Page 79 of Home to Me

Lauren's jaw dropped. She was so sure that the jealousy she felt was the first step on the road to insanity, to complete loss of her sense of self, that it was blowing her mind to find out that one of her best friends felt the same thing—and on a regular basis, too.

“Same with me,” Sam chimed in. “When Luke has to be nice to the little snow-bunnies who hang on his every word with hero worship, it definitely makes me want to go pee and mark my territory. I think it’s just the competitor in me.”

At Amanda's look of concern, Sam quickly added with an elfin smile, “Don't worry, boss. It’s just a figure of speech.”

“So how do you handle it?” asked Lauren.

Karina shrugged. “I know that Ryan loves me. I trust him. And honestly, I get where those girls are coming from. I mean, if I wasn’t with Ryan I would still be crushing on him hard. But, I am. I’m the girl he goes home with. The girl who has his heart. They remind me how lucky I am and it takes some of the sting off.”

“That’s a good way to look at it.” Sam chimed in. “I'm gonna remember that for sure.”

“Why? Because if you look at it that way you win?” Karina teased good naturedly. “I wasn’t making it a competition, Sam. I actually feel bad for the girls that are head over heels for Ryan.”

“Hey, you get through it your way, I’ll get through it mine.” Sam shot back unapologetically.

“Oh, God. Where were you guys last night, before I let my insecurities and fears ruin my relationship with the man I love?” said Lauren, stricken, realizing the full implications of the situation. “I've fucked everything up so badly. I've said things I can't take back. I told him he didn't mean anything more to me than a hook-up. What am I going to do?”

“You're going to remedy it as soon as possible,” Amanda said.

“And, as an aside...ouch!” Karina said. “Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

The others, including Lauren, hit her with pillows from the bed they were sitting on.

Sam, always the one among them who favored direct immediate action over anything else, said, “Where is he? In LA? You can't do this over the phone. Let's get your ass on a plane.”

“He's at some bachelor auction thing in San Francisco,” Lauren replied.

Amanda, Karina, and Sam looked at each other, coming to the same unspoken conclusion.

“Road trip!” all three announced simultaneously.

Lauren nodded, purpose filling her face, and got up out of bed, collecting her purse from the nightstand and heading towards the door.

“Ummm...slow down a minute there, bunny slippers,” said Karina, catching Lauren's arm as she passed. “We need to do a little triage first.”

Lauren looked down at herself, taking in her disheveled condition. Oh boy.

Karina pulled her phone out of her bag. “Look, why don't you go jump in the shower. It'll do wonders for your puffy eyes, not to mention your jangled nerves. I'm gonna call Bernie and have him get the four-one-one on this bachelor auction. There's not much he can't find out.”

Lauren nodded and headed into the bathroom, thinking Thank God for my friends.

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Lauren's black Mercedes sped down Highway 80, her hands strong on the wheel. Yes. She was driving. She wasn't that evolved yet. She didn't think she'd ever be able to give up enough control to let someone else drive her car!

As they passed through Sacramento, Sam piped up from the back seat, “Let's stop for snacks!”

Karina, sitting in the back seat next to Sam, asked, “Stop where for snacks?”

“I don't know, like a gas station, or a convenience store, or something.” Sam answered shrugging.

Karina barked out a quick laugh. “There is not even one thing sold in the entirety of a convenience store—with the possible exception of water—that you would ever allow to enter your super-fit athlete's body. So why do you want to stop for snacks?”

Sam shrugged. “I don't know! In all the road trip movies you see, they're always going into the store at the gas station and coming out with Funyuns or something...”

“Yeah, we're not stopping for snacks,” Lauren said flatly.

A small smile played on Lauren's lips as she concluded that Sam must not be able to see where her eyes were pointed underneath the dark sunglasses she was wearing.

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