Author's Note: It seems a lot of the time my stories are to some extent inspired by one or another creation of my Uncle Vinsmouse's, and it's like it once again. This is no sequel or anything like it, it's just an idea came to mind when I read one of her stories.

Warning: The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.

Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix…. The girl however I've got to claim as mine, so let me know if you'd want her once I'm done with this, ;)

Chapter 4: Wishing I Took A Chance

Taking a seat on the bench by the bus stop Luke sank down into deep thoughts. The girl he had seen leaving on that bus had been more special than he thought anyone could ever be. He hadn't really told his family about it either, because he just hadn't known how. Bo was off being a big race car driver, a star driver, and he was busy with his life. In between charming ladies and wrecking cars his baby cousin had grown up to a fine man.

Daisy whom had been having enough trouble with one bad marriage wasn't someone he should bother about it either. Though he had to admit to himself it wasn't only that thinking that had held him back.

If his uncle had still been alive, he knew that there would have been no way for him to keep the secret he had wound up keeping even if he had never meant for it to be that way. It was just that his cousin couldn't hear the change in his voice anymore as they talked on the phone. Truth was Luke had been lonely without his baby cousin, and in the odd hours when he had nothing left to do, he found himself strolling down for a cup of coffee, as he walked in through the door, Anita walked into his heart. She made herself right at home there and suddenly downtime was no problem.

Luke felt right at home in her arms, she was a great girl, she was smart and beautiful. She had wits enough to challenge him and she had great taste in music. While he and Bo hadn't really gone on stage and performed with their guitars for real, they had on occasion for fun, and he wasn't a stranger to it. As it turned out, he had even more experience than Anita who dreamed about being a singer.

Being whom he was, Luke decided to help her along. He knew a thing or two about playing and singing, he knew how to write a song, and while he didn't tell her so, he had learnt a lot of it from Waylon Jennings whom had through a series of events been a friend to his uncle.

She was good, and he never doubted that she could make it given half a chance, so he pushed her along. He encouraged her to play at the local bars, he spent so many nights with her and their guitars just so she would be good enough when the chance came, and he would make damn sure that she took it when it did.

He casually mentioned Anita to Bo, but as it was, they never got to meet each others, he had planned to take her to one of his races and introduce her. Would have done so except for the big forest fire that broke out in the area, and work had to come first. By the time that fire was under control Bo had already won the race and moved on to the next one.

So the two had never met yet, and now it was too late, because he had just seen her off on the way to Nashville.

What he would be doing he didn't know, he'd be lonely, but he had been lonely before and he supposed that it was his own fault. He kept telling himself that it was for her sake, because while he could have married her and gone with her, possibly even played with her, he told himself that the last thing she needed was a husband to complicate her career. The plain truth was that he was scared, his dream had always been racing on the NASCAR circuit and working there as a mechanic. He was happy to let Bo be the genius driver as long as he was the one who put together the engine his cousin carried under his hood. He had gotten to live that dream, and he was afraid that if Anita didn't get to live hers, she'd wind up hating him for having chosen him instead.

Luke had always been more insecure than most people though, he was afraid of being rejected, of being turned down, and he did stupid things because of it. Like putting a girl on the bus knowing he'd never see her again. He did it because it was easier to make her walk out on him, than it would be if she did so later out of grief.

He had done it before, Jesse had told him that when it came to women he had as much sensitivity as a buzz-saw. It wasn't entirely true, but he did challenge them. If they walked out on him after the first date out of anger, well, then they wouldn't be dumping him after a year, when he had learnt to rely on them too much to make it on his own again. So easing his conscious towards himself by saying he had done it for her sake, he knew in his heart just what it was he had done. He also thought about what his uncle had once told him, that when he had found the right girl he would know, because then everything would be right.

It sure had been the case with Anita, nothing could have been more right, but Jesse had also been wrong, because Luke couldn't do what he should.

He remembered the time he had taken a foolish chance, because he thought maybe it would take matters out of his hands and he would get himself a family. It had been a disaster, the girl assumed she was pregnant for no reason, they hadn't slept with each other, just spent the night with together after all, and Luke was allowed to think he would get the family that he wanted, but it didn't work that way. There was no child, and Luke was left to continue as before.

Jesse had told him that when he found the right girl, there would be no need for chances, but for the first time he had been wrong.

With everything having been just right Luke hadn't had the courage to do what he should and ask her, and now as he had seen the bus leave he wished he had taken the same chance for real. Maybe if he had she wouldn't be leaving, maybe if he had, she would be having a family with him.

Maybe if he wasn't such a big coward there would be no need for taking chances, but this was one time he wished he had done that, taken a chance on love. Getting up from the bench and starting walking he could only hope that when his time came, Bo would be smarter than him, and not repeat the same mistake. He would do his best to ensure that, after all, he was better at looking out for Bo than he was at doing the same for himself.

Sighing softly he smiled to himself, wondering how long it would be before he heard about the famous Anita Blackwell on the radio, and if she by then, would still remember him…

The End

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