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“I vote for the bed.”
“Then, the bed it is.”
“Here. Mrs. Porcelli sent these for you.” He holds out two pills in the palm of his hand. “It’s only ibuprofen to help with the discomfort.”
“But it doesn’t hurt.”
“It will, so please take the medicine. I don’t want you to be in pain.”
I take the pills and the glass of water he offers. I’m terrible at swallowing pills since I’ve made a habit of avoiding them. These aren’t big, so I manage to get them down, but not without some unattractive sputtering. When I’m done, I pass the glass back to him. “Happy now, Dr. Henry?”
“Very.”
I twist my towel around my hair before I crawl up onto the bed to lie on my stomach for my post-sun care. I rest my arms over my head and I feel the bed dip when Lachlan crawls up. “This may be a little cool, but it’ll feel good.”
He squirts it directly on my back and I arch. “Shit, that’s cold!” I squeal.
“It’s not really. It just feels that way because your skin is feverish.”
He rubs the cool lotion into my skin and it’s very soothing. My entire body goes lax as I enjoy what feels more like a massage than a post-sunburn lotion application.
I’m so relaxed, I’m almost asleep when I hear “Jolene” playing on my phone. My eyes pop open and I feel Lachlan leave my back. “I’ll get it for you.”
He passes my phone to me. “Hey, Mom.”
“Laurie, I’ve been calling you for hours. Have you not checked your phone?”
She sounds panicked, which panics me, and my first thought is that something has happened to Nanna or Pops. I sit up in the middle of the bed, preparing myself to hear the worst. “What’s happened, Mom?”
“I can’t believe you haven’t heard. It’s been all over the news.”
Okay, nothing has happened to my grandparents so I shift to my aggravation mode. “Mom, what’s going on?”
“Jared Beckett was killed in a skiing accident today.”
I should’ve known this would somehow involve the sperm donor. “And this is emergency news for me because?”
“Because he’s your brother, Laurie.”
“Whom I’ve never met.”
“He’s your father’s son.”
“Again, whom I’ve never met.” Am I the only one hearing the common denominator here?
“You need to come home.”
Good grief. “This isn’t a reason for me to come home.”
“You need to pay your condolences, Laurie.” Oh, hell. This is about getting me in with the sperm donor. What does she think is going to happen? He’s going to suddenly want me in his life now that he’s lost his only child?
I realize I’m stark naked and talking to my mom about the death of my sperm donor’s son when Lachlan holds out one of his T-shirts for me. I mouth thank you to him and slip the shirt over my head while my mom chatters nonsense about the need of being with family in times like this.
“We share DNA, but I’m no part of their family. They wouldn’t know me if we passed on the street.”
“Your father is going to want to know you.”
I stopped fantasizing about him wanting to know me a long time ago, but she never has. I’m almost twenty-three years old and she’s still holding out for something—I don’t know what. Maybe she thinks he’ll want to meet his daughter and it’ll lead him back to her.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m not coming home for this.”
“I think you’re making a mistake.”
“If I am, then I’ll be the one who has to live with it.” I’d always been the one to live with both of our mistakes anyway, so I was used to it.
She isn’t happy with me when I end our call and it leaves me feeling unsettled, although I know I’m making a logical decision. Between the two of us, someone has to be rational and I can’t depend on it to be her. She isn’t well known for making the best choices when it comes to my father.
“I assume there’s trouble at home.”
Yes, but only what my mom is making for me. “My father’s son was killed in a snow-skiing accident.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He’s a half-brother I’ve never met and my mom is acting like I should be in mourning. Hell, when she said his name, it took a minute for me to realize whom she was talking about. He’s a stranger to me. I’m sorry for his family’s loss, but I don’t feel anything more. Is that wrong?”
“No, Laurelyn. You’re not wrong for the way you feel. Please, don’t let your mum make you feel guilty.”
I’m certain he thinks she is a terrible mother after everything he’s learned about her today. “You must think even worse of my mom now.”
“She doesn’t make the top-ten list of my favorites today. You, however, make the number-one position.” He pulls me close to kiss the top of my head. I love the way he makes my worries disappear.
How can this be? This man, almost a stranger, brings me comfort and makes it easy for me to bare my soul to him. As I ask myself how it’s possible, I know the answer. I don’t have to guard my heart with Lachlan. I’m safe with him. And it’s nice.
30
Jack McLachlan
Laurelyn doesn’t know it’s my birthday or that the only wish I have is to stay home with her. But I can’t. I have to go to my parents’ house for my annual birthday dinner with the whole family. What a ripper day this will be.
She’s been living with me for two weeks and I’m surprised by the way I feel as I drive away, leaving her at the house. I want to go back for her. I consider whipping the Sunset around, but I remind myself of the rules I have in place and why meeting my family is one that can’t be broken.
I haven’t seen my family in almost three weeks, not since my mother sent me back to Avalon to be with Laurelyn on Christmas Day. Thank you, Mum. It was the best gift you could have given me.
My mum has made a point to speak to me weekly about my relationship with my “girlfriend” and I’m not looking forward to showing up without her again. Margaret McLachlan is going to be very put out with me over Laurelyn’s absence. I shouldn’t have told her I’d bring her to my birthday dinner, but I didn’t have a reasonable excuse to give her when we discussed it.
I walk through the door and Mum flies into the foyer. She’s smiling and her eyes are wide with anticipation, but then I see them fill with disappointment when she notes the emptiness beside me. I feel like a shitty son. “Where is she?”
