Page 49 of When Love Is Unexpected

"Nope," I say. "The timing was all wrong, and I was a coward. I left town. End of story."

She's looking at me now. Her eyes are as beautiful as they are expressive. She feels sorry for me.

"Don't feel sorry for me," I say.

"That's really sad, Sam. She never knew. Where is she now?"

How I wish I could tell her.

When her phone rings, I feel relief on one hand because it ends our conversation and dread on the other because it might be Eric.

"It's Aaron," she says, showing me the caller ID. "Hi, Aaron. You did? How did it go?"

She's close enough that I can almost make out Aaron's side of the conversation. They talk for a few more minutes, then Laila says goodbye and ends the call.

She's smiling, so it must be good news.

"Aaron and Adam are having lunch with Eric on Saturday. I hope he listens to their advice."

"I hope so, too," I say, feeling her relax next to me.

"Should we make something for dinner?" she asks.

"We can grill some steaks," I say, "and make a salad?"

"That sounds good," she says.

I fire up the grill and hand Laila my laptop so she can look up Emma's wedding registry.

"Look in my inbox," I say. "There should be an e-mail from Emma with a link to her registry."

Laila takes the laptop and makes herself comfortable on the porch swing.

"Do you still like your steak medium-rare?" I ask, flipping the thick steaks over after five minutes.

"Yes," she says. "What's your password?"

"Pachelbel." I say.

"What?" she asks. "I never knew you liked classical music."

"Well," I say, "I don't know that I like it, but I can play it on piano."

"Sam, you never cease to amaze me."

Is that admiration I see in her eyes?

"I found the link," she says. "Let's see. Oh, there's an outdoor pizza oven on their registry. That's what I would want."

"Okay," I say, "let's go with that."

"Done!" she says, clicking the buy it now icon. "The gift will be exquisitely wrapped and shipped to your sister's home address tomorrow, and it'll arrive no later than Monday."

"I also had a set of personalized coffee mugs made at the studio. Zoe is shipping them on Monday."

"Wow!" Laila says. "That's impressive. Who painted them?"

"Luis invited a couple of his friends to the studio and had them do it in exchange for two coupons each for a free ceramic project to be used at their leisure."

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