Before Daylight. Andie J. Christopher

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СКАЧАТЬ Max, wasn’t it? I may not know you children well, but I know—” Lola pointed up at the ceiling, as though she was calling on God for corroboration. “He has the biggest mouth.”

      “It wasn’t Max.” Her older brother might be the family communicator, but even he had been mum on the subject of her secret nuptials. “It was your ex-husband. I found out because he couldn’t file my taxes without my husband’s signature.”

      “I’m sorry.”

      Laura turned and looked at Lola, pressing her lips together to bite back the mean words that she wanted to say. Her grandmother appeared to be truly remorseful. Though she couldn’t be certain if she was sorry for keeping the secret or the way that Laura had found out. “For what?”

      “For not telling you.”

      “And you’re not sorry for not stopping me?”

      Lola shrugged and all the guilt evaporated from her demeanor. “You were having fun. Since I came back for Alana’s wedding, I never see you have any fun. Charlie is handsome, and so I didn’t pay close attention.”

      “Is that everyone’s excuse?”

      Lola took her hand and pulled her towards the living room. The older woman was shockingly strong, but Laura didn’t fight it. She even sat down next to her grandmother.

      “They didn’t tell you because I didn’t want them to tell you.”

      Laura gasped and balled her fists in her lap. “So you’re the ringleader?”

      Her grandmother then had the nerve to pat her hand. Pat. Her. Hand. “You looked so happy, and so—in love—the night of the wedding. I didn’t want anyone standing in the way.”

      “How could I be in love with him?” Laura stood up, unable to stay seated in the face of such utter bullshit. “I barely know him, and I was drunk.”

      “How drunk?” Lola’s brow furrowed, as though it was finally sinking in that she’d made a grave error.

      “So, so, so, so drunk.”

      “I didn’t know.”

      “So you thought I remembered all this time and had decided to say nothing about getting married?”

      “I didn’t know you really got married—legally—until you told me.”

      “You thought I had just gotten mildly tipsy and decided to have a fake wedding at my cousin’s wedding with a guy I barely know?”

      Lola stood up and shrugged again in a way that was growing more infuriating by the moment. “I didn’t know exactly what you were up to, but I thought it was time you had an adventure.”

      “I don’t need adventure, Abuela.” She took a deep breath and turned away from her grandmother. “I need structure and discipline.”

      Lola made a haughty “pfft” sound. “The last thing you need is more structure. You work yourself into the ground. Dios, there’s nothing to you but skin and bone.” She walked around the coffee table until she was facing her again. Her face was soft, care dripping from her gaze. “You look so tired, mi amor.”

      “I’m fine.”

      Lola grabbed her arms. Laura’s chest ached at the tenderness that she’d never really gotten from her aloof parents. They were broken people, and they didn’t care much about how people felt on the inside. Her father had been too busy growing a business in a weird competition with her mother’s cousin Hector when Laura was growing up to kiss boo-boos or even attend recitals. Her mother’s answer for most things was an afternoon of shopping or a dosage of Valium.

      Lola’s tenderness, on the other hand, was palpable, and it made it difficult to stay angry at her. Even though she’d caused a major inconvenience for Laura.

      She pulled away from her grandmother, unable to bear her pity. “I’ll fix it.”

      “Can I help you?”

      “I think you’ve helped enough.”

      * * * *

      Laura was hoping that Charlie wouldn’t pick a trendy restaurant for their first and last date. Her hopes were dashed when he called her and told her that he’d made reservations at Juvia, a trendy spot near the beach with a rooftop dining room.

      Any hope she had of not being seen by any gossipmongers was dashed when he’d suggested it. She was sure he would have picked another place had she put her foot down, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The notion that this wasn’t a real date was dashed when she picked up the phone and heard his deep, raspy voice. He didn’t even have to be in the room for him to affect her on a primal, physical level. She’d never felt like that before from just words, and it was disconcerting.

      The man she’d married tested her hard-won equilibrium over the phone, but he blew it to smithereens when she walked out of her condo building to find him standing by a sexy, black sports car, wearing a suit that looked as though it had found fabric nirvana just resting against his skin.

      Her husband was seriously sexy, which made it all the more imperative that he sign the papers folded neatly inside her handbag. She couldn’t afford to let the warm feeling that overtook her whenever he was near steer her off course.

      Not after all these years of sacrifice. Now that she was finally at the pinnacle of her career—or close to it—she couldn’t afford to slide back down the face of the mountain. Because who would she be without ballet?

      Probably someone like her mother, who had no passions of her own. Her mother had lived through her father’s success. She hadn’t done anything with her considerable intellect, and she was miserable. Her mother’s misery filled her parents’ house, and Laura could barely stand to be there. Half the time, she thought that the will to become a professional dancer had come from the sheer desire not to be at home.

      And, despite the disparaging words from his ex-wife, Charlie was the kind of man that women threw away dreams for. Against that dark thought, Laura squared her shoulders and approached him as though he wasn’t a walking live wire, ready to shock her carefully constructed life to death if she let him touch her.

      “You look gorgeous.” Such a cheap line that worked when it came from Charlie, with his pretty eyes and roguish smirk.

      “I know.” He gave her a full-on smile at that.

      “Of course, you do.” He opened the car door, and his hand went to her lower back.

      She startled, but he didn’t move his hand away. And she swore she could hear a sizzling burn from the touch of his hand through her filmy sun dress. It was God-awful hot this time of year, but the humid air wasn’t the only reason she was sweating a half hour after getting out of the shower.

      She took her seat, half to get away from his touch, half because she didn’t want him to stop touching her. He must have just arrived because the interior of the car was still cool from air conditioning. Still, she wanted to fan herself to get the flush to leave her skin. One little caress and he had her heart beating as though she’d just rehearsed a solo piece for an hour. He got in and started the car again.

      He СКАЧАТЬ