Handcuffed

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

"I'm kind of surprised she's not coming with us," I said, glancing over to him before looking back out the windshield at the lengthy road ahead.  "I figured she would want to return to her natural habitat with how long she has been away."

He scoffed but didn't find it that humorous.  Maybe because I've been making cracks like that all day.  Could I help it if I'm excited today for where we were going?  Or even more excited Clare wasn't coming?  Luke wanted her to come I think because he was desperate to get closer to his wife too.  It was obvious they were growing apart and, like he said, he wasn't giving up.  However, Clare didn't want to go for some reason. I think Luke knows but I honestly couldn't care.  Hey, she wasn't going.  That was all that matters.

"How long is the ride there?" I asked as we turned onto the highway.  In the small space of his truck, we were crowded with how much we packed.  Well, most was strapped down in the back on the truck's bed but we were taking quite a bit for our trip. 

"A few hours I think," he said, glancing to me and smiling before looking back to the lanes ahead.  His hands gripping the wheel and eyes focused, I took that time to observe him out of the corner of my eyes.  He wore another one of his mussel shirts, this one a faded red and he was supported worn blue jeans to go with it.  His hair was messy as usual, the side of his face showing the end of his lips slightly tilted up.  "I've been there before," he went on.  "My dad and I use to go up there during the summer and we had the best time."

I chuckled.  "I can imagine.  You're dad is pretty awesome.  Hell, your whole family is amazing," I said, looking out the window at the passing cornfield and blue sky.  It felt strange, those words leaving my mouth.  It was kind of like a complement.  Or something positive that sounded weird leaving my lips.

"It appears like that, doesn't it?" he said.  I looked to him and saw a twinkle in his eye that told me there was more.  "Things have been hard in the past.  Francis just got out of some bad things and he still has trouble telling me everything.  Shannon can be a very cold person at times and sometimes, we don't hear from her in months.  And my dad is gone, a lot of the time."

"Why is he always gone?"

"Business.  You wonder why I have so much money?  His dad, my grandpa, died in a car accident and left us all of his money and property.  He was successful in life so we got it all and more.  On top of that, my dad is successful on his own.  He's at the top of a company that deals with entrepreneurship opportunities and other discoveries of new businesses with a lot of potential.  In fact, all of this together, is enough so Shannon, Francis, and I will never have to work.  All this money, it kind of makes us grow apart even more.  That's why I work as a cop; I want to be a normal guy that has what he earns from hard work."

I always did wonder how he was so rich.  Now I also knew why he still works.  I really admired that, that he had a job because he didn't want to have everything for nothing.  This world wasn't fair.  But when the opportunity came, he wanted to try to be as fair as he could. 

However, I didn't like the way he was trying to show his family life wasn't as good as I thought. I understood he said that not to hurt me.  He did it because he wanted to make things clear that he wasn't perfect with a perfect family.  I think he even told me this because he wanted to connect to me more because he recognized I didn't have a great family life or past either.  He was trying to compare and show he understood.  Yet, it pissed me off at the same time too. 

I scoffed lightly.  "Okay, so you're not as close as it seemed.  Now what, I'm suppose to see that we are more alike in that way?  Am I suppose to say, 'oh sorry you have such a shitty life?'" I was being unfair.  I just was unable to help myself.  I didn't look away from his frame - which stiffened from my words.  He was driving so he couldn't really look at me.  But his glance to me showed a shocked expression that also said I was taking it the wrong way.