Chapter 7: Highland Scotch

Luke did not see Matt again for over half a year. He frequently saw Katie when he picked up Amy for a weekend, and their relationship became less strained. Seeing how he had Amy three weekends out of four, Luke anticipated or rather feared that Katie and Matt would progress faster in their relationship. Only, there was no sign of that.

Luke also saw Amy's parents quite often. When summer came, they would often pick up Amy at Luke's house, and he'd invite them in for a spell. Luke's father always joined then, and they'd all sit on Luke's porch and watch Amy play.

By late May, Katie agreed to amend Amy's birth certificate by entering Luke as father. While sitting in the anteroom waiting for a free clerk, Luke and Katie had a chance to talk. Luke had the feeling that Katie needed an outlet, and he listened patiently as she listed all the little and not so little happenings in her life.

A big one was the news that Matt Carver had lost his job. According to Katie, he had snooped in his boss' computer and got caught. Apparently, he blamed Luke of all persons, claiming that Luke's boasting over his two million dollar whistle blower reward had given him the idea to look into wrongdoings by his superior.

Luke barely maintained a straight face, but he lost it when Katie tentatively suggested that he might find a job for Matt at ImaXX.

"Not only no, but hell no!" he exclaimed. "I'd rather swim the Dead Sea with a fresh piercing in my junk! Can you imagine me and him working together? You'd get to prosecute me for manslaughter within a week." Seeing her dejection, he qualified his response. "I'll shop around among our customers in the area. Maybe one of them needs an admin."

That mollified Katie, and she even gave him a kiss on the cheek, a first for him, on the cheek that is. They were able to complete the paperwork, and when they left the town hall, Amy was now legally Amelia Monahan-Braun, and Luke was officially her father. He was even able to talk Katie into having coffee in a nearby diner. It was the most relaxed get-together they'd had since Halloween night.

"Umh, Katie, now that I'm legally her father, I will update my will. She'll be the sole beneficiary unless things change in my private life. I'll have my tax attorney prepare a list of my assets so you'll know what to claim should something happen to me."

He could see her worry and it gave him a warm feeling. "You're not sick, are you?"

"Heavens, no! It's just something you should know."

Amy's birthday in late July brought on the next inevitable meeting between Luke and Matt. Luke had managed to talk one of his customers into hiring Matt Carver, offering a free-of-cost customization of the ImaXX M software package in return. It cost Luke three evenings and half of a Sunday, but at least Matt was back in work.

If Luke had expected gratitude or even less belligerence from Matt he would have been disappointed. Even when Katie nudged him, Matt stared stubbornly down at his shoes while Amy sifted through a small pile of gifts. At one point, Katie's hiss, "Don't be such an ass!" reached Luke's ears, but he gave it little notice seeing that he was responsible for manning the barbecue grill.

It was a nice birthday party with Amy's friends, their parents, and Amy's parents and grandparents. Halfway through, Luke saw Katie in an animated and not quite amiable conversation with her fiancé. Apparently, they could not reach an agreement, for he stormed off again, leaving the party without saying a word to his hosts.

Just a minute later, Luke came face to face with Katie at his barbecue.

"Steak, medium," she snarled at him.

Silently, he completed her order and offered her the plate. She took it and stared at him.

"You ass! Why did you have to screw things up so badly?"

Luke tried a joke. "You have to be more specific. I've screwed up a lot."

"Breaking into the dean's computer and getting caught! That's when this damn train derailed."

Luke looked at her sadly. "Believe me, if I could, I'd make it undone. Please don't think you're the only one who got hurt."

Looking at him, Katie angrily shook her head. "Hurt? You got millions out of that screw-up."

She turned and left him standing.

"Yeah, millions. But I didn't get you," Luke whispered after her.

She stopped in her tracks. "What was that?"

"Err, nothing, just saying that..." he stammered unhappily.

Katie shook her head, this time sadly.

"Luke, my life's a complete mess right now. Please, don't complicate it further!"

"I try not to. But it seems that just being in your life causes you hurt."

This brought a weak smile to Katie's lips. "No, that's not true. Look at Amy and how she's happy with you. I'm grateful that you are around for her."

She left him then, and for the rest of the afternoon he only saw her from a distance.

Katie Monahan bent over the sink in her old bathroom and washed her eyes with cold water to get the redness out. It would do no good to show up weepy-eyed on Amy's birthday party. She'd heard Luke's words as clearly as if he'd shouted them: " Yeah, millions. But I didn't get you!"

Luke and Matt, two men as different as day and night. Matt claimed that he loved her, and now Luke had for all purposes admitted to it, too.

Luke. Like a whirlwind he had broken into her life almost eight years ago. True, they'd felt the effect of those damned hash brownies, but still she had felt a rush of feelings like never before or after. For seven years she had both cursed him and wished him back. She had given him the worst names and then lain awake at night imagining him with her.

She was so bad! Dreaming of the absent Luke while she kept Matt as substitute. She knew that she did not love Matt. There was not much to love about him. But she had hurt him with her behavior. For years, he had striven to do her every favor, for years she had tolerated his efforts if not welcomed them. Finally, exasperated over him once too often, she had ended it, had slammed the door in his face. All those years, he had coveted her, but she refused him. Then, just like that, she'd dropped her panties for a good looking guy she met while tricking and treating with Linda and got pregnant.

She dropped out of college to graduate near home where her parents could help her out. She felt like the worst slut on earth, a disappointment for her parents who had doted on her. Only once had her father voiced his disappointment over her complete lack of judgement, over her falling for a sleazy campus Lothario, over her pitiful lack of control.

Matt visited her at home, having heard of her dropping out, and she could still remember the look of utter pain in his eyes when she confessed to being pregnant from a one night stand. That which she had refused to Matt, she had given to a stranger whom she could not even name. That was why she had been so relieved when Matt forgave her, and that was why she later agreed to the engagement. She had hurt him once, and she would not do it again. She would marry Matt as penance for her irresponsible behavior.

Then Luke, with his two words "Hey, Katie!", had thrown her world into turmoil again. His incredible rapport with Amy, his ability to even impress her father, and his obvious desperation over his screw-up, did not match the scoundrel she'd invented to soothe her conscience. He was ... a good man. Responsible, helpful, considerate, and successful in life. He had people skills, too. Within days, Luke was closer to Amy than Matt could ever hope to be, even assuming that he hoped to be closer to Amy.

What compounded the situation was that Matt's behavior, once so supportive and understanding, had taken a turn for the worse. He was always petulant now, even paranoid, about the possibility that Katie might take a shine to Luke again. If she was honest, he was not quite wrong about it, but she had not once betrayed her promises to Matt. It did not help that she told him repeatedly that she would stand by their engagement, and that she had no plans with Luke beyond including him into Amy's life and upbringing.

This was the main point of dispute, with Matt insisting that having Luke in Amy's life was disrupting to their relationship. Here, for once, Katie did not budge. Amy had a right to spend time with her father. She might have listened to Matt if he had shown the slightest hint of interest in Amy. As it was, however, Matt never interacted with Amy other than complaining about her.

This afternoon had been another example for his worsening attitude. He had just stood there while everybody gave their gifts to Amy. He did not try to engage any of the other parents into a conversation, and he certainly did not talk to Katie's parents let alone Luke or his father. He just stood there sullenly, and when Katie asked him to be more sociable, he had suggested that they left together to be alone. She nearly blew up then, telling him that he had to accept Amy in his life if there was to be any future for them. He just accused her to look for an excuse to dump him, "again" of course, and left her standing. Just twenty steps along his dramatic exit he had stopped and looked back to see whether she was running after him, but this time Katie had been too steamed to cave in. That was when he stormed off for good.

Katie looked at her mirror image. The reddening of her eyes had receded somewhat. It was time to return to the party before her absence was noted. She touched up on her light makeup and left the bathroom. Downstairs, she went out into the garden, and ascertaining that Luke was still manning the barbecue grill she kept to the opposite side of the backyard, schmoozing with the parents of Amy's friends instead.