Lauren was wearing a pair of olive green cargo pants and a black tank top that were so wrinkled they looked as though she had slept in them. Her hair was sticking out wildly in all directions, her braid all but destroyed.
Maddy realized she hadn’t seen her niece cry since Lauren had been a very small girl, and she wasn’t at all sure how to react at this moment. Fortunately, instinct took over and she merely sank down next to Lauren on the plush sofa and pulled her close. The fact that Lauren didn’t even try to resist, or disguise the fact that she’d been crying her eyes out, only made it more obvious how upset she really was.
“Shh, darling. It’s all going to be okay,” soothed Maddy. She stroked her niece’s tangled curls as Lauren continued to weep against her shoulder. “Whatever’s got you this upset, it will all be okay.”
Lauren lifted her head, her green eyes drowning with tears, her face flushed. “No,” she whispered sorrowfully. “Nothing will ever be okay again, Aunt Maddy. He’s broken my heart for good this time.”
Maddy was startled at this tearful confession. “Who, darling? Who broke your heart? I didn’t even know you were seeing someone.”
Lauren shook her head. “I’m not,” she sniffed. “Not really. It was a long time ago. Only now he’s back and it’s worse than ever, and I can’t go on this way anymore, Aunt Maddy. I have to leave.”
“Leave?” Maddy couldn’t disguise the alarm in her voice. “Leave where? What are you talking about?”
Tears tracked down Lauren’s cheeks. “Leave New York,” she croaked. “Leave the magazine. Leave – him.”
“Lauren.” Maddy used her thumb to wipe away her niece’s tears, only to watch as new ones appeared. “Good Lord, are these the clothes you wore on the plane? Look, darling, why don’t you go and have a shower, put on your comfiest PJ’s, and then we’ll have a little talk. I’ll order dinner in the meanwhile, get us something cold to drink – not more alcohol. Get along with you now, hmm?”
Lauren gave a rather loud snuffle but nodded obediently and trudged back towards her room. Maddy sprung into action, grimacing as she put away the tequila and the shot glass, and set the messenger bag and flip flops that Lauren had dumped in the middle of the living room onto a chair. She made a quick call to one of her favorite restaurants, and ordered a rather upscale version of comfort food – lobster mac and cheese, portobello mushroom flatbread pizza, a pear and gorgonzola salad, and an assortment of desserts – all dishes that she knew Lauren loved. Assured that the order would arrive within half an hour, Maddy went to her own room to shower and change.
When she walked back into the living room a few minutes later, she smiled to note that Lauren had taken her earlier advice to heart. Her niece was curled up on the sofa, busily channel surfing through several dozen cable stations that Maddy didn’t even know she had. Lauren’s freshly washed hair hung in long, damp strands halfway down her back, and she was wearing what must indeed be her comfiest pajamas – little sleep shorts printed with a trio of cartoon characters, and a pale blue ribbed camisole top that had seen better days. Her long, tanned legs and small feet were bare. Lauren looked far younger this way, more like a teenager than a woman in her mid-twenties, and the vulnerability Maddy glimpsed on her face was not something she could ever recall seeing there before.
“Feeling better?” asked Maddy as she poured them each a tall glass of iced tea. During the steamy, hot summer months she always kept a pitcher of sweet tea in the fridge, a habit she had picked up decades ago from her old college friend Gerard Landreaux, who had grown up in New Orleans.
Lauren shrugged as she took a drink of her tea. “A little. Not as grubby and sweaty, that’s for sure. And I’m sorry I was such a head case when you walked in earlier. It’s just been a challenging day.”
“You can tell me all about it after we’ve had dinner. Which should be here in less than ten minutes.”
Lauren shook her head mutinously, just as Maddy had expected she would. “Forget it, Aunt Maddy. I think I’m just hormonal or something. Must be my period coming on.”
Maddy chuckled. “Oh, nooo, my girl. You’re not getting away with this that easily. The things you said when I walked in – they deserve a very detailed explanation. I’ve known something’s been bothering you for months now, and I think you’ve finally reached the breaking point. So, deny it all you like, darling, but one way or another you’re going to fess everything up to Auntie before this evening is over.”
Lauren scowled darkly. “We’ll see about that.”
Maddy squeezed her niece’s hand. “It’s time, darling. Time for you to let it all out and talk to someone. For almost your entire life, since you were a tiny little girl with more guts than a full grown man, you’ve had this protective shell erected around you. For some reason you got it into your pretty little head that you always had to be tough, could never let anyone see you cry, or think that you were weak. But now it’s time for you to come out from under that shell and let yourself feel. You’re like my own daughter, Lauren, and I’d like to think after all the time we’ve spent together over the years that you trust me enough to confide in me.”
Lauren stared at the TV for long seconds, wrapping her arms around her bent knees, watching but not really seeing what looked to Maddy like a cross between a boxing match and some sort of bizarre martial arts. Finally, Lauren lifted her head and looked at Maddy.
“Fine,” she stated defiantly. “But on one condition. If I tell you all my deep, dark secrets, then you have to tell me yours. Because I know you have some, Aunt Maddy, have known that for a long time. So, do we have a deal?”
Maddy was flabbergasted, never in a million years having expected her niece to issue such a challenge. But from the stubbornly smug look on Lauren’s face, Maddy realized that sharing her own secrets – and she did indeed have quite a few – would be the only way to learn why her beloved niece had been crying as though the end of the world was near.
Maddy glared. “You, my dear girl, are far too clever for your own good, and have been since you were old enough to talk. You are also nosier than an entire city block of gossipy old ladies. But,” she added reluctantly, “I suppose you have a deal.”
The way Lauren’s face lit up at Maddy’s grudgingly given consent was almost enough to make what she was going to do in a short while all worth it. Maddy’s secrets had been very closely guarded over the years, with only her sister Natalie and brother-in-law Robert knowing them all. And now, it seemed, her nosy niece would as well.
She was granted a short reprieve by the arrival of their dinner, and Lauren’s appetite seemed to be as healthy as ever. Maddy herself ate sparingly, her fifty-two year old metabolism far slower than her niece’s. Having to watch her calorie intake was something she’d grown used to over the years, as one couldn’t expect to have such a high level position in the fashion world and not look her very best at all times.
But when Lauren had eaten the last bite of red velvet cheesecake and set her fork down, Maddy knew her reprieve was nearly over. And despite her earlier admonition to Lauren, she fetched two glasses and a bottle of chardonnay from her wine refrigerator and poured them each a glass.
Lauren took two long sips, savoring the fine vintage, before setting her glass down. Then, without even blinking an eye, she plunged right in.
“I met him six years ago, when I was twenty and home from UCLA for the summer. We were together for ten days, the best ten days of my life, and I fell in love for the first and only time. And then he up and left one morning without a word and broke my heart. I never thought I’d see him again, told myself I didn’t want to see him again, until he wound up being my new boss at the magazine. And broke my heart all over again.”