Page 29 of A Secret Chance
As he read the words, he could hear Lauren’s voice as though she were sitting beside him, reading the findings, imploring him to listen to her. Baxter picked up his phone, typed in a quick text message to Lauren and then deleted it. By the time he finished reading the report, he had typed and deleted nine text messages to Lauren.
Was he a coward? Should he have gone to the hospital with the unconscious woman? He had never seen anyone faint in real life before and it had scared him. Every fiber in his being wanted to call her, to make sure that she was okay. One minute she was yelling at him, the next she was crumpled in his arms.
Are you okay? Just checking inhe typed. He held his finger over the send button. Getting too close to Lauren would be bad for everyone involved, especially his company. But a gentleman would check in, right? He inhaled sharply and then clicked delete.
He needed to keep his enemy at arm’s length.
Deleting the message was a business decision. One that would keep his company safe. That’s what he told himself as he slid his phone into the pocket of his leather briefcase. Deep down, he knew that there was only one person who could unravel him, only one person who could ruin everything he’d worked so hard to achieve. He was not only going to have to fight her every step of the way, but he was also going to have to fight his desire for her. Despising, maybe even hating her, was the only way to keep his company, and his heart, safe.
Chapter 13
CHARLOTTE’S PHONE VIBRATED. “Don’t you need to get that?” Lauren pointed to the phone that had migrated its way to the edge of the glass table.
Charlotte eased onto the sofa. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
Lauren squeezed her hands, wringing them in her lap. She didn’t know where to start. “Something weird happened today,” she said.
“You think?” Charlotte said. “You passed out cold and woke up in the hospital.”
Lauren still couldn’t believe what had happened. “It isn’t exhaustion, or work, or stress.” She took a sip of her tea. “Well, it might be stress, but it’s not about work or Sugar Peaks. Actually...” she paused. “It is kind of about Sugar Peaks...” her voice petered out.
“Spit it out,” Charlotte said.
Her hands shook as she held the mug, the tea precariously close to spilling on Charlotte’s expensive sofa. She didn’t know how to explain that she was seeing things, that ghosts from the past had shown up in Chance Rapids. “Do you remember when I took the cleaning job at the heli-ski lodge?”
“Of course,” Charlotte nodded. “Mom was sick, and you had to.”
Lauren took a sip of her tea. “I told you that I didn’t know the name of the guy that got me pregnant.”
Charlotte’s eyes grew wide. “You knew?”
Ten years earlier, Lauren had decided that she was going to raise Tabitha on her own. She had thought about trying to find the tree planter, but the only thing she knew about him was that his name was Brock. “He was a guest at the lodge. I knew his first name. That’s it.”
“Lauren,” Charlotte gasped. “Frank could’ve found him.”
“That’s the thing.” Lauren looked down into her Earl Grey tea. “I didn’t want to find him.”
