We all laughed and I asked, "What do you want to know?"

  Marnie piped up, "I want to hear about the date since you neglected to call me and tell me all about it!"

  Cringing, I said, "Sorry, I had an unexpected visitor and then a crappy day which ended up with my living quarters being trashed."

  "What unexpected visitor?" Marnie and Lacey both asked and I realized that neither of them knew about Scott showing up at my doorstep. I sighed and said, "You better buckle your seatbelts girls and forget about the movie."

  Their attention on me had me a little bit excited as I told them all about the date and the morning after, most of it Lacey had already heard. When I finished, Marnie squealed, "Aw, that is so adorable! He definitely won points in my book. That is the first date of all first dates! Who knew he had that in him, huh?"

  I smiled giddily and nodded in agreement. "I still have the note he left me that morning. It's in the envelope with the plane ticket that was fortunately untouched by Sophie's wrath."

  "Where was it?" Lacey asked and I shrugged, "In a shoebox hidden way under my bed. I checked last night to make sure that it was still there and it was. She must not have wanted to mess with crawling underneath there."

  "I bet she would have if she knew that it was there," Marnie said in an angry tone. I half shrugged as I said, "Probably."

  "So who was the unexpected visitor?" Lacey asked, putting popcorn in her mouth. Rolling my eyes, I sighed "Scott."

  "What?!?" Lacey asked almost choking on her bite and Marnie looked confused. I explained, "Scott is Sophie's twin brother, but not as crazy."

  "And he's so hot," Lacey admitted, blushing. My mouth dropped open in shock as I squealed, "Lacey!"

  She shrugged sheepishly and said, "I can't help it, if I were young woman, I'd be all over that," I couldn't believe what I was hearing, although I agreed with her about Scott being hot. I was attracted to him physically, but it would never go beyond that.

  "Huh?" Marnie asked, feeling out of the loop. I laughed, "Scott's a kind of guy that would leave you hot and bothered, and not in a good way. He's more of a player than Callen was."

  Marnie groaned, rolling her eyes as she became impatient with me. She threw an M&M at me and said, "Please continue!"

  I settled down and continued, "Anyway, I left here on Monday night and I was about to get into the hot tub when the doorbell rang..."

  "And you answered it?" Marnie asked, appalled. "You do know that's how girls in the horror movies get killed right?"

  Shrugging, I admitted "That thought did cross my mind, but I figured that I was safe once I saw who it was. I was slightly confused, but safe. So I let him in and he claimed that he brought me dinner, but it was ice cream; my favorite by the way."

  "Sounds like a decent guy," Marnie mused and I perked an eyebrow at her. She took a sip of her wine, peering at me apologetically as she did so. I continued, "Anyway, I let him in, he tried to flirt but I shot him down and then I decided to let him stay. We got into the hot tub for awhile and just talked."

  "Just talked?" Lacey asked surprised and I nodded, "Yep, just talked and I don't really remember what it was about, but I got to know him a little bit. Saw a glimpse of the real Scott behind the charm, it was nice and I firmly believe that we'll be good friends despite his sister's craziness. Which by the way, he mentioned that I would need someone on my side when she came back because she could be pretty ruthless. I didn't realize it would be so soon."

  "So what happened?" Marnie asked and I took a sip of my wine. When I finished, I said, "We got out and changed back into our clothes. He dished up the ice cream and we watched a movie. We ended up falling asleep during it, he slept on the couch and I slept uncomfortably in the chair."

  "And this was yesterday morning?" Marnie asked slowly and I nodded, taking a deep breath as I continued, "Yeah that was yesterday morning and I sent him on his way. Callen called and had been told by Sophie that Scott was over at our house all night. He assumed the worst, partly because he couldn't get a hold of me because my phone was charging in my room all night. Once we talked through it, we were fine."

  "And then he came home for you," Lacey gushed and I nodded, "Yeah, he did and saved me."

  "Saved you?" Marnie asked and I told her about the afternoon that I had prior to his arrival. "He walked in the door and all of a sudden, everything was calm. I was calm, Jace stopped being sick, and Mara became human again."

  "Aw," Marnie smiled and I nodded. The memory of him walking through the front door played in my mind, making me smile wistfully. Shaking my head to clear it, I said, "Yeah, it gave me a surreal mental image of what it would be like married to him and him coming home to his family. It felt very natural."

  "Aw," Marnie and Lacey chorused together. I blushed as I took another sip of wine and said, "I know, right? But is that weird, though? I mean, we are just started dating, but I could see my future with him right in front of me."

  Lacey gave me a knowing look and immediately my eyes honed in on it as I said, "Spill it."

  "He was having the same images and let me tell you, he's thinking about it," Lacey smiled. Marnie gasped, "What? You don't think he'd...do you?"

  "No, no not that. He knows it's too soon for that, but I know he wants to," Lacey said, casting a look in my direction. Callen was really ready to make that leap? A small shiver coursed through my veins as I glanced down at my left ring finger, remembering the way he held it last night.

  Marnie smiled sweetly and said, "So what else happened?"

  Looking at Lacey, I said, "Lacey might want to plug her ears for this." She gave me a curious look and then it clicked as I laughed. Marnie's eyes got wide and said, "Really? Was it good?"

  "I'm going to get us another bottle of wine while you two discuss this," Lacey laughed as she left the room. I grinned widely at Marnie as I nodded, "It was by far the best, Mar, I mean THE best I've ever had."

  "Wow," Marnie mused and I nodded, finishing off my last drop in my glass. I leaned against the couch cushions as I said, "And it was so full of love, which I think made it that much better. It was amazing."

  "Aw, that is so sweet," Marnie said and perked an eyebrow up as she asked, "So, how many times since then?"

  I held up four fingers and Marnie's eyes went wide right as Lacey walked in with a new bottle, filling up our glasses again. She shot me a questioning look as she asked, "You're done talking about having sex with my brother, right?"

  Laughing, I nodded as I said, "Yes, I'm done."

  "Good because while I am extremely close to my brother, I'm not quite ready to hear about how good he is in bed. In my mind, he is still a six year old who loved to run around in his Superman underwear while wearing a red cape." Lacey laughed and I blurted out in laughter, "Oh please tell me that you have pictures of that somewhere?"

  Lacey chewed on her cheek as she thought and said, "I think my mom does, so when I'm there this weekend, I'll check and find the good ones."

  She looked over at Marnie, asking, "So, do you have any good romantic things happening in your life?"

  Marnie shrugged, taking a sip of wine to avoid the subject. I smiled knowingly at her and asked, "How's Brock doing these days?"

  She rolled her eyes at me, but I could see a hint of a grin on her lips. Lacey's eyebrows peaked with interest as she asked, "Brock? I'm sure that I may have some pictures of him in his superhero underwear when he was younger, too!"

  "I'm not with Brock," Marnie said, shaking her head and I noticed a hint of sadness in her voice. "We went out a few times and slept together a few times, but I don't think that it'll ever be anything more than that."

  "Why not?" I asked, curiously and Marnie shrugged in reply. She watched her wine swirl around in her glass and said, "We have this 'Friends with Benefits' thing going on. We love hanging out together, but not with all the strings attached. My mom loves him though, she thinks he is the best guy ever and has told me that we're going to get married someday."

  Lacey grinned, saying, "He is a good guy, but sadly it may take a while before he settles down. He had a serious relationship with this awesome girl for about three years and one day, she just broke up with him. Didn't give him a reason, just told him that she didn't want to be with him anymore. About a month later, she packed up all of her stuff out of the apartment they shared and left."

  Marnie nodded as she said, "He told me about that."

  "She just left?" I asked and Marnie nodded, "Yep, he said that he came home and she was sitting at the table crying. He got concerned and asked her what was wrong. She told him that she couldn't do it anymore and fell out of love with him. Without another word, she left."

  "Poor guy," I said, feeling sad for him and Lacey nodded as she said, "That's why he is the way he is. He's afraid of getting too close and if he feels like he is then he backs off before he gets burned."

  She gave Marnie a soft smile as she said, "If you really like him, just be patient. He'll come around."

  Marnie nodded, a small smile drifted across her face. I looked at Lacey and asked, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

  Lacey smiled as she replied, "Sure."

  "Is Eli Elly's father?" I asked, slightly cringing in embarrassment. Lacey shook her head slowly as she replied, "No, I didn't meet him until she was four years old. Ellyson's dad was my high school boyfriend, who passed away in a car accident when she was two. We were engaged to be married once we were both done with college."

  Lacey had a far off look in her eyes as she smiled, continuing, "Jason was so great, even from the beginning. Most guys would have taken off when they found out they were going to be a dad at 17 years old, but not my Jason, he embraced it head on. When I was freaking out, he just held me in his arms and said that no matter what, we would get through it together and he wasn't going anywhere. We loved each other so much and having Elly just added to it. My parents were not happy about it, at first, but once that little blue eyed blonde hair beauty came into this world, she had their hearts wrapped around her little fingers. His parents, of course, were furious, so he moved out and lived with my family. At my parent's old house, they had this space above their garage that we finished into a little apartment and then we lived in it."

  "Eventually, his parents came around, but Jason stayed right where he was. We both finished high school early, and then Elly was born. I can still picture his face when she came out; it was so full of love. When he first saw her, he had long forgotten that he wanted a little boy and just radiated with joy. He looked at me like I had given him the world on a silver platter as he held her in his arms. It was hard to get her away from him," Lacey chuckled softly, wiping a tear from her face and continued, "We moved into the apartment and started school later that summer. Everything was great, perfect even, and it was that way for two years. You begin to wonder how you got so lucky to have this amazing guy so full of life, who loves you with everything that he had. Our future looked bright."

  She dropped her head, taking a deep breath before she looked back up. I moved over to the arm of the chair she was sitting in and began to rub her back as she smiled, "Sorry, I haven't talked about this for a long time."

  "You don't have to continue, its okay," I smiled softly, feeling my own eyes filled to the brim with tears. Lacey shook her head, saying, "No, it's okay. I don't mind."

  Taking a deep breath, she continued, "He was a basketball player and one weekend, he had to travel out of town for a tournament. Elly was sick with some kind of respiratory infection, bronchitis I think, and I felt bad for leaving her with my parents. Jason told me that I could stay behind and he would come home as soon as he could. He got to the tournament, played horrible because he was feeling bad about leaving me home with a sick child, so after the first round, he told his coach he was done. He rented a car, called me and told me that he loved me, and started driving home. It was really late and he really should have pulled over for the night, but he was stubborn like that and didn't. He went around a curve, lost control because he drifted off to sleep and crashed into a row of trees."

  I could hear Marnie sniffling and Lacey gave a weak smile as she sighed, "He had too much swelling in his brain, so they kept him in a coma until he could heal, but he never woke up. I had never had so much pain in my heart before. I was beside myself. Elly got me through it, though because I felt that I had to be strong for her. She has his smile and personality, so he lives on in her. When I found out that I was having a boy, I told Eli that his name was going to be Jace. I wasn't ready to love another Jason, but I could handle loving a boy named Jace."

  "I'm so sorry Lace," I said, wrapping her in a hug and she patted my back as she said, "Thanks. I miss him sometimes, well a lot lately. Our relationship was a lot like yours with Callen, so sweet and honest. We made a promise to each other early on that as long as we talked honestly that we'd get through it together because there were some girls who were jealous of him being with me and many attempts were made to split us up. He was the most sought out guy in school and he wanted to date me. Not that I was ugly or anything, but I kept a weird group of friends. We were all artsy and he was king of the jocks, so we didn't run in the same circles. The beginning of our relationship is a whole different story."

  She took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Silence filled the room as we let everything soak in. She spoke softly again, "I met Eli my senior year of college kind of the same way I met Jason. I thought that it was fate giving me another chance. He loved Elly from the start and wasn't scared off by a girlfriend having a four year old. His friends would tease him gently, but he ignored it all and was proud of being in her life. We dated for about a year before getting engaged and then took another year to get married. We just wanted to both get our careers started because we already felt like a family, so we didn't need for it to be official right away. He was working for my dad while I started at a dress shop, while designing clothes on the side. The rest is history, we got married, added two more to our little family and moved in here."

  "Callen told me about him and Sophie," I said softly, hoping that I wasn't rubbing a raw wound. Lacey nodded silently, letting out a breath as she said, "Yeah, I'm just as much to blame as Eli though. I love him, I really do, but I have never loved him the way I loved Jason. Even though it's been 11 years, I have this part of my heart that just doesn't want to open fully and so after little Jace was born, I started pushing him away. Then we had all of those issues with finding nannies for the first year, it was hard to focus on anything else. I'm not saying that Eli should have cheated, but I don't entirely blame him for doing so either. I'm deeply hurt by it, but it's my fault, too."

  "Have you talked to him about it?" I asked and Lacey shook her head sadly. She sighed, "I don't want to lose my husband, but I don't know where the healing process needs to start, either."

  "Just start it anywhere," Marnie piped up softly. Her parents went through a divorce because of a similar thing and I know that she wishes they had tried. "If you still love him, just start anywhere. Go meet with a counselor or just find somewhere for the kids to go and spend all night talking."

  "Callen and I will take the kids," I offered as Lacey smiled softly at me and I continued, "Or do it this weekend since you and the kids will be at your parents anyway. Just tell Eli to go there and lock yourself in your room until you talk everything out. Have that open and honest relationship with him like you did with Jason, it's not too late."

  I saw hope flicker in Lacey's eyes and I knew that she was considering it. She nodded slowly and said, "Thanks, I'll call Eli tomorrow."

  "No, you call him right now," Marnie ordered and Lacey laughed, saluting as she got up and we watched her walk out of the room. We heard her talking on the phone and both of us smiled at each other.

  29

  Mollie

  Beep! Beep! Beep!

  My alarm clock rang early Friday morning. Stretching, I couldn't fight the smile that was blooming across my face as I thought about all my day had in store for me. I was looking forward to the relaxing morning at the spa and of course trying on Lacey's designs, but what I was most looking forward to was seeing Callen.

  The alarm started blaring again and I reached over, shutting it off. I knew that a pillow would be thrown at my head soon if I hit the snooze button one more time. Marnie had stayed over last night because she was going out of town with Brock for the weekend. Stretching out my tired muscles, I pushed the covers off and got up, grabbing my clothes that I had set out last night.

  Stepping out of the shower, I quickly dried off and got dressed. I was having a hard time deciding what to do with my hair because I knew that it would be getting styled later on. I decided to pull it into a sleek ponytail and put on some light makeup. I didn't want to look like a slob when I reached New York.

  I walked out of the bathroom and heard Marnie let out a low whistle. Rolling my eyes at her, I said "Oh, stop it."

  "So has Callen texted you yet about how he is dying to see you?" Marnie asked, giving me a teasing grin. I shook my head and replied, "No, not yet. Are you all ready for your big weekend?"

 

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