Page 59 of A Secret Chance
“Your house. It’s literally, right there.”
“I know, I know, but we can’t.” Her eyes started to well up with tears.
“Hey, don’t cry. Remember what I said about that?” He brushed away the wetness under her eyes with his thumb. She held onto his wrist and her face fell heavy into his palm.
“Good night, Baxter,” she whispered. She pulled his hand away from her face and stood on her toes to kiss him. He felt her lips quiver as they lingered on his. She squeezed his arm and then walked to her house. He stood in the howling wind and watched as her porch light flicked off. She hadn’t turned back once.
Chapter 21
WITHOUT TABITHA, THEhouse was eerily silent. Lauren rubbed her bleary eyes and tried to make out the time on her watch. It was seven a.m., barely daylight. Sleep had only come to her about an hour earlier. She had spent the night tossing and turning, wondering if she would regret walking away from Baxter again. She reluctantly pulled back the covers and quickly got dressed in her sweatpants and college sweatshirt. She pulled her hair into a messy ponytail and after brushing her teeth and making a pot of coffee she sat down at her desk. Tabitha would be home soon, so she had to take advantage of any free time she had.
She checked her cell phone to make sure that there weren’t any messages from Tabitha, she had only just started feeling comfortable sleeping at her friend’s houses. As much as she wanted to repeat the best night of her life with Baxter, there was no way she would’ve been able to explain the pink bedroom covered with posters. She hadn’t technically lied to Baxter, but she hadn’t been truthful either. She was already in too deep to try and backpedal her way out of this mess. The best way to dig herself out was going to be to win, defeat Caldwell, and hope that Baxter left down never to be seen again.
She took a sip of her coffee and started to work. Two hours later, she hadn’t touched her coffee, but she had made major headway with the paperwork. She would’ve kept going but was interrupted by a knock on the door. She swallowed hard. Tabitha didn’t knock. She just burst into the house. Lauren set down her pen and pulled back the lace curtain on the door.
“Charlotte.” She opened the door and her sister stepped inside, knocking the snow off her boots before unlacing them. “Come on in,” Lauren muttered as she followed Charlotte into the living room.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“I’m fine thanks. How are you?” Lauren walked past her sister and headed into the kitchen to put the kettle on to boil. “Would you like some tea?” she asked.
“I want to know what happened last night,” Charlotte shouted. “And yes, chamomile.”
Lauren popped the teabags into the mugs and leaned on the kitchen counter. “I don’t really want to talk about it. There’s actually nothing to talk about.”
“He knows that you know,” Charlotte said.
“I know.”
“So, he found you then.” Charlotte’s voice was quiet, her eyes warm as she watched Lauren pour the water into the mugs and carefully set them down on the coffee table. Charlotte patted the cushion beside her, and Lauren took a seat.
“He did.”
“Okay, I knew that,” Charlotte smiled.
“What? How?”
