Page 95 of Back To You

“Lucky me,”I say with a smile, closing my laptop and gathering up all my things to put in my backpack sitting at my feet.

Jack and Luke head over to the pizza place, and Bennett asks me about rotations. I tell him about how they work and what the day-to-day looks like. I ask him about being a firefighter and he fills me in on how it isn’t much like the TV shows or movies, but he still loves it.

“I’m glad you and Luke decided to go your own paths, rather than your dad’s.”

“Me too,”he says, his smile slowly fading, his face so similar to Luke’s yet so different.“Can you promise me something?”

I’m caught off-guard by the seriousness of his tone, not sure what he could possibly need from me, but I find myself nodding.

“Promise me you’ll take care of my brother?”

Emotion clogs my throat, and I don’t know why. This conversation feels heavy and loaded, and I can’t think of a reason for it.

Either way, I answer with my entire heart.“Of course.”

Bennett gives me a small smile, reaching out and placing his hand on my arm. “No matter what?”he questions, giving my arm a small squeeze.

I want to tell him that being loved by Luke is something I will never again take for granted, that taking care of Luke feels like the most natural thing for me to do, that I will spend the rest of my life making sure Luke always has someone in his corner, forever reminding him of the phenomenal human being he is.

And, even though I don’t say the words, I think Bennett hears them anyway when I promise, “No matter what.”

***

Looking back, maybe Bennett somehow knew his fate or what the future held for him. Or, maybe he didn’t, and he wanted to make sure Luke was loved as much as he deserved to be.

I don’t think I’ll ever know the true reason Bennett felt the need to talk to me that night, but it makes me hold my promise to him even closer to my heart.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I hear Drew’s voice echo through the near-empty bar. I was too trapped in my thoughts to hear the front door open or register the rush of cool air from outside. Drew has on pajama pants under her black winter coat, this year’s November being much colder than past years.

“How long have you been working shifts here?” Mia’s voice chimes in, her hands on her hips as she sports her own pajama pants under her pink puffer jacket. “You know either of us,” she says gesturing between herself and Drew as they walk up to the bar, the couple who was here finally finishing their drinks and heading out, “would have taken Luke’s shifts.”

The memory of Bennett rushes back to the back of my mind, not at all forgotten but back to being tucked away where I can keep it safe.

I haven’t seen either of my best friends, let alone Emmett and Eddie, since Bennett’s funeral, this month being way too busy to have our usual happy hours or movie nights.

We also couldn’t do this month’s Sunday Dinner because that was the weekend we got the call about Bennett.

“It’s no big deal,” I answer, but the last word comes out as a yawn, one so big I have to cover my mouth with my hand.

“Does Luke know you’re working his shifts?” Drew asks, her hands on her hips.

I shake my head and feel the tips of my ears heat, as if she caught me with my hands in my pants. “I don’t need his permission,” I defy.

“Duh, we know that,” Mia retorts, rolling her eyes, reminding me of me. “But we know he doesn’t expect you to. I mean, come on, Ann, I knew you were picking up the slack with No Name next door,” she says referring to the coffee shop, “but that is already a lot with your rotations. This,” she gestures around the bar with her arms, “is too much.”

“I said I can handle it.”

Drew lets out a groan in frustration, running a hand through her red wine hair, flipping it to one side. “We know that, Annie. We know youcanhandle it, but have you learnednothing?”

I raise an eyebrow at her, looking back and forth between her and Mia.

Drew rolls her eyes, and I guess my antics have rubbed off on both my best friends. “When are you going to learn that you can ask for help?”

I shake my head. “That’s not what this is. I know I can ask you guys for help, but—” I stop mid-sentence, my mind going blank, not being able to come up with an excuse.

“I will tattoo ‘Annie, you are not a burden’ on my forehead if that’s what it takes for you not to run yourself into the ground to avoid asking us for help,” Mia says, leaning against the bar and staring right in my eyes, her blonde hair in a messy bun and her brown eyes on full display. “And what did I say about being strong for someone when you’re at your weakest?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I rush out, and my two best friends try to hide the smiles on their faces, knowing that’s what I say when I’m trying to avoid the question.

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