So we are picking up directly where we left off
all the way back in January.
If you would like a refresher on the previous episodes that lead up to this one then click here...
Now let's begin!
It's late Sunday evening, and a couple weeks have gone by since they went out for Laura's birthday. Luke sits with Phoenix upstairs in his office. The boys are practicing on plucking the strings on their guitars. Luke patiently works with Phoenix showing him how to properly hold it. Phoenix has really taken an interest in music and Luke enjoys sharing these moments with him.
"There you go, yeah just like that...Just make sure you have your hand gripped all the way around the neck." Luke gestures with his hand showing Phoenix.
He watches and does his best to copy dad's motions. "I did it!...."
"Good job, little man! Now take your other hand and do this...." Luke takes his right hand and strums the guitar just once.
Raking his finger over the strings. Sending a low steady hum into
the quiet space between them. Phoenix smiles and looks down at the one in his lap. "My turn!..."
He takes his right hand and does his best to imitate what dad just did. The small ukulele making a slightly different sound as he tries his best.
"You got it. Just make sure to hold the neck firmly so the guitar doesn't slide off of your lap...Now try again." Phoenix does as dad instructs and focuses better on holding the guitar and strumming at the same time. This is gonna take some coordination!
Phoenix's little fingers softly move over the strings making the ukulele sing ever so softly but making Phoenix so very proud he was able to follow along."I did it!..I did it!..."
Luke smiles big, "Yeah you sure did! Gimme five little man that was awesome!.." Luke stretches out his left arm splaying his palm upwards so Phoenix can give it a good celebratory slap.
"You ready to try again?...", Luke asks him. Phoenix slaps his hand down onto dad's big hand and energetically nods yes with a big, satisfied grin across his face. "Sweet! Okay lets do this again only this time...We do it together on the count of three, okay?"
Phoenix likes that idea and decides he would like to be the one who counts to three. "
Daddy can I count to thfree?!..." Luke nods, "Sure thing little man..."
"Now remember to hold it like I showed you....then on the count of three we will do it together...Ready?"
Phoenix nods, "Uh huh!..."
"Okay start counting...", Luke instructs him.
"ONE!......TWO!........" But before Phoenix can say three, Laura has come up the stairs
looking for Phoenix not realizing they were in
the middle of something so very important.
"Phoenix it's time for bed it's late!...", she says loudly as she comes up the stairs.
"NOOOOOOOO!", Phoenix wails. "Me and daddy pay guitars."
"You and daddy can play another day. Right now it's late and you still need to take a bath."Phoenix begins to get very upset. Mom has no idea that she interrupted such an important moment.
"C'mon...it's time to go...", Laura stops and stands behind the chair Phoenix is sitting in.
"NO!!...I wanna stay wiff Daddy...", Phoenix shouts.
Laura leans over,"Phoenix you have preschool in the morning. That's it time is up."
Luke decides to jump in and help Laura out. He knows Phoenix is bummed about it but it is late and Luke still has work to do before it gets too late for him. "Listen little man, your mom is right it's late. We can play again tomorrow, okay?"
Phoenix shakes his head no in defiance,"No, I wanna pay now..."
"Tomorrow Phoenix.", Luke replies.
Phoenix fights it again,"NO!..." trying to go back to playing on the Ukulele but then Dad gets up and lays down the law.
"Last chance, son...Hand me the guitar...and Listen to your mother!..." Phoenix does exactly as he is told, when he hears that tone come from Dad's voice he knows he better follow through.
Phoenix surrenders the Ukulele over to Dad then slowly slides off of the desk chair utterly disappointed that his fun was cut short by bedtime.
"Go get ready for your bath. I'll be right down." Laura says to him as they watch him sulk.
Phoenix slowly walks away trying to delay the inevitable both Laura and Luke watch and wait while he follows instructions to head downstairs. Once Phoenix's footsteps are no longer heard, Laura speaks. "Are you coming to bed too?..."
"No, I got work to do.", he replies.
"Again?...I can't help but feel like you're avoiding me."
Luke scoffs at her comment and waves it
off. Laura always over analyzes
everything. "Laura, I'm not avoiding you."
"Well, when you're up here till 3 am every damn night. It sure as hell feels like you're avoiding me. Luke, we have to talk about this at some point!"
Luke's chest rises and falls as he takes a huge exasperated breath. Laura is probably right, but Luke really is behind on inventory work. He doesn't have time to worry about other people's problems. "There is nothing more to talk about! I already told you what happened."
"Well, I know you don't like the idea but maybe you should consider it. We both know the truth and that's all that matters right now." Laura lets it go and begins to walk away. She knows at some point she will get her way.
Plus, she cannot leave Phoenix alone for too long, but Luke cannot let it end there.
"Fuck that, I'm not giving her the satisfaction. If I do, then it's fair game for Rufus to be in our lives again. Even if Ruby is family..."
"Luke, she's an innocent child. She didn't ask to be brought into this world, but if you can somehow make it better then I don't see the harm in that."
Luke walks over to his desk to get ready to work. He really doesn't want to do this conversation all over again. Laura may be half right about him avoiding her in the evenings lately. "You really think agreeing to be Ruby's father will make it better? Babe, all it does is give Rufus what she wants. C'mon..."
"She'd be a fool to play that song and dance again.", Laura remarks.
Luke sighs with frustration, "We've been through this shit before!"
"I know we have! Do you really think I'm that naive?!", Laura snaps back.
"Fuck, Laura! C'mon...I got work to do." Laura's green eyes flare bright with indignation. As he tries to end the conversation not liking at all where it is leading. Neither one wants to be reminded of Luke's previous infidelity.
"You were the one who couldn't keep his wits about him when around her the first time. Now you go and make a scene in the coffee shop! If Saffron
hadn't have seen you that day we probably wouldn't be talking about this right now, would we?!...", Laura spits out still very anger about it.
Luke is at a loss. She's been pissed about this all week. No words can placate her anger over this, only time. Laura is furious Luke chose to not tell her yet again. He always leaves her in the dark when it comes to Rufus. Instead she hears about it a week later via Willow after her sister Saffron told her about it. When will Luke learn? "Babe... that's....C'mon....Do we really need to rehash this shit again? You know I love you. I don't love her..."
"You still have to be truthful with me Luke! I will not go through this again...I've got to go check on Phoenix...Please don't stay up too late." Then Laura heads off back downstairs. Leaving Luke to stew in his own thoughts.
Pushing some hair
out of his face Luke blurts out several choice words
before grabbing his desk chair to take a seat. "Shit!...Fucking women man!...Uh!"
He swivels side to side in his chair his thoughts rambling on in his head...
Damn Rufus! Damn her for coming back here and messing shit up again! Now Laura is kinda siding in agreement with her? For Ruby's sake man...yeah, but now she doesn't fucking trust me! Shit!...Way to fuck shit up again, Cooper.
The last thing Luke wants is to see his ex and his wife teaming up against him. And he sure as hell does not want to give Rufus any satisfaction. Plus he doesn't want to hurt Laura and the boys. Their relationship has already been put to the test once. Can it pass if it's tested again?
He doesn't want to be the bad guy in all of this but there is no reason Luke should be forced into agreeing to legally call Ruby
his child. Rufus has plenty of money and clout to protect
Ruby from her real father. Luke cannot fathom as to why Rufus would think he would fall for this, or maybe she really is just that crazy and paranoid about something.
She did appear legitimately scared of his Dad when she spoke of him, but Rufus is manipulative so there is that as well. Luke snaps out of his trance and sits up, setting his guitar down next to him leaning it against the desk. He's got to make a dent in this inventory list before the night gets away from him. "I've got to get to work...No more fucking around Cooper."
Luke pushes through and finally gets his work done. Laura and the boys have long been asleep for a good while now. He quietly heads downstairs to the second level of their inner city home and makes his way to their bedroom. Laura is a light sleeper so Luke tries his very best to not make too much noise as he brushes his teeth and gets ready for bed.
Luke softly clicks off the light switch and carefully navigates through the dark. Luckily he took a shower earlier when he first got home otherwise he would have to go use the boys bathroom. A shower at this time
of night would surely wake up Laura.
He feels his way through the dark room. Only a faint amount of light coming in through their bedroom window. Luke prefers to sleep in the nude even in the cold winter months.
So he slowly and quietly strips off his shirt and sets it over the back of Laura's vanity chair. Then moves on to
do the same with his cut off jeans.
Whoops! looks like there is a full moon tonight after all! Bahahahhahahaha!
😂😂😂 Sorry y'all I couldn't resist!...
Luke again makes his way through the dark room and attempts to quietly climb into bed without waking Laura. The soft ruffling sound of bedsheets as his body touches the mattress.
Then just like that Laura turns waking up. Her sleepy
green eyes blinking trying to adjust to the dimly lit space.
Luke sighs a little no matter how quiet he is she
almost always wakes up. "Hey...go back to sleep."
Laura rolls all the way over and scoots in closer to Luke. She can feel his body heat radiating off of him. Even though they have central heating this old, semi restored house still gets a little too chilly in the winter for Laura.
"Mm you're so warm. Hold me."
Luke obliges and pulls her in against his warm, naked skin. He softly kisses her hairline. They may fight and bicker, but gawddamn it he still loves this woman. He cannot stay mad at her. And Laura has every right to be upset with him concerning what has already happened in the past with Rufus. Luke cannot afford to make these kind of slip ups again in their relationship.
"Did Phoenix fall asleep okay?", he asks her.
Laura nods "Mm hm, he was out like a light after his bath." Laura pops her head up and kisses him. A sweet and sensual gesture, but he can see she
is still very sleepy as her eyes flutter fighting tostay open just a little longer. "I'm sorry, baby."
"You don't need to be sorry babe. I'm the one who's sorry I didn't tell you about it."
"I know you are." Laura nuzzles her head back into Luke's shoulder and
warm body. Still in a sleepy stupor she continues to talk to him. "Did you get your work done?"
"Yeah...Luckily Jacob did a hell of a job organizing all that shit so it went much quicker than usual. I don't know what I'd do without him...I think this new method will work better from now on...Fucking inventory is killer. I know you think I'm ignoring you staying upstairs all night long but I'm not babe...Laura?" When Laura doesn't reply Luke realizes she has fallen back asleep...
"And don't worry about Rufus, babe. We'll figure it out...Together...I promise. She will never come between us again. I love you too fucking much." Luke trails off his words and lets them continue on into his thoughts. Together is the only way for them. Luke cannot continue to keep
these secrets from Laura. His past is now intertwined with his present and future. No matter what he cannot escape it.
Luke eventually dozes off too. Only to be woken by the buzzing of his alarm clock hours later.
To be Continued!...
Thanks so much as always for tuning in! I truly do appreciate all of your support and interest in what I do. ^_^
