“How about I pick you up at eight and we’ll have some breakfast before we hit the road?”
“Sounds good.” She wanted to invite him to spend the night and they could have breakfast at her place, but she didn’t think he’d be shy about inviting himself if that’s what he wanted to do.
“Okay, I’ll see you at eight. I’d talk longer, but I have two more meetings before I can leave here and I need to look at some prints before the first one.”
“See you in the morning then.”
He wasn’t going to make it back to Whitford until late, she thought as she shoved her phone back into her purse. She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to come over. He’d probably fall face-first into his bed and crash.
By the time she found the cold medicine her mother liked and chatted up Fran for a moment, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to spend more than a few minutes with her mom and still make it home before Dean showed up.
Her parents lived eight miles out of town, and almost two of those miles were down a winding dirt road. It was impossible to rush when driving to and from their house.
Usually, no matter when Lauren arrived, her mother would be outside, deadheading flowers or reading in the hammock or sipping tea on the porch. Today, though, she found her mom in the living room. She was on the couch, television remote in hand.
“Hi, Mom. I brought you your medicine.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. I told your father I could wait until he got home.”
“Maybe, unlike you, he remembers the last time you were sick and he got the wrong kind and had to hear about what an inattentive husband he is for the next week.”
Her mother waved her hand, dismissing that subject. “How’s Nicky? He doesn’t have this cold, does he? It sounds like you did.”
“He’s good. I had it earlier in the week, but Rose Davis gave me her miracle chicken soup and it worked like magic.”
“She gave me that recipe once. The seasonings were ridiculous, though, so I tweaked it.” She pulled a tissue out of the box and dabbed at her nose. “It wasn’t miraculous at all, in my opinion.”
Lauren wanted to point out she hadn’t actually made Rosie’s soup if she’d changed the recipe, but she didn’t have time to argue. “Speaking of Nick, I’m going out of town tomorrow for an overnight and Nick will be with his dad, so if you see Dean’s number on the caller ID, you have to pick up, okay?”
“Where are you going?”
She could lie. That would probably be easiest and relatively harmless, like telling her dad she had a customer to get off the phone. But Lauren riding out of town on the back of a Harley was something she could see being casually mentioned at the hardware store. “Ryan’s taking me to his house in Brookline. We’re going to take Mitch’s motorcycle.”
“You told me it wasn’t serious so you weren’t dragging him over here for a family dinner. But you’re going away with him overnight?”
“It’s complicated.”
“What? He doesn’t want to have dinner with us?”
“He’s not the one who said no. I did. You’ve known him and his brothers and sister for their whole lives. You knew his parents.”
“And his grandfather. He passed away shortly after we bought the store.”
“See? This whole meet-the-parents thing is ridiculous and he’s too busy for it right now.”
“What’s going to happen when he’s done working on the lodge?”
Lauren dropped into a chair, resigned to finishing the conversation. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out soon. They’re almost done.”
“Have you talked about it?”
“No, not yet.”
“If it’s serious, you need to talk about it.”
“I know that, Mom.” She took a deep breath, reminding herself grown women didn’t snap at their sick mothers. “I don’t know how serious he is. Maybe he’s just having a fling while back in the old hometown.”
“Is that what you think?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. But I think the fact he lives in Massachusetts and we live in Maine is complicated. And then there’s Nick and...other stuff. It’s just a lot to think about.”
“What other stuff?”
“Nothing.” She didn’t want to talk about it and made a big deal out of checking the time. “I’m barely going to make it back in time to meet Dean. I have to run.”
“Talk to him.”
Lauren walked over to kiss her mom’s forehead. “I will.”
Just as soon as she figured out what to say.
Chapter Sixteen
It was still damp and chilly when Ryan drove into Lauren’s driveway the next morning, but he hoped it would burn off and warm up a little by the time they’d eaten breakfast.
Lauren met him at her front door with a smile and a kiss. “You look tired.”