Page 60 of A Secret Chance
“I also know that you two chatted for hours at the G-Spot and then disappeared into a snowstorm.”
“You filled that monstrosity up with gas this morning, didn’t you?” Lauren said. She blew on her steaming tea. She had been trying to get her uber-rich sister to give up her gas-guzzling SUV and get an electric car for years.
“You know it,” Charlotte smiled. “Muriel asked me if you and the handsome man were an ‘item.’ Charlotte used air quotes.
“Do you think that she’ll say anything to anyone else?” Lauren had hoped that Muriel wouldn’t start spreading any gossip.
“Lauren, half the town saw you looking all moony-eyed at Baxter Caldwell. It doesn’t matter if Muriel says anything or not, which I doubt she will. She whispered it to me when Logan was buying a breakfast sandwich.”
“Nothing happened.” Lauren rubbed the handle of her mug, thinking back to the wee hours of the morning when she had walked away from Baxter.
“Define nothing,” Charlotte smirked.
“Okay, so we kissed a little bit. That’s it.” Lauren wasn’t used to getting the third degree from her sister.
“That’s it?” Charlotte raised her eyebrows as if she didn’t believe her.
“What was I going to do?” Lauren pointed to the door of Tabitha’s bedroom. “Bring him in here? How would I explain all the drawings on the fridge, the pink bedroom...?”
“You didn’t tell him about her?”
“No.” Lauren looked into her mug. “But I’ve made a decision about that. I’m going to tell him. I am.” She said it as much to herself as to her sister.
“That’s good,” Charlotte smiled. “He deserves to know.”
“I’m going to tell him when the development stuff is over. We’ve decided to put whatever is going on between us on hold until after the council meeting.”
“You don’t think you’ve already crossed the line into a conflict of interest?”
Lauren knew that Charlotte was right. “I’m considering it to be more of a gray area.”
“Dark gray?”
Lauren narrowed her eyes. There was no way she was giving up all the hard work she had done over the past year. She couldn’t trust anyone to know the ins and outs of this file like she did. The future of the town was at stake, and she potentially fucked it up by kissing the devil in charge of the wrecking ball.
“We danced and drank horrible coffee together. That’s all anyone saw. It’s not a gray area at all if no one knows about that kiss.” She took a sip of her tea while maintaining eye contact with Charlotte.
“You know I won’t tell anyone.” Charlotte set down her mug. “Come on Lauren, I can’t believe you actually had to say that.”
“Sorry.” Lauren relaxed into the sofa. “I know that you would never say anything, but in this case, this means so much to me.”
“And Baxter, what does he mean to you?”
“I don’t even know him,” Lauren said. “I can’t throw away everything for a guy, especially a guy like him.”
“I don’t know, he seems like a pretty good guy to me.” Charlotte nudged her sister with her elbow. “I’ve never seen you look at anyone like that before. Ever.”
Charlotte was right, Lauren had never felt the way she did when she was in Baxter’s arms. “He’s not a bad guy,” she sighed. “His company is terrible though.”
Lauren could practically see the steam coming out of Charlotte’s head, “Wait. You two have put this on hold until one of you wins. And then what? Did you talk about that?”
“Not really. Kind of. I don’t know, Char.” Lauren was avoiding the questions but racked her brain to remember where they had left that conversation. “He wins, the town blames me, and I never get another job here again. I win, he has no reason to stay here.”
Charlotte’s brow was furrowed and then she leaned back and crossed her arms tightly. “Classic Lauren.”
“What?”
“That’s what you’re banking on. That one of you will have to leave and you won’t have to tell him at all.”
