Always You - A Second Chance Romance

Chapter 7

After meeting Chris for lunch, Luke and I attended a couple panels of interest before the convention closed for the night. The uneasiness inside me began to subside until Luke revealed he was staying at the same hotel as me when I was grabbing a taxi back home for the night.

As we both slid into the backseat of the taxi, I felt my stomach flip nervously. I squeezed myself as close to the door as possible, trying to keep space between us. I looked over at Luke to find an amused expression on his face.

"What?" I asked him. He chuckled and looked away, his jaw flexing.

"Nothing," he said, a soft laugh laced in his voice. I rolled my eyes and looked down to my phone.

"I know you and that face doesn't mean 'nothing'," I replied, my tone laced with my annoyance. I couldn't understand how he so easily acted normally around me as if our breakup years ago wasn't a factor.

"Just thinking about the last time we took a taxi together," he whispered to me, having leaned in close to me so the driver wouldn't hear. I gasped and smacked his chest, pushing him back to his side of the small seat. Luke broke out in laughter as my face turned red with the memories of the steamy, drunken taxi drive back to our hotel when we were visiting New York almost 14 years ago.

"I can't believe you'd bring that up," I scoffed, glaring at him. He shrugged, a smile playing at his lips. I caught myself daydreaming about how they felt against mine and had to shake myself back to reality.

"You always get embarrassed so easily," Luke laughed. I felt my cheeks redden more as I tried to push the memory of that night out of my head. A smile played with my lips and I bit my cheek to hide it.

"You're ridiculous," I said, before turning back to my phone. Work emails would serve as a great distraction from Luke.

The rest of the taxi ride was silent between us minus the tapping of my fingers on my phone as I answered emails and text messages I had neglected all day. I opened my text messages, hoping to have a message from Nick but only found texts from coworkers. I quickly replied before typing a text to Nick.

E- Hope you're having a good day. I miss you.

I chewed my lip as I read back the text. My stomach didn't sit right saying that I missed him because I wasn't sure that was true. I sighed and deleted the text before writing a new one.

E- Hope you're having a good day. I love you

I hit send, feeling more content with that message. Luke's phone started ringing, the Lord of the Rings theme filling the taxi. I smiled remembering all the times we rewatched that series with it being his favorite movies. He shuffled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered the call.

"Hi sweetie," he said. My stomach lurched at the tone of his voice and I looked up at him. His voice was sweet and gentle, a tone I knew he used only with children. I always teased him over how gentle he spoke to little kids when he would help me babysit my nieces.

Luke slid himself further away from me, mirroring my own seating position against the door of the taxi. He even turned his head away from me as if he was trying to conceal the call. I felt an overwhelming wave of disappointment and heartache wash over me. I tried to swallow the lump in my throat and turned back to my phone, aimlessly scrolling to find some distraction.

"Yes, that's fine," he replied to who I assumed was a child on the phone. "No, I'll be home Friday.... Okay.... I love you too, sweetie.... Bye."

Luke cleared his throat as he ended the call, putting his phone back into his pocket. I continued to stare at my phone, still trying to push away the emotions that threatened to spill over. He was married, and possibly had a child, and my heart ached at the realization that our lives were cemented in separate paths, something I knew but was just really hitting me.