Greg closed the door, looked at the three of them and sighed, letting his shoulders slump even more.
Instantly Taylor stood in concern. “Have you eaten?”
He looked at her though he didn’t take even one more step. “At lunch. Oh, and I had a pack of cheese crackers at three.”
Conversation forgotten, Taylor nodded with more concern. “Why don’t you go take a shower, I’ll throw something on?”
He glanced at the others. “You don’t have to.”
She crossed her arms and leveled her gaze at him. “You’re arguing?”
After only a second, he shook his head. “No.”
“Good.” She turned her gaze to the other two. “Are you guys staying for supper or going out?”
Lauren looked at Wes and shrugged. “I think we’ll stay.”
Taylor was animated in a way Greg remembered from some of their conversations but also in a way he had never seen her around the others. She and Lauren had made tortellini soup with garlic toast while Wes whipped up some cluster cookies that Lauren kept snitching.
“Are you kidding me?” Wes asked when he turned around to find her taking some more before he’d had a chance to form them. “Those are for dessert, you.” Coming over, he poked her in the ribs.
“Not my fault, you left them unattended,” Lauren said.
“I’ll unattend you.” He caught her in his arm and pulled her all the way to him. “Oh. Yeah, you have a little... Here let me get that for you.” With that, he kissed her and she accepted the kiss and returned it.
“Hey, you keep that up, and she’ll steal the whole bowl,” Taylor said, stirring the soup slowly, wistfully wishing that someone would love her the way Wes obviously loved Lauren. They were a couple Taylor had never really understood until tonight, but seeing them together like this, she could easily see just how good Lauren was for him. She accepted him for who he was without trying to make him be something he was never meant to be.
Dropping her gaze to the pan, Taylor fought the sigh. What it must be like to have that.
“What’d I miss?” Greg asked, coming in and slapping his hands together which jumpstarted Taylor’s nervous system. He took one look at Wes and Lauren still laughing and teasing each other. “Oh, no, don’t tell me they’re at it again.” He came over to where Taylor stood and crossed his arms as he leaned on the cabinet. “I’m sorry you had to see this.”
She did sigh then, though dramatically and for effect. “You should have warned me.”
“Wouldn’t have done any good. They’re like this all the time now.”
“Hey,” Wes said their direction, “don’t knock it ‘til you try it.” And he kissed Lauren once again.
Greg looked at Taylor and rolled his eyes. “I’m not asking.” He leaned toward her and sniffed. “That smells amazing.”
“What do you know, I think Clara might be rubbing off on me.”
They ate supper, and although Taylor would have thought it would be completely awkward, she found it was not. They talked about Wes’s new find. Wes and Lauren would be going out to see it in the morning, and she didn’t know which of them sounded more excited. What she had seen earlier was on full display now—they weren’t just some for-the-moment thing, they were for real in love.
“So, how’s your work these days?” Wes asked Greg. “You hear anything on the promotion yet?”
“Ugh. I wish,” Greg said, looking instantly beaten down. “They had three hires, but one of them is not working out. It seems she can’t show up when she’s scheduled. They’re all getting really tense about it. Iz said today she’s going to talk with HR, but who knows? There were two others they didn’t hire, so…”
“Yeah, but none of them are you,” Lauren said, and Taylor was surprised at how that sounded coming from Lauren. She’d always thought of Lauren as like a little biting Chihuahua, but tonight, she seemed much more like a loyal friend who has your back.
“That’s probably part of the problem,” Greg said.
Taylor caught the way his voice fell as he said it, and her gaze went over to him. He had always been like that—self-defeatist in a subtle kind of way, but somehow, this was the first time she really heard how hard he was on himself. She wanted to say something about it, but she wasn’t sure what that should be.
“Well, give it some time,” Wes said. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s that you don’t start on the top of the