The Risk of Falling

Chapter Seventeen: Of Friends and Lovers

A/N: Hi everyone! 

Here's another chapter to Max and Luke's story. As I was writing it this week, it dawned on me that unlike my typical work, the root of this story isn't a grand, dramatic plot you'd find in many of my books. Luke and Max's story is a story you and I and many others might have had at some point in our lives—wanting someone so close to you, you could easily reach for their hand and put it against your heart, but being so afraid that they may not feel the way you do. It's a type of torture that has you turning away to blink back tears so they wouldn't see, or wanting to put your fist in your mouth because you'd been thatclose to spilling your entire heart out.

The thread that weaves this story together is their struggle—against each other, against themselves, against circumstances they find themselves in, together or apart.

So yes, Max and Luke's story will be quite different but it looks deep into the details of a complicated relationship we probably know more about than we think. 

***

The night was a solid success.

The final numbers turned out even better than we expected. The guests had a lot of fun and happily put in their hard-earned dollars to good use by bidding for all kinds of opportunities from a private hockey game to a dinner on the yacht with the entire hockey team. The local government officials and charity board members who came were very impressed with the turn-out and promised to do more joint projects with the company. The players were thrilled with the warm reception and the positive interaction with the press, especially coming into fall and the hockey season. Hedenby Holdings went up a notch in customer and vendor engagement which meant better relationships with various stakeholders that typically resulted to higher profitability. 

All in all, Luke could’ve looked like the cat who got the cream but despite the bright smiles and the sparkling conversation he would manage when he remembered he was tasked to charm the crowd, it almost seemed like he’d gotten bad dairy somehow. When he thought no one was looking, least of all me, he was sullen and brooding. 

Supervising the event without getting in the way meant I stayed along the fringes of the party, being in the background and not in the spotlight that the CEO of Hedenby Holdings was expected to occupy. But despite Luke’s cold shoulder and his mood that swung faster than anyone could say PMS, I felt a bit out of sorts about it. 

Tonight may never be the dream date night that it could’ve been with the dress and the dragonfly necklace and the town car and the roses and the romantic note but it was a night I owed him something for. Not for all the pretty things but for the hours he’d spent helping me when he wasn’t required to and for the grand gesture (Luke seemed to have a thing for it) of reminding me that beautiful could really be just a state of mind. And it helped knowing that because even as I circled the fringes, I didn’t hide in the shadows. I smiled and met and talked to people—from guests to the team members to government officials. 

Whatever his motives were, Luke had been a good friend to me this past week and I was grateful for that. So I ventured out into the light toward the end, when the party was finally starting to wrap up. I knew he was going to be surly about it and push me away if I tried but he should know by now that I could be just as stubborn.

“You know, if not for the decent salary and the benefits package and the stodgy but not unattractive boss, I’d say that the thing I love most about working for Hedenby Holdings is that it knows how to throw a damn good party,” I said impishly as I stood next to Luke by the bar.  He’d been nursing a fresh drink there after extricating himself from nearly half an hour of conversation with the mayor, the coach and a few players from the team.