“You abandoned me for a man,” I accuse. “You are not forgiven.”
“I know I am.” She sounds confident, as if she knows I can’t be angry with her for any extended period. “You can’t hold out for this long.”
“How are you?” I ask softly, suddenly missing her.
She sighs. “Happy. What about you?”
“Landon asked me to move in with him.”
Laurie whistles. “You know, I was kinda expecting that. I think I saw it in his eyes on Saturday. But then, he always looks like he can’t wait to just… eat you up,” she laughs. “So what did you tell him?”
“Nothing,” I close my eyes, imagining what she’ll say. “I’m still thinking about it.”
“Knowing you, that probably means you’re thinking of reasons not to.” I can almost see her eye roll. “What’s there to think about, Rachel? He loves you. You love him.”
“Yeah, but…” I search for the right words to explain my hesitation. “Moving in together is such a big step. Are we ready for that? A few weeks ago, I was sure we were over. How many couples actually grow closer after they start living together? What if… you know, we get used to each other and become bored, then fall out of love.”
Laurie snorts. “Now you’re being ridiculous.”
“I am aren’t I?” I sigh. “I just… I have this fear. I love him so much. If anything went wrong. I’d...”
“Nothing will go wrong!” she exclaims. “Rach, there’s so much that’s only in your head. What’s the worst that can happen? Live a little! I, for one, believe that Landon would rather cut off a part of his anatomy than hurt you.”
That makes me smile. “Which part?”
Laurie cackles. “And I’m the one with the dirty mind?” She laughs some more, then continues. “Rach, say yes to that poor guy. I believe he suffers when you’re not in his line of sight.”
I chuckle. “Okay.”
“That probably means you’ll keep thinking and thinking yourself out of it.” I hear her snort. “Anyway, why I really called. I sent a link to your office email. Take a look.”
I navigate to my inbox on my computer and find the link. It’s an article with the picture of Landon and me kissing on the sidewalk. It’s actually a lovely picture, and the website is a reputable news site, n
ot one of the tabloids where I’d expected it to end up.
The accompanying article is also very tasteful. “Hotelier Landon Court spotted with his girlfriend, Rachel Foster. Court’s reps confirm that the two have been together for a couple of months. Miss Foster is an editor at Gilt publications, and her parents are renowned painter Lynne Foster, and Trent Foster of the high street clothing line Trent & Taylor.
Pictures from some of the events we’ve attended together also accompany the article, among them the champagne mixer and the Gold Dust opening in San Francisco.
“Cool, right?” Laurie says in a dreamy voice. “You look so pretty and in love.”
“Yeah,” I whisper, remembering the kiss, and thinking that somehow Landon must have taken control of the situation with the tabloid photographer. He probably bought the pictures and engaged a reputable journalist to put out the story the way he wanted.
“I’m going to have to get used to seeing you in the news,” Laurie is saying. “And you have to make sure you always look on point. You never know when someone is going to take a picture.”
I snort, imagining a life of always being under some sort of spotlight. “I’d rather not think about it. Let’s talk about Barbados instead.”
Laurie’s compromise with her mother was that if she agreed to go all the way to Barbados, then the wedding would take place as soon as possible. The date they’d set was only weeks away, and I thought it was perfect, mainly because I’m not very fond of drawn-out periods of event planning. I also think it’s lucky how our parents seem to find the opportunity to plan a wedding as an exciting interruption to their retirement, or semi-retirement in my mother’s case. They’ve taken over most of the arrangements and the planning, and Laurie with her busy schedule doesn’t really mind. In fact, she loves it.
“I’m sending you all the appointments for the following two weeks,” she tells me now. “My dress, your dress… Mom found me this stylist, and she wants to do a test run, so we’ll go get our makeup and hair done, so that for the two of us at least, she’ll know what she’ll be working with on the day of the wedding.”
“Sounds great,” I reply, looking forward to the time I’ll be spending with her. After a few more minutes on the phone, she has to get back to work, and I start the task of cleaning up my desk, doing all my pending work, and writing my handover notes. I’m not even close to done by the end of the day. When Landon calls, I’m so relieved to have an excuse to stop.
“Hey,”
“Hello, sugar.”
“Hmmm,” I grin, “I like that.”