AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Must be nice. The sarcastic thought remained safely in her head. She wasn’t jealous of her friends, but who wouldn’t love to have a gourmet buffet breakfast set out for them? “Thanks, but I’ll just grab some tea.” The greasy egg sandwich she’d eaten at the diner still sat in her stomach.
“You don’t know what you’re missing. Maureen gave Nancy her blueberry-lemon muffin recipe.” Jake held up a golden brown muffin.
Across the table from her, Charlie rolled her eyes in Lauren’s direction.
“I see some things never change.” For the first time since leaving Kevin’s house, the stress in her stomach lessened.
“If anything, it has gotten worse since Ma started sending him care packages full of baked goods.” Charlie winked in her direction. “I’m starting to think he only married me because of Ma’s cooking.”
“I told you, Charlie. That was only one of the reasons.” Jake popped the rest of his muffin in his mouth.
In response, Charlie punched him in the arm. “Be careful, or you’ll be sleeping on the floor tonight.”
Lauren sipped her tea and struggled to ignore the envy growing inside her. From the outside at least, Jake and Charlie had the perfect marriage. They teased each other, but at the same time showed affection for each other. They appeared to be friends, partners, and lovers all rolled into one. Sara and Christopher did as well. That type of relationship was what she’d always thought she wanted.
What Kevin offered her would be so much different. Could she live with that? If she married him, the world would be at her feet. As his wife, she could obtain so many of her dreams. An image of Nate sneaked its way into her head. As soon as it did, a collage of emotions bombarded her. Kevin’s safe. A marriage to him might not include love, at least not in the beginning, but that also meant he could never break her heart. Unlike someone else. Nate had the ability to not only break her heart but to crush it into a fine dust.
“Lauren,” Callie said with surprise from the doorway. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”
She studied her friend as Dylan pulled out a chair for her. While it could have been the lighting in the room, Callie appeared pale and tired. “I need to talk to you. I didn’t consider that you might have company.” In the past whenever they needed each other, there had been no need to call first. Sometimes she forgot how much Callie’s marriage changed things. “But it can wait.”
“They’re family. They don’t count. Come on; let’s go upstairs.” Callie stood again and grabbed a cup of tea from the sideboard. “Well, are you coming?” she asked when Lauren remained in her seat.
“Really, Callie it can—”
“No, it can’t. You wouldn’t have driven out here if it could wait.”
Lauren didn’t bother with an argument. Callie knew her too well. Instead, she snagged her tea and followed Callie up the wide central staircase to her and Dylan’s suite.
“Okay now, out with it, Lauren.” Callie didn’t waste any time once they sat down. “What’s the matter?”
“Kevin asked me to marry him last night.” Speaking the words aloud made the proposal all that more real. Despite the ring in her pocket, she had almost convinced herself she’d dreamed it all up. “And I kissed Nate.” She rushed out the second sentence.
Callie’s eyes grew large. “Wow! That’s great.” She leaned closer as if to give Lauren a hug but then stopped. “Wait, what? You kissed Nate? When?”
“Twice actually.” Lauren stared down at her hands. She hadn’t intended to tell anyone that. Not even Callie.
Callie nibbled her bottom lip. “I’m confused. Kevin proposed, but you’ve been seeing Nate?”
She had dated a lot while in college and a fair amount since then, but she’d never cheated on a boyfriend. The way Callie said it, though, sounded as if she’d done just that. “I’m not seeing Nate. We kissed once when he spent the night and again the other day. That’s it.”
“He spent the night?” Callie’s voice rose a few more octaves.
Lauren grimaced. She’d forgotten Callie didn’t know all the details about the night her car broke down. “The night my car broke down he gave me a ride home. By the time we got to my house the roads were bad. It would have been dangerous for him to leave, so he slept in the spare bedroom.”
“Okay,” Callie said, dragging out the words. “And you kissed him?”
“It just happened. One second we were arguing and the next kissing.” She couldn’t put all the blame on him. Yeah, he’d made the first move, but she’d reciprocated.
“What about the second time?”
“I was upset and crying. I’d just told him about the baby.” A large lump formed in her throat. “We haven’t seen each other since but I—”
“Wait. You told him? Why now? I think you better start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”
“I didn’t intend to. He showed up one night demanding an explanation. Matt actually dropped the news on him at O’Donnell’s.”
“Man, this story keeps getting worse.”
“Will you please let me finish?” Giving Callie a play-by-play account of the past few weeks was difficult enough. She did not need the constant interruptions.
“Not another word. Promise.”
“Anyway, I couldn’t lie to him, so I told him everything. Then we kissed again. When I told him about Kevin and that I was happy with him, Nate called my bluff. He asked me to give him another chance.”
“What did you tell him? You can’t stop there, Lauren.”
Lauren exhaled slowly and picked at her fingernail. “I told him I need time to think.” Rather than help her sort things out, her conversation so far only intensified the uncertainties she’d been battling for weeks.
“Okay. Did you still take Kevin with you to New York last weekend?”
She switched her attention to another fingernail. “He had the flu, so I went without him. He invited me to spend this weekend with him instead, and I planned on doing that until he pulled out this ring.” Lauren handed the box to Callie. “Or at least I think I would’ve stayed if not for that. I’m not sure.”
“You said your relationship wasn’t serious yet.”
Lauren shrugged. “I didn’t think it was. He shocked me last night when he gave me that.”
Next to her, Callie opened the box. The light reflected off the stone, casting rainbows on the ceiling.
“He’s got good taste.” She examined the ring for a moment before handing it back. “Do you want to marry him? Are you in love with him?”
She snapped the box closed. “I like him, but love? No, not yet anyway. And I know it’s the same for him.”
“He asked you to marry him, but he doesn’t love you? Lauren, come on, get serious. Why would he do that?”
Lauren had considered that she’d have to tell Callie his reasons for the marriage. “He sees marriage as a business deal. It’d be good for his company if he got married.” Please don’t ask for details. How could Lauren ever tell her friend that Kevin was using marriage as a way to get in tight with her family?
Callie looked like she’d just swallowed a lemon whole. “What about you? How is this business deal good for you?” Callie’s tone told Lauren her exact thoughts on the matter.
“Financial security. I can open my own dance studio. I can travel. Whatever I want.” Lauren made an attempt at a sound argument. “It’s not as if I don’t like him. We get along well and have fun. Maybe someday we’ll love each other.”
Callie sat in silence biting her lip, a sure sign she was processing everything she’d heard. Across from her, Lauren waited and forced herself to remain silent. Part of her wanted to further plead her case, make Callie understand why marriage made sense. How would that look, though? Would it appear as if she was trying to convince herself, too?
“What about Nate?” Callie asked, her tone gentle and patient.
Not the question she expected. Lauren had to reverse gears.
“You said you told him you needed time to think,” Callie said, repeating her own words. “If you told him that then you must still feel something for him.”
Sometimes Callie knew her too darn well. “I do.” Before now she’d kept the truth inside. “When we kissed it was like we hadn’t spent more than a day apart. But I don’t know if I want to go there again, chickie. If I do and things end again . . . I can’t go through that another time. I’m safe in a relationship with Kevin. There is no burning passion between us, but he can’t hurt me either. “
“You won’t be happy. That type of marriage isn’t you. We both know that. Maybe it works for others, but you’re too much like me. Before long you’ll wish you’d never met Kevin.”
