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“What did you sneak into my bag?” She looked down at it, but the top zipper had been shut.
“Nothing,” Bea said innocently.
“It’s far heavier than before.” Lauren started to unzip it, and someone called, “Bea!” from several paces away.
Bea went to greet Cass, who Lauren would be going home with. She’d spent the afternoon on the beach with Bea, Grant, and his daughter Shelby, so she’d cleaned up and driven to the park for the fireworks with them.
Harrison was supposed to be bringing sandwiches for everyone, so Lauren hadn’t eaten. To her knowledge, neither had Grant or Bea or Shelby.
She set her bag on the tailgate of the SUV and opened it. Sure enough, Bea had put in four jarred candles. “My word,” Lauren grumbled. Like she needed to be carrying these around tonight, the glasses clinking against each other every time she wanted to switch devices. She removed the candles and closed the back of the vehicle.
As she turned, she realized everyone had gone down the path without her. She’d tread the way alone several times in the past, and she knew right where they’d all be. Laughter echoed on the air, but as she and her friends weren’t the only people arriving at the park right now, it could’ve belonged to anyone.
“Let me carry that for you.”
Lauren turned toward the familiar voice, her heartbeat skipping as a sense of rejoicing moved through her. Blake easily took the chair from her shoulder and added it to his. His smile broadcast his happiness, and she had a brief memory of him drinking too much and then coming over to her table to offer her a job.
She suddenly wished she was wearing that red dress from last fall. If she did wear red, she went all out. She would’ve looked ten times as desperate as she already had, but she couldn’t help wondering if she could pull the dress out of retirement…maybe for another date with Blake.
“Thank you,” she said. She’d managed not to tell anyone about her company or her job, and as life moved a little slower here on this South Carolina island, she hadn’t heard anyone talking about Simple Solutions here.
There wasn’t any reason for them to. The nearest office was in Miami, and Lauren had been assigned to that branch while she’d been working remotely from Hilton Head.
“You look simply…” Blake looked down to her red-painted toes and back to her face. “Amazing.” He wore desire in his expression, and Lauren would be lying against herself and all of humanity if she said she didn’t feel the attraction between them coursing through her.
She did, and she always had. She’d managed to smother it for the past few summers, because she hadn’t lived here.
She did now.
He’d had a girlfriend.
He didn’t now.
No more barriers existed between them, and Lauren swallowed. “Thank you,” she said again. “You look great too.” He wore a polo that could’ve been sewn by Betsy Ross herself. Red and white stripes flowed across his broad chest, with his pocket the navy blue field with white stars stitched in.
He wore a pair of navy blue khaki shorts and white tennis shoes with a blue trim around them. He’d always saidpreciseto her, as well as,I have money.
She wasn’t sure if either were really true; he’d known he’d see her tonight. Maybe he’d simply dressed the part.
“Is everyone else here?” he asked, starting to walk toward the sidewalk that led further into the park.
“Yeah, I think so,” she said. “We were running late, because Shelby was flirting with some boys on the beach.” She gave Blake a smile, and he chuckled and shook his head.
“Ah, to be fifteen again.” He laughed now, and Lauren liked the sound of it. His step slowed, and Lauren automatically adjusted her pace to match his. “Listen,” he said. “I just wanted to apologize for how I acted last year, in that restaurant?”
He studied the ground as he came to a stop. Then those glorious blue eyes met hers. “I’d had too much to drink, but I remember seeing you sitting with another man, wearing this—this—stunning dress, and I was jealous.”
“It was Harrison,” she murmured. “My best friend’s boyfriend. Fiancé. About to be her husband.” Harrison hadn’t been a threat to any relationship of Lauren’s.
“Yeah, I know.” Blake nodded. “But you know what? Sometimes jealousy is irrational.”
Lauren tilted her head and looked at him. “I think I understand that.” She’d often fought with the green-eyed monster. Of course she wanted Bea and Cass to be happy. It sometimes felt wholly unfair that they’d both been married once already and had now found a second chance at love when she was still searching for her One True Love.
Blake smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “What’s your schedule like tomorrow?”
Lauren’s mind automatically went through her morning routine, which included working out, clearing her inbox, and pulling docs for any meetings she had coming up.
Two of those no longer existed, and she honestly felt like her whole life had come to a stop. She hadn’t worked out since she’d flown to Texas and back, and she hated hiding out in her room all day, pretending to work.
