Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  “Haiti?” Phoebe asked.

  “Adrianne, I’m thrilled—and jealous—that he came here and got to be normal for a while. But it can’t last. It shouldn’t last. If he stays, he’ll change your life. But if he goes, he’ll change the lives of thousands.”

  Adrianne had a hard time swallowing. He’d already changed her life. And it made her heart pound to think of all the people he was going to help in Haiti, and God knew where else.

  “He deserves to be special,” Lauren said. “Mason Riley doesn’t deserve to just be normal.”

  Holy crap, Scott Candies should look at hiring Lauren in the sales department, Adrianne thought as she tried to process everything. “So you’re saying that he can’t work in Haiti and also have barbecues,” she summarized dryly.

  Lauren smiled. “Buying a grill and eating bratwurst once in a while won’t change who he really is. Like I figured out in high school—you can look and act normal even if you don’t think normally. But then in college I figured something else out.”

  “That bratwurst is a terrible food?” Adrianne asked.

  “That no matter how much I dressed him up, no matter what I taught him, there was something about Mason I couldn’t cover up. And then he started showing me the stuff he was figuring out with conservation and recycling and alternate energy sources and then these damned seeds.” She said it with an affectionate smile. “And I realized that being special trumped being normal. So he helped me too. He made me want to do big, fantastic things and I helped him feel more comfortable and…we balance each other.”

  Adrianne blinked hard and pressed her lips together. She didn’t really want to like Lauren. She was convinced that Adrianne and Mason were moving too fast and that she wasn’t good for him. At the same time though, it was quite obvious that Lauren loved and believed in Mason. How could Adrianne not like her for that?

  “Wow,” Phoebe said to Lauren. “You sure you’re not sleeping with him?”

  Adrianne’s eyes flew to Lauren. When Mason had talked about Lauren it hadn’t seemed like a sexual relationship, but she wouldn’t mind a bit if Lauren would deny it out loud.

  Lauren leaned forward and ran her fingertip over the back of Phoebe’s hand. “Mason’s not my type. But I am into redheads.”

  She was into…oh. Adrianne turned to her friend with wide eyes. She hadn’t seen that coming.

  Unfazed, Phoebe grinned. “Everyone’s into redheads,” she said. “They just don’t all know it. And I realize it will be a crushing disappointment to you, but I like the outies.”

  Lauren nodded. “Me too sometimes.”

  Adrianne was trying to keep up. Maybe outies didn’t mean what she thought. “The outies?”

  Phoebe answered. “The parts that stick out rather than the parts that go in.”

  Adrianne rubbed her forehead. How had they gotten on the topic of sexual orientation—and possible changes to that orientation? “So you’re not a lesbian?” she asked Lauren, just to clarify.

  Lauren smiled. “I’m open minded.”

  “You go both ways?” Phoebe asked, eyebrows high.

  Lauren gave her a wink. “I like to have lots of options.”

  Adrianne wasn’t sure what to say to that.

  Thankfully, Lauren’s attention shifted back to the main topic at hand. Mason. “We have to be in DC next week,” she told Adrianne. “And in Haiti in two weeks.”

  “Two weeks.” She swallowed. That wasn’t very much time. She felt like Lauren had blown into her kitchen like a tornado and spun everything around. She’d had a hard time believing that Mason really wanted to stay. Now she was being told all the reasons he couldn’t. And they made sense. At that point, all she could really do was nod. “Okay.”

  “What’s going on in Haiti exactly?” Phoebe asked.

  “Our company is working with the White House and Outreach America to bring an innovative planting program to Haiti,” Lauren said, glancing at Phoebe. “We’ll be going to some very rural areas of Haiti and implementing the program by teaching farmers to plant and tend the crop as well has how to reproduce the seeds on an ongoing basis.”

  “Wow.” Phoebe was staring at her. “I have to say, I’m kind of fascinated by you.”

  Lauren gave her a wink. “Lots of people feel that way. Wait until I get some liquor into you.” Then she turned back to Adrianne. “I hope I’ve helped you see that there’s no way that Mason can give all of that up for you. No matter how much fun it is here, how good he feels, how great the sex is, there is a lot bigger picture.”

  Adrianne felt like she was in a haze. Of course there was a bigger picture than Sapphire Falls for Mason. That had been true for the past eleven years. She’d known that when he’d said he wanted to stay. “I don’t expect him to give anything up for me.”

  Lauren laughed lightly. “Right. Nothing except his apartment, his job, his life in Chicago.”

  “No.” Adrianne shook her head. “None of that was my idea. I was as surprised as you are.”

  “Good. Okay,” Lauren took another sip of coffee. “So then you need to break up with him now before he blows the whole thing in DC”

  Adrianne started. “Break up with him?”

  “Yes. Today. He needs to be on a plane with me this evening.”

  “Today?” Adrianne felt like Lauren had slapped her. “But—”

  “Whoa, hang on,” Phoebe said. “No one said anything about breaking up. Adrianne’s totally supportive of Mason and his work. She’ll still be here when he gets back.”

  Adrianne smiled at her friend. Right. She’d be here when he got back. That wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t as good as seeing him every day, but she’d survive for a few days.

  “Mason will be in Haiti for a month the first time,” Lauren said calmly.

  Phoebe turned to Adrianne. “Oh. Okay, well that’s not so bad. There’s the phone, texts, email, Skype.”

  Adrianne took a deep breath. This was big. This…made sense. A strange, rational part of her brain told her that it was completely logical that Mason had a huge project to work on and that it would take more than a long weekend. But her heart still hurt.

  “Right. A month is no big deal. I’ll see him when he gets back,” she said.

  “He’ll be gone for at least six months after that,” Lauren said, watching Adrianne closely.

  Six months.

  Okay.

  Half a year.

  Great.

  Adrianne sat down hard on the chair at her kitchen table.

  “Ad, breathe,” Phoebe ordered, coming to stand beside her. “Listen, there are military families that are apart for longer than that. I’m sure there are aid workers with the Red Cross that are gone for long periods. You can do this.”

  But she wasn’t so sure. “You’re right. It’s what he needs to do.”

  “No.” Lauren crossed her arms. “He’ll never go for that. He’ll never leave her for six months. People are stupid when they’re in love.”

  No one in the room could argue with that.

  “And this is his first time,” Lauren went on. “He has years of pent-up stupidity that’s all going to come spilling out now.

  “Okay then.” Phoebe sat in the chair across from Adrianne. “Then she’ll go with him.”

  Adrianne felt like she was moving in slow motion as she turned her head toward her friend. “Are you insane?”

  “You would go with him?” Lauren asked over the top of Adrianne’s question.

  “Of course she would
.” Phoebe grabbed Adrianne’s hand. “You’re in love with him.”

  “Alex would have never even thought of that,” Lauren muttered. “Okay,” she said to Adrianne. “Then we’ve got a lot to do really fast. Do you have a passport?”

  “No.” Adrianne felt like she had to push her voice out of her throat.

  “I can probably speed that process up. We also have to get you a physical and a background check. I’ll need to call Ben and see what else—”

  “No,” Adrianne said with more force. “I’m not going to Haiti.”

  Phoebe squeezed her hand. Hard. “You can do this, Ad,” she said. “This is awesome. What a cool opportunity to see what Mason does up close and personal, to help out in a big way in Haiti. Talk about a departure from your life in Chicago.”

  Adrianne didn’t even try to return Phoebe’s smile. “I’m scared to eat French fries,” she told her friend. “I gave up a four-day trip to a posh resort in Hawaii last year. And you think I’m going to go to Haiti for six months?”

  “With Mason,” Phoebe said, her tone stern. “It’s a big adventure, yes, but you’ll be with Mason. You’ll be fine.”

  “It’s Haiti,” Adrianne said, feeling just short of panic. She could feel her chest tightening and her voice getting higher and louder. “They barely have clean water. Most of the people are homeless. There’s a cholera epidemic, for God’s sake.”

  “They have ways of cleaning the water that prevents cholera,” Lauren said. Then she turned to Phoebe. “What the hell is going on?”

  “I have a bad heart.” Adrianne pulled her hand from Phoebe’s before her friend crushed her fingers. “I can’t be gone that long, away from my doctor and my pharmacy and…home.”

  “Oh, for the love of…” Phoebe muttered, slumping back in her chair.

  “A bad heart?” Lauren looked confused. “Seriously? You might not even pass the physical.”

  “See?” Adrianne asked Phoebe. “I might not even pass the physical.”

  “You would too,” Phoebe snapped. She looked up at Lauren. “She’s fine now. She had a mild heart attack two years ago, they think brought on by stress. It’s why she moved here.”

  “Haiti’s a tough place,” Lauren said with a little frown. “You have to be in good shape—mentally and physically.”

  “Mentally is definitely questionable,” Phoebe muttered.

  “Are you healthy enough to go or not?” Lauren asked Adrianne.

  Adrianne started to shake her head, but Phoebe jumped in, “Yes. Her doctor has told her over and over that she’s fine.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Adrianne finally said. “I’m not going no matter what the physical says.” She hadn’t told anyone all the details of her heart attack, but she hated that her friend thought she was weak.

  “But you—” Lauren started.

  “I can’t fly,” Adrianne said.

  Phoebe’s hand slapped the table top. “Come on, Adrianne.”

  “The last time I was on a plane was two years ago. I was sitting in first class like usual,” she said, studying Phoebe’s manicure instead of meeting her eyes. “Everything was going as usual. I had a drink. I’d just gotten off the phone with one of my brothers. I was exhausted and upset. And then I started feeling funny.” She took a deep breath, remembering the feeling of her chest pressing in on her lungs and heart, feeling like she couldn’t move.

  “We weren’t even to cruising altitude,” she went on. “My chest got tight, my arm started aching—all the classic signs.” She looked up. Phoebe was staring at her. “I passed out. They did CPR on me until they could turn around and make an emergency landing.” She swallowed hard. She could still remember the panic. She couldn’t breathe, everything hurt and she knew exactly what was happening—and that being on that plane was the least safe place she could be when it did. “They said later that if we’d been any higher or farther into the flight it might not have turned out as well.”

  “Shit,” Phoebe said, sitting back. “I didn’t know all of that.”

  “I know,” Adrianne said. “I…it never mattered.” She shrugged. “The life I have now means I don’t do anything that means I have to fly.”

  Lauren sighed. “Chicago’s a long drive. Driving to DC is almost ridiculous. To Haiti, impossible.”

  Adrianne nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Dammit,” Phoebe added.

  “Does Mason know any of this?” Lauren asked with a frown.

  “He knows about my heart, but that it was a long time ago and that I’m fine now,” Adrianne said quickly. “But he doesn’t know about the plane. If I tell him that’s why I can’t go with him, he’ll decide not to go too.”

  “Right.” Lauren crossed her arms and looked down at Adrianne. “So you care enough about him to agree that he can’t stay here?”

  Adrianne nodded. Mason couldn’t shine in Sapphire Falls. He deserved every chance to show how extraordinary he was. And people needed him. More than she did.

  She rubbed at the spot on her chest but knew that this pain went even deeper than skin and bone and organ.

  “And you, evidently, aren’t willing or able to go with him?” Lauren asked.

  “Adrianne, we can get you over the fear of flying,” Phoebe said. “The chances of a heart attack on a plane must be a million to one. The chances of it happening again, especially with you in such good health now, must be a gazillion to one. You have to take a chance sometime.”

  “We have to figure out a way to convince Mason to leave. Without me,” Adrianne said to Lauren without looking at her friend.

  “Fine.” Phoebe shoved back from the table and stomped to where her purse sat on the counter. “You don’t deserve him then.” She spun back to face Adrianne as she pointed at her. “Remember those gaps in your life we talked about?” she asked. “The ones that are there because you want to do things but you’re scared? Well, this is the perfect way to fill those in. This is about loving Mason. And about doing something that matters. Both of those things will do more for your heart than any exercise or medicine could ever do.” Then she stomped to the front door and made sure to slam it on her way out.

  Lauren stared after her for a few seconds before turning back to face Adrianne. “I know this is hard. I’m sorry. And I know it’s fast. But I need him in DC on Wednesday.”

  “Tell me more about the meetings and the project,” Adrianne said. She wanted to know every detail of what Mason would be doing. She had to know that it was big, huge, much more important than she was.

  Lauren took the seat Phoebe had vacated. “Okay. We’re going to DC on Wednesday to convince Vice President Forrester that we do want to partner with Outreach America and the White House even though Mason told him and O.A.’s director that they are self-centered pricks before storming out of his office about a month ago.”

  “Mason said that?” Adrianne was impressed in spite of herself. That didn’t sound very nerdy. “Why?”

  “They were debating how to spin the story about our new seeds being used by O.A. The White House felt that they should get some PR out of it too.”

  “Why?”

  “The White House is helping get us in and providing military escorts while we’re there.”

  “Why do you need military escorts?” Sure, she needed the idea that Mason might be in danger on her mind too.

  “Haiti has a long history of political and social unrest. Since the earthquakes it’s gott
en worse. The majority of the island lives in poverty. If there is something of value coming in, there are people who will want to get a hold of it.”

  She was sorry she’d asked.

  “But the White House wants PR out of it?”

  “Of course. Have you ever met a politician that didn’t want good PR?”

  Good point. “Seems like a lot of egos getting in the way of the important work. Including Mason’s,” Adrianne commented.

  Lauren rolled her eyes. “You have no idea.”

  “Can’t you take your seeds and everything into these countries on your own? Why do you need Outreach America?”

  “Technically, yes, but there is a lot of politics, not to mention money involved in something like this. And O.A. has already established relationships with the people themselves. It was going smoothly until the White House wanted a piece of the PR. But working with them is the fastest way to do this, even with all the BS… It would take us too long to figure out our contacts and shipping and get enough staff in place to get the seeds where they need to be, in the ground and growing along with the teaching and training that has to go on.”

  “Why O.A. then?” Adrianne asked, wanting every detail. “Why not another group?”

  “O.A.’s the biggest, they already have agriculture programs in place, which means they have staff who know what they’re doing, and…well, they want us.”

  “Others don’t?” Adrianne frowned. “That’s crazy. With what you can do and offer them—”

  Lauren smiled. “A lot of them are struggling just to do what they do. They don’t want to take on new projects like this. And besides, we have an in. A friend of mine worked for them for four months right after the quake hit and recommended us. It’s ready made for success.”

  “But you need Mason.”

  “Definitely. Mason has to smooth this over and he has to head the project. I know a lot about a lot of what we do, but this one is his baby. He’s the problem solver. And there will be problems in Haiti. It’s inevitable with something like this. But with Mason there, they’ll be solvable.”