Page 12 of Burning Love
“I was there for three days. I needed more clothes than I could fit in my carry-on.”
“I’ll send you a link of the luggage I have. Wear one business outfit to fly. Have it pressed or steamed at the hotel. That saves you packing it. Packing leggings and a T-shirt takes much less room and you can change into them when you arrive and hang your suit or dress.”
Her shoulders dropped. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Wear basics,” Laken said. “You can get away with wearing the same black pants twice if you have to with a different top. No one notices those things. It’s the price to pay when you’re on the road and you want to get in and out of the airport faster.”
“You never have to worry about a car at the airport though.”
“No. You can take an Uber,” Laken said.
“I can, but I’d rather have my car. I’ll get the hang of it, but I don’t want to travel as much as you.”
“You’ll have to figure those things out,” Laken said. “I can’t help with the cramps, but I can give you work advice.”
“I appreciate it.”
She’d never been that close to her sister. They were too far apart in age, then Laken moved to New York.
It was nice that they were getting closer these past few months.
Maybe she was even being looked at as a peer rather than a baby sister.
“Tell me more about this fireman that has you worked up.”
“There is nothing to tell other than I embarrassed myself first by turning the oven on and smoking the house out, then by making an appearance dressed in a short towel. Finish it off with my shirt was on inside out when I changed. I didn’t even know that. Then Mom brought them cookies. I bet she had to give my card so that they didn’t think I was some ditzy blonde.”
Just what she needed. Her mother coming to the rescue again.
“I doubt it was that,” Laken said, laughing. “It’s more likely that you said someone was good looking.”
“Sexy,” she corrected. “I said he was sexy.”
“And Mom had to check him out herself. She’s nosy that way.”
“She is.”
“Go down and talk to him yourself.”
“What am I supposed to say? Oh, sorry my mother came here throwing my name around. I’m not an airhead. Look, I run a department that my older brother created for me.”
“Talia,” Laken said impatiently. “You’re knocking yourself down for no reason. You’ve spent years telling us all you’ve grown up and now you’re sounding like a whiny thirteen-year-old again. Get a grip.”
At least she wasn’t told to grow up.
“Fine, I am. I’m hormonal on top of it. Laken, he was really cute. No, handsome. Cute is for boys and he was a man. I wanted to figure out a way to see him again and Mom ruined it.”
“Get used to it,” Laken said. “Mom likes to ruin a lot of things, but she always fixes them too.”
Her mother had gotten in the middle of all of her siblings’ relationships. Most times it was to knock heads together and get things mended.
“There was nothing to fix here. I didn’t have a chance to find out more. For all I know he’s married or in a relationship anyway.”
“Only one way to find out,” Laken said. “If you want something bad enough, go after it.”
“It’s hard to know what to want when I saw him for ten minutes in that situation. Maybe it was more the fact that my hormones were on overdrive being that time of the month and there is this big dude coming to save me.”
“That is a nice romantic thought. Now it’s up to you to see if you can make it a reality.”
