Chapter 20
Mason
It was a typical day at work, except that my mind was focused on Lara. I didn’t get to see her yesterday, which had left me feeling empty and irritated. I had been stuck with an emergency at work and had to cancel on her at the last minute. Thankfully, she would have had to cancel if I hadn’t. Her relief at work had called in sick, and she was stuck closing the store. We both promised to see each other tonight. I had been looking forward to it all day.
“Dr. Chambers, you have a phone call,” one of the nurses said.
I walked into my office to pick up the line. “This is Dr. Chambers.”
I expected it to be a patient frantic with worry about a procedure. My staff was good at putting calls through that were urgent enough to warrant my attention. Calls that were nonemergent were generally handled by Junie or one of the other doctors.
“Hey.” Lara’s voice came over the line.
“Lara?” I asked surprised to hear her on my work line and not my cell.
I immediately fished the cell out of my pocket to see if I had missed her call or a text. Nothing.
“Yes. Sorry to call you at work,” she said.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, immediately worried about her health.
“Yes, fine. I called you on your work line in case you were with a patient. I was planning to leave a message, but I wanted you to get it sooner rather than later and didn’t want to risk you not seeing it on your phone. I hope I’m not bothering you.”
“Nope. I’m in between patients. What’s up?”
“I wanted to let you know I have to go out of town for a couple days—Laguna Beach—which means I won’t be able to see you tonight. I have to check out a potential new organic clothing line before I make a buying commitment,” she explained.
“Oh, that sucks. I was looking forward to seeing you.”
“I’m sorry. I wanted to see you as well, but if I don’t secure this deal, my competition will get it. I want it exclusively, but before I make that kind of an offer, I need to make sure it is worth it.”
“Are you going alone?” I asked.
She chuckled. “Yes. I have done this a few times in the past. Kali has to watch the store.”
“I can go with you,” I offered, imagining a nice getaway with her for a couple days.
“No. I couldn’t ask you to do that. It’s short notice. I don’t expect you to drop everything. I know you have a busy schedule. I just wanted to let you know. I’ll call you when I get back on Saturday. Maybe we can go out for dinner.”
“That sounds great. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you? I can move my schedule around. I would love to spend the time with you,” I said, trying not to sound like I was begging.
“No. Thank you for offering, though. I’ll see you Saturday,” she said, hanging up the phone.
I was bummed. Really bummed. I missed her. It had only been a day since I had seen her last, but I missed her. Thinking about her being in another city made it feel as if I would never see her again. She would be less than eight hours away by car, but it felt too far. I mulled over the way I was feeling and had a sudden realization. I loved her. I didn’t know that I had ever stopped loving her. Being with her had made me fall in love all over again.
Oh, Brian was not going to be happy about that, but I didn’t care. This time was different. I loved her, and I wasn’t going to let anyone tell me it was wrong. It was too right to be wrong. I was going to try and do it the right way this time.
I grabbed my cell and called Brian.
“What?” he answered.
I chuckled. He was still a little pissed about the black eye, apparently. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“Want to grab a beer?”
“With you?”
“Yes, with me.”
“Not really.”
“Brian, pretend you’re an adult. We need to talk this out because I’m not going away this time,” I told him, not willing to take no for an answer.
“Fine, but if you even think about hitting me again, you best be prepared to get your ass kicked. You got a freebie. That’s it,” he said.
I laughed. “Agreed. No more fists. How about eight at the bar on the corner of Market?”
“I’ll be there,” he said and ended the call.
If I wanted a real relationship with Lara, I was going to have to figure out a way to get along with Brian. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to protect his little sister. Back then, I had been young, and we were heading off to college. It didn’t make what he did right, but I knew he loved his little sister and wanted to protect her. I admired that and appreciated knowing she had someone looking out for her.
With no possibility of seeing Lara tonight, I decided to focus my energy on work. I had been a bit of a daydreamer all week. I could use some focus, and that was what I did for the rest of the day and all day Friday. Although, I did sneak in some texts to Lara, and last night there had been some sexting. I was addicted to her and couldn’t go that long without having some kind of connection to her.
Friday was a bit hectic, and I found myself looking forward to the evening at the bar with Brian. I had been mulling over what I would say for hours.
I walked in and found he had beat me there. He was at a back corner table, already sipping a beer.
“I thought you were going to stand me up,” he grumbled when I sat down.
“Sorry. Got caught up at work.”
He nodded. “So, what’s all this about?”
“Always straight to the point. It’s about us mending the fence, burying the hatchet or whatever you want to call it. We were friends a long time. I get why you did what you did. It’s time to move past all that,” I said, hoping he would agree. I didn’t want to argue.
“Yeah, I’m cool with that. I probably deserved to get hit. If you hadn’t done it, Lara would have.”
I laughed, knowing he was right. “So, about Lara,” I started, wanting to ease into the subject.
He put a hand on his face. “Don’t tell me. You guys rekindled your relationship?”
“Yes,” I said with complete seriousness. “I don’t know how serious it is for her, but I am all in. I’m not going to leave her alone unless she asks me to. I need you to be okay with this or at least accept it and not butt in.”
He took a deep breath. “I guess it was inevitable. Good timing and all considering she just split from her husband.”
I nodded in agreement but didn’t mention how the timing wasn’t exactly great. Lara and I hadn’t talked about why she hadn’t told Brian about her desire to have a baby, and I was not going to dive into that conversation.
The waitress came by, and I ordered a beer for myself and another for Brian.
“What about you? Seeing anybody?”
The look on his face told me all I needed to know. I knew that look. It was the look of a man smitten.
“I am,” he said, smiling. “Here’s the kicker: It’s Kali.”
The name rang a bell, but I wasn’t sure why it was significant. “Who’s Kali?”
“Lara’s best friend. The assistant manager at her store.”
I almost choked on the beer I had just gulped. “What?”
He started laughing. “Yep. Kali says Lara knows and is okay with it.”
We both shared a laugh over that fact. “Wow. Did you meet her recently? Lara hasn’t told me a lot about Kali, but from what I understand, they’ve been friends a long time.”
He nodded. “I think I’ve met her in the past but never paid attention. Kali made sure I paid attention this time. It’s been a long time since I felt like this about a woman.”
“Good. I’m happy for you. I’m sure Lara is happy for you as well.”
“Yep. She’s a better person than I am. Always has been.”
“I love her,” I blurted out.
He took a long drink of his beer. I waited. Would he throw the bottle at me? Storm out? “Okay,” he said.
“Okay?” I repeated.
He shrugged his shoulders. “She’s a big girl. Hell, you can’t be any worse than Mitchel. Just don’t fuck her over or I will throw you in the bay with a couple cement block bracelets.”
I rolled my eyes. “Really?”
“She’s still my little sister.”
“I understand. I love her, and I would never hurt her.”
“Does she know?” he asked.
“Um, not so much. I only just figured it out for myself. I don’t want to freak her out. She’s still getting used to the idea of me. I don’t blame her for being a little leery of jumping into a relationship so soon after her divorce. I’m okay with that. I’ll wait until she’s ready.”
“Wow. That’s very—mature,” he said with a look of surprise.
I shrugged. “You know, we’re both pushing forty. I think mature is a good thing.”
“It is. I’m happy for you and her. I’m sorry I pushed you guys apart back then. Maybe you would have treated her right and kept her from going through what she did. I was wrong. I can admit it. In my defense, I was young and dumb.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad you approve. You’re the only family she has, and I don’t want to cause her any stress by coming between you and her,” I told him.
“Maybe we can double date,” he said with a cheesy smile. “No, scratch that. I’m not sure I’m ready to see the two of you being affectionate. That may freak me out a little.”
“You never spent any time with her and her husband?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Mitchel didn’t like me, and I didn’t like him. I always thought he was a bit of a rat. Why I kept it to myself, I don’t know. She could have used my interfering with that one.”
“Oh well. It’s in the past. I’m here now, and I am going to treat her right and make her a very happy woman.”
In the back of my mind, the baby thing lurked. She could end up kicking me to the curb. She wanted a baby but didn’t want to share parenting. At least that was what she thought right now. I hoped she would change her mind. I would love to have a baby with her. That was another subject we would have to discuss. It seemed a little silly for her to be inseminated with another man’s sperm when I was more than willing to donate my own.
Brian motioned for the waitress. “Two more please.”
Our conversation switched to lighter topics, and we caught up a bit more on what we had been up to the past few years. I hoped it was the beginning of a solid friendship again. I had missed him and Lara.
It was the start of something new and I couldn’t be happier to have them both back in my life. Now I had to work hard to keep them there. I wasn’t sure how it would go down if Lara decided she didn’t want to be with me, but I would probably lose them both, again.
***
END OF SAMPLE
Would you like to see how it ends?
Please for the full story. Thank you!