Page 122 of A Lesson for Laurel

40

CRAZY IN LOVE

The next day, Laurel left work a few hours early. She’d left a message for Philip that they needed to talk. She gave him four hours to return her call or she was taking care of his mother on her own.

She didn’t leave any other information than that and she grinned while she’d said it.

If Philip didn’t know what was going on, then he’d try to figure it out on his own.

She was driving Easton’s car. He’d tossed the fob at her this morning and said not to bother moving them around. That he had no plans on going anywhere anyway.

She’d gotten some looks when she showed up in that car from those who saw her in the parking lot, but she didn’t care.

“How was your day?” Easton asked when she arrived home and popped her head into his office. She didn’t want to bother him but just wanted to at least wave.

“Good. Denise came in and apologized to me,” she said. “She said that we got off on the wrong foot and hated the way it turned out. That she hadn’t meant any of it and was just mad that shedidn’t get my job and maybe she got carried away with her own frustration over the situation.”

“Do you believe what she said?” he asked.

“I believe she was mad she didn’t get my job,” Laurel said, smiling. “And that she didn’t like the way things turned out, but I don’t believe she was sincere in her apology. We’ll see how things go. I told her that it was out of my control now. That her behavior would dictate her future and it wasn’t my call.”

“I bet she didn’t expect that.”

“Nope. I think she thought I’d go to bat for her. She even mentioned how busy things were going to get and if she was terminated it’d be hard to be down her position.”

“That is one of the stupider things someone could use as an excuse.”

“I bit my tongue when she said that. It wasn’t worth it. I’ll cover for her if I have to. I’m not worried, but I’ve got a backup plan.”

He nodded his head. “I’m going to assume you haven’t heard from Philip yet?”

“No,” she said. “I’m positive he is going to wait until the last possible minute to call me back and I wanted to be home for it. No reason to be at work where other people could hear any more of my business than they already have.”

“I don’t blame you,” he said. “I’ll cook dinner tonight if you don’t mind. I’ll be done in an hour or so. Or at least I’m calling it a day then.”

She looked at her watch. It was barely three. “Sweet,” she said. “You don’t have to do that for me though.”

“I’m doing it for me,” he said.

“I’m going to do some yoga then while you’re working.”

She went upstairs and changed, then pulled her mat out and went out to the deck with it. It was warm out. Maybe too hot for yoga, but sometimes it felt better doing it in the heat.

Thirty minutes later, she was covered in sweat and walking back in with her mat all rolled up and in her hand.

She set it down and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

Easton came out and took one look at her. “Did you hose yourself down out there?”

She grinned and moved closer, then rubbed against him, transferring her sweat from her damp clothing. “I should have. I could have had aFlashdancemoment.”

“Fuck,” he said. “If you ever do that you better make sure you call me out to watch.”

“I wouldn’t do it for anyone else other than you,” she said, landing a kiss on his lips.

She moved back and guzzled some water and then grabbed her mat to return to her room and shower.

She got two steps up when her doorbell rang and came back down to see who it was.

---