For one wild, impulsive moment Lauren had the nearly overwhelming notion to flee. It took every bit of restraint she possessed not to grab her purse and run for all she was worth. While her mind had her racing out the front door, her feet refused to budge. Her mouth had instantly gone dry, and all she seemed capable of doing was staring at Todd in utter incredulity.
“I’m married.”
“We can fix that, Lauren. We both know you married that … that Neanderthal to get back at me. You needed to do something drastic in order to wake me up, and, darling, it worked. The minute I heard the news you’d married Rooster, I went into shock. Then Elisa said things hadn’t worked out as you’d planned, and I realized I’d been given a second chance. I wasn’t about to let this opportunity to set matters straight slip by.”
“I love Rooster,” she said, more convinced than ever of what her heart had been trying to tell her for two long weeks.
Todd shook his head, denying her statement. “No, you don’t. You used him to teach me a lesson. Well, Lauren, I’m an A-plus student. We’ll get the legal stuff dealt with; I have friends who will help with the annulment, and …”
Lauren could barely believe what she was hearing. “Todd, please, stop. Just stop.”
Frowning, he stared back at her.
It was hard to take in what he was saying. Once she had his full attention, she continued. “Do you honestly believe that I would use another human being in such a despicable way? Do you seriously think I married Rooster in order to get your attention?”
He blinked at her as if she was speaking in a foreign language.
“You seem to believe I married Rooster for my own selfish purposes. What kind of person do you take me for?” she asked, both sad and angry. “That only goes to show you don’t really know me at all.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Todd said, doing his best to backpedal.
By then they’d garnered the attention of nearly everyone else in the store. Elisa looked concerned, as well she should. Lauren wasn’t someone who had a quick trigger, but she was fast reaching the point where she was about to explode.
“I’m not interested in being a bigamist,” she said, and she took the tray of diamond rings and quickly inserted it back into the display case and locked it. “Todd, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but it’s too late. In your eyes Rooster might be a Neanderthal, but I see him in a completely different light and I happen to be completely and totally in love with him. I’m sorry, and I genuinely mean it, but your proposal is too little, too late.” With that, Lauren retreated into the back room and started pacing, so frustrated and upset that she could barely think clearly.
Five minutes might have passed, or it could have been ten or twenty, she wasn’t sure. All Lauren knew was that she needed to walk off this anger. Pacing, she would have worn down the carpet, had there been one.
Elisa joined her, and Lauren shot her friend a look hot enough to melt iron.
Before she could speak, Elisa held up her hands, imploring her, “I was wrong, and I apologize.”
“You called Todd?” Even now, Lauren couldn’t believe her friend, her dearest friend, would turn on her like this.
“Yes. It was stupid of me, and I’ve regretted it every minute since. I had no idea Todd would do anything like this.”
“What were you thinking?” Lauren demanded.
“I don’t know,” Elisa admitted, shaking her head. “It was right after we got back from being with Katie and Dietrich and you told me you’d married Rooster. It was one shock after another, and when I met him, it was like seeing my daughter with that onion farmer. Instinctively, I felt the marriage was all wrong.”
“Katie’s marriage wasn’t a mistake, and mine isn’t, either. I happen to love my husband.”
“I know that now,” Elisa said, and tears filled her eyes. “I was wrong about you and Rooster. I’ve watched you these last two weeks, and I’ve seen how miserable you are. You honestly love him.”
Lauren bit her lower lip. “I do, I really do.”
“It shows, Lauren, and when he came into the shop and asked for you I could see how much he loved you, too. He’s crazy about you. He could hardly wait to take you away, and maybe, just maybe … I’ve asked myself this a dozen times. Maybe I was afraid you would move to California and I would lose you, both as an employee and a friend. I couldn’t bear that, and so I selfishly made you doubt yourself.”
“It was more than the questions you made me face,” she whispered. Elisa didn’t know about Rooster’s first marriage.
Although she’d already made her decision, Lauren had yet to tell Elisa her plans. “I’m going to Rooster. I’m going to California.”
“Yes, go,” Elisa urged. “I can’t bear to see you this miserable. I’m your boss, but I’m also your friend, and as your friend I want you to be happy. If that means you leaving Seattle, then so be it. Go, and be happy, Lauren.”
They hugged and then cried together. Lauren couldn’t wait until she had a private moment. As soon as she was sure no one could listen in on her conversation, she tried to contact Rooster. His phone immediately went to voice mail. Waiting a half hour between calls, she kept trying, but each time he didn’t pick up. Unwilling to be thwarted, Lauren returned to her condo and called the airlines.
She retrieved her suitcase from beneath the bed and tossed a few items into it. After several more fruitless tries, she decided either Rooster was purposely not responding or his cellphone wasn’t with him. It didn’t matter; she was going to him.
To be on the safe side, not wanting to make a complete idiot of herself, she phoned Bethanne.
“You told me to listen to my heart,” she said, without bothering with the exchange of niceties.
“Lauren?”
“Yes, it’s me, and I’ve decided I need to be with Rooster.”
The line went silent for a few seconds before Bethanne burst out enthusiastically, “That’s wonderful.”
“I love him.”
“And I know he feels the same way about you. Lauren, if only you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Knew what Rooster’s been going through. Max said that in all the years he’s known Rooster, he’s never seen him like this. He isn’t eating, he isn’t sleeping. He looks dreadful. Max said there’s no talking to him.”
Her stomach clenched. “If that’s the case, then why won’t he answer my calls? I’ve tried to reach him again and again, but he isn’t picking up.”
Silence followed, and then Bethanne said, “That’s odd.”
“I thought the same thing. It doesn’t matter. I’ve booked the next flight to Santa Rosa … I leave first thing in the morning.”
“Oh, Lauren, I’m so glad. Rooster is a good man, and he loves you so much.”
Lauren felt like she wanted to cry, and at the same time a sense of exhilaration filled her. She felt jubilant, as if she could walk on water. Her top priority was to reach Rooster and find her way back into his arms. When she rolled over in bed at night she wanted the security of him at her side. And, God willing, one day to have a family with him.
All night Lauren tossed and turned while she waited for Rooster to return her calls, voice messages, and texts. It seemed she woke every hour in order to check her cell to see if she might have inadvertently missed a reply. The silence was torture.
Undeterred, she caught a taxi to the airport and boarded the flight to Santa Rosa Sunday morning. The flight was miserable, but thankfully short.
It was still morning when she landed, and to her surprise she found Max at baggage claim waiting for her. Immediately, her heart went into overdrive. The only reason she could think that Rooster’s best friend would meet her was if something bad had happened to her husband. Had she been so obtuse not to think of this sooner? Not once had she considered that Rooster might have been in an accident or hurt.
By the time she reached Max, her heart was beating so fast it sounded like a race-car engine in he
r ears. “What’s happened to Rooster?” she begged, grabbing hold of Max’s arm.
“Nothing. At least nothing that I know of, anyway.”
Her relief was instantaneous. She closed her eyes and whispered, “Thank God.” Then another thought came to her. “Then why are you here?”
He shrugged. “Because Rooster isn’t.”
That, too, was a possibility she hadn’t taken into consideration. “Then where is he?”
Max frowned. “I wish I knew. He took off on his motorcycle.”
“He didn’t tell you where he was headed?”
“No. All he said was that he needed time away in order to clear his head. He rode out of here like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels.”
“He didn’t take his cellphone with him?”
“Apparently not.”
“When will he be back?” She fired the questions at him like a Gatling gun.
“I can’t tell you that, either. What would you like to do?”
“Do?” she repeated. She didn’t have a choice, not really. She would do what any wife would. “I’ll wait for him,” she said.
Max nodded approvingly and reached for her suitcase. “Then I’ll take you to his place.”
Chapter Thirty-three
Life is too short to knit with ugly yarn.
—Jennifer Vancalcar,
owner and dyer, Holiday Yarns
“We’re going out to dinner?” Casey asked, her dark eyes narrowing with suspicion as she stood in the hallway outside Lydia’s bathroom. “Just the three of us?”
Lydia looked away from the mirror, the eye-shadow applicator in her hand. “Cody’s spending the night with Jaxon.”
“Yeah, but I heard you talking to Jaxon’s mom,” Casey said as she leaned against the doorjamb, “and you asked if Cody could spend the night.”
“I did,” Lydia concurred.
“It’s not my birthday,” Casey reminded her.
“Yes, honey, I know.”
Casey straightened, left momentarily, and then just as quickly returned. “Are you mad at me about something?”
“No. Your father and I wouldn’t be taking you to dinner if we were upset about something, would we?”
Casey frowned with uncertainty. “Ah … I guess not.”
“My girls ready?” Brad called out from the living room. He’d been dressed and prepared to leave ten minutes earlier.
“Give me another second,” Lydia called back.
“I’m ready … I think,” Casey added. She walked out of the bedroom and came back a second time. “This dinner is about Grandma, isn’t it?”
“Casey, relax.” Lydia should have known her daughter would be apprehensive. She wished now that she’d explained matters earlier. “Yes, your father and I want to talk to you, but it isn’t anything bad.”
“I know Grandma’s getting worse,” Casey said, with a slight edge to her voice. “She sometimes can’t remember who I am now … and she forgets to eat.”
Her mother remained a major concern for Lydia. Earlier in the week Margaret and she had met with the director of the assisted-living complex regarding her mother’s return from the hospital. Since Mary Lou’s fall and stroke, her physical and mental health had rapidly deteriorated. Before the end of the meeting, Mrs. Wilson had recommended that Lydia’s mother be transferred to a memory-care facility.
Lydia hated the thought of bringing her mother into a completely new environment. While in the hospital and nursing home, she’d looked small and lost and afraid. Like everyone, her mother was most comfortable with what was familiar. And while she didn’t participate in many of the social activities at the retirement facility, her mother had settled nicely into her own small apartment.
“Margaret and I are thinking about moving Mom,” Lydia explained.
Casey was instantly concerned. “Moving her? Where?”
“We don’t know yet. We’ve just started looking.”
Anxiety tightened Casey’s sweet face. “She’ll still be close by, won’t she? You aren’t taking her out of the city, are you?”
“Casey, I don’t know. Now, let’s get going; your father’s made reservations.”
Brad was already in the car by the time Lydia and Casey joined him. Casey climbed into the backseat, and, after snapping the seat belt in place, she tightly crossed her arms.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Brad asked, looking at Casey from the rearview mirror.
“Mom’s moving Grandma.”
“We really don’t have any choice, Casey,” Lydia explained with a tired sigh. “I don’t like it any better than you do.” This was a difficult decision and Lydia and her sister took their responsibility for their mother seriously.
“Grandma needs us,” Casey insisted.
“Which is what this is all about,” Lydia said, doing the best she could to explain. “Moving Mom to a memory-care facility is taking care of her the best way we know how.”
“Will I still be able to visit?”
“Of course.”
“What if this new place isn’t on a bus route?”
“Margaret and I will take that into consideration when we check out the facilities.” The closeness between the two was an asset to her mother’s health. Casey’s attention and devotion had helped Mary Lou tremendously, and, for that matter, Casey, too.
“Promise you’ll do your best to keep Grandma close so I can visit her?”
“Promise,” Lydia echoed.
“Is all that settled now?” Brad asked. He still hadn’t backed out of the driveway.
“I guess,” Casey muttered with a pout. “But I don’t like the idea of Grandma moving.”
“I don’t think anyone wants this,” Brad assured her, “but, like your mother said, it’s necessary.”
“Whatever.”
Brad had made reservations at a fun Italian restaurant in the downtown Seattle area that specialized in spaghetti. The atmosphere was homey, and the food was good and relatively inexpensive. It was one of Casey’s favorites places to eat. Cody’s, too.
The hostess escorted them to a booth, and Casey sat across from Brad and Lydia. Brad ordered two glasses of Chianti Classico for Lydia and himself. Casey kept her gaze focused on them both after the server took their drink orders.
“Whatever it is you want to talk about must really be bad,” she muttered, studying her menu as if it were the final test for getting her driver’s license.
“Bad?” Brad asked. “What makes you say that?”
“I know stuff,” Casey said, leaning back in the polished wooden booth. Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t live in as many homes as I have without picking up on things.”
“Really?” Brad leaned forward, highly interested, it seemed. “And what have you learned?”
“First off, I could always tell when a family had decided to pass me off to someone else. They reacted one of two ways. Either they completely ignored me as if I was already out the door. Or they started doing all kinds of nice things for me.”
“Like what?” Brad asked. “Taking you out to dinner in an Italian restaurant?”
“Not anything that big. Little things, like buying me a new pair of shoes or getting my hair cut or something like that.”
“You don’t think your father and I are going to pass you off to another family, do you?” Lydia asked. This had been a keen concern of Casey’s earlier. Lydia hoped that by now Casey had come to understand that she was their daughter, a part of their family, and a big part of their hearts and their lives.
“No, no,” Casey assured them. “It’s not that.”
“So what are you thinking?” Brad asked.
The server returned with the two glasses of wine and Casey’s favorite soda. “Are you ready to order?” he asked.
They each decided on something different. Lydia enjoyed the eggplant Parmesan, Brad asked for spaghetti and meatballs, and Casey wanted lasagna. After writing down their requests, the server left.
Brad waited un
til the young man was gone before he said, “Getting back to your answer to my question.” He gestured for Casey to continue with her explanation. “You think something’s up because your mother and I are taking you to dinner.”
“Without Cody,” Casey added pointedly, “who you made sure was someplace else this evening.”
“Without Cody,” Brad said, and reached for his wineglass.
Her husband, Lydia noticed, seemed to be enjoying this.
She wasn’t. Already, her stomach was in knots, and she wondered if she’d even be able to taste her dinner.
“I figure you and Mom want to tell me something,” Casey continued, “only I don’t know what it is.”
“We aren’t sending you away,” Lydia reiterated.
“Well, duh. If you were going to do that you would have done it long before now. I’m not the easiest kid.”
Brad chuckled. Sensing her nervousness, he reached for Lydia’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Come on, Casey, you aren’t so bad.”
“My grades were good.” Casey was proud of her final school report, and well she should be. She’d scored As and Bs in every subject. When she’d first come to them, her grades had been below average and she’d struggled in reading and math skills.
“Your grades weren’t just good; they were great. Even in math,” Lydia added. The subject had been her daughter’s weakest. It was because Casey needed to attend a summer-school course in math that she’d originally come to live with them.
“You’re taking me to dinner because you wanted to tell me about Grandma?” Her voice elevated with the question as though she was afraid of what they had to say.
“Not really,” Lydia said, “although that’s part of it.”
Casey shifted uncomfortably. “It’s the nightmares, then, isn’t it?”
“Indirectly.”
“You’re afraid what’s going to happen to me if Grandma dies.”
“It has us worried, honey,” Lydia agreed. “And it isn’t if Grandma dies, it’s when.”
Casey brushed off their concern. “I’ll be okay.”
“What about the nightmares?” Brad asked.
“They’ll go away eventually,” Casey answered, as if these horrific dreams were a small thing.