4
LAURA SKIDDED TO A STOP on the library floor when she saw her friends waiting by the last bookshelf on the deserted second floor. She knew they wouldn’t be disturbed in the reference section.
“Sorry I’m late,” Laura said as she hurried down to the far corner where they stood.
Isabel glanced at her delicate wristwatch. “Where have you been, Laura? It’s almost closing time.”
“I had to do a double shift at the diner.” It had been difficult to work after she’d talked to Connor. Her hesitation had made everything worse. She wanted to accept his offer, to be with him and no one else, but she wasn’t sure if she had the right.
“Why the emergency meeting?” Sydney asked. “What do we have to discuss that you couldn’t say over the phone?”
“I need your advice.” She wasn’t sure if that was true. Did she want their opinion on whether she should be with Connor? What if they recommended she avoid him? “Connor asked me out.”
“Go for it,” they said in unison.
“I want to...so much that it hurts, but this was supposed to be a fling. Something fun and temporary.” She shoved her hands in her short hair. “Now he thinks I’m the one for him.”
Sydney’s mouth dropped open. “What exactly did he say?”
“That he loves me and he has always loved me.” Her breath hitched in her throat as her stomach gave a slow tumble.
“And you don’t...want his love?” Isabel asked.
“I do! But—” She wanted his love but she didn’t want to hurt him when he realized she couldn’t conform to his picture of the ideal woman. She didn’t want to be hurt, either. Laura knew she couldn’t handle that kind of disappointment and rejection. She couldn’t change for him and she didn’t want him to change for her. “I don’t know. I wasn’t planning for this to happen.”
“What did you want to happen? You already had an emotional connection with him. Did you really think you could take him to bed and then go back to being friends?” Isabel argued.
“Yes! I’ve been on friendly terms with some of my exes.”
“But Connor is different,” Isabel said. “You were friends with him first.”
“Connor is always so focused on creating something solid and lasting and I wanted to show—” Laura tossed her hands in the air as her voice rose “—that he can enjoy the moment and it’s okay if it doesn’t last forever.”
Laura’s gaze darted from Sydney’s inquisitive face to Isabel’s troubled expression. “You guys, what do I do? He says he loves me and I can already tell that he’s imagining a future for us. I should just convince him it’s never going to happen, right?”
“No,” Sydney said.
“Yes!” Isabel answered.
“Really?” Laura’s voice rose. She didn’t expect a split decision. “Which is it?”
“Well, first things first,” Sydney said. “Why do you think you’re not the right woman for him?”
Dread curled heavily in her stomach. “He wants a traditional family life and I can never fit into that box.”
“Are you kidding?” Isabel asked. “You are traditional when it comes to your family.”
“No, I’m not.” She paused. Was she? She wasn’t the most obedient daughter but her family always came first. She was actively involved in her sisters’ lives and she worked hard to make the family business a success. But she didn’t think that was being traditional. That was just being a Dawson.
“But what if we’re wrong?” Sydney asked, ignoring Isabel’s offended look. “What if his attraction has been stimulated by the aphrodisiacs? Connor and Laura’s relationship made a giant leap while she was feeding him those foods. Maybe he believes he’s in love but he’s really making decisions based—”
“Ladies—” Doris Brown walked around the edge of the bookshelf “—my mother always said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
Laura stiffened when she saw that the town’s worst gossip stood in front of them. Silence reigned in the corner as they stared at the short woman. She might look like a kindly grandmother with her floral dress and orthopedic shoes, but Doris Brown was a force to be reckoned with.
“Miss Doris,” Laura greeted weakly. “How long have you been there?”
Doris patted her curly white hair. “Long enough to know that this is exactly why the reading circle banned the cookbook.”
They were screwed, Laura decided. There was no way out of this. The last thing Laura and her friends wanted was to prove that the reading circle members were correct in their fears. That would give them too much power. “Please don’t tell anyone about this,” Laura pleaded.