak. So she did. "Matt did a lot."

Lukas nodded. "Yes. He never said."

"Maybe he didn't want to make you feel like a slacker." It wasn't a kind thing to say. "I'm sorry," Holly said quickly.

"No." Lukas lifted his shoulders. "You're probably right. Will they work on it here at the boatyard?"

"I think so. Elias said they could. Tom, the guy you met, will be in charge."

"When will they start?"

"As soon as we give them the deed. Ready to go?"

"Not quite." Lukas nodded and hoisted himself up into the boat, then disappeared from view.

Holly glanced at her watch and shifted from one foot to the other. It was already after five.

Finally, Lukas reappeared. "Lotta work." He put one hand on the  not-very-bright brightwork and jumped lightly back down onto the ground.

Holly nodded. "But it will keep them off street corners and out of  trouble." She gave him a bright smile. "So, it's okay? Now you'll sign?"  She was pulling the envelope with a copy of the deed of gift out of her  tote bag even as she spoke.

A corner of Lukas's mouth lifted. "You're in a big hurry to get rid of me."

"Is there anything else you want to see? If not, I'd like to get back." She held the paper out, then pulled a pen from her bag.

"It's almost time for dinner. I'll sign it at dinner. Where should we go?"

Holly shook her head. "Sorry. I can't."

"Can't?" Lukas's brows drew down. "Or won't?"

"Can't."

Lukas looked skeptical. "You don't eat meals?"

"I'm going out."

"Out?" he said, as if he didn't understand the word. "You're going out?"

"I have a date."

* * *

A date. Holly had a date.

All day long he'd been treating her with kid gloves, tiptoeing around  her very understandable grief for Matt-and all the while she'd been  waiting to go out on a date!

Furiously, Lukas slapped paint on one of the gallery walls. Damn her!  He tried telling himself that it didn't matter, that he'd lived without  Holly Montgomery Halloran for his whole life, that it didn't matter what  she did.                       
       
           



       

But his gut reaction to discovering that she was going out tonight-with a guy who wasn't him-put the lie to that.

"Who is he? What's his name? What does he do?" he'd demanded.

Holly had blinked at his intensity before she'd responded. "His name is  Paul. He's a psychologist. A friend of Matt's," she had told him as  he'd driven her back to her condo. "He's a good guy. You'd like him."

Lukas doubted that. Now he strangled the brush in his hand, aware he  was wishing it was Paul the psychologist's scrawny neck. Rationally, he  told himself that Holly was entitled to date anyone she chose.

But it didn't stop the way he felt. Every bit of his possessiveness  toward Holly that he had relinquished to Matt's greater claim years ago  had come winging right back the moment Holly had said she was going out.

It didn't even matter that she'd told him it wasn't serious.

"We're just friends," she had said almost apologetically as she'd got  out of his truck, refusing to let him to do more than pull up at the  curb outside her place.