Blossom Street Brides (Blossom Street #10)(7)

“I don’t know; he just got here.” Her husband sounded jealous, which was ridiculous, seeing that the two of them were deeply in love and married. “I won’t be long, I promise.”

“Call me back when you can.”

“Will do. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Bethanne ended the call and turned to face her ex-husband.

“Are you as excited as I am?” Grant asked, his face aglow with happiness.

“More so.” Bethanne could barely sit still.

“We can’t let this opportunity pass without celebrating. Let me take you to dinner.”

Bethanne hesitated but then agreed. Max wasn’t the jealous type; he’d understand, and she’d phone him later with plenty of reassurances. But now was a time to celebrate.

Chapter Three

Lauren knew Elisa was stunned by the news that her daughter was pregnant. Thankfully, Elisa had resisted the urge to rush to Pullman and browbeat Katie into getting an abortion, thanks mostly to Garry, her husband.

On hearing the news, Garry had insisted they give Katie and Dietrich time to sort this situation out themselves, the same way Elisa’s parents had done twenty years earlier when they discovered Elisa was pregnant. Although Elisa didn’t like it, she’d agreed to give the two young adults breathing room. It was hard for her friend to stay out of it, Lauren realized, and she had to admire Elisa’s restraint.

In the morning Elisa was already at the store when Lauren arrived just before ten, and Lauren was determined to distract her from dwelling on the situation with Katie.

“I’ve made my decision,” Lauren announced.

Elisa looked up from the computer screen and blinked as if she didn’t have a solitary idea what Lauren was referring to.

“About me and Todd,” she elaborated. “It’s clear that since he’s been riding the fence this long, he’s simply not ready to move forward. I can accept that. I don’t like it, but it is what it is.”

Elisa rolled back her desk chair as she nodded approvingly. “So you’re going to take my advice and give Todd an ultimatum.”

“No.”

Elisa’s eyes widened. “No?” she repeated.

“I’m uncomfortable pressuring him to make a bigger commitment when clearly he isn’t ready, or more than likely he wants to keep matters the way they are, which tells me he simply doesn’t want to marry me.”

“So what are you going to do?”

As far as Lauren could see, she had no other option. “I think it’s best if the two of us make a clean break of it.”

This didn’t appear to make sense to Elisa. “But, Lauren, you’ve got all this time invested in the relationship already. It would be foolish to give up on Todd now. What he needs is a bit of incentive.”

“I’ve already given him incentive. As my father would tell me, why put good time after bad, only he’d say money instead of time. My relationship with Todd is stagnant. His focus is on his career, and that’s not going to change. I have no option but to own up to the fact that he isn’t interested. He doesn’t see himself as a husband and father, at least not with me as his wife.”

“But—”

Lauren cut her off. “Our relationship is exactly where it was twelve months ago when we had ‘the talk.’ Todd likes attending social functions with me, and frankly I’ve enjoyed it as well.” And she had. Parties and charity events had become a natural extension of their relationship, but Lauren couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a serious conversation. Everything revolved around the places they went, the food and wine they’d tasted, the people they met. Until recently it hadn’t struck Lauren how shallow their relationship had become. It bothered her to see how far off she’d wandered from what she’d once considered important. No longer. She had seen the light.

“Todd has helped build up our clientele,” Elisa reminded her.

Unwilling to be sidetracked, Lauren didn’t argue the point. “I’ve made a list.”

“A list of what? Customers?”

“No, silly. A list of what’s important to me in a man. I always thought it was someone like Todd. Handsome, outgoing, ambitious, but those qualities are actually superficial and basically not all that important.”

Elisa continued to look at her as if seeing Lauren with fresh eyes. She leaned back and rolled a pencil between her palms. “So tell me, what qualities did you put on your list?”

“I’ve dated handsome. Handsome is a dime a dozen. Character is far more important.”

“Personality?”

“No, character: a man of integrity and honor.”

“You want to marry Abraham Lincoln?”

Lauren grinned. “I’d tell him to get rid of the top hat, that’s for sure.”

Elisa smiled. “What else is on your list?”

“I want him to have a decent sense of humor.”

“I agree with you there,” Elisa said. “I can laugh with Garry like no one else.”

“I know, and I admire that about the two of you.”

“I was lucky, you know,” Elisa said. “I was still a teenager when Garry and I decided to marry. I didn’t have the sense God gave a goose; it was the luck of the draw that he was someone I could love my entire life. Garry’s a really good guy.”