We walked out to the parking lot and I watched Luke kiss Grace and Alex good-bye. I longed for his lips to be on my body.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Stop this Libby. Stop this right now. You’re with Zach.
Luke walked up to Zach and reached his hand out. They shook hands while Luke said, “It was nice meeting you, Zach.”
“Same here, Luke.”
Turning to me, Luke captured my eyes. They looked sad. Heartbroken. I so desperately wanted him to beg me not to leave with Zach. I wanted him to take me in his arms and tell me he loved me. That he needed me.
“Lib, I’ll see you around.”
My eyes filled with tears as I nodded my head. I couldn’t even say anything for fear of crying. I watched as Luke turned and walked off toward his truck. He pulled out his phone and began texting someone.
Abigail. He was probably going to Abigail. Looking away, I saw Alex staring at me. I gave her a weak smile before taking Zach’s arm. “I’m not ready to end the night. Let’s go dancing.”
Alex and Will both shook their heads. “I’m tired, so I’m going to have to pass,” Alex said with a smile.
Grace did a little jump. “I’ll go with y’all!”
I smiled and gave Grace a high five. “Perfect! Let’s go have some fun!”
I SAT ON the sofa and let out a sigh. Will and I had moved into the house our parents all chipped in for this past weekend. Libby declined to move in and I knew it was because of that fucker she was dating. My phone went off and I looked at it sitting on the coffee table. Abigail’s name flashed across the screen. I rolled my eyes as I picked up the phone.
Abigail: Hey baby. It’s been a few weeks. I want a repeat.
Hitting delete, I tossed my phone back down onto the coffee table. I hadn’t been back to Abigail’s house since the night I had dinner with Libby and her new boyfriend Zach. As soon as I left the restaurant, I sent Abigail a text and spent much of the night screwing her and trying to get Libby’s face erased from my mind.
It hadn’t worked. Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was Libby. Every time I fell asleep, all I dreamed about was Libby. I stood and headed upstairs. I was going home for the weekend. The faster I got out of College Station and away from Libby, the better.
“WANT TO TELL me what’s on your mind, Son?” my father asked as we rode along in silence. I shrugged my shoulders and looked off to the west.
“Girl problems?”
I let out a husky laugh. “You could say.”
Stopping his horse, my father cleared his throat. I stopped mine and turned her around so that I was facing my father. “You know, I’ve been your age once before. I kind of know a thing or two about this subject. I am after all married to your mother.”
I let out a small laugh. “You and Mom have the most amazing love I’ve ever seen, Dad. The way she looks at you when you walk into a room.” I shook my head. “The way you look at her when she walks into a room, it’s magical.”
My father smiled. “I do love your mother very much. She’s my life. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”
My smile faded as I looked away. “You’d never hurt her.”
“How do you know that?”
My head turned back quickly as I looked at my father. “What?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Do you think our love is perfect son? That we don’t make mistakes? Hurt each other?”
“I know you would never purposely hurt Mom, Dad. You love her too much.”
My father looked away as he said, “No. I’d never knowingly hurt your mother, but I have hurt her before. Deeply.” His voice was filled with sadness as he turned to me. “There was a time that I thought I might have lost your mother forever. I had two choices. Walk away from her and never risk hurting her again, or stay and fight for our love. If I stayed, I knew I risked the chance of hurting her again, but our love was worth the risk. Love has a way of melting our defenses, Luke. You just have to know when to let those defenses fall.”
I wanted to ask him what he did, but for some reason it didn’t feel right asking.
“It must not have been that bad. She forgave you,” I said quietly.
“She forgave me because she loves me, Luke. She knows how much I love her. No one is perfect, Son. We all make mistakes. Sometimes we hurt the people we love in the process. That doesn’t make us love them any less and that fear of hurting someone shouldn’t stop us from loving them.”