This Can't Be Love (Whispering Bay Romance 5)

She blew out a breath. “Did they look at Victoria funny, too?”

He thought about it a minute. “I don’t think Victoria ever came to the office.”

“Never?”

He shrugged. “I don’t think so. Maybe. I can’t remember.”

It struck Sarah as odd that he’d dated a woman for almost three years and she’d never once gone to his place of business. But, according to Mimi, Victoria worked for a busy law firm, and, of course, Luke traveled a lot, so it probably made sense that she’d never had a reason to visit his office.

Afterward, they visited Centennial Park and walked by the Fountain of Rings followed by a tour of the Coca-Cola factory and a couple of hours at the Georgia Aquarium (Luke’s favorite part of the day). By the time they drove to Ethan and Julie’s home in Buckhead, Sarah was beyond just exhausted.

“You did all that in one day?” Julie asked in amazement after listening to their itinerary. She was in her mid-thirties and very pretty, with straight, chin-length, black hair and dark, almond-shaped eyes. She taught physics at Georgia Tech and Sarah couldn’t help but be impressed. She was also nice. The first thing she’d done after meeting Sarah was give her a hug, then place a big glass of red wine in her hand with instructions to sit down and relax.

Sarah gratefully took a sip of the wine. “We did all that in about six hours to be exact.”

“Powers, are you trying to kill this poor girl?” Ethan asked.

Sarah had immediately liked Ethan as well. He was medium height with a runner’s slim build and warm brown eyes. It was obvious from the way he and Luke joked around with each other that the two men were best friends.

“So,” Julie said, “I’m just going to put this out there.” She turned to Sarah, “Don’t you think it’s weird that Luke is going to his ex’s wedding?”

“Well…” Sarah began.

“It’s more than weird,” Ethan said. “It’s fu—sorry, but it’s messed up.”

“Why didn’t you just say no?” Julie asked Luke.

Sarah didn’t want to play let’s-all-gang-up-on-Luke, but she had to admit to being curious, as well.

“It’s not that weird,” Luke said, shifting uncomfortably next to her on the couch. “Victoria and I were a part of each other’s lives for a long time. She kept insisting that I come to the wedding and if it makes her happy, then why not?”

“Yeah, but what does Luke want?” Julie demanded. “Have you ever stopped and asked yourself that?”

“What does Luke want? Luke is starving, so Luke wants to eat dinner.”

They all laughed politely and Julie refilled their wine glasses. Sarah had noticed from the start that Julie was drinking only cranberry juice. Luke suddenly noticed it, too.

He looked back and forth between his two friends. “No wine for you tonight, Jules?” he asked affectionately.

Ethan put an arm around his wife. “Not tonight,” he said. “And not for the next seven months either.”

“Damn.” Luke rose from his seat on the couch to give Julie a hug and Ethan a slap on the back. “It’s about time the two of you made a little Luke.”

Ethan laughed. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

“Congratulations,” Sarah said sincerely. She’d only just met them but with every minute that passed she liked Luke’s friends more and more.

“Thank you,” Julie said, beaming. “We’re pretty excited about it.”

They sat at the kitchen table and dined on a delicious dinner of grilled chicken and veggie kabobs, and Julie and Ethan took turns telling her stories about Luke. One involved a weekend where the three of them went hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains that also included a skunk. Sarah cried, she laughed so hard. Luke sat back in his chair, looking amused. He took his revenge, however, when he told her the story of how Ethan and Julie first met at a party and how she’d initially refused to give Ethan her number.

“I thought he was a stalker!” Julie said. “He kept following me around but whenever I tried to talk to him he’d mumble under his breath and creep away!”

“That’s because I was shy!” Ethan protested.

Sarah laughed. “Then what happened? How did you end up going out?”

“We have Luke to thank for that,” Julie said. “He was at the party, too. Before the night was over he walked over to me and pointed to Ethan and said, ‘See that guy there? He thinks you’re the prettiest girl in the room and he’s dying to get your number. Normally, I’m nobody’s wingman, but he’s my best friend and the best guy in the world, so if you’re as smart as you are pretty, you’ll give it to him’ and that was that.”