“Is that the paparazzi?” I ask Lachlan.
He looks out the window and grunts, shrugging. Guess he doesn’t know but it does remind me that I told Jessica I’d try and write an article about the event. I bring my phone out of my clutch and check the battery power, making sure there’s enough juice left for me to take some notes and observations about the event. Just that alone makes the situation easier to handle.
I glance at Lachlan, studying his handsome face. He doesn’t necessarily seem nervous but that mellowness in his eyes is gone and he’s observing the world with a level of hardness.
“Hey,” I say softly, feeling nothing but love for him. I grab his hand. “Thank you for inviting me.”
He regards me like I have two heads. “Of course I would invite you. That’s pretty much a given now, isn’t it? Where you go, I go.”
But his words hang in the air for a moment because we both know that’s not exactly true. I wonder, if I asked him to come to San Francisco to be with me, would he do it? Would he give up everything for me? Why couldn’t we both be in a relationship where neither one of us has to sacrifice anything?
The world just doesn’t work that way, I guess. I’m not an expert on love, but from the love I’ve seen around me, it’s not always easy. Nicola had a hell of a time finding a guy – the right guy – before she found Bram, and even then there were some uncomfortable truths she had to come to terms with. Stephanie and Linden were friends forever before they made their stupid pact to each other and then Linden majorly fucked it all up, separating the two for a long time before they both realized they needed each other. And then my mother and father. They seemed to have an epic, fairytale kind of love story but in the end, death pulled them apart. The greatest obstacle of them all, something no relationship can ever overcome.
There was no reason why the road for us should be easy. I just didn’t understand why it had to be so hard. I figured if I ever met someone I loved with my heart and soul, that it would at least run smoothly at first, before the hard obstacles were thrown in the way.
But there is no time for pity and doubt, not now. I’d been with Kyle for years and years, after a long, slow courtship, and I had never ever felt for him what I feel for Lachlan. That alone has made it all worth it.
“Come on, love,” he says to me as Amara puts the car in park. Already the photographer turns his flashbulbs on us.
I freeze but Lachlan puts his hand on the small of my back and leans in to me, whispering, “It’s all right. Just smile. I don’t like it either but it’s just for tonight and it’s all a good cause. Think of the dogs.”
I think of Lionel as I step out to the sidewalk, Lachlan pulling me to his side, arm around my waist, staring stoically at the cameras. Lionel sidles between us and at the lightest command from Lachlan, sits down, hamming for the flashbulbs too.
I have to admit, it’s hard not to smile when you’re on the arm of this man, especially when people are yelling his name. I know that being the centre of attention is the last thing that Lachlan wants too, but he handles it with so much ease it surprises me.
He doesn’t waste too much time though before he whisks me inside the hotel, Lionel trotting proudly beside him.