Chapter 7

7

Lauren still couldn't believe she was doing this. A screen test. Good Lord! Thinking that she could be on a television show? Double good Lord.

But the Fabulous Four had staged a late-night intervention. They'd reminded her of how capable she was. They'd reminded her of how professional she was. They'd reminded her of what an amazing opportunity this was. Most of all? They'd reminded her that, if she didn't score this gig, some other real estate agent was going to swoop in and become Hope Falls' top-dog realtor. They would take all the glory and—what really mattered to Lauren—all the commissions.

No. Not going to happen. Not without a fight.

That was the problem with this reality TV show, as the Fab Four had reminded her. They used real agents, not actors, so anyone who was cast would be here in Hope Falls, running their own competing real estate agency, and they would be high profile. A celebrity, even.

And since the majority of Lauren's clientele weren't from Hope Falls, but rather out-of-towners looking for high-end vacation property, Lauren couldn't risk another agent coming in and stealing the spotlight.

That had been her take on it last night, at any rate. Oh, man. Last night, everything had seemed so clear. There was an obstacle; she was going to overcome it. Simple.

But now that she was here, she was seriously reconsidering. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous. She'd always excelled at tests, any kind of test. And let's be serious, how hard could this really be? It's not like it was brain surgery.

She had memorized the several lines of dialogue they'd given her when she arrived. All she had to do was say them. She could talk. She'd been doing it all her life. She did it for a living, and quite successfully.

So why the nerves?

She looked around the room. She wasn't sure what she expected, but she was surprised to see several other candidates there.

They were all very attractive and dressed similarly to Lauren. One of them was doing ‘facial exercises' and another was repeating the short script over and over. All of the others were touching up their caked-on makeup.

Lauren shook her head. Seriously, were these real estate agents or debutantes? She, for one, had work to do if there was going to be downtime. Deciding she would use this time to go over her e-mails, she pulled out her iPhone and began typing away.

Suddenly, she felt a shift in the room and the noisy chatter grew louder by a factor of several degrees.

She glanced up to see that Ben had strolled in and was now surrounded by admirers.

Of course he was.

She couldn't honestly believe how these seemingly normal women were behaving. It was a disgrace. They were professionals. Did they have no pride? And if not, did they have no concern for personal branding?

Did they honestly think that if they threw themselves at Ben, they would somehow get a leg up—pun intended—on the competition?

These girls had zero self-respect.

Ben made his way over to Lauren, who, for her part, was doing her best to ignore him.

"I didn't think you were coming," he said smugly.

At least it sounded smug to her ears.

"I'm guess I'm just full of surprises," Lauren said dryly.

Ben laughed a little and smiled a slow, sexy, melt-your-panties-off smile. "Oh, I bet you are."

Lauren's breathing quickened, as it was developing a very annoying habit of doing around Ben. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the rest of the candidates looking at her like they wouldn't mind if she suddenly became the victim of spontaneous human combustion. This did absolutely nothing to ease her discomfort.

Just then, an AD came through the door and rescued Lauren—although she was sure that wasn't his intent—by announcing that Ben was needed on set.

"See you in there, Ms. Harrison," Ben said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

Lauren just nodded, not trusting her voice lest it betray the rush of lust that was currently flowing through her body.

As the doors shut behind Ben she noticed that all of the women in the waiting area were now staring at her blankly, their hostility somewhat less overt now that they knew she could see them.

She ignored them and continued checking her e-mails.

The same AD came back through the door again and started to call the women in the waiting room one by one. Lauren felt as if she were in an Agatha Christie novel as she watched the other candidates disappear through the door one by one, eventually leaving no one in the waiting room but her.

She had a sneaking suspicion that there was a good chance that Ben had intentionally left her for last as a way of tweaking her, of messing with her mind. She didn't think that it went so far as wanting to throw her off her game. No, he didn't seem mean-spirited, just self-centered. She wouldn't put it past him to do something like this just to tease her.

Each audition seemed to be taking ten to fifteen minutes on average. Lauren wondered if it was better if it went longer or if it was shorter. She would guess longer, because if they liked your look and how you sounded, it seemed like they would want to put you into different situations to gauge your responses, to see how easy you were to work with, to see how directable you were.

She guessed an argument could be made for the opposite point as well. If they didn't like you at all, why bother even keeping you for ten minutes? These were busy people, after all. Maybe, in the shorter auditions, they'd seen what they needed right away and in the longer auditions, they were trying to tease what they were looking for out of someone who was not ever going to get there.

Lauren shook her head. She needed to get all of this guesswork out of her head. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but focusing on doing her best. She could never get inside their heads, and trying to do so was not going to help her give a better performance. In fact, it might even distract her. She just needed to think about running her best race.

Finally, as Lauren sat alone in the reception room, the AD came back in for the final time and gestured for her to follow. When they arrived at their destination, she was placed in front of a green screen, and there was a PA holding cue cards beside the camera. The cards held the lines she'd been instructed to memorize.

That's odd , she thought. Why would they put those up if they told us all to commit them to memory? Hmm, Hollywood. She would never understand it.

The AD came over to her. "How you feelin'?" the man inquired in a tone of voice that told her that how she was feeling was not even in his list of top thousand or so concerns.

Lauren just smiled in response.

"Yeah, great, great," he said, although she hadn't actually answered. "So here's the rundown. We're gonna do one take of you solo and then one take with Ben."

Lauren nodded. She knew all of this. It had been explained in detail when she checked in.

The AD moved behind the camera and began to count down, beginning with three, two, and then mouthed a silent one as he pointed at her. At the same instance that he pointed, the red light on top of the camera flashed on.

Lauren froze.

Her mind was a complete blank. She opened and closed her mouth several times, hoping that starting the physical act of speaking would jog her brain into remembering what she was supposed to say, but that didn't happen. In fact, all that happened was that she felt like a trout on the bank of the river, flapping its mouth open and shut.

She couldn't remember what she was supposed to say. She couldn't remember what she was supposed to do. She didn't remember that there were cards next to the camera that she could read from. She barely remembered there was a camera. She was completely and totally frozen.

Lauren had never felt this way before, and she hated it. She was paralyzed with fear. Her palms were sweating; her heart was racing. Worst of all? She had no idea how to stop it.

She heard the director yell, "Cut!" from behind the camera, and then he walked over to Lauren and asked if she was all right. As soon as the red light turned off, Lauren's brain cells started to function again and she was able to explain to him that, yes, she was perfectly fine.

"I'm so sorry," Lauren apologized profusely. "I have no idea what came over me. Honestly, it was the strangest thing. I'm mortified."

"It happens," he sympathized. "So you think you're okay to go again?"

Lauren nodded decisively. There was no way in hell that she was going to let this thing get the better of her again.

She felt fine as she heard the countdown—actually sensed herself getting more confident as the numbers crept closer to one. That was her competitive spirit coming out. She wanted to win.

But when the red light came on? It was a repeat performance of the first time. Blank brain, sweaty palms, deer-in-headlights expression, and complete and utter silence.

She wasn't sure how any of the other candidates had done, but she would've bet good money that it was a hell of a lot better than she was managing to do so far.

She heard the director yell, "Cut!" again.

As soon as the light turned off, Lauren again returned to her body. She closed her eyes in regret, realizing that she was in the process of totally blowing this screen test. She was watching it happen, almost as a spectator, with no power to stop it.

She wasn't sure how to salvage it at this point—or if there even was a way to salvage it. Her head was spinning and she felt faint, uncertain if it was from the lights, the fear, or the fact that all she ingested today was a strong cup of coffee.

Suddenly, Lauren felt a strong hand on her lower back supporting her. She glanced up to see Ben's large, brown eyes staring down at her in concern.

He leaned in close. "Are you okay?" he asked, and it seemed that there was real concern there. No teasing, no self-aggrandizement, no sense of entitlement. Just pure concern.

This completely defied her image of Ben. In fact, it was so counter to what she would expect of him that it made her wonder, for a moment, if he was just teasing her.

Regardless, Lauren needed a little friendship right now, and even more than that, she needed someone to throw her a lifeline. Ben seemed to be offering both. She made a decision to just take his offered concern at face value.

She nodded yes. Of course, she was far from being okay, but the idea of showing weakness, even to someone who was showing friendship, made her supremely uncomfortable.

Ben winked at her and then, to her surprise, completely took charge of the room.

He turned and said, "Look, everybody, we're gonna do the co-host copy first. Okay?"

Without questioning him, the crew scrambled to get the right cue cards up.

Ben turned to face her, angling his body so that he was blocking out her entire view of the crew, of the cameras—of everything but him.

He looked straight into Lauren's eyes. "Listen to me, Lauren. Here's what you need to do. Take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth."

She did it once. Then again for good measure. She could feel solid footing returning. She did it yet again because it felt so good and she sensed herself regaining control.

Ben smiled. "Okay, good. That's working," he said. "Your color's coming back. Now here's how you handle the camera. You need to pretend that it's Amanda or Karina or Sam in there. That you're just talking to a friend. That's the key. Don't think about anything but your friend. Pick someone you know and connect with them and you'll do fine."

Lauren nodded, understanding the logic in that statement. She decided to go with Amanda since, of all the girls in the Fabulous Four, she was by far the most nurturing of the bunch—and Lauren could use a little tender, loving support right now.

This time, when Ben asked if she was ready, her nod was confident and self-assured. He, in turn, smiled that sexy smile Lauren was beginning to really like then turned and faced the crew.

He announced, "We're ready."

The countdown began again, and this time when the red light came on, Ben started talking. Lauren naturally looked up at him. When she heard the words that told her that her line was coming up, she turned her attention back to the camera, this time picturing Amanda on the other side. She recited the words she was supposed to say, pretending that she was saying them to her beloved friend, and she could hear the warmth and the smile showing through in her own voice.

It all happened so fast.

They did one more take with Ben, and when he moved off to the side, Lauren could still see him in her peripheral vision. He waited there, just out of frame, for Lauren to do two takes of the copy that was hers alone. This time, since the lines of dialogue had a bit of a sassy tone to them, she decided to switch things up. She pretended to be talking to Karina instead.

After she was done, she felt a rush unlike any she had ever experienced. That was completely unexpected. She had no idea she would feel anything at all after this audition, and she certainly never expected to feel an adrenaline rush.

Ben came over to her, beaming and grinning from ear to ear.

"Congratulations!" he said warmly.

She thanked him, extending her hand for a handshake. He laughed, shaking his head and giving her a big hug, one that was so enthusiastic that he actually picked her up off the ground.

"You nailed that," he said happily. "Man I have never seen someone get over stage fright that fast and kill an audition the way you just did. That was amazing!"

There was such pride in his voice, and Lauren liked that a lot more than she thought she should. In fact, if she wasn't mistaken, she thought she might be blushing.

Lauren noticed the director gesturing for Ben to come over. She pointed, saying, "I think you're needed."

Ben walked over to talk to him, and Lauren gathered up her things and started to head out to her car. When she got there, she saw that Bernie was leaning against it.

"Bernie! Why are you standing out here in the freezing cold?" she asked him, concerned. She didn't want to have to be the one to point this out to him, but Bernie Kaplan was not a young man.

"To hear how it went, of course! Why else?"

"What?! Bernie, next time, just tell me you're coming. I'll at least leave you my keys and you can sit inside the car!"

"You're as sweet as you are beautiful. Now stop trying to change the subject. How did the screen test go?"

Lauren sighed. Moment of truth.

"Not as amazing as I would've liked. Bit of stage fright in the beginning. But I feel like I might have turned it around. By the end, I think they seemed pleased."

Bernie hugged her. "I have all faith and confidence in you. Now, how they feel? We'll find out in a few days. I'll let you know, chickadee."

Lauren returned the embrace. "Thanks, Bernie. Now go get warm!"

Bernie waved at her as he returned to his car. Lauren was just about to unlock her Mercedes and climb inside when she heard Ben's voice from around the corner of the building. He sounded really upset.

She quietly approached the edge of the building and saw that he was talking on his cell phone. His body language was tense, his shoulders hunched over. When she caught a couple of glimpses of his face in profile, he looked scared and discouraged.

"No, I don't know what that means... Well, is that what the doctor actually said or is that just what you think he meant? Of course there's a difference... Listen, you have to bring a notebook when you see him and write these things down... No, I don't care if it's expensive. If the doctor says you need it, you need it... Well, obviously, I know it's my money, but what else am I going to spend it on that's more important than your health? Okay... Yes, I promise... Okay... I love you."

Ben pressed the button to end the call. He sat down on the small stoop in front of the side door he'd come out of and held his head in his hands, looking miserable. Lauren was just about to walk over and ask him if everything was all right when he sat up straight and made another call on his cell phone.

"Hi, Jerry? Yeah. I need you to set aside another $20,000 for next month's Cedars-Sinai bill... Yes, I know that's a lot of money, Jerry. I may not be an accountant, but I know that much... Look, we've gone through this for the last time. If she needs something, I don't care if insurance covers it. She's getting it. This isn't up for discussion... Damn it, Jerry, just cut the damn check!"

Ben angrily ended the call and then dropped his head back in his hands, slumped over, defeated.

One of the PAs popped her head out the door and said, "Mr. Stevens? We're ready for you."

When Ben stood and thanked her, to Lauren's shock, he was back in ‘Ben Stevens, Television Host' mode; like a light had been switched on inside of him. All traces of anger, of sadness, of frustration, of defeat—gone in an instant.

It made Lauren wonder what else was hiding behind that fa?ade. She hadn't heard enough of his conversation to know all of the details, but it definitely was clear that he was paying someone's medical bills, which they obviously couldn't pay themselves, and that those bills amounted to quite a bit of money. That was such a selfless move. She was shocked.

Lauren considered this new information as she walked back around the building and got into her car. Hmmm. It certainly did not match up with what she had thought she knew about Ben Stevens.

--- ~ ---

Lauren was mostly silent at book club, which was unusual for her, and the other ladies who were attending didn't miss that fact for one second, although they had different reactions to it.

"Lauren, are you feeling all right?" Amanda asked, concerned. It was in Amanda's nurturing nature to always jump to caretaking first.

"Yeah, you haven't said a word," Karina chimed in cheerfully. "Usually by this point, you've bitched us out at least three times for the fact that we're not discussing the book at our so-called book club."

Lauren smiled pensively. "I'm fine," she said reflexively.

Karina glanced over at Sam. "Back me up here, Sammi," she said to the top of Sam's head, which was bent over her cell phone as she typed furiously with her thumbs. "Isn't Lauren being weirdly quiet tonight?"

Sam looked up, distracted. "Uh...yeah..." she said, although her tone made it obvious that she hadn't been paying one bit of attention to Lauren's involvement that evening—or possibly even to what Karina asked her.

"Hey!" Karina protested, swiping the phone out of Sam's hand. "Will you quit sexting with Luke and join the book club? I mean, good Lord, Sam. This is girls' night! Amanda and I are all lovey-dovey with our men, too, but we can at least take two hours out of our hormone-fueled hazes and focus on hanging out with our girls!"

Sam laughed, ashamed. "Sorry," she said, "It's just that now that I've finally gotten the hang of sexting, it's kind of addictive."

"Yeah, yeah," said Karina, handing the phone back with a small smile. "Let's just focus, shall we? Right now, we're concentrating on Lauren."

Lauren put her hands up in front of her. "No, please. Go back to what you were doing. No need to focus on me."

Karina smirked. "Oh, but I think there is. We want to know all about your screen test, particularly about any and all interactions with Hottie Host Boy."

"Oh, it was fine," Lauren said dismissively, almost distractedly.

The girls all leaned forward in their seats, waiting for her to continue with the details. After she was silent for a moment and it was obvious that details were not forthcoming, Karina laughed.

"Oh hell no!" she chuckled. "I know you don't think you're gonna get away with, 'It was fine,' right?"

"Well," Lauren conceded, "I guess I would say, after a somewhat rocky start, then it was fine."

The girls turned towards Lauren, waiting expectantly for her to continue, but were greeted only with silence.

"Girl, I swear to God," Karina said, exasperated. "It's like pulling frickin' teeth."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Oh good," Lauren said, "That would be Amy. Maybe we can finally get started talking about the book."

Amy, another one of their friends they'd known since their days at Hope Falls Elementary, was generally Lauren's closest ally in the belief that—at a gathering that was called a book club—at least a small fraction of their time should be spent discussing the book itself.

Amanda jumped up and ran to the door, returning quickly with Amy.

"Hey, girlie girl," Sam greeted her cheerfully. "So, we were just grilling Lauren on her screen test for that Home Sweet Vacation Home show that she might be co-hosting with Ben Stevens. All we've gotten out of her so far is that it had a somewhat rocky start but was 'fine' thereafter."

"And I was just telling them," Lauren said placidly, "that now that you're here, I'm sure you'll agree with me that, since this is book club, we should be discussing the book."

"Oh no," said Amy enthusiastically, using her index finger to push her glasses farther up her nose. "I want to hear about your screen test."

Lauren sighed. If she couldn't even get Amy, the serious and bookish Hope Falls High School English teacher on her side, then her cause was lost. She might as well just acquiesce and give them the blow-by-blow.

She took a deep breath and dove in.

"Well," she said, "as embarrassing as it is to admit this, I kind of froze up when the camera went on."

All of their eyes widened. It seemed that they absolutely could not picture the ultra-controlled and ultra-prepared Lauren Harrison freezing up in any situation.

"Yeah," Lauren said in answer to their expressions of bewilderment and surprise, "I know. It was a shock to me as well. But I saw that red light go on above the camera, and...I don't know...something in me just became paralyzed."

"Well," Karina interjected sardonically, "considering that the purpose of a screen test is basically to see how you perform...you know...on camera, I guess you could call that a rough start."

Amanda wrung her hands. "Oh my gosh, Lauren!" she commiserated. "I feel so miserable for you even just hearing about it! Skip to the part where it got better."

"I have to admit," Lauren said thoughtfully, "as much as Ben Stevens has annoyed me—and, don't get me wrong, still does annoy me—he did save my bacon. He jumped in and offered to do our joint part first so I could kind of loosen up and concentrate on him rather than the red light. Then he took me aside and told me that I just needed to pretend that I was talking to a client or a friend, to not think about the camera and what it represented. To put that completely out of my mind—but to look into the lens and see the face of someone I cared about.

"After that, it got a lot better. It went really smoothly. In fact, I kind of loved it," she admitted. "It was sort of a rush."

"So how do think you did, you know, objectively?" Sam asked.

"I don't know," Lauren responded, thoughtfully. "I mean, I can tell you that, from my perspective, it felt good. How it looked from the outside is, of course, difficult for me to say considering I'm so close to the situation. But the director did seem enthusiastic. And Ben did tell me he's never seen someone get over stage fright that fast and come back that strong. So I think that's a good sign."

"I'll say," Karina agreed.

"So," Amanda said slyly, "by your tone of voice, can I infer that you might be turning the corner on your opinion of Ben Stevens?"

Lauren snorted. "Let's not go that far," she said. "Just because I've seen him display humanity a grand total of twice, that doesn't mean—"

"Wait, when was the other time?" Karina, ever the sharp one, piped up.

Lauren opened her mouth, ready to tell them about the phone call she'd overheard later in the day, but snapped it shut. Although she usually told the Fabulous Four everything—when it came down to actually relaying the incident—somehow it felt like it would be a betrayal of Ben to talk about what she'd overheard.

She shook her head. She couldn't believe that she was actually considering Ben Stevens' feelings, but there it was.

"Oh, just, you know..." she said, trailing off. She took a deep breath and continued. "When he jumped in and helped me, and then again when he gave me the advice."

Karina narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I don't know," she said. "Those two things really seem like part of the same incident to me."

"Yeah, I guess I just thought of them separately," Lauren concluded vaguely.

"Well I think it sounds really sweet, what he did," Amanda defended. "And I've never actually thought he was so horrible, Lauren. I think he actually seems kind of nice and charming."

"Charming, definitely," Lauren agreed. "I'll give you charming. He's got charm to spare. But nice? Before today, I would've laughed in your face for saying nice. After today? I don't know. I guess we'll just say the jury's out."

Sam smiled knowingly. "Anyway," she said, "you're not really in a position to judge what he is because you're blinded by lust."

Lauren shook her head. "No. I'm not," she said definitively.

"Oh, yes, you are," Sam said assuredly. "I recognize the look of a woman in lust, and you, my dear... You have the look of a woman in lust."

Lauren said, "Wow. How you've become an expert in relationships in the two months since you've had one."

Sam said in a hurt tone, "Hey now! Just because Luke is my first boyfriend and we've only been together for two months doesn't mean I haven't seen my share of people hooking up over the years. I know the signs, and you're exhibiting them. And if you're feeling defensive? Well, that's just one of the signs."

Karina and Amanda nodded their heads in agreement.

Even Amy chimed in, "I don't know, Lauren. I've only been here for a few minutes, so I'm not completely up to speed on the situation. But I have to say...you are acting a bit like you're attracted to him."

Lauren grimaced. "Traitor," she said to Amy.

Amy just shrugged, unaffected.

"You guys don't understand," Lauren protested. "He's so aggravating. Seriously. He's completely annoying—on purpose. I've never met someone who could invoke such strong reactions in me as quickly as he can. Or as often."

Amanda nodded. "Yep," she said. "That's a sure sign."

Lauren shook her head, sure that they just didn't get her meaning. "No, you guys. You don't get it. This isn't, like, funny and sexy annoyance, whatever that even is. This is, like, actual frustrated annoyance."

"Right," Karina said reasonably. "No, we get what you're saying. I just think that that's one more sign that he gets under your skin. And that I do mean in a sexy way."

"Oh, come on, you guys. Seriously. This isn't some Hepburn-and-Tracy movie. This is real life. In real life, if someone annoys you, they just annoy you. No ulterior motives, no underlying subtext, no secret yearning. Just annoyance. Pure and simple."

"I don't know, Laur," Karina said, unconvinced. "I mean, except for being late that day, what has he really done that's been so annoying and aggravating?"

"It's just…the way he…is. It's irritating," Lauren said, feeling the heat start to rise in her cheeks.

"Right, I know. You keep saying that," Karina said thoughtfully. "But what has he actually done?"

"Well," Lauren said, "I'll tell you. Take, for instance, the other day, when I came out of my office with two clients. They saw him across the street, and of course we had to go across the street and take a picture, because he's the biiiiig television star. And then he made this whole big production about me taking a picture with him. And right before the picture was snapped, he leans down to whisper in my ear, and you won't believe what he said."

"What?" asked Sam, a huge smile of anticipation spreading across her face.

"No, Sam, you're not getting this," Lauren explained, losing her patience. "It's not, like, some fun surprise. It was really…crude."

"What did he say?" said Amanda indignantly, immediately angry on her friend's behalf.

"He leaned down and, in the most presumptuous, possessive, entitled, intimate tone, whispered in my ear, 'Damn, you smell good enough to eat.' Can you imagine?"

Lauren moved her gaze to each of the girls' faces in turn, waiting for them to be indignant as well, but they just stared at her blankly.

Finally, Karina asked slowly, "Well, how did you feel when he said that, Lauren?"

"Oh…I don't know. That's not the point—" Lauren started to say dismissively.

Karina interrupted this dismissal, saying, "No, stop. Actually think about it. How did it make you feel?"

Lauren sighed and looked off to the side, trying to remember exactly how she had felt in the moment. She really tried to place herself back in that place and time.

As the realization dawned on her, she started to slowly shake her head and finally brought her hands up to her face, covering it and moaning.

"Oh, my God. I can't believe it. It can't be true." She looked up, stricken. "I actually want to sleep with Ben Stevens!"

Karina started a slow clap. "Give this girl a prize!" she exclaimed, and everyone laughed.

Everyone but Lauren. She still felt nothing but shock.

Amanda looked at Lauren sympathetically and said, "Oh, Lauren. I feel for you, sweetie. It's a terrible position to be in when you're really physically attracted to someone you don't even like on a personal level."

Lauren nodded, dropping her face back into her hands.

Now that she fully, consciously realized her attraction to Ben, she was seeing all of the little moments, all of the unconscious physical reactions that had happened over the last two weeks that should've clued her in to this fairly obvious reality. She didn't know how she could've been so blind.

Her personality clash with the man had influenced her perception of him to the point that she didn't even recognize the basic physiological reactions of attraction.

Lauren sighed, looking up. "Oh, Lord," she said. "What am I gonna do now?"

The girls were silent, waiting, and watching her as the realization truly sunk in.

As if in answer to her question—her phone rang. She looked down at it.

"It's Bernie."

"Better answer it," Karina said.

Lauren swiped her finger across the face of her phone and held it to her ear. "Hello?" she said with trepidation.

"Bubeleh! You got the gig!" came Bernie's ebullient voice. "Did I not tell you that you were perfect?"

"You did. You did tell me," Lauren said, dropping her forehead into her palm.

"You don't sound excited!"

"I'm thrilled," she said flatly—although she couldn't, in actuality, feel much beyond the rolling of her stomach.