Page 52 of Just Trouble

“I don’t think you need any tips from me in that department. I found bagels in the freezer.” I get a questioning glance and I nod, seeing that he already has one in the toaster. There are bananas in the bowl on the counter and I get the cream cheese in the fridge. By the time the coffee is ready, we have breakfast laid out on the counter, and we eat contentedly for a few moments.

“You look like a cat in the sun,” I say. “Or the one who got the cream.”

“I wonder why.” He wiggles his brows and I laugh at him, just the way he’s expecting me to. It’s warm and easy and comfortable, but I tell myself not to get used to it. “Did Meredith say when she was coming?”

I shake my head. “I told her to call me when she’s close.”

“Today, though?”

“That’s what she said.”

He nods, considering his bagel as if it holds the mysteries to the universe. He looks up suddenly, pinning me to the spot with a perceptive look. “So, when are you going to tell me the whole story about Justin?”

I do not drop my mug, and I’ll count that as a win. “I told you already.”

Luke shakes his head slowly. “No. You told me that he messed around on you after you were engaged.”

“Isn’t that the important bit?”

“I don’t think so. How did you end up with him? What drew you to him?” He sips his coffee watching me. “What convinced you that he was the guy for you, Daph? I have a hard time believing that you misjudged anyone that badly.”

I feel my eyes narrow. “You think Ichosehim knowing he’d be a douche?”

“Maybe you didn’t really want to get married and do all that traditional stuff. Maybe he was the best option available, or the one you thought was good enough.”

I put down my mug hard. “Do you think I would get engaged to just any guy? Ilovedhim.”

His gaze flicks over me. “Why?”

I’m outraged by the question, but I can see that Luke is genuinely curious. He’s not being a prick, not on purpose anyway. He’s just asking a tough question, one a whole lot like the one Rafe asked me once upon a time.

Why Justin?

And I’m floundering, because all the answers that come to mind are pat. They could be somebody else’s answers, not mine.

Why Justin?

I get up and pour the rest of my coffee down the sink.

“Getting chilly in here,” Luke says, like he’s trying to lighten the mood. “I should head out.”

“No, wait,” I say, putting my hand on his arm. That new tattoo is under my fingers and I trace it with a fingertip. I couldn’t see it clearly the night before, and to be honest, I wasn’t looking. Now I see that it’s a tangle of lines that covers his left forearm from elbow to wrist, a tendril trailing over the back of his hand. It looks like part of a whole, an image partially veiled from view. It makes me think of the moon behind clouds, ofCeltic ruins, of druids and carvings in stone. There’s something fluid about it, and mesmerizing, and I look closer.

Yes, it’s part of a labyrinth.

“Daedalus created the labyrinth to trap the minotaur, the monster of Thebes that devoured the children of Athens.” Luke is speaking softly. “Theseus killed the monster and escaped the labyrinth, with the help of Ariadne and her thread.”

“Which he followed to find his way back out,” I remember, seeing a spider in his tattoo as well as a spindle of thread and a distaff. There’s a small bull near his wrist, and its tail is what appears on the back of his hand. There’s a sword worthy of a hero, too.

“And since the Middle Ages, the labyrinth has been a path for introspection and study, a meditative path for introspection.”

“They’re in churches.”

Luke nods. “Taylor and I visited the one at Chartres. He was fascinated by labyrinths and the notion of looking deeper inside yourself to improve.”

And I understand the new tattoo. “This is for Taylor.”

“He had a tattoo of the labyrinth at Chartres, right over his heart.” He smiles crookedly, watching my finger. “He used to say that he’d know the woman who was for him, because she’d not only recognize it but know how to navigate her way through it. It would be their common ground.”

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