Page 31 of Back To You

I thought the space where my heart was supposed to be was empty, the pieces smashed and broken beyond repair.

Turns out, my heart has been there all along.

It just only beats for Luke.

Chapter 13

Annie

“What do you mean you don’t want to do anything to celebrate your last summer?” Mia whines, the sun highlighting the golden specks in her brown eyes.

She and I are sharing a patio chair in Drew and Emmett’s backyard as we watch Luke and Eddie play fetch with Rosie and Daisy.

“You start rotations in a few weeks,” Drew adds from her chair across from us. Her red hair is braided, a few pieces loose to frame her face. Her lack of sleep is barely noticeable behind her new-mom glow as she holds a one-week-old Lennon against her chest.

I wait for her to clarify why my rotations starting constitutes as a reason to celebrate. “Your last hurrah at this stage in your life?” she adds, with an attitude that saysduh, Annie, but I just keep staring at her, my eyebrows raising. “The kickoff to the last year of vet school?” Even more attitude.

“Those are not reasons to celebrate.”

She lets out a groan, her head falling back against the chair. “You’re no fun,” she exasperates.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes, ignoring both of my friends throwing temper tantrums. “It’s no big deal. Iwant Saturday to be like any other Movie Night, that way Lenny can be there too.”

“But it isn’t just any other Movie Night,” Mia argues. “We want to celebrate before it’s too late. Soon, it’ll be August, and you’ll be too busy with your last three weeks at the shelter.” I try to hide the curve of my lips as she rambles. “Then it’ll be September, and you’ll be too busy and tired for the next twelve months becoming a bigshot veterinarian, saving the lives of all the cutie little animals of the world.”

“True,” I start, stretching up the word. I’m still not convinced this weekend should be anything special. “So, Drew can give me her turn to pick the movie,” I reply with a smile, only for Drew to give me a mock smile in return and reach into her drink on the table next to her to throw an ice cube at me.

The three of us laugh, putting a pin in the conversation.

Drew goes inside to change Lennon, and Mia and I watch Eddie and Luke run around with their dogs, Emmett shaking his head at the four of them, but I can make out the small smile on his face.

“So, almost another full week at Luke’s,” Mia says as we watch the boys.

“Almost,” I echo with a sigh. My eyes find Luke as he tosses the tennis ball to Eddie for him to throw for Rosie and Daisy.

It’s been almost a week since our conversation about Luke not only admitting he didn’t want to be a lawyer but how he also admitted to trying to find a place for me before even knowing if I wanted to move back to my old apartment or not.

Luke is taking on most of the responsibility of Lenny’s with Emmett staying home with Drew and the baby, soeven though he was off, he still went in both Saturday night, and most of Sunday to make sure everything was okay.

I also had this nagging feeling that he was avoiding me until it was replaced with the urge to punch myself in the face for caring if he was ignoring me or not.

We didn’t see much of each other the rest of the weekend, and we fell back into our normal routine when the work week started. Tonight is the first night he hasn’t been to Lenny’s all week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he heads over there after this.

“Annie?”

I look at Mia. “What?”

“I asked if things were going okay, but you were too busy staring at Luke.”

“Don’t be dumb,” I say as I lightly slap her on the arm. “I was just thinking about how I’m surprised he isn’t racing Rosie and Daisy to get to the ball first.”

Mia lets out a sigh as if she’s disappointed in me.

“What?”

“You don’t get to do this forever, you know,” she says, raising an eyebrow at me as if daring me to argue with her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I reply, untucking my hair behind my ears in case they’re turning red.

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