In response, Charlie punched him in the arm. “Be careful, or you’ll be sleeping on the floor tonight.”
Lauren sipped her tea and struggled to ignore the envy growing inside her. From the outside at least, Jake and Charlie had the perfect marriage. They teased each other, but at the same time showed affection for each other. They appeared to be friends, partners, and lovers all rolled into one. Sara and Christopher did as well. That type of relationship was what she’d always thought she wanted.
What Kevin offered her would be so much different. Could she live with that? If she married him, the world would be at her feet. As his wife, she could obtain so many of her dreams. An image of Nate sneaked its way into her head. As soon as it did, a collage of emotions bombarded her. Kevin’s safe. A marriage to him might not include love, at least not in the beginning, but that also meant he could never break her heart. Unlike someone else. Nate had the ability to not only break her heart but to crush it into a fine dust.
“Lauren,” Callie said with surprise from the doorway. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”
She studied her friend as Dylan pulled out a chair for her. While it could have been the lighting in the room, Callie appeared pale and tired. “I need to talk to you. I didn’t consider that you might have company.” In the past whenever they needed each other, there had been no need to call first. Sometimes she forgot how much Callie’s marriage changed things. “But it can wait.”
“They’re family. They don’t count. Come on; let’s go upstairs.” Callie stood again and grabbed a cup of tea from the sideboard. “Well, are you coming?” she asked when Lauren remained in her seat.
“Really, Callie it can—”
“No, it can’t. You wouldn’t have driven out here if it could wait.”
Lauren didn’t bother with an argument. Callie knew her too well. Instead, she snagged her tea and followed Callie up the wide central staircase to her and Dylan’s suite.
“Okay now, out with it, Lauren.” Callie didn’t waste any time once they sat down. “What’s the matter?”
“Kevin asked me to marry him last night.” Speaking the words aloud made the proposal all that more real. Despite the ring in her pocket, she had almost convinced herself she’d dreamed it all up. “And I kissed Nate.” She rushed out the second sentence.
Callie’s eyes grew large. “Wow! That’s great.” She leaned closer as if to give Lauren a hug but then stopped. “Wait, what? You kissed Nate? When?”
“Twice actually.” Lauren stared down at her hands. She hadn’t intended to tell anyone that. Not even Callie.
Callie nibbled her bottom lip. “I’m confused. Kevin proposed, but you’ve been seeing Nate?”
She had dated a lot while in college and a fair amount since then, but she’d never cheated on a boyfriend. The way Callie said it, though, sounded as if she’d done just that. “I’m not seeing Nate. We kissed once when he spent the night and again the other day. That’s it.”
“He spent the night?” Callie’s voice rose a few more octaves.
Lauren grimaced. She’d forgotten Callie didn’t know all the details about the night her car broke down. “The night my car broke down he gave me a ride home. By the time we got to my house the roads were bad. It would have been dangerous for him to leave, so he slept in the spare bedroom.”
“Okay,” Callie said, dragging out the words. “And you kissed him?”
“It just happened. One second we were arguing and the next kissing.” She couldn’t put all the blame on him. Yeah, he’d made the first move, but she’d reciprocated.
“What about the second time?”
“I was upset and crying. I’d just told him about the baby.” A large lump formed in her throat. “We haven’t seen each other since but I—”
“Wait. You told him? Why now? I think you better start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.”
“I didn’t intend to. He showed up one night demanding an explanation. Matt actually dropped the news on him at O’Donnell’s.”
“Man, this story keeps getting worse.”
“Will you please let me finish?” Giving Callie a play-by-play account of the past few weeks was difficult enough. She did not need the constant interruptions.
“Not another word. Promise.”
“Anyway, I couldn’t lie to him, so I told him everything. Then we kissed again. When I told him about Kevin and that I was happy with him, Nate called my bluff. He asked me to give him another chance.”