Page 66 of Home to Me

What he saw choked him up more than he would have expected. Lauren was leaning forward, bent over his mother's bed, and the two were embracing.

When Lauren stood, Ben and Brianna scurried several yards down the hall, both adopting a studied, casual pose and pretended to be engrossed in conversation.

When Lauren walked up to them, Ben put on a surprised face and glanced at his watch.

“Wow, that was quick!” he said, and his voice sounded supremely fake even to his own ears.

The three turned to walk towards the exit, and he heard Brianna mumble, “Dork.”

They walked silently for a few moments, and Ben thought that Lauren must be lost in the heaviness of the moment she had shared with his mother. He wished that he could say something to her, something that would ease her burden, but for obvious reasons, he couldn’t. He felt so torn.

Lauren broke the silence, saying, “So...”

Ben turned to look at her eagerly, hoping that she would confide in him on her own so that he could talk it through with her.

She was making a clear point to keep her gaze focused forward, although a small smile played at the corners of her mouth.

She said, “How long are you going to pretend that you weren't eavesdropping?”

Ben opened his mouth to protest but was cut off when she added, “Benny.”

Brianna threw her head back and laughed then slung her arm around Lauren's shoulder and said, “Oh, yeah, I like her, Ben! You need to keep her around.”

Ben felt himself blushing and didn't like it. It was his general policy never to let Brianna know that she was getting a reaction from him. But having two of the three women in his life ganging up on him at once was too much.

“Um, yeah,” he mumbled. “That's the plan.”

“Good,” said Brianna, satisfied. “Then I guess you're not as big of a dork as I thought.”

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Lauren said her goodbyes to Ben's sister in the parking garage and followed Ben to his black Mercedes SUV. They climbed into the vehicle, and Ben turned to her.

“Dinner?” he asked.

“I'm starved! What are you offering?” she asked with a smile.

He smiled right back. “Home-cooked meal?”

“Thought you'd never ask,” she laughed.

As Ben expertly piloted the SUV through the thick LA traffic, Lauren reflected on the roller coaster events of the day. From the four a.m. wake-up call, to the stress of wondering where Ben had been all morning, to being told he was in the hospital, and then to the complete and total turnaround the day had taken when she walked into the hospital room.

Good thing number one—Ben had not been hit by a car or had some other horrific fate befall him. Good thing number two—getting to meet and hang out with Ben's mother and sister, who were absolutely delightful and who seemed to like her as well.

Which brought her to good thing number three. “That's the plan.”

Ben said that.

When Brianna said that he should “keep her around,” he replied, “That's the plan.”

Was she making a mistake reading too much into it? But how many ways were there to take that?

He said, in essence, that he was planning to continue their relationship.

This morning, she’d been obsessing over what the future held with him, and now, she’d been assured that he was planning on going forward.

She should be thrilled.

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