Honestly, everything was falling into place. The only thing I was unsure of was my career. I’d lost my job at the hospital, but I was gaining new perspective on where I was going to go from here. I thought I’d even talk to my dad about some things. Karly had made it clear she had my back no matter what I decided to do. If it was medicine, fine. If it wasn’t, fine.
The good thing was even though I’d broken hospital policy there weren’t any criminal charges against me. Ashton didn’t press charges, he knew that with Karly’s testimony against him he’d end up in jail anyway.
“When is Karly coming over?” Lainey asks, closing the door to the guest room she’s been staying in. “I’m having withdrawals.”
“You and me both. She should be here anytime. She was finishing up a few things at the gym with George. He leaves next week.”
“I can’t believe she’s buying that ratty old place,” Lainey cringes. “It’s so… old.”
I laugh, thinking about how the place will get a significant makeover. “We both know that Karly is going to make that gym about four hundred shades of pink.”
Lainey smirks, “Yeah when you visit her, it will be fifty shades of grey.”
I smile, thinking of how she’s absolutely correct.
“Is Madden coming over?” I ask.
“Yeah, he’s bringing Dottie. They should be here anytime.”
I get excited at the mention of seeing the baby, “Are you guys staying here tonight? When are you going to Drayton’s?”
She sighs, “I’m not sure. I’ve been avoiding him.”
“That’s only going to make things worse.”
She lunges into a flat position on the couch with her head face down on the pillow. “I know.”
The door flies open, and Karly comes barreling in with a stack of gifts above her head.
“Let me help,” I offer, grabbing a few off the top so she can at least see.
“Thanks,” she breathes. “Oh, hey, Lainey!”
“Hi,” Lainey smiles, “You know if you’d just move in like we all know you are eventually going to, you wouldn’t have a load of stuff every single time you come over.”
Karly dumps the boxes at the foot of the tree, “We agreed to take things slow. Slow and steady wins the race.”
Lainey huffs, “yeah, I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
Needless to say, Lainey had more drama than most adults I know. She was a seventeen-year-old living the life of a grown-ass woman.
The doorbell rings and Lainey hops off the couch to open the door, quickly grabbing the car seat from Madden’s arm.
“Hey, bestie,” Lainey coos as she flips the blanket off the seat, unbuckling her. “What took ya’ll so long?” She asks Madden.
“It’s good to see you too,” Madden laughs. “Actually, we had to make a couple pitstops, if you must know.”
“I must always know,” Lainey states, brushing Dottie’s black hair with her hand.
He grins, pulling a big bag of skittles from his pocket, waving them in front of her.
“Oh my god,” Lainey sighs, “you are the reason I believe in love.”
Karly glances at me from across the room when she says that, and I smile because she’s right. It’s little things like a bag of skittles and knowing unique little things about each other that really matter.
Madden grabs the baby from Lainey, holding her up against his shoulder. I can basically see the excitement blazing off of Karly from across the room.
“You want her?” Madden asks, and you’d think Karly teleported to the spot next to him. She got there so quickly.