Chapter Nine

Over the next few days, Luke looked for a way to broach the topic of having Leslie visit home as she’d mentioned. It wasn’t as easy as he’d thought and, each time he wanted to bring it up, the words just got stuck in his throat. Finally, on Thursday, he let it all out. They were having dinner and he casually brought it up, daring whatever reaction that would elicit from her. “Uhm…Leslie, I thought about what you said about Shaun asking you to go home.” Leslie glanced up at him dispiritedly. Luke had noticed over the weeks how she’d become frail and dull. She was sick but the tests had shown that she wasn’t getting enough rest. He shook the thought off his mind. “Uh-huh?” “I think you should go this weekend. It will be a great way to reconnect. You can stay for a week if you want.” “A week?” He nodded. “Isn’t that enough?” Leslie shrugged. “It’s more than enough, actually. But why would I go to New York this weekend? It’s so sudden.” “Come on, Leslie,” he said, chuckling. “We t