“You’re a sick individual, Morgan Kelley.”
“You made me that way. Drew can I call you back in a little bit? Lauren is at my door.”
“Doesn’t Lauren just use her key and walk in?
“We kind of had a fight.”
“About what?”
“I will call you when she leaves.”
“Okay, but don’t you dare take off in that car.”
“I’ll call you back,” I replied, opening the door to Lauren’s weak smile.
I would call him back, just not until I was on the road.
“You’re not at work,” I stated the obvious.
“Nah, I’m sick,” Lauren smiled. I moved so that she could come in.
“You look sick,” I teased. “Do you want coffee?”
“You know I do.”
We were silent for a few minutes. Neither of us knew quite what to say.
I sat across from her, and it felt the exact same way it had the night before, when Dawson was sitting in her chair. I guess I wasn’t as mad, but I could sense the conversation we were about to have.
“Dawson told me that he told you everything last night.”
“Actually he didn’t. I figured it out on my own. I saw the two of you going into Millie’s yesterday. I knew right away. I have never seen you two like that together.”
“Riley, I’m so sorry. I never meant to fall in love with Dawson. You were gone. I didn’t think you would ever be back after all of those months. I thought you ran away again.”
I could see how she would think that. I had done it before, and she didn’t know the details behind it. For all she knew I was running from Dawson, after all we were about to be married.
“I’m not mad anymore, Lauren. I’m still shocked, I never saw this coming.”
“I almost left Misty Bay when you came back. I couldn’t stand seeing him with you anymore.”
“But you had Joel,” I said trying to understand.
“I did, but I never loved Joel. Joel was just a distraction.”
“You love Dawson?”
She nodded, spinning her cup in circles. “He had a really hard time when you disappeared, Ry. We spent hours looking for you. By the fifth month, we had gotten pretty close. We had gotten pizza and beer one night, and I guess we were both a little tipsy. Dawson kissed me and…”
“I don’t want to hear the details, Lauren,” I said cutting her off. I didn’t.
She nodded. “I was with him the night that he sat straight up in bed, remembering you telling him about Drew donating money to your school. I’m a horrible friend, Ry. I didn’t want him to find you by then.”
I smiled. “You’re not a horrible friend. You fell in love. And to a good man. I fell in love too, but it wasn’t with Dawson. I mean I loved Dawson. I still love Dawson, but it’s not the same kind of love that I feel for Drew. I was actually going to break his heart last night.
I’m glad that he has you, Lauren, and if this baby turns out to be his, I’m glad that you will be the other female in his life.”
“You’re going back to Drew?”
“Eventually, I’m going to my mom’s for a while. I think I might have the baby there. She’s been out of my life for a good many years. I want to make up for that.”
“I’m going to miss you like crazy.”
I smiled. “I would say that you and Dawson can come and visit, but that might be a little too awkward.”
“Yeah, no doubt,” she agreed.
Lauren and I talked for two hours and a whole pot of coffee. I felt good after all of cards were laid out. I was surprised that Dawson hadn’t told her about why I had run from Drew the first time. Well, she didn’t act like she knew anyway. I was hugging her at the door when my unbelievable husband pulled up. I should have expected it.
He was only in New York, extremely close to Maine when you owned a private jet.
Lauren and Drew exchanged greetings, and she headed across the yard, back to her own dwellings. I stared after her, sadly. I was going to miss her waking me up, and eating my food. She turned and smiled at me before disappearing into her house. I turned my attention to Drew.
“What’s going on?” Drew wanted to know, sensing the thick air.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I said, sliding into his arms. I missed him, I loved him, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life being his wife.
“I had to come and drive my obtuse wife to North Carolina because she is so damned hardheaded and difficult, and the most beautiful woman on earth,” he explained.
“You have to work,” I reminded him.
“Not really. I own the company, and I have a really good assistant.”
“I own the company, you kind of work for me,” I teased.
“In that case, may I please have a few days off so that I can spend the next fifteen hours trapped in a car with my wife?”
“Hmm, most definitely,” I replied, kissing him.
Chapter 28