Page 112 of A Lesson for Laurel

Which she couldn’t dispute because she always made sure he knew if Abe stopped over and he never seemed to care.

But it was his cousin so she might be silly thinking otherwise.

“It still doesn’t make sense what point she was trying to prove unless she wanted him back?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole said. “I don’t think so. It was hard to tell anything with Rachelle. As you’ve heard a lot tonight.”

“She sounds surface and fake. I can’t believe they were together as long as they were,” she said.

“I thought the same thing. He never said why, but once he cuts you out of his life, that’s it. Rachelle kept reaching out to me after. She wanted to know Easton’s reaction. I think she thought he’d get jealous or something and then when he didn’t, she felt like he didn’t care enough to begin with and maybe she made the right choice.”

“It sounds as if he didn’t love her enough,” she said. “But when you love someone, you don’t lie and cheat. I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t love Philip enough, but even if I did, there is no going back when someone cheats on you.”

“Rachelle said she never slept with Connor while she was with Easton.”

“Do you believe that?” she asked. “Not that it matters.”

“I don’t think it matters. I’m on the fence believing it, but it’s not my life. He cut her out of his life and we’ve all been happy about it. I think that is what I was trying to say when I brought it up. Everyone saw right through Rachelle and Easton didn’t. Everyone sees who you are right away and that you’re perfect for him. He’s never tried to be anyone he wasn’t.”

“Neither have I,” she said. “The way I dress isn’t who I am inside regardless of the attire I’ve got on.”

“The same with Easton. So you see, perfect for each other.”

Laurel forced her smile. She wasn’t so sure of that, but she’d find out when they were back in their room.

37

MUST HAVE SLIPPED

“Why did you get so quiet?” Easton asked when they got into the hotel room. “You’ve been like this for about an hour or more. Even in the taxi you weren’t saying much.”

“How come you didn’t tell me you talked to your ex?”

He lifted his eyebrow. “What?”

“You heard me,” she said, slipping her shoes off. Her movements were jerky and instead of coming back here and getting freaky they were going to fight.

“How did you find out?”

“That’s what you’ve got to say? How did I find out?”

“Had to be Nicole,” he said. “She must have slipped because she’d never do anything on purpose.”

“She did slip. Do you know how that makes me feel that you were talking to your ex and you didn’t even tell me about it? She thought I knew.”

“I’m sure she did,” he said. “But it was no big deal and she knows that. It was the day they were taking the home pregnancy test.”

“You’ll have to explain that.”

“I went to the store,” he said. “Rachelle saw me. I didn’t see her. The next thing I know, she’s calling my name and giving me shit about buying something last minute. Something she always nitpicked about in the past.”

“Which makes no sense,” she said. “Unless she’s not over you.”

“Not my problem if she is or isn’t,” he said. “I wanted to walk away from her and she asked how I was doing. I asked why she cared. She said she used to love me and still cared.”

“Not what I want to hear.”

“Why?” he asked. He was starting to undress in jerky movements too. “It’s not like I love or care for her. If I was a woman and she was the man, I would have put my finger in her chest and shoved her back. Does that make you feel better or get you to understand? But I couldn’t do anything other than walk away.”

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