Page 3 of The Facilitator: Part 3
“Look at what?” I asked.
“Some more pictures of Dominic,” she said.
She angled her phone in different directions and stared for ages, I smiled at her oohhs and aahhs. “He’s utterly gorgeous,” she’d said. “But then, with those two, he was never just going to be ordinary.”
Even I had to admit, Alex and Gabriella were agood-looking couple.
We hit the highway and I put my foot down. I loved the car and I would certainly be telling the salesman I wanted one.
“I think we’ll get two of these, one for me and one for you,” I said, knowing Lauren wasn’t a driver.
“You mean, two for you,” she said.
“I can’t make my mind up. I’d like a soft and a hardtop.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. “Then we’re going to need a bigger garage,” she laughed as she spoke.
“I wanted to talk to you about that. How do you feel about maybe moving out of London?”
She turned to face me. “What’s brought that on?”
“I don’t know. Our time back home, I guess. I long for some quiet and maybe the feel of sand beneath our feet a little more often,” I said, keeping my eye on the road, more so the damn speed cameras.
“What about work?”
“We can keep an apartment near the offices and commute. Maybe weekdays in London, weekends by the coast.”
“It’s certainly tempting. We might not need the apartment, there is some great coastline in Kent and Sussex,” she said.
Lauren ran, successfully, one of my businesses. One of my more lucrative businesses that had some highlysought after and prized government contracts. Alex and I had initially secured the renewal of those contracts when I’d bought the company, but it had been Lauren’s charm with certain members of the government that had kept them going and added more. Not only did the company supply communications equipment for the Royal Navy, but also the Army and adepartmentwe were never allowed to know the name of.
During the time that she had taken over Trymast, not only had the company grown, but so had she. I was in awe of my wife sometimes. Marrying her had absolutely been the pinnacle of my life and the best decision ever.
We chatted about work and whether to book a vacation or not. We, technically, hadn’t had a honeymoon and I was eager for some alone time with Lauren. We talked about her mom and Seb, and finally we found ourselves along the Atlantic Highway.
“I love this part of the world,” Lauren said, opening her window a little to allow the sea air to blow through.
“Maybe a holiday home here,” I offered. “That way, you’re close to your mom,” I added.
“That sounds like a great idea. It’s taken us, what, five hours to get here. It’s a doable journey each weekend,” she replied.
We headed off the main roads and cut through the country lanes until we came to the village her mom livedin. I pulled onto her driveway and before we could open the car doors, Elaine was out her front door.
“Lauren, Mackenzie,” she called out, smiling and holding out her arms. Lauren ran into her embrace and Elaine rocked them both from one foot to the other.
She held out an arm for me to join in a group hug, something I found rather funny and veryunBritish. Not many of the Brits I knew did hugs, let alone group ones. I laughed as I joined in.
“Come in, come in. I’ve got the kettle on,” Elaine said.
“I’ll get the bags,” I said, letting Lauren walk in with her.
I placed our bags at the bottom of the stairs. Since this hadn’t been Lauren’s childhood home, I had no idea what bedroom we’d be offered. I’d have to wait for Elaine to let us know.
“Mackenzie, do you want coffee?” Elaine called out. I followed her voice to the kitchen.
Everything was set up for Sebastian’s wheelchair. The room was wide and airy, there were parts of the countertops that were lower, and I knew he had a bedroom with a specialized bathroom on the ground floor.
I sat at the kitchen table, already laden with food. “Are you expecting a lot of guests, Elaine?” I teased, reaching for a biscuit.
