Page 23 of Nothing Breaks Like A Heart

"The Carringtons made sure of that."

"I'm just sorry your mother wasn't here to see you walk down the aisle or to meet Andrew," Lydia said, giving me a sad look. "Sarah would have been over the moon to see you being treated so well. She used to tell me how guilty she felt for not giving you a dad, a two-parent family. But I always told her she gave you all the love you needed."

"She did," I said feeling a lump grow in my throat at her words.

"And look at you, getting so far ahead of where she got in the hotel business. She never made it away from the front desk."

"I know. She sacrificed a lot for me."

"She was happy to do that. She loved you. Anyway, we're a little tired. Marian and Travis already left to take a walk down by the beach, so we're going to head to our room."

"We're about to cut the cake, if you want to wait a few minutes."

Lydia put her hand on her stomach. "I couldn't eat another bite. Thanks for including us, Lauren. I know we haven't been close. Let's try to do better."

"That sounds good." I suspected there wasn't any real intent behind her words. Lydia had barely made time for my mother; I couldn't see her making time for me. But it didn't matter. I had Andrew, and we would build our own family unit. I just wished he'd come back so we could wrap our arms around each other and let everyone else fade away.

I wandered around the room for the next ten minutes, smiling and chatting and trying not to wonder about where Andrew was, but the longer he was gone, the more anxious I got. I was about to go get my phone out of my bag in the lounge when Harper and Jamie joined me. At least they were back.

"Jeanette says it's time to cut the cake," Jamie said. "Are you going to smash it in each other's faces, or will the two of you be polite?"

"Polite. The last thing I need for the photos and video is cake on my face."

"It might make the video more fun," Harper suggested. "And real. But I guess we're not that interested inreal."

"No, we're not. It's about the dream," Jamie said. "And Lauren is right. The cake cutting and first bite should be perfect, because dreams aren't supposed to be messy."

"Oh, you two are no fun," Harper said with a roll of her eyes. "Sometimes you have to let loose and live a little."

"Is that what you're doing with Colin?" Jamie gave Harper a pointed look.

A somewhat secretive smile crossed Harper's lips. "That's between me and Colin."

"Since when do you not want to talk about private stuff?" Jamie asked curiously.

Harper shrugged. "This isn't the time or the place. I will say that I'm intrigued. Colin is more interesting than I thought he would be."

"How so?" I asked curiously.

"He's very well-read, for one thing. He brought a book on art history on his vacation. He loves jazz, and he played the saxophone growing up. I've never gone out with anyone who was interested in art and jazz. It's cool."

As Harper continued to talk about the apparently amazing Colin, my brain got stuck on what she'd first said. "Wait a second," I interrupted. "How do you know he has a book on art history?"

"I saw it on his nightstand."

"Were you in his villa just now? Was Andrew there?"

"I didn't see Andrew. Jay and Dana were settling in to watch a movie."

I wondered if Harper had just missed Andrew or if he hadn't gone there at all. "I thought Dana wasn't feeling well."

"She said something about having a headache."

"Why were you even there?" I asked.

"Colin wanted to check on Dana." Harper gave me an irritated look. "Just because I'm your bridesmaid doesn't mean I owe you every second of my time. I can have some fun, too, can't I?"

"Of course," I said, frowning as I wondered once again why Harper and I were continually at odds.

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