“He must have told you why he showed up.”
“Nope.”
“And you didn't ask him?”
“There wasn't exactly room for a lot of questions.”
Lily pretended to put her hands over her ears. “I'm not sure I can listen to any more of the details.”
Janica leaned forward on the counter and said in a hushed tone, “Well first he—”
At Lily's horrified look she started laughing, incredibly glad for the chance to feel some lightness for just a few moments. “Just kidding. You know I don't kiss and tell.”
“Who's the lucky guy this time?” Travis said, walking in at the tail end of her sentence, carrying a basketball.
Lily simply lit up when she saw her husband. Janica was momentarily forgotten as Travis and Lily put their arms around each other and kissed. A little while later, Lily shot her a questioning look.
No! Janica shot back silently.
All she needed was for Travis to find out about her and Luke. Wouldn't he just love that?
She'd never ever—ever!—hear the end of it from her pain-in-the-ass brother-in-law.
The kids came barreling into the kitchen a second later. “Daddy! Auntie Jan is taking us for cupcakes!” Violet yelled as he squatted down and she threw herself into his arms.
Sammy was right behind her. “Cupcakes! Cupcakes!”
After telling them how excited he was about their good fortune, he shot Janica a scowl. “Nothing like a bunch of sugar to really make things easy on their parents.”
“You're welcome,” she said with an unapologetic smile she knew would really irk her sister's husband.
Lily looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and frowned. “I thought you and Luke were meeting to play basketball?”
“He stood me up so I picked up a quick game with a couple of guys already there.”
Lily glanced at Janica. “Is something wrong with Luke that you haven't told me?”
Travis didn't look at all concerned as he opened the fridge and got out a bottle of orange juice. “He probably got called into the ER. You know how nuts his schedule is.”
As soon as he left to take a shower, Lily grabbed the phone. “I've got to talk to Luke, make sure he's okay.”
Janica leapt up to grab the phone out of Lily's hand. “No. Please. This is already so embarrassing. If you call him, you'll end up saying something about me. I know you will.”
“I promise I won't, Jan, but he's my best friend. I have to find out what's going on.”
Less than a minute later, Lily put the phone back down on the counter. “He didn't answer at home or at work. And his cell phone said his voice mail is full. This isn't like him, Jan.”
Janica already knew that. Clearly, the only reason why he'd come over to her place was because something was very, very wrong. But the sex had been too all-consuming for her to even begin to ask him any questions.
And he'd gotten the hell out of there before she could.
Lily wasn't the only one worried about Luke.
Because even though he'd walked out on her, Janica was too.
And no matter how tempting it was to try and pretend nothing with Luke had ever happened, she knew she couldn't pull it off.
Not when taking risks was what Janica did.
Not when, despite knowing better, despite the fact that her heart was only going to keep breaking apart, the truth was as simple as it came.
She really was in love with him.
Head over fucking heels.
“Violet. Sam. Let's go get cupcakes.” The kids ran back into the room. “I'll bring them back when they're full to the brim with cake and frosting,” she told her sister.
And then, she was going to go find Luke.
To find out what the hell was going on.
Chapter Ten
Now she knew something was really wrong. Luke didn't take vacations. He worked.
Janica was a bit of a workaholic herself, so she got late nights and working through the weekend. But she also knew how to have fun. How to completely let go and forget everything except a good time.
The drive out to Big Sur was stunningly beautiful. She tried to picture Luke sitting in an oceanfront cabin, doing nothing but looking out at the waves.
He must be going crazy.
It hadn't been hard to find out where he was. She'd simply gone to the hospital and told a couple of doctors that she needed to talk to Luke Carson immediately. At first they had been cagey with her, until she told them that she was his sister-in-law. Perhaps it hadn't been right for her to make them assume it was a family emergency, but in a way, wasn't it? After all, she and Luke were family.
And in her worst moments since he'd left in the middle of the night, everything had kind of felt like an emergency.
Following the directions she'd been given, she turned off Highway 1 onto a narrow gravel driveway. It wound up the mountain, then over the peak and down the other side. Blue water sparkled at her through the thick cypress trees.
She could easily imagine sitting out on one of the bluffs with her sketchpad. Already, she could see a new line of printed fabrics in greens and blues. But she wasn't here to work on new designs.
She was here for Luke.
And, if she was being completely honest, for herself too. Because if there was any chance that things could actually go somewhere between the two of them-
No. She couldn't go there. She shouldn't go there. Not when she knew better.
Didn't she?
Inner turmoil roiled inside her as she pulled in behind Luke's car in the tiny gravel parking lot. Stepping out of the car, she forced herself to take a moment to breathe in the sweet-smelling ocean air.
No one had ever called Janica stupid, and they weren't about to now. She knew exactly what she was walking into.
Luke was going to hate that she was here. He was going to hate that she knew something had gone wrong for him at the hospital. And odds were pretty damn high that he was going to take it out on her.
The question was, how?
Standing alone in the trees, looking out on the water, she smiled. Despite her nerves, the adventurous part of her was looking forward to seeing what he would do—and if they would end up together in bed again.
Walking around the side of the cabin, she saw stairs that led to a front porch. Never one to back down from a challenge, she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and headed up. The deck chairs and dining table were all empty, but the door was wide open. Almost as if Luke couldn't be bothered even to shut it.