Page 35 of Luke

He gave her a smile. "I think the reason was you."

"Don't be ridiculous," she said, shaking her head. "I wouldn't have been a factor. I'm sure it had more to do with your love of the outdoors than anything else. He probably thought you would love it here."

"That might have been his second thought; his first thought was you, throwing us back together."

"Why?"

"Because he liked you. He thought you were good for me. You had your feet on the ground. You weren't going to do something stupid."

She frowned. "That makes me sound like a really boring and very heavy anchor."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I didn't see you that way."

"Good. I know I'm not as daring as you, but I did sneak into the cafeteria after hours with you. Let's not forget that. And what about that time I prank-called your brother James and pretended to be a collection agency?"

He laughed at the memory. James had been acting so cocky about his early business decisions that he'd decided to throw him a curve ball. "I forgot about that. You were very convincing. And James never knew it was me, either."

"So I wasn't that boring, right?"

He sensed there was more behind the question than she wanted to admit. He met her gaze and said, "You were never boring, Lizzie."

"I sense there's a but coming after that statement."

"But," he said. "My dad was right. You were more grounded than me, more practical, more focused on the details and I was all big picture."

"Maybe that's because we grew up so differently. I didn't have the kind of money you had. There was no one around who would or could bail me out if I got into trouble."

"I never asked anyone to bail me out, either," he returned quickly.

"I know you didn't, because you're proud and you don't like to ask for help, but still you didn't have to worry about your tuition for the next semester, or your rent money. You didn't have to make bean and cheese burritos every day and go home with the smell clinging to your hands and your clothes."

"Those burritos were good."

"Yours were good, because I made them extra special," she said, smiling back at him. "Sometimes I even snuck in some chicken."

"I appreciated that. And you're right, you did have to work harder than me back then. I took some of the basics in life for granted." He paused. "My dad wasn't wrong about you, Lizzie. You were good for me. You pushed me to try new things. Remember the ballroom dancing class? And all those concerts you took me to so I could listen to Bach, and Beethoven, and Mozart? I even took that music appreciation class with you."

She smiled. "I forgot about that. You used to complain, but I think you secretly liked it."

"I liked you." He drew in a breath. "We were good together." He realized now that the blinding anger over the way things had ended had prevented him from remembering the happier times.

"For a while anyway," she agreed. "We balanced each other out. But we ended up going in different directions."

"Until now," he said with a smile as Vixen came to an abrupt stop to inspect some low-hanging branches.

"Damn," she said. "We were doing so well. I thought Vixen would behave."

"And here I thought you were more worried that I'd behave." He pulled Daisy up next to Vixen. "So what do we do?"

"She'll move along in a minute."

"Sure about that?" he teased. "Maybe you should try some sweet talk. You could always get me revved up."

She shot him a dark look. "You were always revved up."

He laughed. "That's probably true. A smile from you was all it took."

She shook her head and patted Vixen. "Come on, baby, let's keep walking. More trees ahead."

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