Chapter 3
Emily got out of there barely upright and walked straight into a server coming the other way.
A wine bottle went down and shattered.
Lucas shot up, his instincts kicking in, and headed for the door. "Who's there?"
The waiter said, "A lady accidentally..."
Lucas already had his phone out, dialing the contact saved as Sweetheart.
Anna came over. "What is it, Lucas?"
He didn't answer. Something in his chest refused to settle.
The call finally connected.
"Sweetheart, where are you?"
"I just left Carter Manor."
Lucas let out a long breath and slid an arm around Anna's waist. "You've earned a break, baby. Your birthday's next week. You always wanted to camp out and watch fireworks. Let's go do it."
"Okay."
Sweetheart. That name had belonged to Emily, and it burned a hole in Anna. She went up on her toes and kissed the base of his throat.
Lucas' breath hitched.
Emily asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I miss you."
Lucas pinched Anna's cheek and called her a little menace in a voice gone hoarse, and then he hung up. He turned her against the wall and worked his way down her neck.
On the other end of the line, Emily's face went ghostly pale.
She'd heard it.
It had cut off fast, and she'd heard it anyway.
She wiped her eyes.
So that was what it felt like when it went all the way through. Deep enough that her own body stopped feeling like hers.
There was one more month of it, and that was all.
After that, Lucas and her would never see each other again.
*****
"Did you hear? Mr. Carter booked out the entire campground."
"He's got a custom fireworks show tonight and five thousand drones. He's spending over thirty million dollars on it."
"Well, it's Mrs. Carter's birthday, and everybody knows he'd hang the moon for her. Whoever gets to be his wife must have done something right in a past life."
Emily heard plenty of that on the walk in.
Camping had always been something she wanted.
A tent that small put their breathing right next to each other, and every time she looked up, she found his eyes. It was romantic, and the nights went further than that.
It was like the rest of the world had cleared out, thrilling and half hidden.
Lucas had said, "I didn't know my Sweetheart had that in her."
She'd been the good girl her whole life, and with him, she'd thrown the embarrassment out and tried everywhere except a tent. This time, she only wanted him happy.
And now there was nothing happy left anywhere in it.
Lucas had brought Anna.
"Sorry, Sweetheart, I should have told you first. Today's her birthday too, so..."
"It's fine." Emily cut him off. "The more the merrier."
Hearing that, Lucas finally relaxed and pulled her into his arms. "My Sweetheart has the best heart in the world. I don't know what I did to deserve you."
Anna's mouth twitched, and then she went small and meek, as if she hadn't sent that message a few days earlier.
"Thank you, Emily. I promise I won't get in the way of you and Mr. Carter."
Emily pretended she hadn't caught the flash behind Anna's eyes and played right along. "Great. Then you can set up the tent."
Anna glanced at Lucas and lowered her head. "Sure."
"Sweetheart, sit right here."
Lucas got Emily settled into a nearby chair. He made conversation for a while, and then he drifted, his eyes going back to Anna fumbling with the poles.
He looked like he wanted to say something several times, but in the end, he walked away.
"What is wrong with Anna? She can't put up a tent? Sweetheart, stay right here. I'll go handle it."
He didn't even glance back as he walked away.
He used to cross a room to her exactly like that.
Anna said, "Mr. Carter, I'm sorry, I..."
She didn't get to finish it. Lucas already had the pole out of her hands.
He was keeping his distance on purpose, and then he saw the blood on her hand, and it stopped mattering.
"You idiot, why are you in such a hurry?"
"I was afraid Ms. Carter would be upset."
Lucas' heart melted. He took her hand and put her finger in his mouth, gently sucking the blood away. "Silly girl," he murmured.
A few yards off, Emily watched every second of it, and it sat in her like a stone.
She couldn't feel the hurt anymore. All she could think was that Lucas had a thing about germs, and here he was.
The fireworks went off on schedule.
Outside the tent, under an open sky, they broke into color.
Anna jumped and let out a scream.
Lucas turned before he could stop himself. "What happened?"
Then he caught himself and leveled it out. "Don't make a scene. You're bothering Emily."
Something dark went through Anna's eyes. "I'm sorry."
Emily acted like she'd seen none of it and kept her eyes on the sky.
Then five thousand drones climbed into it, arranged themselves on command, and spelled out [Sweetheart], then [Happy Birthday], and then [I Love You].
A declaration the size of the sky hung over their heads.
Lucas took her hand. "Happy birthday, Sweetheart. I'll be here for every one of these from now on."
He wouldn't be.
Emily nearly said it out loud, and then she pressed her lips together and let it go.
Anna felt pretty uncomfortable. She used the restroom as an excuse, walked to the drone control station, and came back to her seat like nothing had happened.
The drones had been flying clean. Then something in them broke, and they came down out of control.
All five thousand of them hit the lawn like a meteor shower, one crack after another.
"Watch out!" Lucas shouted.
At the last second, he got his arms around Anna and rolled the two of them clear.
Emily, left exactly where she was, could only watch them come down on her.
There was one enormous crash.
Emily felt something hot running down from her scalp.
"Sweetheart!"
Lucas ran at her in a panic, and it was already too late.
She wasn't the one he saved first.