Read Online One You Never Leave by Lexy Timms - Free Book Online Page A

for me.”
    Luke didn’t want to talk about this. Telling people made his wife’s situation all too real. He was aware of the implications of her condition and it shook him deeply to his core. Luke couldn’t, wouldn’t recognize that anything bad would happen to the woman he loved. But Helen was family, just like his wife and his club were. “She’s got a condition: pre-eclampsia.”
    “Yes,” said Helen slowly, “I know what it is. My niece had it with her first. How’s her blood pressure?”
    “That’s why she was kept in. It kept spiking, both times when her sister and her parents rolled in. It upset her.”
    “She’s lucky she has family that cares about her.”
    “And she’d be the first to agree,” Luke chuckled, “but they’re a little overprotective.”
    “Ah,” said Helen, as if she understood. “So what does the doctor say?”
    Luke sighed. “That she has to stay on bed-rest for the rest of the pregnancy. That is going to drive her nuts. She’s always cleaning the apartment, even though it’s just the two of us. Honestly, I don’t see how two people can make as much dirt as she claims to clean.”
    Helen chuckled. “It’s the female discerning eye. There isn’t a speck of dust that escapes it.”
    “I guess. I don’t see it.”
    “I’m sure you have other things to worry about.”
    Yes. He did have other things to worry about. Like the shop and its finances, his immigration problems, Anglotti and the wise guys watching him, and the rumored arrival of his crime-lord uncle. He didn’t want to think about these things now. Luke tried to loosen his tense neck with a roll of his shoulders. “So how are you doing, really, Helen?”
    “It’s tough, you know. I still expect to hear his boots on the floors at six each night.” And then more quietly, “I miss him.”
    “Yeah,” said Luke, his throat thickening with his own emotions, “I do too.”
    “Some days I don’t think I can make it through the day. It’s overwhelming at times. I’ll be doing something, and think “I have to tell Frank about that.” Then I remember I can’t tell him anything, and then a kind of blackness falls over me and I can’t breathe.”
    Sadness gripped Luke as he thought about how Helen lost her husband because of him. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. Neither Gibs nor Helen deserved their fate.
    “And then,” said Luke, “his asshole brother shows up. What’s going on with that?”
    “You tell me. One minute he’s talking about settling the estate, and the other he can’t be bothered with discussing terms.”
    “That’s strange.”
    “What’s even stranger is that he’s taken a six-month lease on a sublet in town. He isn’t planning on leaving any time soon and I can’t figure out why.”
    “That is weird,” agreed Luke. “So what’s he asking for?”
    “It changes from meeting to meeting.”
    “He talked about taking Gibs’ bike.”
    “Oh, for heaven’s freakin’ sake,” Helen said with exasperation. “If that’s what he wanted, why didn’t he say so?”
    “He didn’t ask you?”
    “No.”
    “He might be Frank’s brother, but I don’t understand that man.”
    They drove the rest of the way in silence, both lost in their own worries. Luke glanced at the clock on the dashboard as Helen got out of the SUV, announcing it was nearly one o’clock in the morning. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” asked Luke.
    “The doctor told me to get some rest and to call him in the morning. I have the phone by my bed. If I have a problem, I’ll call 911.”
    “Okay, Helen. Call if you need anything.”
    “And you too, Luke,” called Helen as she stood poised to close the door. “If you or Emily need something, you call me. I mean it.”
    “Thanks, Helen. I’ll let you know what happens with Emily.”
    She smiled. “You do that, mister, or you’ll be hearing from me.”
    Helen closed the door with a smile and a solid thud. To make sure she was safe, Luke