Back to Luke (15 page)

But Jayne knew,
remembered,
she’d recommended the same wiring in the new parts as was in the rest of the house, and for the laundry room, she’d gone with ten gauge, which was the best wiring for wet areas. She and Cal hadn’t even discussed altering any of it.

So why was Luke doubting
her?
Did he really think she was incompetent and would keep making mistakes?

No, she wasn’t going to believe that. Not until she talked to him, told him what really happened. After hearing her take on it, he’d come to a different conclusion, if indeed Mick’s assumptions were correct. Who was to say Mick hadn’t misunderstood a conversation he was eavesdropping on?

Jayne sighed heavily. Everything would be all right. There was some kind of mistake. She hadn’t
done anything wrong this time. And Luke would believe her. She knew he would.

D
READING THE CONFRONTATION
with Jayne, Luke entered the trailer with Jess. Head bent, she was sitting at the desk, making notes, and glanced up when he came in. His heart broke at the relieved expression on her face. “I’m so glad you’re back. Both of you.”

“We had some business to discuss.”

She frowned. “Yeah, I know.”

Jess asked, “What do you mean?”

Jayne stood, circled the desk, hitched a hip onto the edge and folded her arms across her chest. She seemed a bit stiff, but other than that, Luke couldn’t read her mood.

Before she could speak, Luke crossed to her and ran his knuckles down her face. “Sweetheart, we found an error in the wiring for the new sections of the house. The ones that you consulted on with Cal.”

“I know.”

Oh, God, it was true, then? She
knew
she’d made a mistake? “The inspector found the error.”

“I know.” She picked up the plans. “These show the same thing.”

Dear Lord, could this be more incriminating? He and Jess exchanged looks. They’d need to alter their tactics now that she’d admitted she’d made a mistake.

Jess sighed heavily as he walked over to the desk. “This is all going to be okay, honey.”

She cocked her head. Her violet eyes were wide and confused. “What do you mean?”

Feeling oddly guilty, Luke explained, “We talked to Cal this morning. He said you told him we didn’t need
the gauge we’d used on the rest of the house and that we could go with the higher one to save money.”

“I did no such thing.” Her brow furrowed when both of them continued to stare at her.

“You just said you knew about this,” Jess put in softly.

Staring at the man she loved, Jayne hesitated to accuse Mick because she didn’t want him to get in trouble for coming to her.

“Baby, it’s all right. It’ll be hard to accept that you made another mistake. But I’ll pay to fix it, and Jess and I will keep the problem to ourselves.”

“You think you can
fix
this? By covering up a mistake?” She shook her head. “Of course you do. You think you can fix everything.”

“No, I mean, yeah, I will fix it. But it’ll be okay.”

“I didn’t change the wiring gauge.”

“You just said you know about the error.”

She shifted, feeling uncomfortable and increasingly angry. Luke shouldn’t need to know Mick’s role to believe her. “Um…somebody told me about the problems.”

He stared at her. Jayne realized what he was thinking.

She watched him, a pit forming in her stomach. “You believe Cal and not me?”

“He said he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Her jaw dropped. “You believe Cal, even though I’m telling you I didn’t make a mistake, either, and that directly contradicts his story?”

“Cal wouldn’t lie.”

“But I would?”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Yes, Luke, you did.” She faced Jess. “You think I made a mistake, too?”

“It’s okay, Jaynie.”

Jayne shook her head at the accusations made by the two men she cared about more than anyone else in the world. The two men standing there in broad daylight, calling her a liar. The two men who believed she’d made another error, who probably believed she’d
keep
making errors, because they thought she was incompetent. She didn’t know which hurt more: that Luke thought so little of her after what they shared, or that neither he nor Jess believed her when she told them the truth.

She slid off the desk. “All those assurances, Luke? That my reputation could withstand one mistake. That everybody makes them. That I was an excellent architect. They were all lies?” She cursed the crack in her voice.

Even as both men protested, “No, sweetheart,” and “No, Jaynie,” she cut them off.

“I can’t believe I thought I could trust you two.” She felt her eyes mist. “This is just like college, Jess, where we were falsely blamed.” She took a bead on Luke. This was the hardest, and she felt sick inside. “And you, you’re just like Ben.” Another man she had loved, turning on her. “I can’t believe it.”

She started to circle around them because she was crying. Both men blocked her way.

“Jayne, we’ve got to talk about this,” Jess said.

“Jayne, baby, listen to us—”

“Listen to what?” She swiped impatiently at her cheeks. “You’ve already made up your minds.” Again, she started out.

Luke grabbed her arm. “I’m not letting you leave like this.”

“You can’t stop me, Luke. Not that it matters, but for
the record, Mick came here and told me he overheard you and Jess. That’s how I knew a mistake had been made.”

“Jayne…”

“None of that matters,” she said. “Not after you chose your family over me.”

“I’m not letting you go until we’ve hashed this out.”

Before Jayne could say anything more, Ed Ranaletti burst into the trailer.

“Luke, something’s happened.”

“Not now, Ranaletti.”

He held up his phone. “Yeah, now. Your sister’s trying to reach you. You haven’t picked up, so she called me. There’s been a car accident involving your brother-in-law. It’s bad, Luke.”

A
T THE KITCHEN TABLE
, Jayne willed away the remnants of the blinding headache she’d gotten on her way over to Eleanor’s house. She finished off a letter to the older woman, who was out shopping, thankfully, so Jayne didn’t have to say goodbye to her in person. Ruthlessly trying to keep her emotions at bay, she set the missive next to the copy of the plans she’d made when she and Cal had figured out the new wiring schematic. Her habit of always duplicating work whenever she designed or changed something, brought on by her college problems, had paid off. Because, clearly visible in her drawing, and her notes, was the designation of twelve-gauge wiring for the rewired parts of the house—the gauge used in the original plans. And the laundry room sketch indicated ten-gauge wiring. She had
proof,
not only her word, which Luke didn’t believe anyway. She also put a personal check for ten thousand dollars next to the letter—the amount of money it would take to fix a mistake that someone else had made.

Jayne scanned the kitchen, which held a hint of the scent of Eleanor’s Earl Grey. She’d always loved this homey room. But she was done here in this house. Done in Riverdale. Completely and utterly done. Somewhere in her heart, she’d known it had been a mistake to come to town, and she’d been right.

When thoughts of Luke intruded—where he was, who had been hurt in the accident and how bad it was—she banished them. She wouldn’t feel sorry for him. Or guilty for walking out on him when this terrible thing had happened. She refused to let herself think about that.

Standing, she made her way into the foyer and left the house by the front so she wouldn’t have to look at the gardens, either. There was only so much loss she could take today, and she still had a major hurdle ahead of her.

She drove like an automaton to Luke’s house. Its imposing presence had warmed her only this morning, wrapped itself around her like a parent, and Jayne had felt as if she’d been accepted by a loving family. Steeling herself against the loss, she got out of the car and used the key he’d given her a few hours ago to let herself in.

She became immobilized in the entry. The space smelled like Luke, and it nearly cracked her reserve. But she’d already broken down once, something she’d vowed never to do again after Ben’s betrayal. She wouldn’t repeat the experience. Keeping her eyes straight ahead, blocking out the little yips coming from the kitchen where they’d settled the puppy this morning, she climbed the stairs to the bedroom. Unable to help herself, she crossed to the bed and her composure slipped. Sitting down, she picked up Luke’s pillow and
brought it to her face. Again, his scent encompassed her and she remembered his words…

I’m falling in love with you…

You can trust me, sweetheart, I promise…

I’ll always be here for you, Jayne. I promise, you aren’t alone anymore.

The last broken vow hurt the most. She’d felt alone for most of her life—with the exception of Jess and Eleanor for those few years—and the belief that she wasn’t anymore because of Luke’s promise had been a lifeline. But at the first test of his loyalty, he hadn’t stood by her. He’d categorically sided with someone else.

Tossing the pillow aside, she rose, got her bags out of the closet and packed her things. Since she didn’t have much to gather up, she was out of his room in a half hour. She stopped in the bathroom to get her toiletries and caught sight of the shower, where she and Luke had made love. She sniffed the trace of aftershave, stared at the razor he’d left on the sink. Those small details made tears threaten again, so she thrust her things in a case, hurried out of the room and fled down the steps.

The puppy yipped soulfully, and Jayne started toward the kitchen. Maybe she could take Hattie with her.

But no. That would be impossible. The dog would remind her of Luke every single day, and Jayne couldn’t bear that. Instead, she set the key on the foyer table and, with the woeful cries of the tiny dog in her head, she left Luke’s house and sought the refuge of her car.

Inside, she realized she had no idea where she’d go. It didn’t matter much anymore, she guessed. Just so she was away from Riverdale, away from Luke Corelli and the hope he’d engendered in her.

Once again, she’d been foolish to believe in happily-ever-after.

She was on the outskirts of town when she realized she was running away again.

You’re good at running,
he’d said to her.

Well, about that, Luke had been right.

L
UKE HELD
a sobbing Corky in his arms as his other sisters gathered around them. The ringing of phones, the constant din of the intercom, and the smell that all hospitals couldn’t escape filled the air. But Luke was tuned into Corky’s grief and fear. “I…I can’t believe it, Luciano. I can’t.”

He held her tight, as much for himself as for her. “Wait until we hear what Nick has to say, Cork. Wait until you get an official report from Cal’s doctors.” Even to his own ears, Luke’s tone sounded unconvincing, so he hoped Belle’s husband could get some news for them soon. Nick was a neurosurgeon at Riverdale Hospital, and though he wouldn’t be working on a relative’s case, he’d gone right into the emergency room when Cal had been brought in.

Corky said, “You don’t understand. It’s bad. It’s really bad.”

Belle hunched down in front of them. “Let’s see what Cal’s doctors tell Nick, honey.” Despite her words, when she looked up at Luke, Belle’s expression was bereft.

Luke tugged Corky closer. “It’ll be all right.”

Belle shook her head.

Oh, dear Lord, Cal wasn’t going to make it?

A few minutes later, their mother and father burst in through the door to the waiting area. They’d been out shopping when Cal had spun into a guardrail while taking a curve too fast. In the middle of the freaking morning!

They hurried to Corky and Luke. Rosa said, “
Bambina,
come to your mother.” She drew Corky up so both parents could hug her.

Luke rose, pulled Belle to the side, and gave her a hug. “Do you know any details?”

“He was drunk.”

“At this time of day?”

“Apparently he tied one on last night and his alcohol content was still high this morning. Hell, he could have been drinking all night, for all I know.”

“I just talked to him an hour ago.”

“About what?”

When the circumstances surrounding Jayne entered Luke’s mind, he mercilessly squelched his thoughts. “It’s not important now.” Nothing was, but Cal’s survival. Especially not a coldhearted bitch who could walk away from him after he’d gotten such devastating news. No, he wouldn’t think about Jayne Logan for a good long time.

Belle nodded to her older sister. “It’s bad timing for them, if there ever was a good time for something like this.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’ve been having problems, Luke. Corky just told me this morning. Cal had been sleeping in the finished basement for weeks. They were barely speaking.”

“Why?”

“His drinking got out of hand. His erratic work schedule, being off weeks at a time, was wearing on them. Corky thinks some other things were going on, but she’s not sure what.”

“Shit.” He scanned the waiting area. His sisters were now comforting Louie, Corky’s oldest. Jess had gone straight for the younger Sorvino kids after he’d driven Luke here. Naomi and Miss Ellie had already arrived a few minutes before them. All the people he loved were in this room. Minus one. Again, he wouldn’t go there. “Why did Corky keep this to herself, Belle?”

Belle reddened.

“Isabella? Why?”

“Cal didn’t want you to know. He was afraid it would affect his job with Harmony Housing. She said they were fighting a lot about money.”

That hurt, Corky not confiding in him, but he pushed it aside, too. “She could have told you or the other girls. She must have been going through hell trying to deal with this alone.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Belle snorted. “Since when could we ever keep secrets? She knew we’d tell you.”

That, too, made him feel bad. He’d been staunchly supportive of Cal, and his other two brothers-in-law, though he’d never liked Maria’s ex. Why did people see him as such an ogre?

His phone rang and, for a moment, Luke froze. Then he said, “I’ll take it outside.” He found his way to the front of the hospital, thinking the caller might be Jayne, checking to see if he was okay. What would he say if it was? How could she have left him at a time like this?

The call wasn’t from Jayne. It was from Ed Rana
letti, asking about Cal. While he had his foreman on the line, Luke put Ed in charge of the project until he returned. Depending on what happened, who knew when he or Jess would be back.

From behind, he heard, “Was it her?”

He turned to Jess. “No, Ranaletti.” Luke felt himself weakening. “How could she have left me now, Jess?”

Expecting a defense of Jayne—that she wasn’t thinking straight, that she had this thing about trust and he’d betrayed it, or that she was scared—he was chagrined when Jess shook his head.

“I don’t know, Luke. She shouldn’t have gone, no matter what she was feeling about us at the moment.”

He never expected Jess to take his side over Jayne’s. It should have made him feel good, but instead, it sliced him to the core.

O
NCE INSIDE
her father’s Manhattan apartment, Jayne found it necessary to lean against the wall for support. Just being here threatened her composure. What had she been thinking to come to the place where she’d lived twelve years ago, when Luke and she were together? They’d made love on the leather couch against the wall, cooked dinner in that kitchen off to the right, and fallen asleep together in the bed in the next room.

But she’d had to come if she was going to pursue the course of action she’d decided on.

She guessed she could have gotten a hotel room until she could rent another apartment, but she’d been pretty much incapable of doing more than calling her firm back and getting herself to the city. Maybe being here would help in the long run. Maybe memories of Luke would make her recall why she’d left him in the first
place. She hadn’t trusted him then, and he’d proved yesterday that she couldn’t trust him now.

That part of her life was over, and she’d start anew here if it killed her.

Turning her mind to business, she thought about the conference call she’d made to her staff at a rest stop. She’d told each of them to look for another job, promising each a hefty severance package. She couldn’t keep them hanging any longer.

With a despondent sigh over her shattered professional circumstances, she headed to the bedroom but veered off to the spare—damn, she couldn’t go to the main one—climbed under the covers fully dressed and took a two-hour nap. When she woke up, though, she was immobilized. All she could see was the tortured expression on Luke’s face when he’d said,
You can’t be serious. You’re going to leave now?

Without answering, she’d walked out the door. Coldly and cruelly. She’d run again, at a time when he really needed her. And in the stillness of her father’s guest room, Jayne admitted it had been a horrible, horrible thing to do. But all she’d wanted was to flee the pain, and in doing so she’d let down the man she loved when he was at his lowest.

Of course, his refusal to believe her had been wrong, too. But, here in the dark, her own actions couldn’t be rationalized and, once again, Jayne felt bad about the person she’d become.

To quell the self-recriminations, she reached over to the nightstand and picked up the phone. She kept repeating words in her head as she waited for the connection. But they weren’t Luke’s words. They were Ben’s.

I own my own outfit. It’s big and successful…I want
you to come to New York…we’ll find something for you to do. You can have your pick of projects to consult on.

And she would, damn it. She’d do it, if for no other reason than she had nothing else in her life.

I
N THE WAITING ROOM
of the hospital, Luke sprawled on a vinyl-covered two-seater, his feet up on a low table. Corky was asleep on a long couch and the other girls dozed in chairs. His parents had stayed the night too.

Nick, Belle’s husband, came out of the emergency room. Easing up, Luke crossed to him.

“How is he?”

Nick shook his head. “Not good.” Nick was one of the best neurologists in his field, making the import of his words grave. “He’s still in a coma. If he’d come out of it, we’d have more hope.”

Cal had undergone surgery at about ten last night to have his spleen removed. It had been irreparably damaged in the accident, and he also had a broken leg and some nasty bruises. He was in pretty bad shape.

“Damn it.”

“How’s Corky doing?”

“She’s taking it hard. Seems like she and Cal were fighting, big-time. They have problems, more than we knew.”

“Marriage is tough,” Nick said, glancing at his own wife.

Luke remembered Belle talking about her frustration with Nick when he and his sister had played racquetball. “You and Belle okay, Nicky?”

Nick shook his head. “Fighting about stupid things. It’s times like these when you realize how petty your gripes are.”

Luke only wished that were true about his trouble with Jayne. Off and on, he’d thought of her all night. He wondered where she was,
how
she was. Around three this morning, he admitted to himself how much his believing Cal over her must have hurt, especially given her history with men, especially after the promises he’d made to her. Had nothing else happened, they might have worked the whole thing all out. In light of what he’d discovered about Cal in the past several hours and what she’d told him about Mick, Luke admitted he might have been wrong about the wiring problem. But regardless of that, the fact that Jayne had coldly walked out on him, knowing how important his family was,
not
knowing who was hurt or how badly, had done irreparable damage to their relationship. She’d run, just like she had before.

“Luke, you okay?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, sure. I just hope Cal is.”

“Me, too.” Again Nick glanced over at the family. “Let’s go see them. Belle’s waking up.”

With a heavy, heavy heart, Luke watched Nick cross to his wife. She smiled up at him, and Luke bet a lot passed between them in the looks they gave each other. Couples fought, made up and lived their lives together.

Not him and Jayne, though. Not after she’d abandoned him when Cal’s life hung in the balance.

B
EN SAT
across from Jayne in his office on Lexington Avenue, with the city a backdrop in the glass wall behind him. His firm took up a whole floor and the office was as impressive as hers in Los Angeles. Right now the place buzzed with ringing phones, humming computers and people conferring on different projects. Jayne had missed those sounds of business.

“Do you have any idea how thrilled I was to get your call this morning?” Ben asked, smiling.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“So you said. What happened to the guy in Riverdale?”

Jayne had been honest with Ben that night they’d had dinner at the Baron Steuben. She’d told him she was going to be dating Luke to see where that relationship took them. Little did she know it would go nowhere.

“It didn’t work out.”

Ben steepled his hands. “I wish I could say I was sorry.”

“It was stupid to…” Oh, God, she felt her eyes mist again.

“Do you think you might change your mind about us personally?”

“Oh, no, Ben. I can’t even think about something like that now.”

“All right.”

“Do you still think there’s something I can do here at your firm?”

He smiled reassuringly, and she remembered believing in that smile. A lot like she’d believed in Luke’s. “Of course. Have you any idea when the decision about your license will come down?”

“I called my lawyer this morning. No word yet, but he promised to check with the board this week.”

“If you get it back, we’re home free. You can simply sign on as an architect.” He leaned over his desk. “Even if you don’t, I promise we’ll find you something that utilizes your talent.” He straightened. “Again, I’m so glad you came to me.”

I had nowhere else to go.

Against her will, Jayne remembered saying the same
thing to Luke. He’d told her about his sisters and how they’d brought him back from an emotional blackout after Timmy died. Suddenly, she wondered who’d been hurt. How badly. How the Corelli family was holding up.

No, she wouldn’t go there. She’d concentrate on getting a job and pulling her professional life together. Once again it was all she had, and she’d been foolish to think otherwise.

“Come down to the drafting room. Let’s take a look at the projects we have going and where you might fit in.”

When he stood, she said, “Wait a second, Ben. Are you sure you trust my judgment? After what I’ve done with the Coulter Gallery?”

“Yes. I know better than anybody about costly mistakes and second chances.” He circled his desk and waited for her. “I trust you and your judgment. I only hope, someday, I can earn back
your
trust personally.”

Jayne wondered if she’d ever trust a man again. Thinking not, she stood and let Ben grasp her elbow and lead her out.

C
AL WAS TRANSFERRED
to the Critical Care Unit and Luke and his family waited for three days for him to wake up. They’d gone home to change and shower, take care of kids and pets, but all the adults had returned here and slept on couches or cots. Unable to face his house, Luke had asked Naomi and the girls to take the dog—permanently, he hoped—and he’d cleaned up at his parents’ home.

On the third day, when their moods were so somber Luke felt as if the whole room might combust, Nick came out of CCU smiling. “Cal’s awake. He’s confused, and sore as hell, but he’s going to make it.”

Corky dissolved. Her kids had left with Teresa’s
husband to sleep for a few hours, so Corky could break down at Nick’s pronouncement. Luke took her into his arms and hugged her.

When she finally quieted, Nick asked, “Want to go see him?”

“Uh-huh.” A hiccup. “I do.”

Luke stayed Nick’s arm as Corky walked ahead of him. His brother-in-law’s face was pale with fatigue, but held relief now, too. “Does he remember anything?”