“No it’s not! You guys hate each other.” She laughs miserably. “And I’m stuck in the middle of this.” I take her face in my hands and turn her towards me, her big hazel eyes full of sadness and uncertainty.
“I promise you… things are about to get a lot better.”
“You mean the gallery opening?” she asks.
“No, I mean we’re going to be integrating,” I tell her and her eyes go wide.
“What?” Her eyes crinkle in disbelief or maybe confusion.
“We’ve all agreed. We want what’s best for you and Caylen.”
“I-I don’t know what to say.” She’s so stunned that she begins to pace the floor.
“I thought that it took years, that you all had to agree…and this morning Chris was just furious at Cal and now you all agreed to be one?” she asks skeptically.
“I explained to them what this is doing to you. We talked it over, and we don’t want to be a hindrance to your happiness. We want Caylen to grow up with a normal father and for you to have a normal husband.” I watch her brows draw together. “I thought you’d be happy,” I ask a little shocked. She gives me a small smile.
“It sounds good, but I want you all to know that I don’t care about normal. I’ve never been ashamed or embarrassed of you, and I never will be. I’m just tired of the fighting—of being the bad guy.” Her sadness takes over her beautiful features.
“There won’t be any more,” I promise her. “I know this is a lot to take in, especially before your opening, but I have to say it’s an honor for me to be here for it. I’m so happy to see you be the woman you were always capable of being. We never wanted to hold you back.”
“You didn’t hold me back.” She gives a slight shake of her head, but we both know the truth.
“I’m still a little in shock over what you just told me that I can’t even think about the opening right now. How will this integration work? When is this supposed to happen? I-I’m just...” she sounds more bewildered than relieved. I tilt my head and look at her, studying her reaction.
“This is what you want, isn’t it?” I ask her, and for a moment her face goes blank.
“It’s never been about what I want,” she mutters. I feel my skin heat up, and I walk to her but she doesn’t look at me.
“I’ve never asked you but… if you had to choo.—” Her furious glare makes me stop mid-sentence.
“Really, Collin?” she asks in disbelief. “You of all people should know… I thought that you got it,” her voice is strained, and I immediately regret asking.
“I’m sorry. I know. I do understand.” I tell her. I did understand once upon a time. It seems so long ago, and now I feel like I don’t understand anything. I do feel that she owes us some sort of an answer. If she had to choose, why wouldn’t it be me? I bought her this gallery. I’m the most stable one. I’m not as weak as Chris and not hot-tempered and unreliable like Cal. It should be me. She’s right, there isn’t a question because the answer doesn’t matter.
It will be me.
Chapter 31
Lauren
“That goes over there.” Hillary directs the sea of workers we hired to set up for the event. My stomach is in knots. Not only is it tied in knots, but it feels queasy as if I were tied to a roller coaster. It’s the morning of my gallery opening, and it doesn’t feel like how I thought it would. I thought I would be excited and elated but instead I feel panicked and on edge.
“Lauren, don’t you have a hair and makeup appointment,” Angela asks me knocking me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, but I thought I should be here helping out and being more hands-on…” I say mechanically.
“Hon, we’ve got this. Everything is going to go beautifully,” she reassures me with smile. The last two days have been a blur. I’ve thrown myself into work preparing everything for today, but what Collin said about integrating is at the forefront of my mind regardless of how much I try to ignore it. Something is different. Even Helen agrees though she won’t say much about it. The only thing that she did reveal was that Collin hasn’t exactly been his usual self. He seems more emotional, a little more human and it’s not bad, but I had grown to be comforted by his fair, unbiased nature. In the beginning, his motives were never for him, but for all of them as a whole. I’ve started to get the distinct feeling that this is no longer the case, and if that’s changed, I have to question everything that he’s said and done. With him being the most knowledgeable of them all, it’s a very scary place for him to be in if he’s not thinking clearly. I’m worried, and it’s not the kind that hits you at once when you think something bad is going to happen, but the silent kind that kills you in your sleep. The kind where people wonder why a perfectly healthy twenty-something-year-old suffered a stroke or heart attack.
“Lauren Scott.” I turn around toward the deep voice, and it’s accompanied with blond hair, swoon worthy eyes and a smile that had to have been aided by years of braces.
“You’re…” I trail off trying to place the familiar face.
“Ian Hudson,” he says extending his hand.
“Of course you are, I’m so sorry. Things are super hectic right now,” I apologize. This is the guy Hillary fawned over about his face, but his photography work is what is phenomenal.
“I’m so honored that you are allowing me to feature your work.” He’s beautiful but in a rugged sort of way, rough around the edges, no polish. Tall and broad, more like a mechanic than a photographer. He sort of looks like Thor, Hillary is going to love that. She has a huge crush on Chris Helmsworth, I can’t worry about what a messy triangle that could be.
Hopefully he’s married.
“No problem, it looks like it’s in good hands here,” he says with an easy shrug surveying the chaos.
“It will be, I promise. Everything will all come together tonight.”
“No worries. If Mike trusts you, I trust you.” He smiles warmly. It’s a smile I’m sure would cause butterflies to any other woman, but all I want to do is pass it off to someone else. Fantastic eyes and stomach-clenching smiles is why my brain is such a mess right now.
“Lauren, can you check on this and make sure that the playlist is okay? The DJ’s assistant wants your final approval,” Angela says as she hands me a list.
“I can see you’re busy. I just wanted to introduce myself since we were in the area. I’ll see you tonight,” he says with an easy unoffended smile.
“Thank you again. Yes, we’ll talk more tonight,” I say gluing my eyes on the list. When two hands cover my eyes, I try to hide a groan and plaster on a fake smile. I have so much work to do that right now, I wish I had a magic genie to grant me three wishes to make everything perfect if not just bearable. I turn around, and it’s Raven smiling widely at me. I fall into her big hug.
“I thought you weren’t coming in until later?” I ask her surprised.
“I wasn’t, but I figured you might need some help.” Her eyes survey me and her brows immediately knit together. “Are you okay?”