“It was.Luke Skywalker was supposed to be this superhero Jedi.Instead, he was a broken hobo on some forgotten planet.And no way would he try to kill Ben Solo—never buying it.And I really wanted him to be Rey’s dad.”
“But he looked into Ben’s mind and saw who he’d become.”
“And that was justification for trying to kill him?”Her voice had risen, and weirdly, for a second, they were back in the safe house in Krakow, her sitting on the sofa finishing off her ramen, him leaning against the doorjamb, wondering how he’d gotten there, too invested in a story in a galaxy far, far away.
And then, just like that, he got it.
“You wanted Luke to be a hero and believe in Ben...because if he did, maybe it would have changed him.”
She blinked at him.Looked away.“It’s just a movie.”
His throat thickened.Yeah.
After a bit, “You do seem rich in your movie lore.”
“My mom found a slew of movies in a dumpster, and we had this little television that had a DVD player attached to it.Nim and I wore them out.We have our own language of movie quotes.”
“Our family had movie nights, but usually we were outside on the lake or helping at the inn.”
“Sounds like you had the perfect childhood.”
He glanced at her, but she hadn’t sounded bitter, the tone not a barb.And besides, maybe he had.
Silence deepened as they drove into the outskirts of Duck Lake, past the Lumberjack’s Table, which used to be an old bowling joint, and Echoes Vinyl Café—which served a decent cup of coffee—and the Tipsy Canoe, a craft brewery.The town’s facelift after the tornado had upscaled the place.
He finally glanced at her.Again, his voice soft, “You’re not a project, Emberly.”
She glanced at him.Nodded.“If calling me your girlfriend stops questions, I can handle it.Just don’t...be sweet.”
“Nothing but full-on Grinch.”
He got a smile.
“For the record, it’s a cute town.”
He turned north, toward the King’s Inn, situated on the lake.“Thanks?”
“I mean, I would have loved to grow up in a town like Duck Lake.”
“It’s hard to escape your past in a small town.”He didn’t know why that sneaked out, but maybe...Well, she’d told him about her life.
Not that he had much to tell.“We were sort of big shots in town.My brother Jack was this all-around athlete.People called him Big Jack.And Conrad has always been the hockey star.Austen and I were the Wonder Twins.”
“Seriously?I didn’t realize you were twins.”
“Well, fraternal.I’m older and much wiser by two minutes.”
“Your poor mother.”She’d turned, leaning against the door to watch him.After the plane ride, she’d changed into leggings, white tennis shoes, and an oversized sweatshirt.With her tousled red hair, she looked like a coed, the weekend “girlfriend.”
Aw.He had to stop thinking that way.Really.
“Yeah, then she had Doyle and Brontë, so we had a wild, full house.My grandparents ran the inn until they retired.We grew up in the carriage house with my dad running maintenance and my mom helping Grandma.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Probably was.At the time, I couldn’t wait to leave.”
“Why?”
