Page 11 of Pieces of Perfect
CHAPTER SIX
That night they stayed in Memphis. They were planning to drive to Nashville the following morning to see that city, too. They were going to spend two nights there, enjoying the country music scene together before going home. They’d see each other again in August, when they had their yearly reunion at Serenity’s family cabin in Lake Tahoe.
Reagan was on the phone with Rally, and Serenity was on the phone with Sawyer. They were telling their significant others—Serenity had married Sawyer but Reagan hadn’t yet married Rally—about their meeting with Greenstone and what he’d been like, while Lorelei lay on the bed, watching the TV without sound so they’d be able to hear.
Feeling like the only one who didn’t have someone important to share her thoughts and feelings with back home, she sat up and texted Francine to check on her daughter.
How’s Lucy? Everything okay?
She’s fine. Don’t worry about her. You know I always take great care of her—love her like my own.
Lorelei rolled her eyes. The way she’d loved Mark like her own?
How’d it go today?Francine asked.What was your father like? I’ve been dying to hear.
Since Francine had once been her best friend, she knew all about Lorelei’s hopes, dreams, fears and insecurities. Maybe that was why Lorelei was having such a hard time forgiving her for cheating with Mark. Francine, of all people, knew Lorelei had never really had a family, that the one she’d established with Mark meant everything to her, and yet she’d gone to bed with him anyway.
Now they each had a child with him.
Thanks for letting me know Lucy’s okay. I appreciate you being so good to her, she wrote back and left it at that. She was determined to be polite for Lucy’s sake, didn’t want to give Francine any reason to resent her child. But Francine continually tried to tempt her back into the comfortable, close relationship they’d once had, and that wasn’t ever going to happen. For Lorelei, it wasn’t about love or forgiveness. It was about trust. Her trust had been shattered, and there was no way to piece it together again.
Her phone lit up. Mark was trying to call her. No doubt he was curious about how it had gone, too, and thought she’d tell him.
But she wasn’t going to pick up. She didn’t need to talk to either one of them right now. All she’d wanted was to know her daughter was safe.
Ignoring the call, she put her phone on the nightstand and went back to surfing TV stations, trying to occupy herself until Reagan and Serenity got off their phones. But they were both laughing and talking in such an animated fashion she got the impression this could go on for some time, and that made Lorelei feel different from everyone else—like she’d always felt as a child. Her sisters had partners they loved; she had an ex-husband and an ex-best friend who had a child together.
Impulsively, she reclaimed her phone and pulled up Finn’s contact record. She had to talk to him. That was all there was to it.
Without letting herself think any more about it, she went into the bathroom, closed the door so she could have some privacy and hit the Send button.
He answered on the second ring.
“Hey,” he said. “Is it really you?”
She stared down at the tile on the bathroom floor. Just the sound of his voice made her heart ache to see him. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“What’s going on?”
“I…” She drew a deep breath. “I wanted to see if you’d be coming to Tahoe this summer.”
“Work’s gotten crazy so it might be difficult, but I’m trying to arrange it.”
He hadn’t come last summer because of his job. He was an artist—a painter—which usually gave him a lot of flexibility. But he’d had a big gallery showing. Was he having another one this year?
“It would be great to see you again,” he added.
Were those only words? Suddenly, Lorelei had to know. “If you really wanted to see me, you could always come to Florida.”
“You’ve never invited me to Florida.”
“I didn’t realize I needed to.”
“I haven’t wanted to get in the way. You’ve been going through a divorce, and you’ve told me you need to put Lucy first, which I totally understand. I thought that might include getting back with her father.”
“That’ll never happen. It’s over between Mark and me.”
“How was I supposed to know? I can’t read your mind, Lorelei.”
