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CHAPTER18
Sprawledout on Dom’s leather sectional, Lauren let herself feel glum. Even his stunning Las Olas Beach view wasn’t cheering her up.
“Here you go, babe.” He handed her a vibrant, pink drink in a tall, slender glass. “My patented heart-mending elixir.”
Melissa laughed as she sipped on an identical creation from her place at an armchair next to the sectional. “I thought you said it was a love potion.”
Dom grinned, his freshly trimmed beard failed to cover the brightness in his cheeks. “What can I say? It’s a potion of many uses.”
Sitting up, Lauren made space for Dom to sit at the end of the couch. She took a sip from the festive, green straw.
“What do you think?” Dom’s dark eyes gleamed behind his glasses. “Does it taste like healing?”
Lauren nodded. “And rum.”
“They’re one in the same,” he joked before grabbing his straw with his teeth.
“I’m sorry, Lou. I know how much this sucks.” Melissa crossed one long leg over the other.
Lauren took another sip of the tropical drink. “I just can’t believe she was gone so fast, you know? Who the hell packs up their apartment and just sets off on a three thousand mile drive in two days. It’s like she didn’t even want to risk having second thoughts.”
Dom tucked his muscular leg under his body. “I think she’d been giving it a lot of thought.” He flashed Melissa a quick glance.
“Did you guys know this was coming? Did she tell you?” Lauren directed her question at Melissa.
“I told you my suspicions,” Melissa replied. “I think she was giving you all the signals she could,” she added more sympathetically. “It’s not like either of you did anything wrong—”
“It doesn’t take Walter Mercado to see that it was just not gonna work, babe,” Dom interrupted with a wry smile.
With a surprised laugh, Lauren nodded. “Who wants to go to bed at seven o’clock every night, right?”
Dom raised his glass in toast. “You’re really cute and your ass looks fantastic in a pair of jeans, but I could not be about that life.”
“It’s the getting up at two in the morning that would get me,” Melissa decided, glancing up at the vaulted ceiling as if going through the full list of reasons she wouldn’t date her.
As Melissa and Dom discussed all the ways Lauren’s career was ruining her dating life, she chugged her drink.
“Well, I won’t have to worry about accommodating anyone anymore.” Lauren set her glass on the modern, Scandinavian coffee table. “I’m off the market indefinitely. It’s just too hard to assimilate anyone into my life right now. Dom’s right, who would sign up for my crazy hours?” She sunk into the soft leather. “If I’m honest, it’s almost like a weight has been lifted in some ways. It’s kind of a relief not to have to worry about juggling someone’s needs with the demands of the business.”
“You can’t just give up!” Dom shrieked as if Lauren hadn’t heard them talking about how awful it would be to date her.
“Seriously!” Melissa leaned forward in her chair. “You have a lot to offer the right person. Someone who doesn’t think it’s a sacrifice to accommodate your schedule.”
Sacrifice?Had Jenny told Melissa that she felt like she was sacrificing?
“Yeah, like a morning radio host,” Dom agreed with unrestrained enthusiasm. “Or a newspaper delivery person.” He cocked his head to the side as he wracked his brain. “How about a dairy farmer?”
Despite her mood, Lauren chuckled. “So your suggestion to my dating dilemma is to find an eligible female farmer . . . who dates women . . . in Miami?”
“I bet Vermont has a ton of lady farmers waiting—”
Lauren didn’t let Melissa finish. “Oh no. I’m not doing the long distance thing again. There’s no way I want someone to move for me and I can’t leave the city. That’s just a recipe for heartbreak and I’ve had enough of that. I’m not setting myself up for failure again.”
Dom shook his head. “You’re going to have a hell of a time finding your fated fromager in the tri-county area.”
As Melissa and Dom debated the correct term for a person who makes cheese, Lauren finished the rest of Dom’s drink. Was she really so hard to date?
She didn’t want to give up on love, but if her life was really that hard to adjust to, the decision might already be made. She never imagined that early hours and a seven day work week would be so insurmountable. Emergency room nurses found love all the time and their schedules were way worse. At least Lauren’s schedule was predictable.
If Lauren met someone who was as successful and passionate and loyal, plus not bad looking if she said so herself, and all she had to do was acclimate to slightly unconventional hours, she would.
It’s not like she was in her early twenties and going out all the time. She wasn’t missing anything by going to bed early. Was there really no one out there who would understand what she was doing?
