Terri Osburn - Up to the Challenge

“But you just found out yourself.” She turned, face placid. As if they were discussing the weather. “You’ll need to pack up your things. Get an early start on the drive.”

“Sid,” he said, and waited for her to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

She raised one shoulder. “For what? We always knew you were leaving.”

“But what we’ve had.” He moved toward her. She shrugged him off and dropped into a blue Adirondack chair.

“What we’ve had is a casual fling. That’s what we agreed on.”

Why was she being so callous? Didn’t she care about him at all?

“That’s how it started. But—”

“You don’t have to worry about me. I promised I could handle casual and would be fine when it was time for you to leave.” She picked at a spot of loose paint on the arm of the chair. “So it’s a little earlier than we planned. Shit happens.”

Shit happens? Shit happens?

“You’re right,” he said, a dead weight filling his chest. He’d done it again. Fallen for a woman who didn’t fall back. “We had a good time for a couple weeks. I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.”

The words were cruel. He shouldn’t have said them.

“I have no complaints,” she said, rising out of the chair. He thought he saw her lip quiver, but when she turned his way, her jaw was set, eyes dry. “I mean, there was never any chance of you staying. Right?”

“Right. There’s nothing here for me.” Her chin flexed as if she’d taken a punch. Lucas fought the urge to break everything on the porch. “My life is back in Richmond. That’s where I belong.”

Sid nodded. “I forgot I told Randy I’d help him with something this morning.” She charged down the steps. “The door is unlocked so you can have someone run you over to the house for your things. You should probably stay here tonight. Get a good night’s sleep so you’ll be awake for the drive.”

She was in the truck seconds later. He wanted to go after her, tell her he was an ass, but what good would that do? He was still leaving. A piece of gravel pinged off his knee when she backed out of the driveway, but Lucas didn’t move. He just watched her drive away.

Leaving him before he could leave her.

He’d never know she pulled off the road half a mile away and cried until she couldn’t breathe.

The gut-wrenching cry took a full five minutes before Sid could pull back onto the road. There was still enough drizzle in the air to keep the tourists off the streets, thank goodness. By the time she found herself in the parking lot of Anchor Adventures, she’d pulled herself together as much as possible, blown her nose on some napkins from her glove compartment, and ruled out having Randy kick Lucas’s ass.

Partly because she didn’t believe her brother should fight her battles, but mostly because she knew she’d hurt Lucas as much as he’d hurt her. Maybe this was exactly what they needed to do to get him off the island. No tearful, sappy good-bye, see-you-next-time scene for them. Better to cut it off at the knees and kill it dead.

Which was probably why she felt like roadkill.

Sid slipped in the back door, hoping to reach Randy’s office without encountering anyone else. She may have pulled it together, but she wasn’t stupid. Her eyes were red and puffy, clear evidence she’d been crying.

With great relief, she reached the office unnoticed.

“Morning,” Randy said, pen poised over some papers. “I didn’t know you were coming by today.”

Sid sniffed. “If anyone asks, yes you did.” She didn’t make a habit of lying, which is why she’d driven to Randy’s at all. Because she’d said that’s where she was going.

Randy’s eyes narrowed. “Where is he?”

“Who?” Sid asked, examining the back of her hand as if something new had grown there.

“Is he still where I can reach him, or was he smart enough to hide?”

“If by he you mean Lucas, he’s still on the island. For another day anyway.”

“I see.” Her brother crossed the office and wrapped her in his arms.

And Sid fell apart. Again.

Several minutes later, Sid held a bottle of water in one hand and a tissue in the other. Her breathing was returning to normal and Randy sat beside her, patient and silent. He was using his Zen crap on her. She could feel it.

“Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?”

“Sit there all silent and meditative.”

Randy chuckled. “Would you rather I rage against the walls on your behalf?”

Sid sniffled. “You couldn’t rage if you tried. I’m just not in the mood for deep thought right now. I want to wallow and not have to hear about how I should get in touch with my inner being and find peace with this situation.”

“For the record, all I’m doing is sitting here. But I would recommend you try some steady breathing to stop that hiccupping.” Sid took a deep breath and Randy asked, “Want to tell me what happened?”

Did she? Did she even know what happened? “It’s kind of a long, complicated story.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, crossing his arms, which was a feat considering his chest was nearly as wide as the doorway. “Did you have a fight?”

“Not exactly.” If anything, they’d had an anti-fight. Agreeing with each other while saying cruel things. “Lucas is going back to Richmond tomorrow. I’ve known since Thursday, only he didn’t know I knew.”

“How did you know?”

Sid pulled her legs up and hugged her knees. “His boss called the restaurant looking for him. Left the message that if he wasn’t in the office on Monday, then he shouldn’t bother coming back at all. I gave the guy my home number because I thought Lucas might be there and he was, only when I asked him if the guy found him, he said yeah and that it was nothing.”

“Ah,” Randy sighed. “So neither of you told the truth.”

When he put it that way. “It’s not like we lied. Well, I didn’t lie. I just omitted a bit of information.”

“And he omitted the same bit of information.”

“Whose side are you on?” she asked, twisting to face him.

“I’m always on your side. You know that. So what happened today?”

Sid blew her nose, then took another deep breath. “We all had breakfast at Tom and Patty’s place so Joe and Beth could announce they’re engaged.” Wait. Was that supposed to be a secret. “Maybe I wasn’t supposed to mention that.”

“I knew,” he said. “Go on.”

“Oh.” Of course he knew. Randy was Joe’s best friend. “Anyway, they’re planning a dinner tomorrow night to celebrate with everyone else, at Dempsey’s, and that’s when Lucas announced that he wouldn’t be there.”

“How did they take it?” Randy asked.

Sid flashed back to that moment in the dining room. “Not well. It looked like Joe assumed it was because of the engagement, but I don’t think Lucas is pining for Beth anymore.”

Randy reached for another tissue and passed it over. “I would hope not. Considering.” He raised one brow and she had to admit he had a point. Had she helped Lucas get over Beth?

“I just realized,” Sid said, “he never told them why he had to go back. Never mentioned the ultimatum or the threat of losing his job.”

“What does that matter?”

“They couldn’t be mad if they knew he didn’t have a choice.”

Randy shook his head. “He had a choice.”

Sid dropped her feet to the floor. “No, he didn’t. They threatened to fire him.”

“Lucas wouldn’t be the first person ever to lose his job,” Randy said, returning to the chair behind his desk. “From what I’ve heard, he’s excellent at what he does. Some other firm would take him on.”

Loyalty pushed her to defend him. “You don’t know that would happen.”

“And he doesn’t know that it wouldn’t.” Randy leaned back in his chair, eyes cutting to the wall on his right covered in pictures. “Why do you think I settled down here?”

Sid felt an old guilt tighten her spine. “Because of me. You couldn’t drag a fourteen-year-old around the globe and up every mountainside.”

He smiled and leaned forward. “You were only part of it, Sidney. Aunt Roberta offered to take care of you. I could have continued chasing the next ride, the next climb. But I chose you and this island.”

Her body loosened. Tears threatened again. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

“There wasn’t a reason before. You’re my little sister and I love you. You were more important than the life I had at the time.” His brown eyes, identical to hers, held her gaze. “I’ve never regretted that decision. Every man has a choice, Sidney. Even Lucas.”

She thought about those words as the tissue in her hand turned to a pile of shredded fragments between her feet. “I don’t blame him for choosing Richmond,” she finally said, knowing to the tips of her toes that she meant it.

Randy picked up his pen. “Maybe someday you should tell him that.”

Lucas couldn’t bring himself to ask anyone to drive him back to Sid’s house. He’d had a hard enough time explaining why she’d left. Unwilling to endure the disappointed looks coming his way, he opted to walk.

Packing didn’t take long, even though he’d had to remove Drillbit from the duffel bag three times. She seemed to be the only creature in his life who didn’t think he was a piece of shit at the moment. Maybe he’d get a cat when he got home. His own little ball of fur to keep him company.

Though with his hours, the animal would be alone most of the time. Based on Holcomb’s tone on the phone, he’d have to bust his ass even harder to get back in the good graces. The partnership wasn’t even a consideration until he straightened this mess out.