Frustrated, Laurie stood and slung her purse over her shoulder. She had no excuse to stay with Finn, and the dark expression on his face said he didn’t want her there.
“Bye, Finn,” she said glibly. “I’m glad you’re still with us.”
Her gaze connected with his, the intensity of his glare shooting a charged bolt through her chest. Whatever emotion lay behind that murderous look had destroyed any progress they’d made in their relationship. He must see her as one more interfering woman in his life.
At least he’s alive—I don’t care what he thinks about me.
She tried hard to believe it.
Chapter 11
As she feared, Laurie didn’t hear from Finn for the rest of the week, though Bran kept her up to date on his condition. Determined to carry her share of the load, Laurie tried her best to work without bothering Branson or Cole. Fortunately, a phone call to Dara had resulted in a wealth of information. Stuck at home on bed-rest, she said she was going “stir crazy” and happily answered every question Laurie could think of. She made Laurie promise to contact her if she got stuck again, but Laurie didn’t want to take advantage of her when she was supposed to be on leave.
At noon on Friday, while working through lunch to complete a to-do list about ten miles long, she got a phone call from her mother. She answered the phone, though she didn’t feel up to the inevitable argument.
“Hi, Mom. I’m pretty busy, so I can’t talk long.”
“You’re not taking a lunch break?”
She stayed calm, knowing her mother didn’t realize how judgmental she sounded.
“I’ll grab something to eat. But it’s not like I couldn’t afford to skip one meal.”
“Laurie Tyra Shields! You know that’s not healthy.”
“Why did you call, Mom?” she asked, impatience creeping into her tone.
“I wanted to tell you my news.”
“What’s that?”
Please don’t let her tell me she’s marrying Tyrone.
“I’m engaged!”
Ughh! She struggled to control her ragged emotions. She had to put her mother’s feelings first.
“Mom, if this is really what you want, I’m happy for you.”
“And I want you to be my maid of honor.”
Dread swirled in her gut. “Don’t you think your sister should be your maid of honor? She deserves it after all she’s done for us.”
Laurie and her mother had lived with Aunt Micaela and Uncle Carlos for as long as Laurie could remember.
“I want my daughter.”
Laurie stifled a groan. “I’ll consider being in the wedding. But only if you have a small private ceremony… a secret one, with no publicity.”
Carmen’s response was a loud sniff.
“Tyrone wants me to have the wedding of my dreams. Why shouldn’t I get a fancy wedding with a white dress and everything? You don’t think I deserve it?”
“Mom, my decision has nothing to do with you. I’ve worked hard to keep my own identity. So you can have the celebrity life, but I don’t want to be known as Tyrone Shields’ daughter—I just want to be plain-old Laurie F—” She stopped herself before she blurted out her new last name. “Laurie, from Miami.”
“Tyrone’s not really a celebrity, anymore,” her mother argued. “He retired from football years ago.”
“The media still follow him around. Especially since Jerome’s in the NFL now.” Laurie referred to her half-brother.