Free Friends and Lovers by Tara Mills Page B

were calm enough, but she knew her deep blush gave her away.
    “Lauren, you’re a vision. I’m so sorry I made you uncomfortable.” He gave her a disarming smile and added, “You did something to your hair.”
    Her hand went to her head self-consciously. “Highlights.”
    Wes caught her wrist and brought it down. “Don’t be embarrassed. It looks great.”
    Lauren bit her lip and fidgeted, not sure whether his frank approval or his touch was affecting her more. “Thank you.”
    “So, you ready to go?”
    “Just let me get my purse.”
    * * * *
    Standing on the front steps of the strange house, Lauren knew that if Wes weren’t beside her, she would have bolted. She turned her head and looked at all the unfamiliar cars parked in the driveway and along the road. She wasn’t ready for this.
    Wes pressed the doorbell again and a second later the door swung open. A pretty brunette squealed in delight when she saw him. She reached for Wes’s hand and pulled him inside, nearly knocking Lauren off the edge of the steps at the same time. Lauren was not amused.
    “Oh good, you made it! Come on in, we’re just about to start,” the woman said.
    Lauren was appeased, temporarily, when Wes slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her in with him.
    “Jolene, this is Lauren McKay.”
    “Lauren.” The woman offered her hand with a friendly smile. “I’m so glad you could come.”
    Wes eased back, nodding to Jolene as she took possession of Lauren, leading her down the hallway, chattering the entire time.
    Anxious, Lauren looked over her shoulder and Wes smiled back. “I’ll bring in our gift.”
    Resigned to the inevitable, Lauren tried to relax and get into the spirit of the occasion. Then her footsteps faltered. There was Sherry, surrounded by a crowd of unfamiliar women.
    Seeing her again was so much harder than Lauren expected. Pain, there was actual pain, both physical and emotional, now that Lauren was mere feet from her dearest friend. She’d learned to live with the ache of separation, the longing, and the haunting dreams of loss, but this was too much. It hit her like a snowball in the face—stinging and cold—that she was the stranger here. It was even more startling to realize that all this time she’d been mourning the loss of two of the most important women in her life, not just one.
    Sherry turned and saw Lauren. There was hesitation and sorrow in her eyes, but then the corners of Sherry’s mouth flickered up and she broke away from the pack and waddled over.
    Lauren was trembling all over again. On the verge of a panic attack, she wondered whether being flayed alive wouldn’t be a whole lot easier.
    Then Lauren noticed Sherry’s comical gait and found she could smile after all. That alone helped ease her tension, at least temporarily.
    Sherry stopped in front of Lauren and took both of her hands. “I’m so glad you came.”
    “Me too.”
    It was difficult to say who moved first but suddenly they were hugging and crying, swaying back and forth as they tried to accommodate the solid belly between them. The mass gave Lauren a boot and she pulled back with a gasp.
    Sherry laughed and caressed her belly. “Happens all the time.”
    * * * *
    Wes was in the middle of fighting the chair through the doorway when he saw their emotional hug. Feeling a bit overcome himself, he paused with the rocker suspended in midair and waited it out. Seeing them together again warmed him inside like hot cocoa.
    Sherry brushed the tears from the corner of her eyes and finally noticed her brother. “What have you got there?”
    “It’s your present from Lauren and me.”
    She looked back and forth between them with startled eyes. “You didn’t.”
    “We did,” said Lauren.
    “Excellent! Bring it in here,” she said, waving impatiently at her brother.
    She tore off the bow and sat down with a happy sigh. “This is great, really great.”
    Wes bent and kissed the top of Sherry’s head and she beamed up at him.