Beach Reads Boxed Set

by Marie Force

  Jerry recommends the steak special, which Garrett and I order, while Monica orders something vegetarian. Of course she does.

  I have a glass of red wine while Garrett drinks bourbon with Jerry and Monica orders white wine.

  “A toast,” Jerry says, “to new friends.”

  We touch our glasses together, and I sense a creeping tension in Garrett that wasn’t there when we left the hotel room.

  “So y’all are engaged,” Monica says. “Show me your ring.”

  I raise my hand off my lap and extend it to her.

  “That’s gorgeous. Well done,” she says to Garrett.

  “Thank you.”

  “When’s the big day?” she asks.

  “Oh, we don’t know yet,” I say, glancing at Garrett. “We just got engaged.”

  “Just as in since you’ve been here?”

  “Just as in this afternoon.”

  “Oh my goodness! Jerry, we need champagne! They just got engaged!”

  Smiling indulgently at his wife, he raises a hand to summon the waiter and order champagne. “Bring us your best vintage.”

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Dutton. Coming right up.”

  “This is so exciting,” Monica says, clapping her hands with girlish glee. She’s a lot nicer than I expected her to be at first glance. “You have to tell us everything. How did you meet?”

  I look to Garrett, who smiles and nods at me to tell our story. “We’ve known each other since kindergarten, but we’ve been close since sixth grade.”

  “Oh, that’s so sweet! Isn’t that sweet, Jerry?”

  “Indeed,” he says.

  “Garrett came to my rescue when another boy knocked my lunch tray out of my hands.”

  “Bruce the Dick Dickenson,” Garrett adds, making them laugh.

  “Garrett beat the crap out of him, got suspended and we’ve been the best of friends ever since.” I grasp his hand under the table. “The romantic part is more recent, but it’s been a long time coming.”

  “A very long time,” he murmurs, squeezing my hand. “Too long.”

  “You have to invite us to the wedding,” Monica says.

  “Monica,” Jerry says with a note of warning in his voice. “Don’t be pushy.”

  “Am I being pushy, Lauren?”

  “Not at all,” I say, charmed by her over-the-top friendliness. “Of course we’ll invite you, and you can drive six and a half hours to the middle of nowhere Texas for the wedding.”

  “I love seeing new places,” Monica says. “It’s always an adventure.”

  Dinner is a great time, full of lively conversation and laughter, topped off with a delicious meal. The guys have obviously made a pact to not discuss business, which is fine with me.

  “I need to hit the ladies’ room,” Monica says after our dinner dishes are cleared. Looking over at me, she says, “Join me?”

  “Sure.”

  Both men get up to help us out of our chairs, and Monica links her arm through mine as she leads the way to the restroom. “Y’all are just too damned cute,” she says once we’re inside the room that looks more like a fancy Southern parlor than a bathroom. “He’s a sexy one, that man of yours.”

  “I agree.”

  “You’re a lucky girl.”

  “As are you. Jerry is a sweetheart.”

  “He certainly is.”

  We take care of business and then meet again at the mirror to refresh lipstick.

  “Jerry made me promise no talk of business tonight, but I have to tell you how excited we are about having you guys here with us in Austin. Jerry is just tickled pink to have found Garrett. I know nothing’s decided yet, but I do hope we’ll be the best of friends.”

  I have no idea what the hell she’s talking about, and it takes a few seconds for her to realize that.

  “Oh God. I’ve gone and put my foot right in it, haven’t I?”

  “I, um…” My recently satisfied stomach begins to ache, and for a second, I fear that I’m going to be sick right in the rarefied confines of the Austin Country Club ladies’ room. “Will you please tell me what you’re talking about?”

  “I probably shouldn’t. Jerry’s going to kill me.”

  “Please, Monica.”

  She hesitates, but only for a moment. “Jerry is hoping to hire Garrett to be the new chief financial officer of his company. That’s why y’all are here. He interviewed with Jerry and the team at the office today.”

  I feel like I’ve been punched right in the gut. He’s here for an interview and didn’t think I needed to know that? What the hell? What about my business? What about his? I’m reeling. My head is spinning as I try to make sense of it. Why would he keep such a thing from me? And is he planning to take the job and spring a move to Austin on me?

  “I’m so sorry, Lauren,” Monica says, blinking back tears. “I feel terrible.”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “I’m sure he has a good reason for not telling you.”

  What possible reason could he have for keeping such a big secret from me at the same time he was asking me to marry him? “I… I need a minute. If you don’t mind.”

  “Of course, honey,” she says, squeezing my arm. “Take all the time you need. I’ll make excuses for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  She leaves me alone in the restroom, and I make use of one of the upholstered easy chairs to try to collect my thoughts. I’m there a few minutes before one thing becomes crystal clear to me. I need to get the hell out of here. Right now.

  Monica returns to the table alone and obviously distressed.

  “Where’s Lauren?” I ask.

  To my astonishment—and apparently Jerry’s, too—she becomes teary-eyed as she takes her seat at the table. “I’ve made a terrible faux pas.”

  My heart begins to pound erratically, and I break into a cold sweat.

  “What’ve you done, darlin’?” Jerry asks.

  “I mentioned how excited you are for Garrett to join the company and…”

  I’m on my feet before she completes the sentence. “Where is she?”

  “Still in the ladies’ room.”

  I run toward the direction I saw them go when they left the table, and I bang on the door. “Lauren! Baby, come out here. Let me explain.”

  “Is there a problem, sir?” a uniformed guy asks.

  “Yes, there’s a very big problem. My fiancée is in there, and she thinks I did something that I didn’t mean to do, and I need to talk to her. Right now.”

  The door opens, and an irritated older woman comes out. “What seems to be the problem?”

  “My fiancée is in there.” I’m feeling more desperate by the minute. “I need to talk to her. Will you ask her to come out?”

  “I was the only one in there.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive.”

  I run for the foyer and the portico where my driver stands with several other men. “Did you see Lauren? The woman I was with earlier?”

  “She left a few minutes ago in one of the club’s cars,” he says. “Said she had a headache and that I should wait for you to conclude your business.”

  “I need to get back to the hotel. Right now.”

  “Yes, sir.” He signals for the valet, and we wait an interminable ten minutes for them to bring the car around. When he starts to come back to hold the door for me, I signal for him to skip that. “Drive as fast as you can. Get me to the hotel.”

  When we’re in the car, I try to call her, but I get her voice mail, which means her phone is off. I’m losing my mind on the ride back to the hotel, imagining what she must be thinking and how upset she had to be to leave without a word to me.

  It’s the least of what I deserve. I fucked this up royally, even if my intentions were good.

  At the hotel, I’m out of the car before it comes to a full stop and run into the lobby, punching the up arrow on the elevator repeatedly until a car finally arrives. I drop the fucking keycard in my haste
to get to the top floor, losing another valuable minute. Finally, I get to our room and open the door, yelling her name to an empty suite.

  She’s not there.

  I go to the closet and throw it open to find her bag is gone along with her cosmetic bag from the counter in the bathroom.

  “Fuck! Motherfucking fuck!”

  I call downstairs for my car, throw my stuff into my suitcase and leave the room five minutes after I arrived. I have no desire to be there for even a minute if she’s not with me.

  At the bellman’s station, I describe her to the man on duty and ask if he’s seen her. “I saw her. About ten minutes ago. She hired one of the car service guys to take her home to someplace in the desert.”

  “Marfa.”

  “Yeah, that’s it. The driver was thrilled with the big fare.”

  I’m going to be sick. The nausea burns my throat and brings tears to my eyes. My phone rings, and I take the call from Jerry Dutton.

  “Is everything all right, Garrett?” he asks.

  “Not really, but hopefully it will be.” I can’t consider the alternative.

  “Monica feels terrible.”

  “Please tell her it’s not her fault. It’s one hundred percent mine. I hadn’t told Lauren why we were really here because I’d decided not to accept the job, but after you all went to so much trouble to set things up, I wanted to at least meet with you.”

  “Well, I have to say that’s very disappointing. We all felt you’d be a perfect fit for the job.”

  “Maybe in another lifetime,” I say as the valet arrives with my car. I slip him a ten, throw my bag into the front seat, hit the gas and head for home. “In this lifetime, I belong somewhere else entirely. I’m sorry to have led you on, Jerry. I never meant for that to happen.”

  “Ahh, don’t sweat it. Shit happens. My door is always open to you, Garrett. If you change your mind, you know where I am.”

  “I appreciate that and everything else.”

  “No problem. I hope things work out for you and Lauren.”

  “So do I.” We end the call as I get on the interstate and press the gas pedal to the floor. Thank goodness I had only one glass of bourbon with dinner, because this is going to be a long night.

  I try to see inside every car I pass on the long ride home, but I never catch a glimpse of anything resembling Lauren’s distinctive blonde hair. I reach the outskirts of Marfa around two a.m., having had to stop twice—once for gas and once to piss. I’m hovering on the razor’s edge of sanity by the time I drive down Highland and notice her car is no longer in the lot where we left it on Friday. That means she made it back to town before me, although how that’s possible with the way I drove is beyond me.

  I’m on the way to her house when my phone rings. I pounce on it without checking the caller ID.

  “It’s Blake.”

  I deflate like a balloon that’s been hit with a pin.

  “Honey’s in labor. We’re at Big Bend in Alpine.”

  “Does Lauren know?”

  “I just talked to her a few minutes ago because Honey asked me to call her. She said she’s home, but she didn’t know where you are. What the hell is going on, man?”

  “Don’t sweat it. Focus on your wife and your baby.”

  “Garrett—”

  “I’m coming there. See you in thirty minutes.” I end the call before he can grill me any further. At least now I know where to find Lauren.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Thirty minutes later, I pull into the parking lot at the Big Bend Regional Medical Center in Alpine, the closest thing to a hospital in our neck of the woods. I run inside, fueled by adrenaline and panic, and immediately see Lauren sitting with Scarlett and a big blond guy I don’t recognize in the waiting room.

  “Lauren.” The single word sounds almost like a sob as it leaves my mouth.

  She looks up at me, and in the flash of an instant, I see hurt and disappointment and disaster. I also notice she’s not wearing her ring.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Not now.”

  “Lauren, please…”

  Scarlett and the blond guy watch us with curiosity from him and dismay from her.

  Lauren glares at me. “Not. Now. Garrett.”

  I want to fucking punch something, but I restrain that urge and force myself to calm the fuck down before I make this worse, if that’s even possible. I take a seat across from her and train my gaze on her, which is how I know that she never once looks my way in the two hours we wait to hear that Blake and Honey’s son has arrived safely.

  Wyatt James Dempsey is born at four seventeen a.m., weighing just over nine pounds and measuring twenty-one inches. According to his euphoric father, his mother is a warrior and the baby is a future linebacker. I’ve never seen Blake so happy in all the years I’ve known him, and he’s been pretty damned happy since he got together with Honey.

  Did I have that kind of happiness in my grasp until I fucked it up and ruined everything?

  They let us in to see Honey and the baby a little while later. I remind myself to say and do all the right things to support my friends, but I’m dying on the inside with the need for five minutes alone with Lauren to fix this terrible mess I’ve made of things.

  It turns out the big blond guy is Mickey’s brother Jace, who was with Blake when Honey went into labor.

  “I’m glad you guys got the chance to meet,” Blake says while the women coo over the baby. “Garrett runs my business.”

  “Ask him how he plans to run your business from Austin,” Lauren says, dropping a bomb into the room.

  “You wanna run that by me one more time?” Blake says to her.

  “Tell him, Garrett. Tell him about the interview you had in Austin to be the chief financial officer at Social-NET.” She must’ve Googled Jerry Dutton on the way home. “You know, the interview you didn’t tell anyone about, even me, when you were asking me to marry you?”

  “You guys are engaged?” Scarlett says with a squeal that startles the baby.

  “We were,” Lauren says.

  “We are,” I confirm with a steady look for her. “The job thing is all a big misunderstanding.”

  She stares me down. “Did you or did you not go to Austin for a job interview?”

  “I did, but—”

  “No buts! You were making plans to leave town, and you didn’t tell any of us!”

  “Seriously, Garrett?” Blake says. “What the fuck?”

  “Don’t swear in front of the baby,” Honey says. “But honestly, Garrett, what were you thinking? You know how much we all rely on you.”

  “If you guys would let me get a word in edgewise, I’d tell you that I took the meeting, but I never had any intention of taking the job.”

  “How did a company in Austin even know about you?” Blake asks.

  “That’s a very good question,” Lauren says, “and one I’d like to know the answer to as well.”

  I’m cornered with no clean way out of this except with the truth. “In order for me to explain that to you, we’d have to go back to what I was doing when my father died.”

  “What does that have to do with this?” Honey asks, cradling the sleeping baby in her arms.

  As much as I want to explain myself to them, I can’t do it here or now. “Guys, really, this isn’t the time or the place. We need to be focused on Wyatt and Honey and your new family.” I go over to the bed and lean over to kiss Honey’s forehead and run my finger over the baby’s downy soft cheek. “Well done, Mom. I’m so happy for you guys.”

  “Thank you for being here, Garrett.”

  “Of course.”

  “Congratulations,” I say to Blake, extending my hand to him.

  He shakes my hand as he gives me a wary look. “This conversation isn’t finished.”

  “We’ll talk about it another time,” I tell him.

  “You bet your ass we will.”

  “Blake! Language!”

  “Babe, we’ve go
t two years before he’ll be able to talk.”

  “No time like the present to break the habit.”

  “Come with me,” I say to Lauren.

  “No, I’m staying with Honey.”

  “You don’t have to, Lo,” she says. “All I want to do is sleep. You don’t have to stay.”

  “We’ll all get out of your hair,” Scarlett says. To Jace, she adds, “Can I hitch a ride back to town with you?”

  “Of course. No problem.” He shakes hands with Blake. “To be continued.”

  “Thanks an awful lot for everything tonight, man. If you want the job, it’s all yours after what you did to get me to Honey when she needed me.”

  “I want the job, and it was a pleasure. Glad I could help and that I got to meet your friends.” He waggles his eyes at Scarlett, who’s oblivious because she’s hugging Lauren and whispering something to her.

  We walk out together, and I follow Lauren to her car.

  “Come to my place,” I say to her. “Let me explain.”

  “It’s late, Garrett. I’m tired and—”

  “Please, Lauren.”

  She sighs. “Fine. Okay.”

  The greatest feeling of relief I’ve ever experienced floods my system. We’re not out of the woods yet, but at least she’s going to hear me out. “Follow me.”

  With a curt nod, she gets in her car and pulls out of the parking lot right behind me. I lead the way back to Marfa and pull into my driveway, opening two of the garage doors so she can drive in next to me.

  I close the doors and wait for her to precede me into the house. “You want something to drink?”

  “Just some water.”

  I pour glasses of ice water for both of us and bring them into the living room, taking the seat next to her on the sofa. “The first thing I want to say is I’m sorry I didn’t tell you why we really went to Austin.”

  “I’ve spent the last ten hours trying to understand why you didn’t tell me.”

  “Like I said at the hospital, after everything clicked with us, I decided I didn’t want the job after all, but Jerry and his team had gone to so much trouble to arrange everything, I didn’t feel right canceling at the last minute. And then when Wayne showed up and upset you, I thought it would be a good chance to get you away from it all for a few days.”