Page 16 of A Secret Chance
Charlotte tilted her head quizzically but smiled. “Go ahead.” Even though they were grown women, Lauren did her fair share of raiding Charlotte’s closet.
“Hi, Mom,” Tabitha yelled from the sofa, her nose buried in a book, as Lauren took the stairs two at a time.
“Hi, sweetie.” The urge to get the sweater off her skin had grown in intensity. She had lied to Charlotte. It wasn’t itchy, but she swore that she could feel her skin starting to burn. By the time she reached her sister’s massive walk-in closet, the neckline felt like it had shrunk three sizes and was choking the life out of her. She ripped the sweater off over her head and threw it as far away from her as she could. It hit the wall and silently slipped into an emerald pile on the floor. Lauren opened a drawer and selected a t-shirt from her sister’s collection. She wanted something simple and plain against her skin. She pulled on the shirt and ran her hands over the cotton, smoothing the fabric down over her abs. She looked in the mirror and saw that her face was flushed as red as a tomato. She took a deep breath and then headed back down the sweeping staircase to the main floor.
“You okay?” Charlotte asked.
“Rough day,” Lauren replied.
“Can you stay for dinner?” Charlotte asked. “Logan is bringing home pizza.”
Lauren’s stomach growled and she realized that the only thing that she’d ingested all day was coffee.
“Please...” Tabitha chimed in.
“Okay,” Lauren said. Thankful that she didn’t have to go home and try to figure out what she could scrounge up from the cupboards.
Lauren sat down on the sofa beside her daughter.
“Wine?” Charlotte called out from the kitchen.
“Sure,” Lauren replied and then turned her attention to her daughter. She rested her hand on her foot. “How was skiing?”
“Good,” Tabitha said without looking up from her book. Lauren sighed; her feelings were slightly hurt that her daughter was more into her book than having a conversation with her mother. But Lauren knew that behavior was learned, and Lauren was guilty of spending a good portion of her daughter’s childhood with her own nose buried in her legal textbooks.
Charlotte flicked on the gas fireplace and handed Lauren a glass of wine.
“How did the meeting go?” Charlotte asked.
“I knew that I was going to be disappointed, but I still held out some hope that those corporate jerks would come back with a proposal that fits within our parameters.”
“That tower is ridiculous, isn’t it,” Charlotte said.
“How pompous can you get?” Lauren said. She took a sip of her wine; Charlotte’s wine was always good, and tonight was no exception. “They took off a few stories, but that phallic symbol is still about ten stories too high.”
Charlotte laughed. “Do you think that they will modify it again? You know, to make it less, um, phallic?” She shot her eyes to Tabitha, but she was engrossed in her book.
“I hope so.” Lauren sipped again. “It would make my life a hell of a lot easier. The way it stands right now I’m going to be facing Caldwell’s lawyers in the courtroom. Their consultant, Thomas is a pompous asshole, and Barry Birkner, their lawyer, is not known for his integrity.”
“Mom.” Tabitha looked up from over her book.
“Oh, now I get your attention,” Lauren laughed and squeezed her daughter’s leg. “Pompous...”
“You can say asshole.” Tabitha’s eyes were wide behind her glasses, a mischievous smirk on her face.
Lauren raised her eyebrows. “You’ve been spending too much time with your auntie.”
Tabitha giggled and went back to reading.
“That Caldwell though, he’s not too hard to look at, is he?” Charlotte said, curling her feet up underneath her.
Lauren sighed. “I guess not.”
“You guess not?” Charlotte knit her brows. “He looks like a Calvin Klein model. You really have turned into a nun, haven’t you?”
“He’s okay,” Lauren couldn’t stop the sides of her mouth from turning up.
“Ha!” Charlotte pointed. “I knew it. You think he’s hot.”
