Page 89 of Just Trouble

“Of course. It’s the launch of The Carpe Diem Café, the culmination of our partnership, the whole reason that we started to work together.”

This does not sound romantic. It does not jive with the idea of courtship, given his tone.

“A business dinner then,” I say, hoping to be corrected that it’s a date.

“A celebration,” Luke says. “A triumph.” He nods at his reflection, then considers his beard.

And I understand. He’s leaving right afterward. It won’t be a date because it’ll be the end of whatever is between us. The moment we’ve been enjoying is coming to an end.

Maybe it’s better that way.

Maybe it will hurt less if it happens sooner rather than later.

Maybe there’s nothing saying I can’t turn it into one last stupendously fabulous date. I discover that I’m not quite so ready to accept what is offered and be content.

But then there’s Rafe.

“I already have a friend coming from Toronto for it,” I admit, and now I’m the one avoiding his gaze. “And I asked Mackenzie to join us. Should I change the reservation to a table for four?”

He turns and stares at me, but there’s no satisfaction in surprising Luke this time.

I raise a brow. “Meet you there at six?”

“No,” he says flatly, grabbing a towel. “I’ll pick you up at five forty-five.”

He doesn’t stay the rest of the night but I really didn’t expect otherwise.

I can regret it, though, and I do.

22

LUKE

Idon’t sleep. Even the music isn’t haunting me. All I can do is review that moment when Daph slid away. There’s something truly brutal about feeling that you’re on the same proverbial page, that everything’s coming together, then having the rug pulled out from under your feet.

What’s worrying her?

What did I do or not do?

How weird is it that what I hoped would be a great date at Merrie’s will have me eating dinner with Daph and two other women? That’s seriously not what I had planned, but her friend is coming and making a fuss isn’t going to win me any points.

I get up early because I’m not sleeping anyway and do a workout in my room but it’s not enough. There is no music in my brain to tease me. I dig out the pair of running shoes I bought at the thrift store and go for a run. Merrie has equipment arriving this morning and I promised to help out, but first I need to think.

Daph strategizes. I don’t. What issue would a planner have with our relationship?

That’s so obvious that I could kick myself. I have no plan for the future, and Daph would be the first to realize as much. Plus I told her I was leaving Empire ASAP.

She’s trying to protect herself—from me.

What does my future without Daph look like?

Not promising. I’m not interested in that prospect.

What does a future look like with us together?

That’s tougher. It looks a lot like Empire for the long haul. Daph has a house. She has a commercial building now and will be building her own practice. She’s staying, which means if I want to be with her, I’m staying.

No wonder she’s concerned. I could kick myself again. I get so lost in the now, and in her, that I forget completely about tomorrow. Enough of that.

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