Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10)(31)

It would have been easy to simply let this unpleasant episode go, she realized. The incident had left her embarrassed and uncomfortable. Rooster had made it clear that he didn’t want to see her again, but Lauren found she simply couldn’t leave matters as they were. At the very least, she needed to explain, and apologize.

At eight Saturday morning, when she’d abandoned all hope of sleeping, she tossed aside the covers and sat on the edge of her bed. Her eyes stung as she rubbed her hand across her face.

Her one goal for the day was to find Rooster. It’d been shortsighted of her to choose that particular restaurant for their dinner date. Not once had it occurred to her that Todd would even think to seek her out. And worse, that he’d make a spectacle of himself, her, and Rooster.

The first thing she did was try to phone Rooster. She had his cell number, but he didn’t answer. The night before, she’d left a message, but he either chose to ignore it or had deleted it without listening. Unwilling to leave it alone, she decided that if he wouldn’t talk to her then she’d personally find him and force him to listen.

That first night, Rooster had said he’d booked a room in a local hotel, but if he’d mentioned the name of the hotel, she had no memory of it. Bethanne Scranton’s husband, the woman she’d met at A Good Yarn, was a friend of Rooster’s, so the first thing Lauren did when the shop opened at ten was contact Lydia at the yarn store.

“Oh, Lydia, I’m so glad I caught you,” Lauren said, when the other woman picked up the phone.

“Lauren, is that you?”

“Yes, yes, it’s me. Would you mind giving me Bethanne’s phone number?”

Lydia hesitated. “I’m sorry, Lauren. I don’t generally give out customers’ personal information.”

“I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important,” she said, and then realized Lydia was right. Elisa and Garry wouldn’t want her handing out a customer’s phone number, either. “If this goes against store policy, I understand. But would you be willing to contact her on my behalf?”

“Of course.”

“Oh, thank you. Would you ask Bethanne to phone me back right away?”

Lydia agreed she would do that first thing. “You sound upset. Is everything all right?”

“No. I need to make amends.”

“To Bethanne?”

“No, to the man who came into the shop last Thursday with her husband.”

“Rooster?”

So Lydia already knew Rooster. “I appreciate the help. I need to talk to him.”

“I’ll do my best to reach Bethanne, but no promises.”

“Do what you can; that’s all I ask. Thanks again, Lydia. I appreciate this more than you know.”

While Lauren waited to hear from the other woman, she decided to do her Saturday shopping. She had to keep herself occupied or she’d go stir-crazy sitting around the condo waiting. She tried to knit, but it was useless; her mind leaped in twenty different directions when she needed to concentrate to reacquaint herself with the skill.

Just as she was walking out of the Pike Place Market with its long rows of fresh vegetables, meats, and assortments of specialty foods, her cellphone beeped. In her eagerness to answer, Lauren struggled to hold on to her bag of groceries.

“Hello,” she said, hoping against hope that it was her fellow knitter.

“Is this Lauren?” the vaguely familiar voice asked.

“Bethanne?”

“Yes, Lydia got hold of me and said it was important that I contact you. What’s going on?”

“It’s Rooster,” Lauren blurted out. “We had an unfortunate misunderstanding and I need to find him to explain. Can you tell me where he’s staying?”

Bethanne hesitated, as if unsure this was the right thing to do. “I’d like to help, but I can’t. Rooster didn’t mention the name of the hotel.”

“Would your husband know?”

“I’m sure Max would, but he isn’t here just now.”

“Oh.” Disappointment echoed in her voice. This was getting more complicated by the moment. “When do you expect him back?”

“He didn’t say.”

Unwilling to leave it at that, Lauren pressed further. “Could you give me a guesstimate of when you’ll see him?”

Bethanne’s sigh was audible, as though even now she wasn’t sure she should be giving out information. “I can definitely tell you Max will return before six; we’re having a family dinner.”

“Six,” Lauren blurted out. She didn’t want to wait that long. If she didn’t talk to Rooster soon, it would drive her nuts.

“Why is it so important that you find him?”

“Like I said, we had a misunderstanding,” Lauren explained without going into details.

“What kind of misunderstanding?” Bethanne pressed.

Reluctantly, Lauren gave Bethanne a thumbnail sketch of what had happened between Rooster and Todd and then between her and Rooster. She explained that it was particularly embarrassing because Todd was so easily recognizable.

“This is Todd Hampton, from Channel Eight news?” Bethanne sounded incredulous.

“Yes.”

“You’re dating Todd Hampton?”

“Was dating.” She placed emphasis on the past tense. “I broke it off, and now it seems Todd believes this is all a ploy to get him to marry me. It isn’t. I broke it off and all of a sudden Todd’s convinced he can’t live without me.”