by Anna Paige
We both cracked up, laughing so loud that Bonnie suddenly appeared at the door, scowling and making shushing motions. “You two need to take that noise somewhere else. Disrespectful wretches.”
I waited for her to meet my eye before turning to Lauren with a wink. “We were just headed to the shower anyway. Weren’t we, babe?”
To Lauren’s credit, she didn’t balk. Instead she looked at Bonnie and smirked saucily. “Yep. But you should be prepared. Brant’s a screamer.”
Shit.
I had to forcibly clamp my mouth shut to stifle the bark of laughter threatening to erupt from my throat.
Bonnie’s eyes flashed to me and I gave her a slow seductive wink that sent her scurrying back down the hall, muttering insults under her breath.
As soon as she was out of earshot, I closed the door to muffle the sound and then I lost it. I laughed so hard I damn near broke a rib. Lauren was doubled over, hugging her sides as she fought for breath. When she started to settle down she straightened, only to catch my eye and burst out laughing all over again.
When we were able to look at each other without starting up again, she finally got around to asking, “Do I want to know what the shower reference was all about?”
I shrugged, still grinning despite how much my cheeks ached. “She bitched about you coming in smelling like my cologne. I told her I’d be sure to have shower sex with you before I brought you home from now on.” Her eyes widened, looking uncomfortable at the mention of future hook-ups, so I added, “I was just trying to piss her off, so don’t read anything into what I said. Okay, Red?”
“Okay.” She nodded. “And thanks for sticking up for me with her.”
“That’s what friends are for, remember?”
Her smile was tinged with sadness. “I suppose you’re right. I’m just not used to it, that’s all.”
“Used to what?”
Her voice was barely above a whisper when she said, “Having friends.”
•••
Eventually, I stepped outside and waited in the garden while Lauren changed and got ready to run to the diner to take a delivery. The place had been closed since Teach’s death, but would be re-opening the next day and Lauren wanted to get things in order. Naturally, I offered to go along and help.
The fact that she had eagerly agreed to my tagging along told me she was nervous about going back to the diner for the first time since losing her uncle. Maybe having me there would act as a buffer, keeping her mind off of things.
And if she needed more than just me to help ease the pain of being there, I had that covered, too. A couple of quick texts was all it took.
Lauren would soon learn what real friendship was about.
The sound of the back door opening behind me caused me to turn, already preparing myself for the crack of the storm door slamming shut. Lauren was quick, though, and caught it just in time, scowling at it as I made my way over to her. “One of these days, I’m gonna have this fixed.”
I laughed, waiting for her to turn my way before confiding, “I happen to know a guy who could take care of that for you.”
“Is that right?” She chuckled.
I nodded gravely. “The price might be a little steep, though.”
She cut her eyes at me, suspicious. “How steep?”
“He might make you keep him company for the duration of the repair. It could take as long as five whole minutes. An eternity, if you ask me.”
She tapped her index finger against her chin, playing along. “Hmm… that really is steep. Wouldn’t he prefer cash?”
“Nah. The company of a gorgeous lady far outweighs any possible financial gain.”
“I suppose I’ll have to suffer through, then. That door really does need fixing.” Her dramatic sigh was meant to be funny but my dick sure wasn’t laughing.
Down, boy.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of the sigh she’d let out when I first thrust into her. Such an erotic sound.
I resisted the urge to adjust my burgeoning erection and gave her a wide smile, ushering her toward the side of the house closest to the driveway. “I’ll alert the handyman at once.” My hand was on her lower back as we rounded the corner, and I was reminded again of the cobra imprint.
I needed to focus before I ended up with a full-blown hard-on.
Fuck. ‘Blown’ was not the best word choice at this juncture.
Juncture… like the juncture of her smooth thighs…
Goddamn it!
“Brant?” Lauren’s voice cut through my adolescent reverie, startling me.
“Huh?” I wondered if I was blushing. My face felt like it was on fire, so I probably was.
She tilted her head, studying my reaction. “I asked if you minded taking my car.”
I glanced from her to the Mustang, nodding quickly. “Sure. Whatever you’d prefer.”
Her eyes flicked to my truck and a blush crept up her neck. “I think I’ll drive today. Give your truck a break.”
“It did get a workout the other night.” My eyes widened. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Lauren was looking at me with raised brows, her cheeks reddening. “Um…”
“I mean, because we drove around for hours. That wasn’t a reference to… you know.”
Smooth, Matthews, very smooth.
Jesus.
Lauren chuckled, standing in the open driver’s door while I made my way to the passenger side. Just before she climbed into the car, she looked at me over the roof and said, “Weirdo.”
I folded myself into the passenger seat and looked over at her with a shrug. “Told ya.”
•••
I’d never seen the diner before, having been on a different project the previous year while Clay was in Denson working, but I’d heard a lot about the place from my friends. Walking in that blustery afternoon with Lauren, there was no sign of the vibrancy my partners spoke of when describing it.
Everything seemed stark, cold and inanimate, as if the energy of the place had been taken when Teach passed on.
Lauren stopped in the middle of the dining room and drew in a deep breath, slowly turning to take in the state of the place, shoulders slumping more with each passing moment until her watery eyes met mine, helplessness and disappointment radiated off of her in waves as she spoke. “He’s not here.” Her voice was a mere whisper, soft and defeated.
I reached for one of the hands that hung loosely at her side. “Who’s not here, Red?”
She blinked rapidly, trying to whisk away the tears that threatened to spill over. “Teach. I thought I’d walk in here and feel his presence like before.” Her free hand motioned to the long table situated at the back of the restaurant. “His favorite spot. All the older guys hang out at that table. We call it the ‘bullshit’ table because that’s all they sit and do every day—bullshit.” She huffed out a small laugh. “We even write that on the order pads. All the other tables are numbered but, for that one, we write BS. Teach thinks it’s funny…” A pause. “Thought it was funny.”
I squeezed her hand until she looked up at me. “If you aren’t ready for this, it’s okay. There’s no rule that says you have to reopen tomorrow, or the next day. Take the time you need. Or, you could enlist someone else to run things for a while.”
She was shaking her head before I’d even finished. “There’s no one else to do it. Miss Fay would be the only one who might be able to do it all but she’s been under the weather lately and asked me to cut her hours back.”
“There’s no one else who can help?”
“Nope, no one.” She shrugged helplessly.
The kitchen door swung open behind Lauren, and Ali and Talia emerged. “I wouldn’t say that.” Ali said as Lauren spun around in surprise.
“Yeah, I think she has more options than she realizes.” Talia grinned, one hand on her swollen belly as she looked over at me and winked. “Thanks for the heads-up, little brother.”
I groaned loudly, fighting back a smile. “Great, now th
ey have you calling me that, too. Perfect.” I narrowed my eyes at Ali, accusation clear in my gaze.
She just shrugged and grinned back innocently.
Lauren turned to the side so she could see all three of us at once. “Um… what’s going on?” Her eyes darted back and forth before settling on me. “You called them?”
“No. I merely texted my friends and casually mentioned where I was headed and with whom. The rest is on them.” I gave her my best, most charming smile.
She rolled her eyes and gestured toward the back of the restaurant. “You’d fit right in at the bullshit table, you know that?”
Not waiting for my response, she turned to Ali and Talia. “You guys don’t have to do this. It’s okay. I mean, I appreciate the offer to help but this can’t be easy for you either. And after all that’s happened…”
Ali lifted a hand to cut her off. “Stop that. We’re here because we want to be, because we owe it to Teach.”
Lauren’s gaze dropped to the floor as I stepped up beside her, retaking her hand.
“We also want to make this easier for you. Because we’re all your friends, Lauren.” Ali finished, causing Lauren’s head to jerk up at the admission.
“How can you say that? After what I did? I mean, you were here to help Teach last summer and I made your lives miserable. Why would you want to help me now, much less be my friends?” Her voice wavered, overcome with shame and disbelief. “I was awful to you and I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know. I should be the one trying to do something for you guys, to repay you, to make it all up to you.”
Ali and Talia stepped from behind the counter and moved to stand in front of me and Lauren. Talia reached for Lauren’s other hand while Ali put one hand on her shoulder.
“You think what you did is something to be ashamed of but you’re wrong.” Ali told her earnestly. “Going to the lengths you did, risking everything to protect the person you loved most in the world? That’s heroic. If you’d told me what was happening, the choice you were faced with… I’d have welcomed whatever you threw at me with a smile on my face because you made the exact choice I would have made.”
“Me, too.” Talia nodded.
“Me, three.” I chimed in as I shifted my hand and threaded my fingers through hers, needing to feel closer to her.
“Damn right.” Clay said as he and Spencer emerged from the kitchen.
Spencer nodded, chiming in. “There’s nothing to make up for. Let’s leave it all in the past where it belongs.”
Guess the gang’s all here.
A moment later, Clay and Spencer stood behind their girls, smiling at me and Lauren.
“So, boss lady…” Clay spoke to Lauren. “What can we do to help?”
•••
After the delivery guy came and went, the entire kitchen was polished to a high shine, and the walk-in was cleaned out and restocked, we all sat at the bullshit table sipping coffee and talking about everything in the world except Teach. We discussed Milly’s Mountain and the rigorous build schedule we’d need to keep to have it finished by spring. We talked about the weather, how it was still warm some days but mostly it was starting to feel like fall. The girls shared favorite moments from the bullshit table gang, a rowdy bunch of oldsters from the sound of it. There was lots of laughter and easy conversation. It was nice.
Eventually, we ended up talking about Talia’s pregnancy and all the baby plans that go along with that. Talk of burp cloths and gas drops and something called a diaper genie was enough to make my eyes glaze over. Lauren had been fairly quiet throughout the baby chatter, so when I heard her soft voice chime in, I took notice.
“Are you going to find out the sex? Which are you hoping for?” She watched Talia rubbing her belly with rapt attention.
Spencer shrugged. “We haven’t decided whether or not to find out. The doctors already know but we asked them to hold off telling us for now. We really don’t have a preference either way, as long as he or she is healthy. That’s all that matters.”
Talia’s smile was tinged with sadness but she nodded along with Spencer’s answer.
“Have you picked out names yet?” Lauren asked, watching with kind eyes as Spencer placed his hand over Talia’s.
They looked at each other for a moment, then turned to Lauren. Talia hesitated, eyes darting around the table. “Actually, we’ve been discussing something the last few days but we’d like to get your blessing first.”
Lauren glanced around, waiting for someone else to answer before realizing who Talia was speaking to. “Me? You’re asking for my blessing? I don’t understand.”
Talia smiled softly. “Well, since you’re basically Teach’s daughter, we thought we should check with you first in case it was something you’d like to do someday.”
“Do what someday?”
“If it’s okay with you, we’d like to name the baby after Teach.”
Everyone was silent for a moment as they watched Lauren’s eyes fill with tears. “Really?”
Talia nodded, two fat tears running down her face. “But only if you say it’s okay. We discussed it and decided that we like the name Parker for either sex, but if you’d rather save that name for your own son or daughter…”
“No.” Lauren’s voice was thick with emotion. “I won’t ever use the name. You should take it. Teach would like that.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to answer just yet. There’s plenty of time before the baby comes.” Spencer interjected, watching her curiously. “If there’s any chance you might regret it later, don’t hesitate to say so. We won’t be upset.”
“I don’t need to think about it.” Lauren told them, forcing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I won’t be needing to name any children. I can’t have any.”
I could feel the heaviness in the air as we all processed the admission and tried to figure out how to react.
My first instinct was concern over her health, followed quickly by a string of questions I knew I’d never have the balls to ask. Sitting there, a hair’s breadth from her side and still feeling like she was a million miles away, I vowed again to get as close as she would allow. Something told me she needed it as much as I did.
Lauren broke the silence first, shrugging it off like it was no big deal. “Besides, it’s fitting. I mean, Teach was the reason Talia and Ali came here to Denson. Without him, Ali and Clay wouldn’t be married. Talia, you and Spencer wouldn’t be having a baby. Milly’s Mountain wouldn’t be under construction. God only knows where I would have ended up if it weren’t for him.” She paused and I watched a shiver run through her body before she turned a bright smile to our assembled friends. “He was the catalyst that brought it all together. I think it’s a perfect way to honor him.”
She played it off well, but I saw the tremble in her hands as she raised her mug of coffee and waited for the rest of us to follow suit. “To Teach, for making all of our lives better just by being in them.” She looked pointedly at Talia’s abdomen. “And to little Parker Erickson. May he or she be as full of love and light as their namesake.”
“Here, here!” We all called out, clinking our mugs across the table.
The couples began to chatter amongst themselves, giving me the opening I was waiting for. I leaned in close to Lauren’s side and nudged her with my shoulder. “Hey, Red. You feeling a little better about things?”
She reached over and gripped my bicep, leaning against my side and dropping her voice. “I never thought I’d say this, but yes.” She gave my arm a squeeze. “Thanks to you.”
“I told you. That’s what friends are for.”
She gave me a quick peck on the cheek, casting a glance around afterward to be sure no one saw before laying her head on my shoulder and whispering, “You know what, Weirdo? After today, I think you may have been promoted to best friend.”
Ali winked at me from across the table when I caught her looking our way.
I didn’t even bother hiding my huge, goofy smile.
Six
A few weeks later, fall had most definitely set in. The cool evenings facilitated the use of actual blankets some nights, rather than the thin sheet I usually slept under. The leaves had turned and fallen nearly two weeks ago, an event that brought Lauren’s grief back into full swing as she went through the seasonal rituals without her uncle. Wanting to help, I’d offered to go on the annual drive through the mountains with her and was pleasantly surprised when she readily agreed.
We made a day of it, taking a cooler filled with drinks and snacks, stopping at overlook after overlook and appreciating the beautiful patchwork of color that covered the mountains. Every time we stopped, Lauren shared a memory of her and Teach together. Sometimes they were things that happened during the fall drive but often times it was just some random memory that popped into her head. She said she liked talking to me about Teach because, since I didn’t know him all that well, it was like she was telling me who he was, making me see what she saw without having to worry about it conflicting with my image of the man.
Her voice was fast becoming my favorite sound in the world. Especially when she spoke of her uncle. The soft, reverent way she recounted those memories… it was like poetry.
Occasionally, she would share a new tidbit of her past during one of her stories—mostly without realizing it—but I’d become attuned to those inadvertent admissions and was filing them all away—as my analytical mind tended to do. I wanted to figure her out. She fascinated and enthralled me like an intricate puzzle just begging to be solved. And if I had to do it one tiny piece at a time, that was what I’d do.
It was nearing the middle of October when I stepped into the diner and took a seat at the counter to wait for Lauren. I was immediately greeted by the smells of southern cooking and the sounds of clinking cutlery and soft conversation. I came in every day, now. With construction underway on Milly’s Mountain and lots of crews trying to coordinate, we’d found it easier to call in lunch orders and have them brought to the site. With only four restaurants in town—three of which being drive-thru type fast food—the options were limited. So, we’d all fallen into a sort of routine. Around eleven o’clock each day, four of us set out to do pickups, one person for each restaurant to keep things expedient.
