Chapter 7
“I still can’t believe you’re here,” Lauren tells me as she drives Marian’s old pickup toward Breckenridge.
“You doubted I’d come?” I ask. It’s not that crazy. When I told her I might want to come by, it had been a fleeting thought then. I can’t explain that coming to see her here has literally become my last resort though.
“No. Yes. I don’t know. When I called you that day, way back when, I was still getting used to being away from Jeremy. Then I got pulled into his sphere again.”
I giggle, thinking back to that day Dalton and Caleb showed up to get Lauren out of there. “And then pulled right back out once more.”
She takes my hand. “And for good.”
I return the squeeze, grateful she escaped.
“Caleb’s got his lawyers looking into my trust fund. I’ve already decided I’m going to donate it all. We were chatting earlier about Dalton’s foundations.”
I glance at her. “Foundations? Plural?”
She nods as she drives. “Yes. He’s quite the philanthropist. There’s more than one cause he supports.”
Huh. I gaze out the window as the scenery passes by. Maybe he needs to give back because he’s convinced his karma will suck being so damn filthy rich. Still, it makes me wonder about him.
“If I don’t donate to his foundations, I’ll give it back other ways. I don’t need it.”
I chew on my lip.
Silence fills the truck, and I know she’s analyzing and regretting her words. It’s the one thing that’s always stood between us. Rich girl and poor girl. Upper class and lower. What she never realizes when she speaks those words is that she’s addressing them to someone who does need it.
No, that’s not true. When I was in college, my scholarships provided for me. I worked part-time jobs too, to supplement my income when my studies could afford that time off. Then after, I landed my job at the prestigious grade school, and I could pay my own way. I never would reach the heights of Lauren Hendrickson’s wealth, but I never wanted to.
“I mean…”
This time, I take her hand. She can’t possibly realize her error here. Without my job, without my apartment I could no longer afford the rent for, I am someone who would need money. But I’m not ready to go there. I can’t confess the truth of what Jeremy’s done to me yet. Not when she’s so happy and carefree. I can’t bring her down like that.
“It’s fine.”
There’s that word again, the one I never understand and wonder why I should. It’s been a stand-in for so long it’s my default whatever.
We soon reach town and walk around. While I’m too conservative and frugal to even window shop with pleasure, knowing I’d never be able to afford any splurges, I find plenty of treasure in my best friend’s company. This is what we used to be like. Before she met Jeremy, and he controlled her. Before I got way too busy teaching while holding down a couple of part-time jobs to make ends meet. Later, when she was engaged, we became even more estranged, relying more on keeping in touch via messages than seeing each other in person—thanks, again, to Jeremy.
Damn, I hate his name.
Later, we grab lunch and sit out on an outside patio. Bees are buzzing, the sun is bright overhead and baking us, and for the first time, I feel no relief from an infrequent breeze.
“I’ve been wondering something,” Lauren says once she takes the check. I would’ve fought harder if I had the money to spend. I only have my last paycheck, and I’m not sure when I’ll see another. She does win the argument though, claiming she has to pay because she missed my birthday. She did, but only because she had to try on dresses for the wedding she didn’t want.
“Shoot,” I tell her, praying she won’t pry on something I can’t answer, particularly about my job.
“Why do you hate Dalton so much?”
I furrow my brow. “Hate is a strong word,” I say, referencing a line I use with my students. Or, a line I used to tell them.
She lifts one brow, not letting me hedge. “Well, you sure aren’t very nice to him. Like those comments at dinner last night. Caleb told me what you said,” she teases.
“I don’t hate him. He just grates on my nerves.” I shrug. “I don’t know why.” And really, I don’t. Since I left California, I’ve been in a lousy mood. It feels like me against the world, and that’s including all men. If any other man—or woman—cut me off on that road when I was so edgy, I would’ve formed a grudge to hold against them too.
“It’s nothing personal.”
Yet, it seems like it is. Dalton irritates me and I hate to consider the chance it might be due a pathetic and horribly timed attraction. I won’t lie. The man is sex on a stick.
“He’s not that bad. Look at it this way. I know Caleb is a good guy. Good guys don’t stay with bad guys for friends.”
I smirk, not sure her logic means much. Of course, she’ll view Caleb and anything he prioritizes in a biased light.
“What, are you trying to hook me up or something?”
She makes an X with her fingers. “No. Nope. No way.”
I roll my eyes at her dramatics.
“I will never repeat that mistake again. I thought you’d never talk to me again after I hooked you up with my Biology lab partner.”
I shudder, recalling the creepy guy.
“But you never make time to date or anything.” She frowns, lowering her gaze to the table. “I’m not one to talk. But you’re…free, you know. You’re hot. You’re single. You don’t have a crazy family trying to pawn you off in marriage.”
“But I’m not free. Or at least my time isn’t.”
She nods, still saddened. “Because you’re always working.” When she narrows her eyes, I know I’m in trouble.
Uh-oh. No. Please. Let’s go back to talking about annoying Dalton.
“Or not. You said you’re not going back to the school. Why, Aubrey? That’s your passion.”
“It still is.”
Wincing in confusion, she shakes her head. “Then why wouldn’t you go back to teach again?”
I lick my lips, wishing another stupid lie would come to me. I’m simply not ready to explain to her what happened. Not yet. Lauren has such a big, bleeding heart that she wears on her sleeve that she would probably blame herself for what Jeremy did. That was the whole reason she went back to Jeremy—to spare Caleb harm from the stupid threat Jeremy made to further smear his name and ruin his reputation. He hadn’t. He couldn’t have. From what I could tell, Caleb’s team of lawyers ran Jeremy through the wringer for even trying to slander him. I can’t let Lauren feel like my situation is her fault. “I needed a change of scenery,” I tell her.
She stares at me for a long moment but then smiles slowly. “Well, you sure are getting one here.”
Whew. Crisis averted.
“And you know what, I’m kind of glad you don’t have to hurry back to teach. I will need all the help I can get. Not only in running the bed-and-breakfast with Marian, but also in designing the interior of the motel this winter. I can’t wait to see what the apartments could look like.”
“It’s a big, blank canvas.”
“Yes!” She grins. “I’ll pay you for your help. But I just want to make sure. Are you really ready to leave teaching altogether?”
Am I? I’m not sure. I don’t want to ruin this afternoon by choosing an answer to that, either. I feel unprepared to reply because I’m not even sure if I have the option to teach again.
“I would love to work with you.” That’s the truth, and I’m saved when she readily accepts that in place of a proper reply to her question.
We finish lunch and leave those hard conversations behind. It’s so sunny, so warm, so fresh here, that I could wander aimlessly with my closest friend for hours yet. But Marian’s promised an apple pie, so we eventually turn around and head back toward where Lauren parked the truck.
“Hey, Earl,” Lauren greets an older man seated on a bench on the sidewalk.
He lifts his hand in a wave and elbows his buddy. “Ken, Lauren’s saying hi.”
His friend waves as well.
I giggle at the small-town manners my best friend is already adopting. I want to tease her, but it’s too cute. I’ve never lived somewhere that I could rely on a close-knit feeling of community. Even my apartment building lacked that warmth and familiarity, and now that I see it in action, I kind of wish it could be a part of my life too.
As we stroll along, distracted with saying hello to the resident old-timers, we bump into a group of men leaving a hardware shop.
“Hey! Lauren!” A tall man grins at my friend.
“Hi! Funny running into you here,” she teases good-naturedly.
The blond laughs and jerks his thumb at the awning denoting the place as the local hardware place. “But…is it?”
Lauren smiles and shrugs.
His gaze lands on me, and I raise my brows expectantly.
“Hi, I’m Hayes Dawson,” he says, nodding at me in acknowledgment. He seems to have that good-old-boy charm, a guy who’d likely be polite and offer to shake my hand with the introduction, but his hands and arms are full of supplies.
Hayes? I’m not sure where to file his name on my lists of good and bad ones. His surname only makes me think of that nineties show I used to love. I never liked Joey though.
“This is the contractor Caleb and I have been working with to get started on our home,” Lauren says. “Hayes, this is my good friend Aubrey.”
I smile then, doing my part in being polite, or faking it. Lauren greets other men on the crew who are following after Hayes on their exit from the shop, but their leader seems stuck, taking a special interest in me. He doesn’t stare at me like Dalton did, like he is trying to see through me. This guy, buff and hot as he is, seems a bit much. Too pushy, especially when he winks at me.
I’m not sure how he got the impression I wanted to be hit on, even with something as cheesy as a wink, but I’ll play along and be polite.
“I’ll see you around, Aubrey.” He’s direct with his farewell as the men move off toward the curb where they’re parked. If his hands were free, I imagine he would’ve taken mine between his and worsened this all by kissing it.
We wave as they get in their trucks, then turn to head toward Marian’s.
Lauren nudges me. “Looks like you might have a grand old time in Colorado.”
“How so?” I retort wryly.
“You know. If you let yourself have some fun for once.”
I roll my eyes. “What, with a roll in the hay with Hayes?”
She giggles, shaking her head as we continue walking.
Even if I wanted to have a “grand, old time,” I wouldn’t be seeking that pretty boy of a contractor.
I’m not on the market to be looking for any guy to help me pass time here in the mountains.
And if I was…
I shake my head, banishing the unbidden and unwanted thoughts of Dalton from my mind.