29. Something So Much Better

29

SOMETHING SO MUCH BETTER

“ E aston?”

He turned his head four days later at the sound of Rachelle’s voice.

Seriously!

He’d run out of laundry detergent and ran to the store. It was seven at night and he only needed a few things. He would have put it off, but he was going to be gone this weekend and there was no way he could wait to do laundry when he got back on Sunday.

“Hi, Rachelle,” he said.

His ex looked at his cart. There were a few things besides the box of Tide Pods.

“Waited till the last minute again, didn’t you?”

He lifted one eyebrow at her. “That’s why you called my name in the store? To chastise me about running out of something and not having a backup in place already?”

It was an annoying pet peeve of hers. She took care of most of the groceries, but if he used something of hers and didn’t tell her it was out or low and she had to run out on a day that wasn’t her normal day to go, it would start a fight.

He’d normally walk out and go buy it and come back and put it away without saying a word.

The stupid shit they had issues with.

“No,” Rachelle said. “But you always waited until you were out of something before you bought it.”

“It’s not your concern anymore,” he said, his eyes dropping to her left hand and seeing the diamond there. It was a simple solitaire. He held back the grin. She had hinted more than once about the big diamond she expected him to buy her.

Flashy and expensive. Something to show off.

She didn’t get what she wanted.

“I guess,” Rachelle said.

“Hey, honey. I didn’t know where you went.”

The fiancé moved over and put his arm around Rachelle. A man much smaller than him. The two of them sized each other up.

“Sorry,” Rachelle said. “I was just coming.”

“I’m Connor Finch,” his ex’s fiancé said, holding his hand out. “And you are?”

He snorted. “Easton Cooke. The man that was with Rachelle when you two started to get close.”

He wouldn’t say an affair. He wanted to believe she didn’t cheat on him, but emotionally Rachelle did. Physical meant nothing at this point.

“Oh,” Connor said. He was frowning. “You don’t look anything like the picture that was on her desk.”

He wanted to laugh at this asinine conversation.

He knew the picture that had been on Rachelle’s desk. It was of them at a coworker's wedding, both of them dressed in black tie attire. He was cleanly shaven that day too. Unlike now. He had a nice trim beard going. He was getting close to shaving it off with the weather getting warmer, but Laurel had made more than one comment about how sexy she found it.

Maybe he’d keep it a bit longer.

“Oh, the picture of her boyfriend at the time,” he said.

Why the hell was he saying that other than he wanted to prove a point that the guy moved into his space when he knew Rachelle wasn’t single?

The blame wasn’t just on the guy but on Rachelle too.

“Easton,” Rachelle said in the same voice she used to use to get him to cut the sarcastic shit she hated. To him, it was his normal tone with a factual statement. “Connor, can you give us a minute?”

Connor moved off. “What is it you want to say? I didn’t see you. You could have just gone about your business, but you didn’t. Why?” he asked calmly. He wasn’t getting worked up over his confusion with this conversation. There was no reason for it.

“I wanted to see how you were doing. Nicole won’t talk to me anymore. None of our mutual friends say much when I ask.”

“Why are you asking?”

“I loved you.”

“And now you love someone else,” he said matter of fact. “I’m fine, Rachelle. I really am. You made your choice. I’m happy for you.”

“I did make a choice,” Rachelle said. “It just happened. Connor is jealous of you. Now he’s going to be more so.”

“That doesn’t concern me,” he said. “Have a good night.”

“Wait,” Rachelle said. “You’re really okay?”

“I am,” he said. “Why? Did you think I was going to be jealous?”

“No,” Rachelle said sadly. “You don’t have it in you to feel that way.”

“Is that what it was about? Or the start of it? You wanted me to be jealous?”

“I didn’t,” Rachelle said. “I mean I expected you to feel something.”

“I felt something,” he said. “Betrayal and anger. It’s all gone. It’s over. Now if you’ll excuse me. Connor is starting to look a little nervous over there.”

He pushed his cart away and went to check out.

But he couldn’t go home and found himself driving to Liam’s. So much for the calm facade he had with Rachelle.

“Hey,” Liam said when he opened the door. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” He was looking back and forth between Liam and Nicole, then saw the pregnancy test box on the counter. “Holy shit.”

“We don’t know yet,” Nicole said, grabbing the box. “I didn’t take the test.”

Now he felt like shit stopping over to unload on them.

“I’ll go and let you do it,” he said. “I won’t say a word to anyone.”

“Don’t go,” Liam said. “Stay. It’s a nice distraction. What’s going on with you? Something for you to stop over like this. I can see it on your face.”

He was looking between the two of them and Nicole was just as curious as Liam. “I just ran into Rachelle at the store.”

“Did she come over to you or did you go to her?”

“She saw me and came over,” he said. He told them what happened. “Do you think that is it? She wanted me to be jealous?”

“She wanted a lot of things and none of it made sense,” Nicole said.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Nothing of importance. Most of it was superficial. Like the big ring she wanted from you but didn’t get from Connor.”

“That was petty of me to notice that,” he said.

“It’s the first thing I noticed,” Nicole said. “So not petty. I’m just saying I don’t think she knew what she wanted. Maybe she found what was important to her now in life. I’d like to think you did too.”

“I did,” he said. “Which is why I’m here. I’m pissed that seeing her worked me up. That I can’t let it go when I know I’ve got something so much better.”

“That’s right,” Nicole said. “You do. Remember that. Rachelle lost out and I think she sees that now.”

“She asked how I was doing. She said she’s been asking a lot of our mutual friends. I didn’t know there were that many mutual ones, but she said no one is talking to her.”

Nicole laughed. “We all stick together. You know that.”

“Which she hated because she couldn’t break through.”

Most of it was coworkers who used to go and have a few drinks together. Liam was part of that group since he was married to Nicole.

“Nope,” Nicole said. “Did you tell her about Laurel?”

“No,” he said. “First, it’s not her business. And second, I figured it’d come off as petty if I threw it out there I was seeing someone.”

“I agree,” Liam said. “Are you going to tell Laurel you ran into Rachelle? Obviously it’s bothering you enough that you came here.”

“It’s pissing me off that it’s even bothering me at all,” he said. “And no. There is no reason to tell Laurel about a five-minute conversation with Rachelle. Though I have to say Connor isn’t what I expected.”

Liam and Nicole both laughed. “You never looked into him?” Liam asked.

“No. I didn’t give enough shits about it,” he said. “But I bet you did.”

“Of course I did. We thought it was funny. He’s a bit of a smaller dude. I think she likes that she calls the shots with him.”

Rachelle liked to be taken care of, but she also wanted to be the one to make a lot of the decisions. He’d have to admit he did not like to hand that off to anyone.

But he didn’t make most of the decisions between him and Laurel.

They talked things out and worked them out for the best for them both.

Maybe it was true that you did try harder when it meant more.

Or it was right.

Everything with Laurel felt right.

“That is their dynamic. Not mine. Listen, I’m sorry I stopped over like this. I’m going to leave.”

“Don’t,” Liam said. “You’re family. Stay for this.”

“You want me to stay here while your wife goes and pees on what is in that box?”

Nicole was looking nervous but smiling at the same time. “Yes,” Nicole said. “I wouldn’t be sweating about this if it wasn’t for you. I’d still be single dating losers. It’s only fitting that you know first.”

“Dude, if it’s positive I would have called you tonight anyway. I would have let you know if it was negative too. You know that.”

He did know that. Liam shared way more than Easton ever did about his relationships.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll stay.”

Nicole picked up the box and ran into the bathroom.

“You love Laurel, don’t you?” Liam asked.

“You’re sounding like a chick again,” he said.

“Give me this,” Liam said. “I need a distraction while I’m waiting to see if I’m going to be a father or not.”

He smiled. “I don’t want to say something to you that I haven’t said to her.”

“Which tells me you are feeling it at least,” Liam said.

“We’ll go with that,” he said.

Nicole came out a minute later. “I set a timer. I can’t stay in there and watch it.”

“Have you been trying? I think I’d know if you were. Liam can’t keep a secret.”

“We just started trying last month. This would be the first chance to know if it worked.”

Easton grinned. “I’m going to assume you’re late or something?”

Nicole was too practical to take a test on the first day she might be late.

“Almost a week,” she said. “Which isn’t like me.”

When her phone alarm went off he was rubbing his hands together. “Fingers crossed.”

Nicole ran to the bathroom with Liam on her heels while he stayed back.

When he heard the shouting and laughing he had his answer.

“I’m going to be a father,” Liam shouted and came out and lifted him in the air in a hug.

He was laughing along with them. “I’m going to be an uncle.”

“That’s right,” Liam said. “Nicole. Easton is in love.”

“You dick. You can’t even keep a secret long enough for me to walk out the door.”

“We knew it two weeks ago,” Nicole said. “We were just waiting for you to admit it to yourself. Maybe running into Rachelle was what you needed for you to see how much better you’ve got it now.”