The Billionaire's Best Friend(64)

Sara’s words held at least some truth. Everyone did make mistakes at eighteen. Still, she couldn’t dismiss what he’d done when it came to their current situation. “According to Nate, they don’t move agents as much as you think. Regardless, when I gave him back the ring, I told him I needed time to think,” she said, finally able to get a word in. “He’s leaving on July 15th. So no matter what I decide, I need to cancel the wedding.”

“Just one more thing, and I promise I won’t say anything else. I almost lost Christopher because I let something from my past influence me. Sometimes you need to let go of the past, to forget about it,” Sara said.

As promised, after Sara’s final comment no one mentioned anything else about Lauren’s romantic problems. Instead, the four of them dove into preparations for an end-of-summer baby shower. Even with the conversation centered on perfect locations and color schemes for the shower, part of Lauren remained detached. Even before their conversation, she wondered how she should handle Nate. With him back in her life she felt complete again. Before he’d walked into her mom’s retirement party, she hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed him. The years had dulled the pain caused by his departure. And looking back, she could admit that over the years she had compared all the men she dated to him. No matter who they were or what they did, none had made her feel the same way Nathaniel Callahan did.

Even with all that, though, could she ignore his insistence on calling all the shots? She wanted a partner, not a guardian. If she married Nate, what kind of future would she have? Would he eventually try to control every aspect of their life? Some men were like that. They didn’t allow their wives to make any decisions on their own. She didn’t think Nate would ever go that far, but what if this most recent action turned out to be just the beginning? She would never stand for behavior like that, and if they had children she didn’t want her children raised in that kind of environment.



***



How had his week gone down the crapper so fast? Monday he’d been on the top of the world. He’d been about to marry the one woman he’d always loved. Then HRT announced tryouts down in Quantico. Since he first applied for a position with the FBI, he’d wanted a spot on the Hostage Rescue Team.

Now just a day later, and he was stuck in traffic with his wedding called off and Lauren expecting him to move out by the time she returned from Newport. Part of him said she’d come to her senses. That she would change her mind and still marry him. What if she didn’t, though? Deep down, in a place he avoided, he knew it was possible.

The car in front of him moved, and Nate took his foot off the brake. Why had he scheduled this last minute interview in Natick at four-thirty in the afternoon? Traffic on Route 9 sucked in the middle of the week, but on a Friday the nightmare only intensified. Nate made it to the traffic light just as it turned red.

“Won’t miss traffic like this when I move to Maine,” Joe said. In his fifties, Joe Perkins had been with the agency for twenty-five years and planned to retire in the fall. Since Nate had arrived in Boston, he’d acted as a mentor of sorts to him. “Heard I’m not the only one moving on. When do you leave?”

“Next month.” Nate tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. There had to be a better way around this section of town. Next time he came through here he needed to find it.

“Word of advice. Make sure your fiancée is on board with this. I spent fifteen years with the team, and I saw a lot of marriages end. Even those that looked rock solid from the outside. Heather and I did fine, but not all women can handle the stress.”

Nate tucked away Joe’s words for later. He hadn’t considered how the day-to-day stress of the job would affect Lauren.

“Would’ve had more kids if I stayed an agent in a field office rather than join the team. But after Nadine was born, Heather said she didn’t want to have any more children. In a lot of ways, she was a single parent and she couldn’t handle more than Jessie and Nadine.”

In the months they’d worked together, Joe rarely divulged any information about his family. In fact before now, Nate hadn’t even known the name of Joe’s children. For him to do so now spoke volumes. From where he sat, it sounded as if Joe believed only single agents with no ties belonged with HRT.

“Trying to talk me out of it, Joe?” Nate pulled into the parking lot of an office complex.

“Never. Just preparing you. Life in a field office can’t prepare you for life with HRT. So before you take the plunge, make sure you think it through.”