“How can you eat like that and maintain your body?” I ask.
“Genetics?”
“Is that what you call it?”
“I exercise too.”
I cup my chin. “Do you?”
“Uh-huh. Mostly weights. Don’t run much anymore…obviously.” He shoots me a rueful grin.
I place a hand on his left leg. “Don’t be too hard on this guy. It’s incredible that you survived the crash and the leg’s still working.”
His numerous scars tell me everything I need to know. I wonder briefly how things wou
ld’ve turned out if I hadn’t left after Blake’s vicious words. The bastard denied everything to Lucas, but I know what was said…and so does he.
“By the way, do you know when we’re going to arrive in the States?” I ask.
“I had our pilot schedule a red-eye, and he’s estimating that we’ll land in Charlottesville around eight thirty p.m.”
“Great.” I pull out my phone and text Ray with the time.
“Who’s that?”
“Ray—my foster dad. He wants to know.”
“I’d like to meet him,” Lucas says.
My mouth forms an O. “You would?”
“You like him, so he must be a great guy.” Before I can ask him how he knew, he flicks the tip of my nose. “You were smiling fondly.”
I didn’t realize. “It’s difficult not to. He is a great guy. And his wife is lovely. They live in the same neighborhood you do.”
“Really? You never told me about them,” Lucas says.
“We never talked about a lot of things.”
We had sex, we had fun, but we didn’t spend any nights together, and we didn’t pry. I was afraid if I did, he’d disappear—he seemed so aloof and private. And I didn’t want to talk about myself, worried that it might come across as a ham-fisted attempt to make him feel obligated to share in return. Plus, my past is mostly pathetic.
Lucas looks pensive. “I should’ve made an effort.”
“We were both skittish.”
“Yeah, but… That’s no excuse.”
“So we can do better now.” I wipe a bit of ketchup from the corner of his mouth with his napkin. “I have faith in us. Don’t you?”
He takes my hand, kisses each fingertip tenderly and presses his lips against the center of my palm. “I do.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ava
The place Bennie managed to snag is a popular expat bar. The owner is an Irish guy who married a Japanese woman five years ago. He and his wife manage the place.
Lucas and I walk inside, hands linked. The place is already half-full with familiar faces. I’m stunned as I look around. I didn’t realize so many people would show, given the short notice and the fact that it’s a Thursday evening.