Page 4 of A Lesson for Laurel

“Nine months of hell,” Philip said. He pushed his glasses up on his head. “I’ve missed you. I messed up. I’m sorry. I was scared and nervous. I thought I was losing all my freedom with the wedding coming up.”

She pointed her finger. “You wanted the fast wedding. Not me.”

“My parents did.”

Her finger popped him in the chest. “Then you should have stood up to them. But you can’t. And my guess is they are putting pressure on you to fix things with me. What happened? Did they lose all the money on the wedding that didn’t happen?”

She could see by the flush to his face the last part did happen. Thank God she’d convinced her father to let the Taylors pay for the wedding. The guilt she would have felt if her father was out of that kind of money was too hard to think of.

The only money her father lost was the cost of her wedding gown, which she still had. Everything else, Philip’s parents were paying for because they were stuck up enough to want to call the shots, so they could front the bill then.

“We are meant to be together,” Philip said. “I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.”

“That’s right,” she said. “It won’t because you aren’t getting a second chance.”

Laurel wasn’t stupid. She had a friend who was on Tinder and she had that person check out Philip’s account. No,Steven’saccount. It’d been active for years and continued to be the entire time they’d been together. She didn’t even want to think of the number of women he’d cheated on her with.

“Those other women meant nothing,” Philip said. “It was only sex. You’re the one I want. Can you blame a guy for wanting something a little different or exciting before he settled down?”

It was theworstthing he could have said to her.

Her finger that was drilling a hole in his chest gave him a shove enough to send him back a foot. “Don’t you dare insult me like that in my home,” she growled. “Or I’ll do more than leave you at the altar. I’ll have you go home with a black eye to explain to your parents.”

“Now, Laurel,” Philip said. “You know I’ve said your anger never looked good on you.”

She wanted to swear loudly but didn’t. “Go,” she said, shoving him again with her finger. He was such a wimp he couldn’t keep his balance. She didn’t even put much strength behind it.

He stumbled and caught himself before he tumbled down the stairs. “I love you,” Philip said. “I never stopped.”

“Fuck you, Philip. You’ve never loved anything more than yourself. Go back home to Mommy and Daddy and tell them you couldn’t find me. Or you know what? Maybe tell the truth. Something I know is hard for you to do. But don’t come back again!”

She stood there and watched him walk to his BMW and get in, then drive away.

Before she could turn to go into the house, she heard, “Well done. I thought I was going to have to step in for a second, but you had a good handle on it.”

There was the sexy neighbor who just witnessed her embarrassing dating life.

“It’s not hard to get a handle on someone I can blow over with a big breath,” she said dryly.

“Good point,” her neighbor said. Might as well go introduce herself since they were talking. No reason to be rude. She walked down the steps. “I’m Laurel Glasgow.”

“Easton Cooke,” he said, shaking her hand. “And that was an ex I’m assuming?”

“Ex-fiancé that I haven’t seen or talked to since I left his ring on his plate covered in ketchup.”

“Huh?” he asked.

“Serves him right for drenching his fries in it. Who the hell does that? If you need to cover your food with so much of a condiment, don’t order it to begin with.”

“I always thought that too,” he said.

She wasn’t sure if he was just agreeing with her to be sociable or not.

“Since I’ve got a lot of frustration built up right now, don’t suppose you want any help doing what you are in the back?”

He lifted an eyebrow at her. “I’m fixing the walkway. The paving stones need to be replaced.”

“I noticed,” she said. “Sorry. I heard the noise and looked out the window when I was having coffee. I won’t get in the way.”

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