“Because if anyone knows what Lawson is planning, it’s you,” Hannah teased her with a laugh.
Sarah felt her cheeks flush with heat. “I don’t know what he’s up to right now,” she admitted. “He did mention that they were going to help look into the kidnappings that were happening around here.”
Bailey tilted her head. “You guys haven’t talked yet?”
“Not about what they’re doing, really,” she replied.
“Oh, so about other things, then?” Hannah asked. She always had a nose for gossip, and there was no way she was going to let this go.
“We did clear the air about me leaving,” Sarah replied, trailing her finger around the bottom of her wineglass. God, this felt weird. She wanted to share with her friends, but it suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t know if she was risking things with Lawson by talking about everything. But she knew she couldn’t hide it. Plus, they all talked about their relationshipswith her and it didn’t seem fair to keep hers from them. She wanted to be honest with them and she did need to talk to someone about it all.
“Oh, okay. Now, you have to spill,” Bailey announced.
Sarah bit her lip, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She told them about the kiss they had shared, and how he’d wanted a redo after the way things had gone before.
Hannah made a playful grossed-out face. “Wow, who knew my brother had it in him to be romantic?”
“Holy hell.” River laughed. “You guys…you’re finally doing it, huh?”
“I’m not really sure what we’re doing right now,” Sarah replied. She’d hardly allowed herself to follow that train of thought, and had been too spooked at the notion of what might be happening between them to ask more questions about them or go any further than she already had.
Things had been so tense between them for so long, and now, something had actually happened. She felt like one wrong move would be enough to blow it all up, and there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.
“You’re not?” Hannah asked. “You didn’t have any type of relationship conversation? Come on, you have to spill. You can’t keep us hanging here.”
“Hey, it’s my love life, not yours,” Sarah protested, shaking her head. “I just… I know Lawson has a lot going on right now. And I don’t want him to have to drop all of that just because we have feelings for each other or something.”
“Not ‘or something,’” Hannah corrected her. “You definitely have feelings for each other. It’s written all over your faces whenever the two of you are together. I think you two are the last ones to notice.”
“Oh, trust me, I did notice signs,” Sarah replied. “I just didn’t want to push and end up pushing him away. I figured, when he was ready, something would happen.”
“And you think he’s ready now?” River asked.
Sarah paused for a moment. She hoped he was ready. She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to stop thinking about how good their kiss was, or how badly she craved the man. How much she wanted even more.
“I hope so,” Sarah responded. She’d been single for a long time now, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss having someone special to share her life with. She had done plenty of dating when back in college, but all of the guys she had wound up with had been totally incompatible with her. None of them understood her drive, her dedication to getting her degree or working as hard as she did. They expected her to do what was important to them, not follow her own dreams.
She had stuck with her useless dating life until her PhD, when she’d had to take a long, hard look at herself and accept that she wasn’t going to be able to give people helpful advice on their own lives if she was still making the same mistakes in hers. She had sworn off dating, focusing on her career instead, until she was in a place where she could feel confident.
And now, she was. She had a job she loved, was living in a place that felt like home and was surrounded by people she really cared about, who really cared about her. There couldn’t have been a better time to start dating again. Not just start dating, though. To build something, with Lawson.
After all this time waiting for the right person to come along at the right time, there were things she wanted to catch up on. Falling in love, building a real life with someone, maybe even having kids, if the time was right.
But that was something for “future” her to consider. She needed to focus on the present, and not put too much pressureon Lawson or herself to jump into this relationship feetfirst. They’d shared a couple of amazing kisses, and that was about it so far, even if the thought of them sent a shiver of delight down her spine.
“I don’t want to jinx it,” she told the women around her as she shook her head. Hannah opened her mouth, clearly about to hit her with another question, but before she could, a waiter appeared beside them.
“Some drinks,” he told them, distributing a few glasses of wine on to the table.
“Oh, we didn’t order anything,” Bailey remarked, but the waiter nodded over to a table just across from them.
“Those guys ordered them for you,” he replied, and all of the women turned around to see whom he was talking about. Sure enough, there were a couple of guys sitting a few tables away, sipping on beers, grinning in their direction.
“Well, I’m not drinking, so I don’t want this,” River told the waiter.
“I’ll take the free drinks!” Hannah replied, grinning.
The waiter shrugged and backed off, leaving the women alone once more.
