Page 39 of The Negotiator

Chapter Eleven

Garrett had stayed in Annapolis longer than planned. Christmas was coming up fast, only four days away now. His worst time of the year. The time he generally could not hang out with people. But this year he wanted to. The idea of leaving Lauren... yeah, he couldn’t even think about that. Not when waking up with her each morning had become his favorite thing.

She’d sat across from him last night at the dinner table and talked over burgers about going out to buy a fresh tree. Something about lights and how one bulb always burned out. One she couldn’t find and it ruined the whole strand. His mind had stopped working as her eyes lit up and she debated the right size tree to fit her room.

The tree talk led to Christmas dinner talk. The discussion sounded familiar. Lotti and his aunt used all sorts of arguments to lure him home each year. The promise of the perfect gravy was a favorite.

But this was Lauren. Practical Lauren. She’d never been a big talker, but the stress had lifted. Jake and Bob were the police’s problem now. Both were looking at jail time; for Jake, it would be a lot.

Lauren being Lauren, she talked the detective and the prosecutor and anyone who would listen out of pursuing charges against Maryanne. She’d helped at the end, Lauren insisted. Garrett guessed Lauren’s choice was more about knowing what it was like to live with Carl than wanting to give the younger woman a break. Either way, the move made him smile.

Everything she did made him smile. He loved her tenacity and calm. She plowed through problems and refused to view herself as a victim. Her loyalty to Kayla and the way she joked with Matthias—it all worked for Garrett. It also scared him shitless.

He glanced at his cell and finished the text conversation with Lotti. The one he’d started right after a brief check-in with his aunt. It sounded to him like Lotti had found an interesting way to spend the holiday and was trying to hide it. The idea made him laugh. It also made it easier for him not to jump on a plane and go keep her company.

You didn’t get to Cabo.

Lotti wrote back in less than five seconds. Mom’s such a tattletale. Weather’s bad.

She didn’t say anything about the weather. She had hopes you were with a guy.So did Garrett. He loved Lotti and wanted her to be happy... then he could tease her until she begged for mercy.

Is there a point to this conversation?

That sounded like defense mode to Garrett. Just remember, if his name starts with a letter between A and Z, he’s likely to ruin your life. You were warned.

He decided to sign off before she shot something back at him. With that done, he could concentrate on Lauren and watch as she unpacked a box of ornaments. The homemade lopsided ones and shiny red balls. The box housed a treasure trove of collected items from years past.

She turned around with an odd look on her face. A smile, but it seemed fake. Like she was forcing it. “Did you want to help me decorate the tree before you go? If so, we need to go find one.”

Before you go... “Am I leaving?”

“You said you weren’t a holiday guy. And I thought...” Her already dim smile vanished. “We got caught up in everything that was happening here. The danger and Carl. The not knowing.”

“What are you saying?” Because he didn’t have a clue.

“I texted you about Carl and didn’t really give you a choice not to be involved. Now you can get back to your plans.”

The world flipped on him. The walls between them had come down over the last week. He’d chipped away at her impressive defenses and negotiated his way around them until they really were dating. And now this.

The reality that she was turning them off, sending him away—again—and acting as if they were friends but little more than that hit him like a body blow. He felt the shot straight to his chest and it nearly doubled him over.

He stood up and walked around to the back of the couch. Put the furniture between them and tried not to notice when she flinched. “You’re kicking me out.”

“I’m telling you not to feel obligated.” She swallowed hard enough for him to see it across the room. “The tree means something to me, but the rest of the holiday doesn’t. You don’t need to stick around when I know you’d rather be by yourself.”

This was bullshit. Complete bullshit. The only question was if she really said all this for him or if this was about her hiding in plain sight again.

Matthias and Kayla had invited her to spend the day with all of them. They’d get her through the rough day while the brother-in-law she thought she knew spent the holiday in a cell. But that didn’t mean she wanted to spend it with him, and now that he realized that he could barely think. “Is this some sort of fear of commitment thing?”

Her hands shook as she put the ornament down on the coffee table. “It’s for you. I saw your bag when I got out of the shower an hour ago. It’s packed. You’ve been on the phone with your cousin in California. I can read the signs.”

Her response set his head on fire. Instead of talking to him, she was back to assessing and analyzing and guessing and not talking. “If you have a question for me, Lauren, ask it.”

“I’ve got to tell you I didn’t see that part coming. Not from the guy who begged for a date for months.” Her head fell to the side. “Or are you that guy? The one who likes the chase but nothing else.”

“You’ve got this all wrong.”

Her hands dropped to her lap. “Then explain it to me.”

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