by: Marty Chrisman
When Luke rejoined Bo and the rest of the family, Bo immediately noticed that Luke seemed upset. But he didn’t question him about what had happened behind stage until later that night when they were getting ready for bed.
“You talked to her, didn’t ya?” he asked as he pulled off his boots and stood up to unfasten his jeans.
“Yeah….” Luke said without elaborating, as he unfastened his own jeans and stripped down to his shorts.
“And?” Bo probed. Sometimes getting information out of Luke was almost like pulling teeth. It could be frustrating when he decided to answer questions with one word.
“And nothing.” Luke said “We just talked. That’s it. She said she came to Hazzard because she wanted to see me again….to make sure it was over between us.”
“Is that all she said?”
“Bascially.”
“Okay, cuz….I give up.” Bo said with a grin “I’m not gonna ask you anymore questions.”
“Good…now go to sleep.” Luke said, crawling under his sheet and reaching out to turn out the light on the nightstand between their beds. His mind was still racing and so were his emotions. Seeing Sierra again, being so close to her, had reawakened feelings he thought that he had buried a long time ago. He had told her the truth. He still loved her and he knew that he probably always would. But he still didn’t know how she felt. He didn’t know if she’d been telling him that she still loved him or if she was trying to prove to herself that she didn’t.
The big concert was scheduled for the next night. Bo and Luke spent most of the day working in the fields with Jesse and then they got ready to go to town. Since they were singing as the opening act on the concert, they dressed with a little more care than usual, wearing their best jeans, shined boots and white shirts with black vests. They arrived in town about an hour before the concert was scheduled to begin and immediately went to the backstage area to check in. As they signed their names to the schedule sheet, the girl in charge of the show glanced at their names and said “Which ever one of you is Luke….Sierra would like talk to you for a minute.”
“That’s me.” Luke said
“She’s over there in the RV.”
“Go for it, cousin.” Bo said with a grin earning himself a dirty look from Luke, as he turned and slowly walked over to the large RV parked to one side of the stage. Hesitating only for a moment, he knocked lightly on the door.
“Who is it?” Sierra’s voice called from inside the RV
“A ghost from the past.” Luke called back
The door opened and Sierra stood in the doorway looking at him with a faint smile on her face. “Hi, Luke…..get in here.”
Luke stepped in and she pulled the door behind him. Turning to face him, she said “I have a favor to ask.”
“What kind of favor?” Luke asked cautiously wondering what she had on her mind
“I’d like to do a couple of duets in the show tonight but I need a partner. You interested?”
Luke looked at her in surprise. This was the last thing he’d expected her to ask him to do. “Yeah….” He told her with a grin “I’d like that….” Even as he agreed to sing a couple of duets with her during her show, Luke realized that he meant what he said. He missed singing with her. They used to do it all the time. They’d even written a few songs together.
“Good…” she told him with a smile that tugged at his heart. She looked at him for a moment and then said “Luke, why didn’t you ever write or call or anything?”
“I did write when I got to Viet Nam…but the letters got sent back. I guess you’d already gone to Nashville.” Luke told her
“What about after you got out and came back home? Why didn’t you write or call then?”
Luke sighed softly and chose his words with care “Because you were already at the top of the charts…..I didn’t think you needed an old boyfriend showing up out of nowhere to complicate things.”
“Luke, whatever made you think that my career was more important to me than us? In case, you’ve forgotten I’d didn’t wanna sign that contract and go to Nashville. I wanted to wait till you got back so we could go together.”
“I couldn’t let you do that….you were too talented….it was your big chance. I wasn’t going to let you pass it up because me.” Luke said, trying to make her understand how he had felt at the time. “And besides….we both knew that I might not come back from Viet Nam. I didn’t want you waiting around for a telegram telling you I didn’t make it…..”
“So you just threw away what we had?” Sierra said, a trace of anger creeping into her voice. “And figured I’d get over it because I had my career?” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly “I loved you, Luke….and all I wanted was to be was with you…..and I thought you wanted the same thing….”
“I did.” Luke said in a choked voice “And I’ve regretted it every day for the past eight years that I just let you go…..”
“So what about now, Luke?” she asked “You said last night that you couldn’t say that you didn’t love me anymore. Is that true?”
“You know it is.”
“Because I still love you…” she whispered, moving closer, so close that he could smell her perfume and feel the warmth of her body close to his. Looking deeply into his eyes, those beautiful sapphire eyes that she had always loved, Sierra leaned against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Luke hesitated only for moment, then wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, bending his head to kiss her.
At first the kiss was gentle and tender but it quickly turned more intense as the spark of passion that had never completely died between them flared into a blaze. Sierra opened her mouth as Luke deepened the kiss leaving both of them breathless and shaken by the intensity of their sudden urgent need for each other. Luke was the first one to pull away. This was not the time or the place to get carried away.
“Would you come back here with me after the show?” Sierra whispered looking at Luke and waiting for his answer, wanting desperately for him to say yes but still afraid that he would say no.
“Yes…” Luke told her with that crooked smile that she had always loved. He kissed her again. A gentle kiss goodbye until later. He couldn’t help grinning as he left the RV and went to find Bo.