Page 99 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Do you have maple syrup?” Abe asked. “I haven’t had French toast in a long time.”

“I can’t believe you not only invited yourself to breakfast but you’re putting a request in too,” he said.

“I have to report back to my mother and then get a lecture on why I’m still single. I think I deserve some compensation in the form of breakfast. I’m saving you that call.”

Easton laughed and then looked at her. “He makes a valid point. I can cook if you want.”

“Nope,” she said. “I’ll do it. You two catch up. Ignore me. Do I need to make some more coffee?”

“If it’s not too much work,” Abe said. “That’d be great.”

“Dude, you’re a mooch,” he said.

“It’s my cousin’s girlfriend. She knows I’m next door if she needs anything,” Abe said.

“She doesn’t need anything from you. She fixed your damn dishwasher. It’s more likely you’ll be calling her to fix something else.”

She started to laugh and saw Abe blush. “Sorry about that. I should take you out to dinner as a thank you.”

“Not alone,” Easton said. “You can do it the next time I’m in town. Take us both out for interrupting my time with my girlfriend.”

She listened to the two cousins going back and forth, only catching partial words as she went about fixing their breakfast, and realized she’d never experienced this before.

Never this contentment or joy.

Hours later when she kissed Easton goodbye and told herself not to rush next weekend to get there so she could see him again. To occupy her thoughts, she called her aunt.

“Hi, Laurel. How was the wedding?”

“It was great,” she said. “Wonderful. The couple is so in love.”

“You didn’t have any bad feelings or memories rush in over what should have been for you?”

“God no,” she said. “It was the best decision of my life to drop Philip.”

“I agree one hundred percent,” Aunt Helen said. “But you spent months planning your wedding. You’ve got that dress still.”

“I didn’t plan much of that wedding so it didn’t bother me. I had very little say in the matter.”

“Which wasn’t right,” Aunt Helen said.

“Nothing was right about it. I should have realized it long before I broke it off. I’m going to sell my wedding gown. Do you think Dad will be upset?”

“Not in the least,” Aunt Helen said. “He’d be happy to burn it for you.”

She laughed. “That thought crossed my mind, but it’d be a waste. There is someone out there who will love it and get it for a bargain. It’s not like I can get the full price for it. I think I can sell it back to the shop, but we’ll see.”

“Whatever works for you,” Aunt Helen said. “Can I ask why you are willing to do it now?”

“I’m in love,” she said and twirled around the living room as she said those words.

“I can hear it in your voice,” Aunt Helen said. “I’m happy for you. Was it the wedding that made you realize it? Seeing other couples in love and knowing you had that now?”

“That was part of it, but I’ve been feeling it for a while. I wanted to see how things went with us living apart and just having the weekends together. It’s going well.”

“That’s good to know. Do you talk much during the week?”

“Once or twice. Not long when we do. It’s more along the lines of texting. Neither one of us are people who just chat for the sake of it. If we have something to say we do, if not, it waits until we see each other on the weekends.”

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