Back to You (36 page)

He stared up at her for a second before the corners of his mouth twitched, and then he rolled them so he was on top of her again.

“Stress relief?” he asked as he settled his hips between her thighs. “That’s all this was?”

“‘Fraid so,” Lauren said, fighting every urge in her body to press up against him.

He smiled. “Well,” he said, lowering his head as he gently dragged his teeth over the skin beneath her ear, “I heard that going for a master’s degree can be pretty stressful.”

“It’s torture,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering closed.

She felt his lips curve into a smile against the skin of her throat. “Could be that you might need stress relief on a regular basis then,” he said as he kissed his way up the column of her neck.

Lauren dropped her head back. “I couldn’t agree more,” she said. “It’s a good thing batteries are on sale at Target this week.”

His head snapped up as he looked at her, and she burst out laughing as she hooked her hand behind his neck and pulled him down to her. “I love you,” she said against his lips.

She felt him smile before he kissed her softly, and with a gentle shift of his hips, he reconnected their bodies.

“I love you too,” he whispered. “Always have.”

And when his mouth found hers again, slow and reverent in the darkness, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind it was true.

“H
ey, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!”

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Lauren’s mom said. “I just got your card. Daddy and I are still laughing.”

Lauren smiled as she slid a little further beneath her comforter, shifting the phone to her other ear. “I cracked up in the middle of the store. In fact, I made such a scene that two people came over to pick the card from the shelf and read it themselves.”

Lauren’s mother laughed. “I’m putting it up on the fridge. Your brother will get a kick out of it later.”

“Hey, Laur?” Michael called from just outside the bedroom door. “You want coffee?”

“Is that my son-in-law?” her mother asked.

“No, it’s some random guy I picked up at the grocery store last night. He looked kind of cute, so I figured why not?”

“Very funny,” her mother drawled, and Lauren laughed.

“Well, who else would it be?”

“Put him on,” she said. “Daddy wants to get central air this summer, and he’s set on doing it himself. I’m hoping I can get Michael to talk him out of it.”

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Michael?” she called.

A second later, he popped his head into the bedroom. “Yeah?”

“My mom wants to talk to you so she can get you in the middle of an argument between her and my dad regarding central air installation.”

He laughed as he walked farther into the room and reached for the phone she outstretched to him. “Hey, Ma,” he said before he mouthed “
Coffee?
” to Lauren. She nodded and he smiled before saying, “I refuse to take sides before I hear all the facts.”

Lauren smiled, and he winked at her before he left the room with the phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear.

She closed her eyes and reached her arms over her head as she pointed her toes, stretching her body before letting it fall limp with a contented sigh. Her eyes were still closed when she heard a tiny knock on the door, and she cracked one eye and lifted her head to see Erin standing in the doorway.

“Hey,” Lauren said, pushing up on her elbows. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

Erin smiled and walked into the room. “I’ve been up for a while. I just didn’t know if you were awake,” she said as she climbed up onto the bed. “I have something for you.”

“You do?” Lauren asked, sitting up, and Erin nodded, handing her a tiny folded square of pink tissue paper.

“How sweet of you,” she said, genuinely touched by the gesture. “What did I do to deserve this?”

Erin shrugged sheepishly, and Lauren leaned over and ran her hand over the top of Erin’s hair before unraveling the filmy paper. Neatly folded inside was a small crystal heart dangling from a thin black cord. Lauren held it up, and the pendant twirled from side to side, refracting little rainbows of light from the window.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful! I love it,” Lauren said, smiling at Erin before she held it up a little higher to admire it in the light. “In fact,” she said, sitting up straight, “I’m going to put it on right now.”

Erin watched with a smile as Lauren fastened it behind her neck. “How does it look?”

Erin reached into the neck of her T-shirt and pulled out the exact same necklace, holding it out for Lauren to see. “It’s perfect. Now we match.”

“Well, now I like it even more,” Lauren said with a smile.

Erin grinned, but then her smile faltered as she looked down. “I have something else too.”

“
Two
presents?” Lauren asked, surprised.

“Well, no. It’s just this,” Erin said, holding out a card in a lavender envelope. Lauren hadn’t even noticed her holding it when she walked in.

The look on Erin’s face had changed; the excitement from earlier had transformed into something that looked to Lauren almost like anxiety.

She couldn’t help but feel somewhat apprehensive in response as she slid her finger beneath the edge of the envelope and pulled out the card.

On the front was a large sun overlooking a meadow full of flowers, and inside the sun was written:

Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky,

Hundreds of shells on the shore together,

Hundreds of birds that go singing by,

Hundreds of lambs in the sunny weather,

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,

Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,

Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,

But only one mother the wide world over.