“I don’t know...I know we have a lot to work through but I guess,” she sniffed, “I guess I just needed to know if you still saw that as an option for us. Not now, of course, but in the future.”
He held her face in both hands, wiping the tears away with his thumbs. “Do you think it’s an option?”
She paused before saying, “Yes.”
Nick kissed her wet cheeks and hugged her again. “It’s always been an option. It’ll always be an option. You are not an option, though. You are a given.” Those words sparked a fresh round of tears as he held her tightly. After a moment he continued, “I’ll go get you a cold wash cloth, okay? You stay right there.”
Lauren took a few calming breaths and shut her eyes. She really didn’t want to talk about their future together or marriage or anything like that, but knowing they were still on that same track after such a rough patch felt great. She wanted to continue this amazing morning and had an idea. I wonder if the weather will be nice enough for us to go relax in the park? Grabbing Nick’s phone off the counter, she went to check the weather but was stopped short. As she frowned at the phone, Nick returned with the wet cloth. His face dropped when he saw what she held in her hand.
“Since when do you have a passcode?” Lauren asked, more bewildered than upset.
“Oh, uh, some people at the shop have been messing around with everyone’s phones, pranks and stuff. It’s safer this way,” he said handing her the wash cloth and taking the phone. “What did you need on it anyway?”
Lauren pouted for a moment but carried on. “I just wanted to check if it was going to rain. Do you want to head up to the park or something? Or if it is raining, maybe a movie?”
“Yeah, that sounds great. Why don’t you go get your sexy ass dressed and we can head out. I’ll check the weather and let you know what we’re doing in a minute, okay?”
Lauren silenced the tiny alarm bell that was ringing in her mind. Whatever happened in the past...Landon, Rose...it’s remaining in the past. We’re starting over with a clean slate and if we have any hope, we have to trust each other.
13.
Lauren rolled over to her right and lifted Nick’s heavy arm over her shoulders, wiggling into his arms and against his chest. He mumbled something in his sleep as he stirred, settling once she was still. With a satisfied sigh, she dozed another twenty minutes before he nudged her awake.
“Babe, what time is it?” he said drowsily. Lauren looked around the room groggily, unable to even guess from the light in the room. She grabbed her phone off the nightstand to check but found the screen dark.
“I don’t know, my phone’s dead. What’s it matter anyway? It’s Sunday,” she said stretching her arms above her head.
He laughed. “No it isn’t, yesterday was Sunday.”
Lauren shot up in bed, suddenly remembering that it was indeed Monday, the room was much brighter than it normally was when she got up. She jumped to the bathroom and hit the light. Darkness.
“Fuck! The power is out!” Frantically searching the room, which amounted to tossing clothes around and spinning in circles. Lauren cried, “Don’t we have anything that isn’t electronic? Don’t people own watches anymore?”
“Calm yourself, lemme check my phone,” he said reaching into his jeans. “Shit, you are late. It’s almost eleven thirty.”
Lauren’s jaw dropped. “Are you fucking kidding me? Damnit, you know I hate being late!” She rushed around getting dressed. Grabbing the closest shirt and pair of jeans, Lauren flew around the room in record time. She splashed a little water against her face in the bathroom, stared at her reflection in the dark for a moment and muttered, “Screw the makeup.”
“You have flexi-time, what are you worried about?”
She jumped on the bed, landing on her knees and gave Nick a huge kiss. “I know, but I still have a lot of stuff to get done. Have a good day. I’ll text you later!”
As she rushed out the door, Lauren found Jess in the kitchen. “Power’s out,” she called over.
“I know, it’s my fault,” Jess replied. “I’m trying to get it switched back on. I’m on hold.”
Lauren paused with the door open in her hand. “What do you mean it’s your fault?”
“I think I forgot to pay the bill. It’s no big deal.”
“You’re kidding me, right? They don’t just shut the power off after one missed payment. What have you been doing with the money we’ve been giving you for utilities?”
Jess shrugged and walked to the sofa, phone to her ear.
“Un-fucking-believable. Alright Jess, let me know if I can help,” she said running out the door. If Nick and I hadn’t had such a good weekend, that would’ve seriously screwed up my morning.
Fortunately for Lauren, her newly mended relationship with Nick sustained her throughout the increasingly difficult day. It was all she really needed in life, just a win here and there to keep her going through the tough parts. Knowing that their future was back on track, that she had his support and love, she could push through a lot.
She grabbed a cab just outside their apartment, getting in just after noon full of apologies. Ready to help with the crisis of the day, Lauren was met with a calm and fully functioning office.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” Lauren said to Faith in the kitchen. “Our power was out and my phone’s dead. Stupid roommate didn’t pay the electric bill, just ugh.” She took a deep breath as she stood still for the first time all morning. “How are you? How was your weekend?”
“Tragic. That’s all I’m gonna say about that. I’m more interested in how things went with Nick,” she said poking her in the ribs.
Lauren flushed a little as she remembered the naughty way she’d surprised him. “Yeah, it was good. It went really well, actually. We had a good night Saturday night then spent all yesterday just relaxing, slept in, went to the movies.”
“Did you get a chance to talk about everything or was it just back to normal?”
“We talked, not much, but the topic of marriage did come up...”
“You’re getting married?” Faith asked, her face brightening.
“Not yet, but the option’s there. Haven’t set a date or anything, so don’t get too excited.”
Faith sighed deeply and leaned her head against the cupboard. The walking embodiment of a hopeless romantic, Faith loved everything to do with love. “Oooh, you two were so meant to be. You have to go through the hardships to really make things solid, you know? Test the relationship before you commit to getting married. I have to admit, I was a little worried for you.”
Lauren was surprised to feel giddy excitement as she talked about potential wedding plans. It’d never been something she was particularly infatuated with but gushing about it with Faith was fun.
“What did you think of the Brazilian?” Faith asked with a smirk. “Crazy what we do for men, isn’t it?”
“Holy hell, you weren’t kidding. When she had me get on my knees—”
“Lauren, sorry to interrupt, but I really need you for a minute,” said Amit, his head poking around the corner of the kitchen. He looked just embarrassed enough to have heard some of the conversation.
“Yeah, of course!” She waved to Faith and followed Amit back to his desk where Rochelle looked pretty panic-stricken. “What’s going on?”
As Amit explained the issue, Lauren quickly grasped why he was so concerned. One of their biggest clients, Rendezvous, was demanding changes to their software. Not only were the alterations extremely complicated, they wanted them finished immediately before they launched a new marketing campaign later that week.
“Figures,” Lauren said shaking her head. She turned to Rochelle and continued, “If you haven’t realized it by now, when it comes to programming, the things that sound easy take forever to finish and the complicated stuff you dread? That’ll take you a quarter of the time you thought it would.”
Rochelle nodded and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m starting to see that.”<
br />
“So basically, I can spend a couple hours and write up a script that’ll do all this—” Amit started but Lauren was already ahead of him.
“Or spend a couple hours and do everything manually, yeah...crap. Between the two of you it’ll probably take just as long, huh?”
As Lauren weighed the pros and cons of each solution, Faith called out to her from the other side of the office. “Lauren! I think your phone is ringing. I thought you said it was dead?”
Oh shit, it’s my other phone! “Umm, yeah, it must’ve still had a little juice left,” Lauren said as she sprinted to her desk. Snatching up the phone and notebook beneath, Lauren made a show of checking the screen. “Aw crap guys, can you give me a minute? I just have to return this call real quick.” Quickly stepping out of the office and avoiding any odd looks, Lauren went out to the street.
The missed call was from Dennis at MyBFC. Pacing up and down the sidewalk, Lauren impatiently waited for him to pick up. When he did, his voice was breathless and strained.
“Lauren, there you are! Damnit! I’m sorry to call you in the middle of the day but it’s an emergency. Can you get down here ASAP? I really need you.”
“What’s going on? Maybe I can help from here?”
Dennis groaned, sounding more flustered than she’d ever heard him. He was usually the calm one in the office, so she was starting to worry. “Lauren, seriously. I really think you’re gonna want to get down here. Please hurry.”
Pure panic coursing through her veins, Lauren fled back into the office to take care of the first problem. Grabbing her purse and rushing back to Amit and Rochelle, they looked at her like she was crazy.
“Okay, Rochelle. I’m trusting you to help Amit with this. This data is highly confidential and sensitive, okay? I wouldn’t normally ask this of an intern but an emergency just came up and—”
“Don’t worry! I can handle it,” Rochelle smiled at her sweetly. “We’ll get it done in no time, won’t we?” She touched Amit’s arm with a sly smile.
Lauren was a little stunned by the open flirtation but shook it off. “Alright, I’m going. I won’t be too long but call me if you need any help.”
She repeated the same thing to Faith who sympathized, “You’re having a hell of a day, aren’t you?”
In the cab on the way to the MyBFC office, Lauren texted Landon with no reply. She called him but it went straight to voicemail. She phoned Dennis but he didn’t pick up. A feeling of dread building up in the pit of her stomach, the short trip to the office took an eternity. What could’ve happened? Why isn’t anyone telling me anything? Did Parker find out? She briefly considered calling Nick just to hear his voice but decided she didn’t want to risk tipping the scales just yet. They’d only just found a nice balance and it wasn’t like she could really tell him what was wrong.
Without looking at the fare, she tossed a twenty to the cab driver and jogged to the front door. Jamming her thumb into the call button on the elevator with one hand, Lauren was still trying to contact someone, anyone, who could tell her what was happening upstairs. By the time the elevator doors opened to the office, she’d managed to convince herself that Parker would be standing there with his attorneys, lawsuit in hand.
Of all the scenarios she’d imagined, the scene she entered was nothing she could’ve anticipated. Music was blasting from Brian’s computer, the large subwoofer under his desk reverberating through the large room. She heard laughing and talking from the kitchen where she found Dennis, Brian, and Lev huddled around a couple packages. The juxtaposition of Dennis’ frantic call and the seemingly joyful scene in front of her left Lauren beyond confused.
“Hey!” she shouted over the music. All three spun, Dennis with an expensive looking bottle of whiskey in his hand.
“Surprise!” Brian cheered, throwing his hands in the air.
Despite the lingering anxiety and sensing no immediate danger, Lauren smiled suspiciously at his enthusiasm. With Brian’s sense of humor, she could see him celebrating during the Apocalypse. “Dennis, what the hell is going on?”
“You need to call Landon!” he yelled over the music.
“I already tried, he isn’t picking up.”
“No, go call him on Skype. He’s waiting for you.”
Not a fan of surprises in the first place, Lauren wasn’t recovering well from the panic Dennis had injected in her. Her patience drawing dangerously thin, she stormed back to the main room and turned off the thumping music to a chorus of disappointed groans from the kitchen. Sitting at her desk, she opened Skype clicked his name.
After two rings his face appeared, pixelated at first but clearing as the connection strengthened. He sat in a bright, clean room she didn’t recognize. Looking very casual in a gray cotton polo, she assumed he was at his home in San Francisco.
“Hey,” he said. The familiarity in that one word, the effect it had on her, nearly quenched the scared frustration she was feeling. Nearly.
“Landon, what the fuck is going on?”
His eyebrows shot up as he tipped back in his chair. “Whoa there! Where’s this coming from?”
“Dennis just called me at my job panicking, telling me I needed to get down here as soon as possible. You didn’t pick up any of my calls and I can’t get anyone to tell me what’s happening. I walk in here and it’s a madhouse—”
Landon groaned and wiped a hand across his face. “Lauren, I’m sorry. I told him to call you, to get you to come to the office immediately but I didn’t ask him to freak you out like that. I’ll have a word with him.” Even through the screen she could see the warmth and concern in his eyes. “Take a deep breath, everything is alright.”
Feeling less than impressed, she leaned back and crossed her arms, her jaw clenching. “Alright. I’m listening.”
“We just got seed funding.”
Speechless, Lauren’s arms dropped to her lap. “How much?” she whispered.
“More than I thought. $900,000. I convinced the angel investor to keep it under a million. He was happy to go over but anything beyond that number would make raising Series A more difficult for us. What do you think?”
“I think I could kiss you,” she said instantly. The smirk he gave her brought a hint of color to her cheeks but she quickly pushed the thought away. Almost a million dollars...for my silly little company. It was hard to wrap her head around.
“I wanted to be the first person to tell you. I’m sorry Dennis gave you such a scare. I ordered a few things so you all could have a celebration. Did you guys get them yet?”
“So that’s what the vultures were picking through,” she laughed, looking to the kitchen. Her mind still fuzzy with shock, she felt a little outside herself.
“Wren, this gives us more than enough runway to really get going.” Wren...has he ever called me that before? “This is just the first step, but it’s a huge, very successful first step.”
Shaking her head, she leaned forward on her elbows. “I just can’t believe any of this has happened and so quickly.” She looked intently at his face, hoping her expression could convey a fraction of the gratitude she felt. “Thank you for taking a chance on me.”
“I didn’t take a chance. I gave you an opportunity. You took the chance.” He looked down as if he struggled with wanting to say more. With a soft smile, he looked back at the screen and said, “Why don’t you go celebrate with the guys? I know I pulled you from work but this is special.”
“I know, I’m glad you did. Talk to you later.”
She sat in stunned silence, the excitement and disbelief washing over her in waves. A part of her always wondered if Landon’s interest in MyBFC had more to do with her than the merits of the company. Although she knew he was a shrewd businessman, it had always remained a question in the back of her mind. Yet here was an investor, whom she’d never met, who was willing to put down nearly a million dollars...it was mind-blowing. She returned to the kitchen in a happy fog.
Dennis immediately spotted her. “Talk
ed to Landon?”
“Yes and he’s not happy with you mister,” she said with a broad grin. Lauren playfully slapped his arm. “You’re in big trouble for scaring me like that!”
“Ow! I couldn’t think of any other way to get you down here!”
“Try asking next time! Here, what do have in these baskets then?” Her eyes gravitated to a bottle of pink champagne, condensation building on the chilled bottle. “Let’s crack that open. We need to toast this! I’m sure we have glasses around here somewhere.”
“Landon sent a little cake, too,” Lev pointed out.
“Champagne and cake sounds like a perfect lunch,” Lauren said patting him on the shoulder.
Lauren couldn’t stop stupidly grinning on cab ride back. Head floating with champagne and the bewildering feeling that her life just dramatically shifted course yet again, she allowed herself to enjoy this win. I should call Nick! she thought but immediately stopped herself. Instead, she texted Landon.
Does this mean I can tell people about what we’re doing?
...
Not yet, now while you’re still at StyleSpur.
Well that sucks, she thought tucking the secret phone away. I really don’t want to keep this from Nick anymore but I guess you can’t be too cautious. I can’t believe this is all happening though. He’s going to be so surprised when I finally do tell him. By then, it’ll be something tangible, something successful I can point to and say, “This is what all the sacrifices built.”
Her mind wandered back to the MyBFC office where she’d left the three men still partying. I really enjoyed celebrating with those guys. We should really do that more. They all work so hard, it’s kind of on me to make sure they step away and have fun every once in a while. It’s good for morale. I am technically their boss...
As she closed the door to the cab and walked dreamily to the office she thought, Actually, StyleSpur hasn’t gone out in a long time. Faith and I should really organize something casual, just a night out.
She tried to collect herself, remembering that she’d left the office in a frenzy. It wouldn’t look good if she came back half drunk and floating on air. Popping two mints in her mouth, fixing a slight scowl on her face, Lauren pushed the door open. Sitting at her desk to the left, Faith’s eyes immediately shot to the door. She leapt to her feet and rushed over.
Playing with Power - Book 3: New Adult Office Romance Page 8
