The mission when he bought the house and cabins was to turn them for a profit as soon as it was reasonable to do so. Now Luke was thinking about taking a year to see what booking them as vacation rentals looked like. There wasn’t a motel or bed-and-breakfast in Virgin River and it could be a highly profitable venture and not too much to manage. If it worked itself into a decent income, he might try to buy out Sean and run it as the sole owner. It would be the most settled Luke had been in more than twenty years.
Luke was ready to put down roots. He was just scared to death to ask anyone like Shelby to take that on. Because she might change her mind. And that would kill him.
So then Aiden got a little brazen and said, “There must have been something about this Shelby that really tripped you up. It’s not like you to get mixed up with some local girl, especially one with a general for an uncle.”
Luke chuckled. “Her looks. The first day I passed through town, I ran into her twice. I thought she was about eighteen and, brother, I knew better.”
“She was the only pretty girl in three counties?” Aiden asked.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Luke said. “I think I hit my head or something. I had a bad case of tunnel vision. I tried like hell to talk myself out of it, but it wasn’t long before all I could do was finish what I’d started. You’ve been there.”
“Been there,” Aiden agreed. After all, he’d married a woman because of tunnel vision. “And that’s when you started to lose interest?”
He was quiet for a second. “You don’t lose interest in someone like Shelby. No matter how hard you try.”
Aiden took a chance. “Been a while since you felt something like that, I guess.”
Luke leveled his gaze across the table at Aiden. “I know what you’re doing. I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about this. I don’t need the aggravation. What I need is time.”
“You fell hard,” Aiden said.
“It happens. Now, that’s enough.”
“I just want to be sure you’re going to be able to move on without…” His voice trailed off.
“Without going completely crazy? Listen, I think I learned a few things, Aiden. This is as bad as it’s going to get. Until it gets better. Leave it alone.”
“Damn shame you couldn’t just go with it, Luke. There’s at least a fifty-percent chance you’re all wrong about her, about yourself, about the way the whole thing could turn out. You might’ve been happy every day of your stupid life, and now you’re just working on getting over her.”
“There’s the thing, Aiden. Fifty-percent chance one of us is right. We just don’t know which one.”
After breakfast the next morning, Aiden threw his duffel in his car, shook his brother’s hand and said, “Go after her, Luke. Tell her the truth, that it scares you to death but you want her.”
Luke just smiled. “Thanks for coming, Aiden. I know you only want to help. Drive carefully.”
It was almost time for Shelby to leave Maui, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready and was considering another week before embarking on San Francisco. She didn’t know if the rest and sunshine was helping or if it would be better to take on a new challenge.
She’d packed everything at her uncle’s, loaded the Jeep and drove to San Francisco to fly to Hawaii so she wouldn’t have go back to Virgin River to pick up her car, her things. Her Jeep was in the long-term lot at the airport, waiting for her next step toward that new life, the one that didn’t interest her at all. The tall trees and mountains called her and the noisy din of the city didn’t sound appealing. Nothing could be as good as the quiet, the clear sky, the natural beauty that had surrounded her. She missed the horses. She missed so much…
She had chosen her vacation accommodations carefully—a hotel on the beach with a decent restaurant. She thought she’d do a little sightseeing around the island, but hadn’t. Reading a lot was part of her plan, but for the first time in her memory, her mind wandered too much to escape into good fiction. Even when her mother had been at her worst, she had been able to read; it had brought her great comfort to fall into a good story. The hotel restaurant was exceptional, but she still yearned for some of Preacher’s food and a blazing hearth, the laughter of friends, the touch of a lover’s hand under the table. Except for breakfast, most of her meals were delivered to her by room service. She was very alone, hidden behind her dark glasses, which was the way she wanted it.