Laurie's Time (The Fairfield Series) (16 page)

Emma leaned over and hugged Laurie. “I’m proud of you girl. You really are coming into your own time, aren’t you?”

Going back to their wine and memories, they talked well past midnight and into Christmas Day.

*

Mac came in to relieve Rob so he could have a few hours away from the station. “Got any plans, son?” he asked.

“Yeah, Tom and Jake are meetin’ me at Smokey’s for a drink. I’ll just be a couple of hours, and then I’ll be back.”

Mac eyed his son, proud of the change in him. Mac knew that for years a trip to Smokey’s with the boys would usually end up with Rob tangled in the sheets with some nameless woman. He was always proud of Rob but knew he had a lot of offer a good woman and felt like he was wasting years chasing skirts. Now that Rob was with Laurie, his son seemed so much happier. Mac walked over and clapped Rob on the shoulder. “Tell the boys ‘Merry Christmas’ from Bernie and me.”

Rob walked in to Smokey’s a little early and sat at the bar to wait on Tom and Jake. Bill and Wendy Evans walked over to greet him.

“Where’s that gorgeous girl of yours?” Wendy asked.

“She went to visit her aunt for Christmas, and I’m working at the station, so it was a good time for her to go.”

“Well, she certainly has made a believer out of me,” Bill said cryptically.

Rob looking at his friend, raised one eyebrow in question.

Bill chucked. “Never thought anyone could reform a player like you, but she sure did.”

Wendy slapped her husband’s arm, calling him an old coot. “Ignore him, Rob,” she said. “I always knew that the right woman was all that you needed. And Laurie is a keeper!” She looked up smiling. “Well here comes the rest of the crew. Tom here has found his darling, so I just need to work on Jake.”

Rob greeted his friends, and they made their way to a table. The three men presented a wall of masculinity as they walked through the bar. The room was fairly empty on Christmas Eve, but the three handsome men turned the heads of the usual women there.

Tom looked at his two best friends and declared that he had an announcement to make. Jake and Rob looked over, confusion written on both of their faces.

“You two need to mark your calendars for May 20th. I’ve asked Carol to marry me, and she said yes.”

Jake and Rob enthusiastically congratulated Tom, then called Bill and Wendy over to celebrate with them. Wendy bounced over, hugging Tom, declaring that Carol was the best thing for him. Bill bought another round of drinks for the friends, congratulating Tom as well. Pressed for details, Tom admitted that he and Carol were ready, but that her parents were difficult people to please.

“Carol’s tried her whole life to please them, even though years ago she decided to take charge of her life. I just think that she used to think that things would get easier with them. She finally realized that it’s her life and she’s gonna have to please herself. So we decided that it didn’t make any sense to wait. I gave her the ring this mornin’ and we agreed to get married in May. Neither of us wants a big wedding, although that’ll be a battle with her parents,” he said shaking his head. “But May it is, and well, I want you two to stand up with me at the wedding.”

The three friends continued their annual Christmas Eve get together, toasting their friendship. They were getting ready to leave when two of the local barflies sauntered over. Jake was well known for not being a player in town, and while most of the women had learned that Rob and Tom were off the market, a few simply couldn’t believe that he would be faithful.

Roxie, a busty blonde with her tits falling out of her shirt, plopped down quickly on Rob’s lap, shoving her almost naked breasts into his face. Her giggling, drunken friend, over to the side made eyes at Jake. Rob had fucked Roxie several years ago and now looked at her in disgust. Snarling, he hauled her off of him.

“Oh, come on, Robbie,” she whined. “We had fun once. We could always have fun again. That little girlfriend of yours couldn’t possibly give you a blow job as good as me.”

Rob, full of fury, more at himself than her, lowered his face into hers and growled, “We never had fun. We had a fuck. That was it. No emotion. No next time. Just. A. Fuck. At least I now know what I want. I suggest you move on and do the same.”

Stalking over to the bar to say goodbye to Bill and Wendy, he was tempted to down another whiskey, but he knew he had to go back on duty. He, Tom, and Jake walked out into the December night, the cold wind barely cooling off his anger.

“You okay?” Jake asked.

Rob, tight lipped, just hung his head for a moment. Looking back up into the faces of his oldest friends, he replied, “Yeah, but it sucks to have your past keep gettin’ shoved back at you. I was a fuck-up, guys, and you knew it. Hell, even last summer I called myself a fuck-and-run.” Shaking his head at the memory, “Just wished someone could have knocked some sense into me years ago. I love Laurie. She’s it for me.” Sighing, he said, “At least this happened when she wasn’t around. I’d be pissed as hell if Roxie’d played me in front of Laurie.”

Rob, rubbing hand over his face, looked away for a moment. “I keep wonderin’ if she’s gonna get tired of this shit. Figure I’m not worth it.” Looking back at their faces, he continued, “It’s happened before. We’re out havin’ a great time, and someone from my fuck-and-run past, comes up trying to start shit. Jesus, I see the look in her eyes…it’s like she’s devastated. I swear I’d prefer anger over hurt.”

Jake smiled at his friend. A man of few words, he clapped Rob on the back and just said, “What’s important is what you know now. You got a good thing. She’s a strong woman, and she knows you love her.”

Tom agreed. “Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’. Same thing happened a time or two with Carol. It sucks, but I just kept lettin’ her know she was it for me. The only one. And eventually all the others slink away, leaving you with just pure gold.”

Rob smiled, and they parted as they always had, friends and brothers. Rob headed back to the station house.

*

Laurie returned two days later, excited to see everyone. She pulled into her parking space, sorry to have left Emma but glad to be back home. Running up to her apartment, she noticed an envelope taped to the mailbox with her name on it. Grabbing it, she ran up the stairs and went inside. Carol greeted her enthusiastically.

“Well, let me see it!” Laurie exclaimed, reaching for Carol’s hand.

Holding her left hand out, Carol showed off her gorgeous diamond engagement ring. Squealing, jumping up and down, and hugging, the two friends celebrated. Laurie could not look at the ring enough. The center diamond was not overly large but was surrounded by a circle of smaller diamonds. On Carol’s tiny fingers, the ring was perfect.

“Sooo, I want to ask…will you be my maid of honor?” Carol asked.

“Oh my god, I have never been in a wedding before!”

“Well, since you and I have been living together, you’ve become my very best friend. And we are dating best friends, so it is perfect!”

The girls continued to talk and plan for a while until Carol needed to get ready to go to Tom’s. Laurie walked back over to her purse to get her cell phone when she came across the envelope again. Opening it, a sheet of folded computer paper was inside, with nothing more than a print of a picture. Holding it in shaking hands, she saw that the picture was of Rob holding a woman whose huge tits were shoved in his face. There was a time stamp on the picture from two nights ago. Carol walked over and looked at the picture.

“Oh Laurie, there must be an explanation. Rob would never cheat on you.”

Looking at Carol, she answered calmly, “I know. Really, I do. But why would this slut send this to me?”

“Laurie, you know Rob was a player before he ever saw you last summer. But since that time he has only had eyes for you. I know it was hard at first for you, with women still throwing themselves at him.” Carol looked off to the side with a rueful look on her face. “Believe me, I know the feeling. When Tom and I first got together, I never knew what we might run into… there was an occasional old fuck buddy of his around to make sure I knew she had him first. But we worked through that, and eventually everyone got used to us being an
us.
”

“Carol, I know Rob has been faithful, but we promised to not keep any secrets between each other, so I have to tell him about this. I was going to head to the station anyway so I will head on over there now.”

Hugging each other goodbye, Laurie walked out, hopped into her car and drove to the fire station. Knowing she trusted him, her mind still raced with the possibilities of what could have happened. Shaking her head in frustration, she pulled into the parking lot.

As she got out, several of the men saw her and yelled back for Rob. He came around the corner, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw her. Standing next to her cute yellow bug, she looked adorable in her winter boots and funny knit hat. He came running out at full speed, swooped in to grab her up, and swung her around. Laughing, she brought her lips down on his, relishing the feel of him pressed against her. She just wished that they didn’t have so many layers of clothing between them but knew that evening they wouldn’t.

“Missed you, babe,” he said between kisses. He immediately noticed that she was distracted. Setting her down, he escorted her inside where it was warmer. Walking to a secluded corner, Rob leaned down, looking into her eyes.

“What’s up, Laurie?”

Laurie, blushing, looked straight ahead at the massive chest pressing into her.

“Eyes, babe,” he quietly ordered.

She raised her eyes to his, seeing concern staring back at her. “Rob, normally I would just throw this out, but we promised to never keep secrets from each other. I know nothing happened and I’m not upset. I just don’t want to keep anything away from you.”

His eyes narrowed as he looked down to see that she had a piece of paper held out in front of her. Taking it in his hands, he unfolded the picture and stared at the photo.

She looked up in nervousness as the expression on Rob’s face went from disbelief to pure, unadulterated rage.

“Fuck!” he exploded, shoving backward, twisting his body as he stalked away. Anger poured off of him filling the air with fury. “I can’t believe this shit!”

She stood quietly looking down at her feet, knowing it was best to let him have his moment.

He suddenly turned back around, seeing her tiny body completely still in the corner staring at her feet.
Jesus, what is she thinking? Why would she believe me over this picture? Goddamn it! What did she say? She didn’t believe it?

Stalking back over, he placed his shaking hands gently on her face, lifting so that he could see into her eyes, wanting to take the pulse of her emotions. “Babe, I swear to you that picture is not what it looks like.” She started to interrupt, but he slid his thumb over her lips silencing her.

“You said you don’t believe it, and babe you got no idea how happy that makes me. But you deserve to know how that picture came about.” She stood quietly, her eyes warm in the knowledge that her man needed to give her reassurances.

“Jake, Tom, and me get together every Christmas Eve for a drink. Just us three, no one else. It’s been tradition for a long time. Bar was almost empty. Talked to Bill and Wendy for a bit, then it was just us. Tom shared about the engagement. We were just finishing up. This …,” he spit out while holding the paper, “came over with one of her cronies, already drunk, and plopped herself down on my lap. Babe, I immediately pushed her off of me and told her to get lost, but that other bitch must have snapped this goddamn picture in the process. Honest to god, that was all. Jake was there, he knows.”

He continued to look deeply into her eyes, fear crawling around his heart. All of the other girls he ever banged, he never cared about their feelings. But this small princess in front of him held his heart in her hands. She had the power to crush him…or the power to save him.

Her eyes began to light up as a smile formed slowly then spread to her whole face. She raised her arms to cup his strong jaw, feeling the stubble under her fingers. “Rob, I know. You don’t need to explain anything to me. I never believed anything happened.” Looking into his piercing blue eyes, she continued, “Rob, I used to feel jealous of your past. Of the women you were with. And it hurt when we were first dating to feel that every time we went out, there was always someone wanting me to know they had you first.”