As the World Turns Fic #2: The One where Reid and Lucinda Meet
Title: The One With Lucinda and Reid
Fandom: As the World Turns
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid
Rating: R
Summary: Reid and Lucinda Meet
Disclaimer: Not-not-mine
Author's Notes: I just willfully make things up if I don’t know the real answer. Sorry if any details are distractingly off-base. This piece meanders a bit because, really, I just like to hang out with Luke and Reid and see what they’re doing.
Reid Oliver was always pleased to wake up to Luke Snyder in his bed, but when he woke up to Luke Snyder riding his cock, he always felt a little extra jolt of good fortune. “Holy fuck, you’re going to kill me,” he groaned happily after he came.
In what was hands-down the most ridiculous question anyone had ever asked in the history of verbal communication, Luke said, “You’re not mad that I woke you up, are you?” His smile was half wanton, half abashed and either one had a tendency to send Reid over the edge. “The alarm’s going off in ten and I’ve been up forever.”
Reid cocked an imperious eyebrow at him. “What have I told you about morning sex?”
“We need to have more of it?” Luke guessed.
Reid shook his head. “No, after that.”
“Don’t skimp on the blow jobs?”
“No, it was before that.”
Luke had to think for a moment. “Don’t muffle my screams of ecstasy on your account?”
“I talk about morning sex a lot, don’t I?” Reid said.
Luke laughed. He rolled out of bed with a groan and pulled Reid up behind him. “Do me in the shower,” he said.
“Please,” Reid added haughtily.
Luke grinned at him over his shoulder. “You don’t have to say please,” he drawled.
They were getting dressed when Luke said, “I think Carole will quit if we don’t get the grant. None of this is her fault, but she thinks there must have been something she missed, but there’s nothing she could do about a bureaucratic mistake, you know?”
Reid didn’t answer. His feelings on the Foundation’s latest grant request and its handling by one Neil Trask, Bureaucrat Extraordinaire were hardly secret.
“Just say something, will you?” Luke said. “You’re silent louder than anybody I know.”
“You know I’ve always been impressed when you open your mouth and sing and birds and squirrels and all sorts of fluffy forest creatures gather at your feet. It’s part of what makes you you, but Luke…” Reid stopped and shook his head, shrugging off the teasing air. “This time it’s 15 million, but one of these days it’ll be 50 and then 100 and that’s big money. Big money and big, big wheels turning and trusting on the goodness and decency of your fellow man is misplaced with that many zeros in the check.”
Luke’s exasperation melted as Reid grew more serious. He ducked his head and thought for a beat about what Reid was saying. “I won’t do this and be like him,” he said, staring at his hand on Reid’s arm. “I won’t do it. I’ll do something else. Be something else. Not him.”
Reid sighed and brought Luke’s hand to his lips. “Playing hardball doesn’t mean you’re playing dirty,” he said. “Pushing back against some bogus asshole who’s as corrupt as they come is not going to turn you into Damian Grimaldi.”
“I am pushing back,” Luke said, but he sounded uncertain enough that Reid felt a twinge of guilt. “We’re challenging the disqualification; we’ve documented every second of the process and we’ve filed a motion to postpone any final decisions. And it may not seem like much, but we’ve had over 500 people lodge complaints with the governor’s office…”
“Hey, that seems like a lot to me.” Reid brushed Luke’s wrist with his thumb. “I just wonder if maybe Lucinda can’t…”
Luke sighed, his forehead resting on Reid’s shoulder. “I have to try this way first,” he said.
“Mm,” Reid replied, unwilling to agree, but unwilling to push any further. “Meet me for lunch today at Cameron's,” he said.
Luke shrugged his okay then made a face. “Every time we make lunch plans, someone’s brain explodes, and you have to fix it. I’m kind of starting to get a complex.”
Reid nodded his understanding. “It’s weird when you have illusions of some kind of power over life and death.” He grabbed his car keys and kissed Luke’s cheek on his way out the door. “It’s even weirder when you’re me, and it’s not an illusion at all!”
No one’s brain had exploded by lunch time, so Reid made it to the restaurant a little before Luke. And right alongside Lucinda.
“You’re looking lovely, as usual,” Reid said, kissing Lucinda’s cheek and ushering her in the restaurant door.
“And you look nervous,” Lucinda said. “You didn’t mention an additional guest for lunch, did you?” she said.
Reid shrugged easily. “It’s not like Luke to complain about an unexpected but charming lunch companion,” he said.
“Darling, don’t make me nauseas right before it’s time to eat,” she said. She took off her beaded jacket and hung it around the back of her chair. “I’m going to run to the restroom, Love. Back in a dash.”
Luke walked in the restaurant and spotted Reid, motioning to the maitre d that he would seat himself. “Hey,” Reid said, standing up to greet him. When he leaned in and pecked Luke’s cheek, Luke blushed clear to the roots of his hair. “Any word on the grant?”
Luke shook his head. “Fingers crossed. If Carole calls, I’m going to have to dart out of here.” He grinned. “For once you’ll be the one left stranded to pay the bill.”
Reid put his own phone on the table. “Don’t count your chickens,” he said. “Someone’s brain could be exploding as we speak.”
Luke noticed the lady’s jacket on the chair and lifted an eyebrow at it. “Something you want to tell me, Honey?” he asked.
Reid smirked at him, but Lucinda came sashaying toward the table before he could reply. Luke’s face morphed instantly from good humor to narrow-eyed suspicion. “What’s going on here?”
“Darling, I’m offended!” Lucinda said, sliding into the chair next to Luke’s. “Can’t Grandmother treat her favorite adult grandson to lunch without some dastardly ulterior motive at play?”
Luke frowned. “I do not like it when you speak of yourself in the third person,” he said.
Reid shook his napkin with a flourish and let it float down to cover his lap. “Dr. Oliver does not mind a bit,” he said, earning a caustic glare from his boyfriend.
Luke sat there for a moment in disbelief, then pointed at Reid. “Did you ask me to lunch and then invite my grandmother?” he said, then pointed at Lucinda. “Or did you call my boyfriend and tell him to invite me to lunch?”
Lucinda leaned across the table toward Luke. “Which way will make you less angry with me?” she said. She pushed at Luke’s arm when he huffed at her. “Oh, now, stop it. You know very well your two biggest champions are sitting right here at this table.”
“The two biggest somethings are anyway,” Luke said.
“Hey, watch it!” Lucinda said.
Reid sat back grinning at the familiarity of family.
He’d met Emma Snyder and her clan soon after he and Luke started dating, and it was probably no coincidence that the first time Reid ever said I love you to Luke was just before falling into a food coma after one of Emma Snyder’s world-famous Sunday dinners.
Given that his first boyfriend’s father had shot at him with a hunting rifle, Luke was understandably neurotic about meeting Reid’s parents. Reid patiently explained there was absolutely nothing to worry about. “Luke, I don’t know how to make you understand this, but my parents are… well, I’m just going to come out and say it--normal. I know you don’t exactly have a touchstone for that, but I swear, it’s going to go fine.”
His parents had picked up on Luke’s anxiety, but were a little perplexed at how to put him at ease. Luke had jumped like he’d been struck when Reid’s father hopped up from the couch and excused himself to the bathroom. Reid’ mom had leaned in and patted Luke’s knee. “Luke, you’re a really great guy, okay? You’re charming and sweet; you’re unbelievably wealthy; according to Reid’s sister you’re very fit; and, Honey, it’s no coincidence this is the first time in years I’ve been in Reid’s company for an extended period of time and not thrown something heavy at his head.”
Luke had nodded, nervously glancing from Reid back to Reid’s mom; his uncertainty endearing. As Luke hunched his shoulders against what he assumed was a But…, Reid gently rubbed his back, and his Mom smiled. “Luke, I’m just saying, Reid’s father and I?” She gave Luke two enthusiastic thumbs up. “We’re 100 percent on board!”
“Margie, you have got to come see this!” Reid’s father had shouted from the bathroom. “The God damn toilet seats are heated!”
A bewildered Luke had watched Reid’s mom run off to the bathroom while Reid winked at him and said, “I told you Dad would be a piece of cake.”
But even after meeting Reid’s parents, Luke dragged his heels about introducing Reid and Lucinda. Granted, Reid’s constant insults towards all the wretched excess and conspicuous consumption the Walsh fortune afforded weren’t helping matters, but it was obvious that Reid and Lucinda were two constantly moving concentric circles in Luke’s life, and Reid wasn’t going to just ignore it.
“No,” Reid had said, laughing one night as Luke was trying to wrestle the TV remote away from him instead of admit that he was purposefully refusing to introduce him to Lucinda. “Not until you sit down right there and tell me why you’re so concerned that I’m going to offend your grandmoney.”
Luke had glared at him. “You’re awful,” he said.
Reid was still laughing. “No, I mean it. Tell me.”
“No,” Luke said. “That’s the reason-you’re just… you’re awful, and I can’t introduce my poor, sweet grandmother to…”
Reid pulled Luke into a crushing hug. “Too bad for you,” he said. “I’m all in now, and we Olivers are like eagles-we mate for life.”
Luke made a face and tried to pretend like he wasn’t utterly charmed when Reid said things like that. “Yeah, well, so do termites,” he’d mumbled, but finally caved and called his Grandmother who quickly arranged a dinner party.
“Isn’t a suit a bit of overkill?” Reid said the night of the dinner. “I thought it was just family.”
Luke shrugged at him. “Grandmother likes everyone to look nice,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d complain--you spent all last Sunday making fun of Aunt Dorothy when we were at Grandma’s.”
“Come on, overalls?” Reid said. “Why not just hang a sign around your neck that says, I can’t even try anymore?”
Luke stood in front of him and straightened his tie, then brushed off the shoulders of his suit coat. Reid grinned at him. “This is where you tell me to be myself, and she’ll love me almost as much as you do.”
Luke sighed. “Try not to… well, maybe you should just…”
Reid took Luke’s hands in his. “Look at it like this,” he said. “The way long-lost relatives of yours keep turning up in this town, by the time your grandmoney kicks the bucket there won’t be much of an inheritance left anyway.”
“You have no idea had badly I want you to fuck me right now,” Luke said dryly.
Reid laughed and kissed him; promised softly, “Best behavior, I swear,” and they set off for Lucinda’s.
Judging by Luke’s stunned expression, Lucinda Walsh opening her own front door was something of an anomaly. “Grandmother!” he said and just stood there until Lucinda impatiently pointed at her cheek and Luke kissed her. “Um, Grandmother, I’d like to introduce…”
“Dr. Oliver,” Lucinda said, slowly eyeing Reid from head to toe. “I was beginning to believe you were a figment of everyone’s imagination seeing as my grandson couldn’t be bothered to introduce me to his new paramour.”
“Grandmother,” Luke scolded slightly, turning the most delicious shade of pink.
“Goodness knows I’ve wracked my brain, trying to figure out what’s so horrifically revolting about me,” Lucinda continued with a delicate sniff, “That I should be kept from what I can only assume are the delicate sensibilities of…”
“Grandmother!” Now it was just a long, drawn out whine.
Lucinda stepped back and let Reid and Luke inside. She pursed her lips at Luke. “None of that,” she said. “You know I hate it when you make Grandmother into a five-syllable word.”
“Sorry,” Luke muttered, looking all of 12 years old.
“Why don’t you get your boyfriend something to drink,” Lucinda said to Luke. “God knows you’ve been together long enough to know what he likes, am I right?
“Grandmother…” Luke sure had a lot of ways to say that, Reid thought.
“Your Dr. Oliver and I are going to have a little conversation,” Lucinda said, nodding Luke off toward the bar.
Reid grinned as Luke’s face transfigured from concern to dread. “Oh, Grandmother, I don’t think you need to…”
“Run along now,” Lucinda said.
“Really, I’m not sure…”
Lucinda smiled sweetly and said, “Darling, don’t make me put down my cocktail.”
Luke sighed and shrugged at Reid. “Be brave,” he said then kissed Reid’s cheek and slid over to greet his mother.
“You left them alone?” Reid heard Lily say as Lucinda linked her arm through his elbow and drew him further into the room.
“He’s very dear, that boy,” Lucinda said, closely watching Reid’s face.
“He is,” Reid said easily. It was hardly a point to argue with a guy’s grandmother, was it?
“Almost too dear, one could say,” Lucinda continued. “He’s always been that way. Wants to help everybody. Wants everybody to be happy.” She shook her head sadly and took a sip of her drink. “And it doesn’t even seem to matter if he’s happy. Oh no, just so long as everyone else is taken care of.” Her tone of voice made it sound like Luke’s problem was picking up garbage off the street and eating it.
Reid nodded along with her assessment, then offered a what-can-you-do? shrug. He leaned in to Lucinda as if sharing a secret. “If it makes you feel any better, I love him anyway,” he said.
Lucinda looked like she was holding back a smile. “Do you enjoy travel, Dr. Reid?” she asked.
The abrubt change of subject threw Reid for a beat. “No, not particularly,” he said.
“Mmm hmm,” Lucinda nodded slowly. “One does get used to the comforts of one’s own home. A comfy couch, a nice warm bed. Electricty. Heat.”
“Uh, okay,” Reid said warily.
“My point is this,” Lucinda said, delicately caressing the large diamond around her neck. “If you hurt Luke in any way, shape or form, an apocalyptic war zone will be more comfortable than the hell hole where you will be forced to set up practice.”
Reid couldn’t help the enormous grin that spread across his face. “Duly noted,” he said, the admiration clear in his voice. He chuckled then, ducking his head and swiping a hand across his mouth to keep it from growing into a belly laugh.
“And what is so funny?” Lucinda demanded.
Reid shrugged and shook his head, indicating that it certainly wasn’t anything she’d said. “I’m just trying to imagine your having this conversation with Noah.”
Lucinda snorted at that, then took another sip of her cocktail. “If I’d wanted to be rid Noah I would have just dangled something shiny in front of his face, tossed it over my shoulder and told him to go fetch.”
Reid nodded in understanding, then said with utter conviction, “Luke kept us apart because he knew I’d fall a little bit in love with you when we met.”
Lucinda’s look turned dreamy as she gazed at a point somewhere beyond the sparkling dining room. “If I had a dime for every gay man who’s said that to me…” she sighed.
Reid laughed, bouncing on his heels. “I have to say I was a little concerned that you might not approve of me for your grandson,” he admitted with an uncharacteristically modest shrug.
Luke was coming over to check in, and he smiled warmly at Reid’s demure words.
Lucinda just lifted a regal brow at them. “My daughter married the stable boy, Darling. A chiropractor would be a step up.”
“Grandmother!” Luke said, horrified.
Lucinda shrugged. “Darling, I love Holden, you know I do. I’m just saying that, career wise, neurosurgeon is top notch! I’ve very proud of you, that’s all.”
Reid and Lucinda were fast friends after that. On those occasions when the entire Walsh-Snyder clan gathered (and good God the mind boggled at how frequently that happened), Reid had someone to share his acerbic take on the nauseatingly warm and wholesome scene. Lucinda was a very shrewd businesswoman, and Reid quickly found himself relying on her investment advice instead of his broker’s. In a negotiation, she could zero in on everyone’s individual bottom line with amazing precision, and on more than one occasion, Reid mirrored her more subtle techniques in getting hospital investors to see things his way. Best of all, Lucinda had appointed Reid as her full-time food taster. Whenever she was preparing for one of her impressive soirees, Reid was invited over to sample the prospective menu.
Reid was fond of pointing out how richly he deserved the luxuries in his life, but even he was pleasantly surprised after throwing in with Luke at how much his cup overflowethed in the food department.
“I hit the payload here,” Reid had said to Katie when she dropped by his and Luke’s new place with Jacob one afternoon. He was spreading out the leftovers from dinner the previous night at the Snyder farm. “That’s homemade gravy,” he said, nodding at one of the bowls. “Did you even know that was possible? The bread too. For all I know, Grandma Snyder thrashed the wheat the very morning she baked it.”
“You take food porn to a really creepy level,” Katie said as she set Jacob down to toddle around the kitchen.
Reid continued like she hadn’t spoken. “You look at Luke and you think yeah, well, the hair’s questionable and a perky ass is hardly compensation for having to endure that perky attitude all day long, and let’s be honest, given that Noah is the sum total of his experience , it’s not like he’s had the opportunity to build an extensive sexual repertoire…”
“Reid!” Katie cried, scandalized. “There is a baby in the room!”
“What? I’m just saying, we’re still on a learning curve when it comes to what you can put where and how that…”
“For God’s sake, shut up!”
Reid scooped Jacob up and sat down with him at the kitchen table. “Anyway, my point is, you sign up because the slap ‘n tickle promises to be worth your while, but the next thing you know you’ve got a week’s supply of chicken fried steak in the fridge and you’re sitting down to a seven course meal at La Forenza. Life is good.”
“Slappy tickle!” Jacob said, happily bouncing on Reid’s knee.
Katie groaned. “Oh my God, he’s going to be kicked out of preschool his first day for… for conduct unbecoming of a preschooler!”
Reid just laughed. “Oh, hey, speaking of which. Luke printed off the enrollment application for that Bainbridge Academy.”
Katie coughed in disbelief. “Reid! I told you a million times Jacob is not going to Bainbridge Academy,” she said.
“Why not?” Reid said. “It’s where all the dukes and duchesses of Oakdale send their progeny.”
“Exactly,” Katie said. “I can’t afford it. I sell a kidney, a cornea and part of my liver on eBay, and I’ll still owe half a year’s tuition.”
“Would you relax? Lucinda’s on the board of the school and Luke’s foundation funds something over there. Milk time or Peter the Potty Trainer. Whatever. Anyway, Jacob doesn’t go and it’ll look fishy, you know?” He brushed away Katie’s look of confusion. “Just fill out the paperwork. The tuition isn’t a problem.”
Katie smirked at him. “So you’re saying it will reflect poorly on Lucinda Walsh if her grandson’s boyfriend’s ex-platonic-roommate’s son doesn’t go to the nursery school to which she has some vague, unexplainable connection?”
Reid shrugged like he didn’t get it either. “Rich people,” he said, making the universal sign of crazy.
Katie took Jacob back from Reid and smiled to herself, her lips resting on the top of Jacob’s soft hair for a moment. “You know how everyone’s always wondering what Luke’s doing with you?” she asked.
Reid gave her an indignant glare. “No!”
“Oh, well maybe it’s just me always wondering what Luke’s doing with you.” She stuck her tongue out at him as she got up to leave. “But sometimes? For, like, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it second, I almost; almost see it.”
Watching Luke gently sparring with his grandmother, Reid swiped at the corners of his mouth and winced, thinking Luke looked a lot like he was wondering what he was doing with Reid at the moment.
“Darling, it’s lovely that you see the good in people no matter how much you shouldn’t,” Lucinda was saying. “But this assuming the best in everyone and giving people second chances and thinking people learn from their hideous mistakes… Sweetheart, that’s simply not going to sustain you in the business world.” She glared at Reid and motioned with her head that it was his turn to pony up.
“See, when a huge, unleashed dog comes bounding up and starts growling and barking, everyone else on the planet is going to hightail it out of there,” Reid said to Luke. “You’re going to assume Timmy is trapped in a well and try to get the dog to show you where he is.”
“Seriously?” Luke said. “You two put your heads together and have decided to have an intervention for me because I’m too nice?”
“Intervention implies there’s a cure,” Lucinda said, tapping her finger thoughtfully against her pearl necklace. “I just want you to consider that, in this one instance only, calmly and politely suggesting that Neil Trask consider, if he’s not too busy, kindly reviewing your grant request may not be the winning strategy.”
“Grandmother, you make me sound like some kind of cartoon character,” Luke said, then snapped his mouth shut. It was silent for a beat, then Luke’s eyes slid Reid’s way. “Shut up,” he said.
Reid held his hands up like he wouldn’t even think of saying anything, then he slowly removed the lid from a silver condiment container on the table and proceeded to spread bright yellow mustard directly onto his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Luke squawked.
“Oh no,” Reid said robotically. “I have soiled my shirt, and I have an important meeting with the hospital chief of staff right after lunch. Whatever will I do?”
“What is wrong with you?” Luke said, picking up his napkin and dunking it in his glass of water. He started to wipe at the stain but Reid pushed his hand away.
“That won’t help,” Reid said, still sounding like he was reading lines off a cue card. “I am doomed. Doomed I say.”
“You are unbelievable,” Luke said, checking his watch. “Fine, here, this is absurd. I have time to stop home so…” he started to unbutton his shirt, mumbling and shaking his head and completely missing the triumphant told-you-so look that Reid flashed at Lucinda.
“Luke!” Reid said. He grabbed Luke’s wrist as he was working on the third button of his shirt. “You are giving me the shirt off your back. Literally. Do you get that? The shirt. Off. Your back.”
“Well you just poured mustard all over…” Luke’s voice trailed off. “So what point are you proving exactly?”
“You’re going to leave here shirtless, drive a half hour back to the house, get a clean shirt, drive a half hour back to your office all because I purposefully smeared mustard all over my own damn shirt. You don’t find a point being proven somewhere in there?”
Luke rolled his eyes and flounced back in his chair. “Fine, stew in your own mustardy juices for all I care,” he said.
“Don’t worry,” Reid said. “I picked up the dry cleaning this morning-- I’ve got a clean shirt in the car.”
Luke shook his head in disbelief. “I cannot believe… you know most people don’t have to…I don’t even know where to… Who even does these…” Luke groped around trying to finish a sentence until he stopped suddenly and looked comically confused. “Wait,” he said. “You know where the dry cleaners is?”
Reid glared at him. “I did live on my own for 15 years before I met you,” he said.
“And haven’t been to a dry cleaners since,” Luke said.
“Well, I sort of had to, didn’t I,” Reid said. “Because for weeks you were going to tell Mr. Parks he’s doing my shirts wrong, but all we have to show for that is a case of Girl Scout Cookies, ten rolls of Elm Street Elementary School gift wrap and 25 tickets to the All-State Youth Orchestra Year-End Extravaganza.”
Luke was rolling his eyes, but brightened when Reid mentioned the orchestra tickets. “Oh, hey, Grandmother, do you want to buy a couple of tickets…”
Lucinda was shaking her head the minute Luke began to spoke. “I’d love to Sweetie, but remember, Grandmother has that ear condition. Squeaky instruments played by children aggravates it terribly.”
Reid shook his head slowly. “Brilliant,” he whispered at Lucinda, as close to awestruck as he was ever apt to be.
Luke sighed glumly. “You’re both terrible.” They were saved from further besmirching of their character by the ringing of Luke’s cell phone. Luke checked the number display, took a fortifying breath and answered.
Reid never had to worry about Luke acting out one of those you-think-it’s-bad-news-but-really-it’s-good scenarios. Everything played out in those eyes of his. Reid found himself grinning in spite of himself as Luke’s expression grew brighter and brighter.
“We got it?” Luke said, eyes wide. “The whole thing? Fifteen million? We got it all? Oh my God, that’s fantastic! Oh, I knew it, I knew it would work out! Carole, you are the best, do you hear me? The absolute best! Okay, I’ll be there in 15 minutes. Fantastic!” Luke hung up the phone with a triumphant, “Ha!” He pointed from Lucinda to Reid. “Ha and ha!” he said. “I told you we could raise the money without resulting to any kind of nasty game playing! Neil Trask admitted that our request was filed appropriately, and his office was mistaken when they said we’d missed the deadline.”
“Well Darling this is wonderful news, isn’t it?” Lucinda said.
Reid agreed. “Fifteen mill for the Foundation-that’s stellar!” he said, then took offense at Luke’s dubious look. “Hey, I don’t always have to be right.”
Luke sputtered in disbelief, then shook his head as if he’d been struck. “I’ve gotta get back to the office,” he said. “Sorry about lunch.” He got up from the table and leaned over to kiss Lucinda’s cheek. He paused before standing back up, and looked her straight in the eye. “Grandmother, I swear to God if you have pictures of Neil Trask in bed with a farm animal, I better never find out about it.”
Lucinda looked baffled. “Now when would I ever have occasion to be in Neil Trask’s bedroom?” she asked.
Luke stood up and turned his attention to Reid. “Speaking of bedrooms,” he said. “Grandmother’s house has eight of them. You might want to pick a favorite, because I have a feeling you’ll be sleeping in one of them soon.”
Reid grabbed Luke’s wrist and pulled him down for a hard kiss on the mouth. It was a little unfair but Luke was a sucker for PDA. Kiss the guy some place where John Q. Public might see, and he was gone.
When Luke finally pushed Reid back, his face was flushed and Reid’s grin was knowing and just smug enough to make Luke roll his eyes. “Oh, shut up,” he growled, and stalked out the door.
Reid smiled at Lucinda and shrugged a well, we tried.
“You were right,” Lucinda said, pointing after Luke. “He took it much better than I thought.”
“I think maybe I’ve mellowed him,” Reid said.
Nodding sagely, Lucinda put on her reading glasses and began to peruse the menu. “Darling, you know you can send your shirts over to the house. Flavia will launder them beautifully.”
Reid sighed, clearly a man who had known great suffering in his life. “That sounds fantastic, but how else are Mr. Parks' children going to make it through college?”
Lucinda smiled fondly to herself, then took her glasses off and closed the menu. “Who are we kidding?” she said, sliding Reid’s menu from his hands. “We both know we’re ordering the lobster."
#
Fandom: As the World Turns
Characters/Pairings: Luke/Reid
Rating: R
Summary: Reid and Lucinda Meet
Disclaimer: Not-not-mine
Author's Notes: I just willfully make things up if I don’t know the real answer. Sorry if any details are distractingly off-base. This piece meanders a bit because, really, I just like to hang out with Luke and Reid and see what they’re doing.
Reid Oliver was always pleased to wake up to Luke Snyder in his bed, but when he woke up to Luke Snyder riding his cock, he always felt a little extra jolt of good fortune. “Holy fuck, you’re going to kill me,” he groaned happily after he came.
In what was hands-down the most ridiculous question anyone had ever asked in the history of verbal communication, Luke said, “You’re not mad that I woke you up, are you?” His smile was half wanton, half abashed and either one had a tendency to send Reid over the edge. “The alarm’s going off in ten and I’ve been up forever.”
Reid cocked an imperious eyebrow at him. “What have I told you about morning sex?”
“We need to have more of it?” Luke guessed.
Reid shook his head. “No, after that.”
“Don’t skimp on the blow jobs?”
“No, it was before that.”
Luke had to think for a moment. “Don’t muffle my screams of ecstasy on your account?”
“I talk about morning sex a lot, don’t I?” Reid said.
Luke laughed. He rolled out of bed with a groan and pulled Reid up behind him. “Do me in the shower,” he said.
“Please,” Reid added haughtily.
Luke grinned at him over his shoulder. “You don’t have to say please,” he drawled.
They were getting dressed when Luke said, “I think Carole will quit if we don’t get the grant. None of this is her fault, but she thinks there must have been something she missed, but there’s nothing she could do about a bureaucratic mistake, you know?”
Reid didn’t answer. His feelings on the Foundation’s latest grant request and its handling by one Neil Trask, Bureaucrat Extraordinaire were hardly secret.
“Just say something, will you?” Luke said. “You’re silent louder than anybody I know.”
“You know I’ve always been impressed when you open your mouth and sing and birds and squirrels and all sorts of fluffy forest creatures gather at your feet. It’s part of what makes you you, but Luke…” Reid stopped and shook his head, shrugging off the teasing air. “This time it’s 15 million, but one of these days it’ll be 50 and then 100 and that’s big money. Big money and big, big wheels turning and trusting on the goodness and decency of your fellow man is misplaced with that many zeros in the check.”
Luke’s exasperation melted as Reid grew more serious. He ducked his head and thought for a beat about what Reid was saying. “I won’t do this and be like him,” he said, staring at his hand on Reid’s arm. “I won’t do it. I’ll do something else. Be something else. Not him.”
Reid sighed and brought Luke’s hand to his lips. “Playing hardball doesn’t mean you’re playing dirty,” he said. “Pushing back against some bogus asshole who’s as corrupt as they come is not going to turn you into Damian Grimaldi.”
“I am pushing back,” Luke said, but he sounded uncertain enough that Reid felt a twinge of guilt. “We’re challenging the disqualification; we’ve documented every second of the process and we’ve filed a motion to postpone any final decisions. And it may not seem like much, but we’ve had over 500 people lodge complaints with the governor’s office…”
“Hey, that seems like a lot to me.” Reid brushed Luke’s wrist with his thumb. “I just wonder if maybe Lucinda can’t…”
Luke sighed, his forehead resting on Reid’s shoulder. “I have to try this way first,” he said.
“Mm,” Reid replied, unwilling to agree, but unwilling to push any further. “Meet me for lunch today at Cameron's,” he said.
Luke shrugged his okay then made a face. “Every time we make lunch plans, someone’s brain explodes, and you have to fix it. I’m kind of starting to get a complex.”
Reid nodded his understanding. “It’s weird when you have illusions of some kind of power over life and death.” He grabbed his car keys and kissed Luke’s cheek on his way out the door. “It’s even weirder when you’re me, and it’s not an illusion at all!”
No one’s brain had exploded by lunch time, so Reid made it to the restaurant a little before Luke. And right alongside Lucinda.
“You’re looking lovely, as usual,” Reid said, kissing Lucinda’s cheek and ushering her in the restaurant door.
“And you look nervous,” Lucinda said. “You didn’t mention an additional guest for lunch, did you?” she said.
Reid shrugged easily. “It’s not like Luke to complain about an unexpected but charming lunch companion,” he said.
“Darling, don’t make me nauseas right before it’s time to eat,” she said. She took off her beaded jacket and hung it around the back of her chair. “I’m going to run to the restroom, Love. Back in a dash.”
Luke walked in the restaurant and spotted Reid, motioning to the maitre d that he would seat himself. “Hey,” Reid said, standing up to greet him. When he leaned in and pecked Luke’s cheek, Luke blushed clear to the roots of his hair. “Any word on the grant?”
Luke shook his head. “Fingers crossed. If Carole calls, I’m going to have to dart out of here.” He grinned. “For once you’ll be the one left stranded to pay the bill.”
Reid put his own phone on the table. “Don’t count your chickens,” he said. “Someone’s brain could be exploding as we speak.”
Luke noticed the lady’s jacket on the chair and lifted an eyebrow at it. “Something you want to tell me, Honey?” he asked.
Reid smirked at him, but Lucinda came sashaying toward the table before he could reply. Luke’s face morphed instantly from good humor to narrow-eyed suspicion. “What’s going on here?”
“Darling, I’m offended!” Lucinda said, sliding into the chair next to Luke’s. “Can’t Grandmother treat her favorite adult grandson to lunch without some dastardly ulterior motive at play?”
Luke frowned. “I do not like it when you speak of yourself in the third person,” he said.
Reid shook his napkin with a flourish and let it float down to cover his lap. “Dr. Oliver does not mind a bit,” he said, earning a caustic glare from his boyfriend.
Luke sat there for a moment in disbelief, then pointed at Reid. “Did you ask me to lunch and then invite my grandmother?” he said, then pointed at Lucinda. “Or did you call my boyfriend and tell him to invite me to lunch?”
Lucinda leaned across the table toward Luke. “Which way will make you less angry with me?” she said. She pushed at Luke’s arm when he huffed at her. “Oh, now, stop it. You know very well your two biggest champions are sitting right here at this table.”
“The two biggest somethings are anyway,” Luke said.
“Hey, watch it!” Lucinda said.
Reid sat back grinning at the familiarity of family.
He’d met Emma Snyder and her clan soon after he and Luke started dating, and it was probably no coincidence that the first time Reid ever said I love you to Luke was just before falling into a food coma after one of Emma Snyder’s world-famous Sunday dinners.
Given that his first boyfriend’s father had shot at him with a hunting rifle, Luke was understandably neurotic about meeting Reid’s parents. Reid patiently explained there was absolutely nothing to worry about. “Luke, I don’t know how to make you understand this, but my parents are… well, I’m just going to come out and say it--normal. I know you don’t exactly have a touchstone for that, but I swear, it’s going to go fine.”
His parents had picked up on Luke’s anxiety, but were a little perplexed at how to put him at ease. Luke had jumped like he’d been struck when Reid’s father hopped up from the couch and excused himself to the bathroom. Reid’ mom had leaned in and patted Luke’s knee. “Luke, you’re a really great guy, okay? You’re charming and sweet; you’re unbelievably wealthy; according to Reid’s sister you’re very fit; and, Honey, it’s no coincidence this is the first time in years I’ve been in Reid’s company for an extended period of time and not thrown something heavy at his head.”
Luke had nodded, nervously glancing from Reid back to Reid’s mom; his uncertainty endearing. As Luke hunched his shoulders against what he assumed was a But…, Reid gently rubbed his back, and his Mom smiled. “Luke, I’m just saying, Reid’s father and I?” She gave Luke two enthusiastic thumbs up. “We’re 100 percent on board!”
“Margie, you have got to come see this!” Reid’s father had shouted from the bathroom. “The God damn toilet seats are heated!”
A bewildered Luke had watched Reid’s mom run off to the bathroom while Reid winked at him and said, “I told you Dad would be a piece of cake.”
But even after meeting Reid’s parents, Luke dragged his heels about introducing Reid and Lucinda. Granted, Reid’s constant insults towards all the wretched excess and conspicuous consumption the Walsh fortune afforded weren’t helping matters, but it was obvious that Reid and Lucinda were two constantly moving concentric circles in Luke’s life, and Reid wasn’t going to just ignore it.
“No,” Reid had said, laughing one night as Luke was trying to wrestle the TV remote away from him instead of admit that he was purposefully refusing to introduce him to Lucinda. “Not until you sit down right there and tell me why you’re so concerned that I’m going to offend your grandmoney.”
Luke had glared at him. “You’re awful,” he said.
Reid was still laughing. “No, I mean it. Tell me.”
“No,” Luke said. “That’s the reason-you’re just… you’re awful, and I can’t introduce my poor, sweet grandmother to…”
Reid pulled Luke into a crushing hug. “Too bad for you,” he said. “I’m all in now, and we Olivers are like eagles-we mate for life.”
Luke made a face and tried to pretend like he wasn’t utterly charmed when Reid said things like that. “Yeah, well, so do termites,” he’d mumbled, but finally caved and called his Grandmother who quickly arranged a dinner party.
“Isn’t a suit a bit of overkill?” Reid said the night of the dinner. “I thought it was just family.”
Luke shrugged at him. “Grandmother likes everyone to look nice,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d complain--you spent all last Sunday making fun of Aunt Dorothy when we were at Grandma’s.”
“Come on, overalls?” Reid said. “Why not just hang a sign around your neck that says, I can’t even try anymore?”
Luke stood in front of him and straightened his tie, then brushed off the shoulders of his suit coat. Reid grinned at him. “This is where you tell me to be myself, and she’ll love me almost as much as you do.”
Luke sighed. “Try not to… well, maybe you should just…”
Reid took Luke’s hands in his. “Look at it like this,” he said. “The way long-lost relatives of yours keep turning up in this town, by the time your grandmoney kicks the bucket there won’t be much of an inheritance left anyway.”
“You have no idea had badly I want you to fuck me right now,” Luke said dryly.
Reid laughed and kissed him; promised softly, “Best behavior, I swear,” and they set off for Lucinda’s.
Judging by Luke’s stunned expression, Lucinda Walsh opening her own front door was something of an anomaly. “Grandmother!” he said and just stood there until Lucinda impatiently pointed at her cheek and Luke kissed her. “Um, Grandmother, I’d like to introduce…”
“Dr. Oliver,” Lucinda said, slowly eyeing Reid from head to toe. “I was beginning to believe you were a figment of everyone’s imagination seeing as my grandson couldn’t be bothered to introduce me to his new paramour.”
“Grandmother,” Luke scolded slightly, turning the most delicious shade of pink.
“Goodness knows I’ve wracked my brain, trying to figure out what’s so horrifically revolting about me,” Lucinda continued with a delicate sniff, “That I should be kept from what I can only assume are the delicate sensibilities of…”
“Grandmother!” Now it was just a long, drawn out whine.
Lucinda stepped back and let Reid and Luke inside. She pursed her lips at Luke. “None of that,” she said. “You know I hate it when you make Grandmother into a five-syllable word.”
“Sorry,” Luke muttered, looking all of 12 years old.
“Why don’t you get your boyfriend something to drink,” Lucinda said to Luke. “God knows you’ve been together long enough to know what he likes, am I right?
“Grandmother…” Luke sure had a lot of ways to say that, Reid thought.
“Your Dr. Oliver and I are going to have a little conversation,” Lucinda said, nodding Luke off toward the bar.
Reid grinned as Luke’s face transfigured from concern to dread. “Oh, Grandmother, I don’t think you need to…”
“Run along now,” Lucinda said.
“Really, I’m not sure…”
Lucinda smiled sweetly and said, “Darling, don’t make me put down my cocktail.”
Luke sighed and shrugged at Reid. “Be brave,” he said then kissed Reid’s cheek and slid over to greet his mother.
“You left them alone?” Reid heard Lily say as Lucinda linked her arm through his elbow and drew him further into the room.
“He’s very dear, that boy,” Lucinda said, closely watching Reid’s face.
“He is,” Reid said easily. It was hardly a point to argue with a guy’s grandmother, was it?
“Almost too dear, one could say,” Lucinda continued. “He’s always been that way. Wants to help everybody. Wants everybody to be happy.” She shook her head sadly and took a sip of her drink. “And it doesn’t even seem to matter if he’s happy. Oh no, just so long as everyone else is taken care of.” Her tone of voice made it sound like Luke’s problem was picking up garbage off the street and eating it.
Reid nodded along with her assessment, then offered a what-can-you-do? shrug. He leaned in to Lucinda as if sharing a secret. “If it makes you feel any better, I love him anyway,” he said.
Lucinda looked like she was holding back a smile. “Do you enjoy travel, Dr. Reid?” she asked.
The abrubt change of subject threw Reid for a beat. “No, not particularly,” he said.
“Mmm hmm,” Lucinda nodded slowly. “One does get used to the comforts of one’s own home. A comfy couch, a nice warm bed. Electricty. Heat.”
“Uh, okay,” Reid said warily.
“My point is this,” Lucinda said, delicately caressing the large diamond around her neck. “If you hurt Luke in any way, shape or form, an apocalyptic war zone will be more comfortable than the hell hole where you will be forced to set up practice.”
Reid couldn’t help the enormous grin that spread across his face. “Duly noted,” he said, the admiration clear in his voice. He chuckled then, ducking his head and swiping a hand across his mouth to keep it from growing into a belly laugh.
“And what is so funny?” Lucinda demanded.
Reid shrugged and shook his head, indicating that it certainly wasn’t anything she’d said. “I’m just trying to imagine your having this conversation with Noah.”
Lucinda snorted at that, then took another sip of her cocktail. “If I’d wanted to be rid Noah I would have just dangled something shiny in front of his face, tossed it over my shoulder and told him to go fetch.”
Reid nodded in understanding, then said with utter conviction, “Luke kept us apart because he knew I’d fall a little bit in love with you when we met.”
Lucinda’s look turned dreamy as she gazed at a point somewhere beyond the sparkling dining room. “If I had a dime for every gay man who’s said that to me…” she sighed.
Reid laughed, bouncing on his heels. “I have to say I was a little concerned that you might not approve of me for your grandson,” he admitted with an uncharacteristically modest shrug.
Luke was coming over to check in, and he smiled warmly at Reid’s demure words.
Lucinda just lifted a regal brow at them. “My daughter married the stable boy, Darling. A chiropractor would be a step up.”
“Grandmother!” Luke said, horrified.
Lucinda shrugged. “Darling, I love Holden, you know I do. I’m just saying that, career wise, neurosurgeon is top notch! I’ve very proud of you, that’s all.”
Reid and Lucinda were fast friends after that. On those occasions when the entire Walsh-Snyder clan gathered (and good God the mind boggled at how frequently that happened), Reid had someone to share his acerbic take on the nauseatingly warm and wholesome scene. Lucinda was a very shrewd businesswoman, and Reid quickly found himself relying on her investment advice instead of his broker’s. In a negotiation, she could zero in on everyone’s individual bottom line with amazing precision, and on more than one occasion, Reid mirrored her more subtle techniques in getting hospital investors to see things his way. Best of all, Lucinda had appointed Reid as her full-time food taster. Whenever she was preparing for one of her impressive soirees, Reid was invited over to sample the prospective menu.
Reid was fond of pointing out how richly he deserved the luxuries in his life, but even he was pleasantly surprised after throwing in with Luke at how much his cup overflowethed in the food department.
“I hit the payload here,” Reid had said to Katie when she dropped by his and Luke’s new place with Jacob one afternoon. He was spreading out the leftovers from dinner the previous night at the Snyder farm. “That’s homemade gravy,” he said, nodding at one of the bowls. “Did you even know that was possible? The bread too. For all I know, Grandma Snyder thrashed the wheat the very morning she baked it.”
“You take food porn to a really creepy level,” Katie said as she set Jacob down to toddle around the kitchen.
Reid continued like she hadn’t spoken. “You look at Luke and you think yeah, well, the hair’s questionable and a perky ass is hardly compensation for having to endure that perky attitude all day long, and let’s be honest, given that Noah is the sum total of his experience , it’s not like he’s had the opportunity to build an extensive sexual repertoire…”
“Reid!” Katie cried, scandalized. “There is a baby in the room!”
“What? I’m just saying, we’re still on a learning curve when it comes to what you can put where and how that…”
“For God’s sake, shut up!”
Reid scooped Jacob up and sat down with him at the kitchen table. “Anyway, my point is, you sign up because the slap ‘n tickle promises to be worth your while, but the next thing you know you’ve got a week’s supply of chicken fried steak in the fridge and you’re sitting down to a seven course meal at La Forenza. Life is good.”
“Slappy tickle!” Jacob said, happily bouncing on Reid’s knee.
Katie groaned. “Oh my God, he’s going to be kicked out of preschool his first day for… for conduct unbecoming of a preschooler!”
Reid just laughed. “Oh, hey, speaking of which. Luke printed off the enrollment application for that Bainbridge Academy.”
Katie coughed in disbelief. “Reid! I told you a million times Jacob is not going to Bainbridge Academy,” she said.
“Why not?” Reid said. “It’s where all the dukes and duchesses of Oakdale send their progeny.”
“Exactly,” Katie said. “I can’t afford it. I sell a kidney, a cornea and part of my liver on eBay, and I’ll still owe half a year’s tuition.”
“Would you relax? Lucinda’s on the board of the school and Luke’s foundation funds something over there. Milk time or Peter the Potty Trainer. Whatever. Anyway, Jacob doesn’t go and it’ll look fishy, you know?” He brushed away Katie’s look of confusion. “Just fill out the paperwork. The tuition isn’t a problem.”
Katie smirked at him. “So you’re saying it will reflect poorly on Lucinda Walsh if her grandson’s boyfriend’s ex-platonic-roommate’s son doesn’t go to the nursery school to which she has some vague, unexplainable connection?”
Reid shrugged like he didn’t get it either. “Rich people,” he said, making the universal sign of crazy.
Katie took Jacob back from Reid and smiled to herself, her lips resting on the top of Jacob’s soft hair for a moment. “You know how everyone’s always wondering what Luke’s doing with you?” she asked.
Reid gave her an indignant glare. “No!”
“Oh, well maybe it’s just me always wondering what Luke’s doing with you.” She stuck her tongue out at him as she got up to leave. “But sometimes? For, like, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it second, I almost; almost see it.”
Watching Luke gently sparring with his grandmother, Reid swiped at the corners of his mouth and winced, thinking Luke looked a lot like he was wondering what he was doing with Reid at the moment.
“Darling, it’s lovely that you see the good in people no matter how much you shouldn’t,” Lucinda was saying. “But this assuming the best in everyone and giving people second chances and thinking people learn from their hideous mistakes… Sweetheart, that’s simply not going to sustain you in the business world.” She glared at Reid and motioned with her head that it was his turn to pony up.
“See, when a huge, unleashed dog comes bounding up and starts growling and barking, everyone else on the planet is going to hightail it out of there,” Reid said to Luke. “You’re going to assume Timmy is trapped in a well and try to get the dog to show you where he is.”
“Seriously?” Luke said. “You two put your heads together and have decided to have an intervention for me because I’m too nice?”
“Intervention implies there’s a cure,” Lucinda said, tapping her finger thoughtfully against her pearl necklace. “I just want you to consider that, in this one instance only, calmly and politely suggesting that Neil Trask consider, if he’s not too busy, kindly reviewing your grant request may not be the winning strategy.”
“Grandmother, you make me sound like some kind of cartoon character,” Luke said, then snapped his mouth shut. It was silent for a beat, then Luke’s eyes slid Reid’s way. “Shut up,” he said.
Reid held his hands up like he wouldn’t even think of saying anything, then he slowly removed the lid from a silver condiment container on the table and proceeded to spread bright yellow mustard directly onto his shirt.
“What are you doing?” Luke squawked.
“Oh no,” Reid said robotically. “I have soiled my shirt, and I have an important meeting with the hospital chief of staff right after lunch. Whatever will I do?”
“What is wrong with you?” Luke said, picking up his napkin and dunking it in his glass of water. He started to wipe at the stain but Reid pushed his hand away.
“That won’t help,” Reid said, still sounding like he was reading lines off a cue card. “I am doomed. Doomed I say.”
“You are unbelievable,” Luke said, checking his watch. “Fine, here, this is absurd. I have time to stop home so…” he started to unbutton his shirt, mumbling and shaking his head and completely missing the triumphant told-you-so look that Reid flashed at Lucinda.
“Luke!” Reid said. He grabbed Luke’s wrist as he was working on the third button of his shirt. “You are giving me the shirt off your back. Literally. Do you get that? The shirt. Off. Your back.”
“Well you just poured mustard all over…” Luke’s voice trailed off. “So what point are you proving exactly?”
“You’re going to leave here shirtless, drive a half hour back to the house, get a clean shirt, drive a half hour back to your office all because I purposefully smeared mustard all over my own damn shirt. You don’t find a point being proven somewhere in there?”
Luke rolled his eyes and flounced back in his chair. “Fine, stew in your own mustardy juices for all I care,” he said.
“Don’t worry,” Reid said. “I picked up the dry cleaning this morning-- I’ve got a clean shirt in the car.”
Luke shook his head in disbelief. “I cannot believe… you know most people don’t have to…I don’t even know where to… Who even does these…” Luke groped around trying to finish a sentence until he stopped suddenly and looked comically confused. “Wait,” he said. “You know where the dry cleaners is?”
Reid glared at him. “I did live on my own for 15 years before I met you,” he said.
“And haven’t been to a dry cleaners since,” Luke said.
“Well, I sort of had to, didn’t I,” Reid said. “Because for weeks you were going to tell Mr. Parks he’s doing my shirts wrong, but all we have to show for that is a case of Girl Scout Cookies, ten rolls of Elm Street Elementary School gift wrap and 25 tickets to the All-State Youth Orchestra Year-End Extravaganza.”
Luke was rolling his eyes, but brightened when Reid mentioned the orchestra tickets. “Oh, hey, Grandmother, do you want to buy a couple of tickets…”
Lucinda was shaking her head the minute Luke began to spoke. “I’d love to Sweetie, but remember, Grandmother has that ear condition. Squeaky instruments played by children aggravates it terribly.”
Reid shook his head slowly. “Brilliant,” he whispered at Lucinda, as close to awestruck as he was ever apt to be.
Luke sighed glumly. “You’re both terrible.” They were saved from further besmirching of their character by the ringing of Luke’s cell phone. Luke checked the number display, took a fortifying breath and answered.
Reid never had to worry about Luke acting out one of those you-think-it’s-bad-news-but-really-it’s-good scenarios. Everything played out in those eyes of his. Reid found himself grinning in spite of himself as Luke’s expression grew brighter and brighter.
“We got it?” Luke said, eyes wide. “The whole thing? Fifteen million? We got it all? Oh my God, that’s fantastic! Oh, I knew it, I knew it would work out! Carole, you are the best, do you hear me? The absolute best! Okay, I’ll be there in 15 minutes. Fantastic!” Luke hung up the phone with a triumphant, “Ha!” He pointed from Lucinda to Reid. “Ha and ha!” he said. “I told you we could raise the money without resulting to any kind of nasty game playing! Neil Trask admitted that our request was filed appropriately, and his office was mistaken when they said we’d missed the deadline.”
“Well Darling this is wonderful news, isn’t it?” Lucinda said.
Reid agreed. “Fifteen mill for the Foundation-that’s stellar!” he said, then took offense at Luke’s dubious look. “Hey, I don’t always have to be right.”
Luke sputtered in disbelief, then shook his head as if he’d been struck. “I’ve gotta get back to the office,” he said. “Sorry about lunch.” He got up from the table and leaned over to kiss Lucinda’s cheek. He paused before standing back up, and looked her straight in the eye. “Grandmother, I swear to God if you have pictures of Neil Trask in bed with a farm animal, I better never find out about it.”
Lucinda looked baffled. “Now when would I ever have occasion to be in Neil Trask’s bedroom?” she asked.
Luke stood up and turned his attention to Reid. “Speaking of bedrooms,” he said. “Grandmother’s house has eight of them. You might want to pick a favorite, because I have a feeling you’ll be sleeping in one of them soon.”
Reid grabbed Luke’s wrist and pulled him down for a hard kiss on the mouth. It was a little unfair but Luke was a sucker for PDA. Kiss the guy some place where John Q. Public might see, and he was gone.
When Luke finally pushed Reid back, his face was flushed and Reid’s grin was knowing and just smug enough to make Luke roll his eyes. “Oh, shut up,” he growled, and stalked out the door.
Reid smiled at Lucinda and shrugged a well, we tried.
“You were right,” Lucinda said, pointing after Luke. “He took it much better than I thought.”
“I think maybe I’ve mellowed him,” Reid said.
Nodding sagely, Lucinda put on her reading glasses and began to peruse the menu. “Darling, you know you can send your shirts over to the house. Flavia will launder them beautifully.”
Reid sighed, clearly a man who had known great suffering in his life. “That sounds fantastic, but how else are Mr. Parks' children going to make it through college?”
Lucinda smiled fondly to herself, then took her glasses off and closed the menu. “Who are we kidding?” she said, sliding Reid’s menu from his hands. “We both know we’re ordering the lobster."
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