A Simple Mistake (9 page)

Later, Lainey and Mia were making coffee in Nick’s kitchen. The boys were downstairs playing pool.

‘Well, you’re in. You’ve been given the stamp of approval.’

Lainey grinned. ‘That was quick.’

‘Yeah, well Nate says you’ve got the best legs he’s ever seen and made me promise not to tell Angela. Simon thinks the whole package is pretty well perfect. Chris was the only one who was unhappy and that’s because he’s shorter than you.’

Lainey laughed. ‘A lot of men are. What did Nick say to all that?’

Mia helped herself to one of Lainey’s homemade choc-chip biscuits. ‘Nothing. He didn’t hear any of it. They made comments to me whenever they stopped for water while you were playing soccer. These are very good by the way.’

‘Thanks. One of Lara’s mother’s recipes.’ Lainey sipped her coffee. ‘Nick and I used to play muck-around soccer with our youth group years ago. I’d forgotten how competitive he can get.’

‘How competitive
he
can get! The two of you are as bad as each other. That was something else Chris said – you might go to church and look like an angel but you play like the devil.’

Lainey laughed again. ‘I hope his shin’s alright.’

‘He’s fine. He was looking for an excuse to stop. It was his pride hurting more than his leg. You guys were whipping him.’

‘He seems nice and really funny. What’s his wife like?’

‘Sally? She’s lovely. They’ve got the most adorable children. Chad’s four and Emily’s two. It must be hard leaving them behind, but they come when they can.’

‘And Nate’s wife is expecting a baby?’

Mia nodded. ‘Angela’s nine weeks pregnant and sick, poor thing. She’s the complete opposite of Nate. He’s the shyest one and she’s got this mass of gorgeous red hair and a temper to match. She’s only little but she makes up for it in other ways.’

‘And what’s the story with Simon?’

‘He’s been with Jen for six years. She has her own interior design business down in Melbourne and we don’t get to see her very often. Between you and me, I don’t really mind. I always feel like she’s checking out my house and it doesn’t make the grade.’

‘Do you think they’ll have children?’

‘They’re not planning to, as far as I know. Simon thinks Chris and Nate are nuts, having children now. He thinks they’re far too young.’

‘Well, late twenties
is
young these days, especially for a man.’ Lainey got up and rinsed out her mug. ‘What about you and James?’

‘One day soon, I hope. What about you and Nick?’

‘Shhh! Mia, please!’

Mia chuckled. ‘Sorry. It’s just that you guys are great together. I suppose it’s because you have so much history. You see Nick as Nick, whereas most girls get overawed by him. It’s hard for him to find someone who can be themselves around him, not what they think he wants them to be.’

Lainey began tracing the patterns on the marble bench top. ‘It is kind of weird. I mean, we knew each other so well, grew up together, all that stuff. We practically used to live in each other’s pockets, then poof! Nothing. Now we’re both adults and there’s this ten year gap we’re trying to fill each other in on yet we’re still connected by the past. Sometimes I forget there are incidents and conversations Nick wasn’t around for, and I’m always surprised when he doesn’t remember them, which is stupid because of course he wasn’t there, but it feels like he should’ve been.’ She looked up. ‘Sorry. I can ramble on a bit. Occupational hazard.’

Mia grinned. ‘I don’t mind at all.’

When the boys came back upstairs they spent the rest of the evening playing video games and eating Lainey’s biscuits. Their flight left at seven in the morning so they called it a night quite early.

Nick walked Lainey out to her car. ‘It’s nearly our birthdays.’

‘Twenty-seven! I can’t believe it. What do you want to do?’

‘Whatever you decide. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I’m just happy we’re having it together again.’

‘Me too. I’m struggling to think of something to get you though. You’ve
got
everything.’

‘As long as I’ve got you I’ve got everything.’ He smiled and kissed her. ‘Some more of your cookies would be just fine.’

Lainey narrowed her eyes. ‘You’re not going to go overboard for me, are you? It needs to be fair.’

‘I’ve already got you sorted. You’re going to love it.’

‘Hmmm. Now I’m worried.’

‘Don’t be. And then we get a whole week together. No work, no school, no time schedule, just us.’

‘And your mother.’

‘Yes. Can’t forget the chaperone.’

‘No chaperone, no holiday.’

‘I’ve already packed the running shoes. I’ve a feeling I’m going to need them.’

Lainey grinned. ‘You’d better kiss me goodbye then go and get your beauty sleep. You’ve got a big week ahead.’

Nick was very accommodating. ‘This is for tomorrow … this one’s for Wednesday … this one’s for Thursday …’

Lainey sank into her seat. ‘Whew. I can’t wait for the big tour.’

* * *

Lainey spent the weekend at her parents’ place with Sarah. She hadn’t stayed over since Christmas and she’d missed catching up with her mother. Phone calls were okay but this was much better.

They talked briefly about Nick before going onto other things and then went to bed. They had two whole days ahead of them and Lainey was determined to tackle her mother about the phone call to Hannah all those years ago. She had no intention of being nasty about it, she just wanted to discuss it in light of the fact she was about to go and stay with her.

Lainey woke late, relishing the fact she needn’t make a trip to the laundromat for once. Knowing her mother, her washing would already be done and hanging on the line.

She padded into the kitchen to make coffee and found Rose sitting at the table, writing.

‘Morning, sleepyhead.’ Rose folded the letter and put it in an envelope.

‘Hi.’ Lainey yawned. ‘Where’s everyone else?’

‘Gone out to breakfast. Now before you get upset at being left out, I asked them to. I want to talk to you.’ Rose handed her the envelope as she sat down. ‘I want you to give this to Hannah when you see her.’

‘Actually, I wanted to talk to
you
about Hannah.’

‘What about her?’

Lainey fingered the edges of the envelope. ‘Nick told me about the phone call you made to her when I found out I was pregnant. He said you told her about us sleeping together and you went off at her. Why, Mum?’

Rose took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. ‘Put yourself in my shoes, Lainey. My sixteen-year-old daughter had just told me she was pregnant. Like a lot of other mothers, my first instinct was to let loose at the parents, or parent in this case, of the baby’s father. I needed someone to blame. Unfortunately it happened to be Hannah, my best friend.’

‘But it wasn’t her fault, it was ours. And you weren’t that close anymore from what I remember.’

‘No, we weren’t. Hannah thought Roger was being too hard on you and had spoken to me about it. I thought he was too, at times, but didn’t want to admit it. He was my new husband, a pastor and I didn’t like him being criticised. As it happened, he turned out to be right, didn’t he?’

Lainey couldn’t deny it. She’d ended up pregnant, hadn’t she? ‘Nick and I discussed this already. What we did damaged the relationship between you and Hannah and we want to do whatever we can to bri
dge the gap.’

‘Well, you don’t need to do that but I appreciate your concern and understanding now that you’re both older. Have you told him about Liam?’

Lainey sighed. ‘No. I’ve tried, but I get interrupted every single time. And the longer it goes on, the harder it is.’ She frowned. ‘What do you mean we don’t need to bridge the gap?’

‘Hannah and I have been in contact for the last two months.’

‘You have?’

Rose looked at her. ‘She knows about Liam.

Lainey felt the blood drain from her face.’What do you mean, she knows about Liam. Did you
tell
her?’

‘No, of course I didn’t tell her. I wouldn’t do that, Lainey. She guessed.’

‘
How
?’

‘Seeing you and Nick were back in contact, I really wanted to get in touch with her again. I rang the church for her number and spoke to Pastor Ray. It was wonderful catching up with him. He and Carolyn are still there.’

Lainey gestured impatiently. ‘Tell me about Hannah.’

Rose smiled. ‘She was so pleased to hear from me. I apologised again for that phone call and then we got onto what had happened when we left and how you’d ended up at Marshalls Creek. She put two and two together and was brave enough to ask the question.’ Rose touched Lainey’s hand. ‘She cried Lainey; not for herself, or even Nick, but for you. She was so worried about you and what you’d gone through.’

‘Oh, Mum.’ Tears welled. ‘How am I going to face her? I gave away her grandchild.’

Rose blinked away her own tears. ‘She can’t wait to see you. She doesn’t hold anything against you and loves you like her own, Lainey, like she always has.’

‘I hope you told her Nick doesn’t know.’ Lainey grabbed a tissue.

‘Yes. She’s promised not to say anything.’

‘What am I going to do, Mum? I’ve tried to tell him but it’s so hard. I’m scared he’s going to hate me for keeping it from him and not understand why I didn’t track him down in the first place and tell him then. I really wish I had.’

‘Lainey, you were only sixteen and no one knew how things were going to pan out. If he really loves you, he’ll forgive you. It might take time, but he’ll do it.’

Lainey rubbed her forehead. ‘I know I need to tell Nick about Liam, and maybe that’s the purpose for us meeting up again, but I almost wish we hadn’t. I’ve fallen for him all over again and I know he’s fallen for me, yet we don’t think the same way spiritually. I’ve got this constant war going on inside my head and I don’t know what to do. And I especially don’t get why God let all this happen if it’s only going to end badly.’

‘I know it’s hard, honey, but the Lord knows the bigger picture. Trust Him.’ Rose grasped her hand across the table. ‘And I’m here for you no matter what.’

‘I remember you saying that back in Marshalls Creek.’

‘Well, I haven’t changed my mind.’

‘I’m absolutely stuffed.’ Mia pushed away her plate. ‘And you’ve had seconds! How do you do it?’

Lainey grinned. ‘I do tend to eat a lot.’

‘And you don’t put on any weight. Half your luck. I guess it’s all the exercise you do. No wonder you look so good. Talking of such things, what did everyone at work say about the photos in the magazines?’

‘That was so embarrassing.’ Lainey closed her eyes at the memory. ‘I walked into work one morning and someone had cut out all the pictures and made a collage out of them and put it above the sign-in book.’

Mia laughed. ‘You’ve got to admit, they’re great photos.’

‘Yeah, thanks to you.’

There was one in particular Lainey really liked. They were on the red carpet, Nick’s arm around her waist. His smiling face was half turned towards her and she was laughing back at him. For once she didn’t mind it was a partially sideways shot. Her nose didn’t look as long as it usually did.

She couldn’t wait to see Nick and was dying to hear about their appearance on the talk show. It was Tuesday night, but Lainey had decided to forfeit her homegroup in favour of going with Mia to the airport.

‘Tell me, what’s Malcolm like?’ Lainey asked, as they took their coffee into the lounge room.

‘We get on well. He’s very protective of his boys of course, having been with them right from the beginning. And a little worried about the articles popping up in that
Hot Goss
magazine. Have you seen it?’

‘No, I haven’t even heard of it.’

‘It’s new. Like all the others it has celeb photos and the usual things, but it’s got one regular feature called ‘Digging Deep’. It delves into the personal part of celebrities’ lives. They insinuate a lot of stuff, but there’s enough truth to give credibility to the story. Next month’s issue is on The Mavericks. The boys have kept out of the major headlines over the years but like everyone, they’ve got their secrets.’

Lainey shrugged. ‘At the risk of sounding naïve, none of them seem the type to have done anything too stupid.’

‘There’s always something. What I’m going to tell you
must
remain confidential.’ At Lainey’s nod Mia continued. ‘Years ago, Simon had a drinking problem. He lost his licence and had to take an anger-management course. All that got dealt with in-house with only a small mention in a couple of magazines.
Hot Goss
could make a good story out of it and drag Simon’s name through the mud all over again.’

Mia put down her mug. ‘I suppose you’re the best person to ask about Nick. No skeletons are going to come flying out of his closet, are they? He always says he’s had a very ordinary life.’

With great effort, Lainey kept her tone light. ‘No, he was a good boy. His worst sin was chewing gum in church.’ Her heart thumped. How easy would it be to unearth the fact she’d had his baby?

On Liam’s birth certificate she had put ‘father unknown’. She’d hated doing it but identifying him could have significant consequences if he became successful. Now, Lainey was glad of her decision.

‘So are you okay about all this?’ Lainey remembered how much Mia worried about things.

‘Yes and no.’ Mia stared hard at her coffee. ‘Have you been praying for me?’

Lainey blinked. ‘Yes, I have. Why?’

‘I want to talk to you about something. I feel I can trust you.’

‘I promise I won’t tell anybody, not even Nick.’

Mia nodded. ‘Good. Do you remember me telling you how I’d done something really bad? Something that God can’t possibly forgive me for?’

‘Yes.’ Now wasn’t the time to argue the point.

‘Well, a few years ago, when I first started working for The Mavericks, I got myself into a bit of strife. I’d broken up with my boyfriend the week I started my new job. He had become very possessive, so I ended it. He wasn’t happy and kept trying to convince me to get back with him. He would turn up at all hours which freaked me out. One day, he came to work and managed to get past reception. I’d already met James and thought he was gorgeous, but I didn’t think there’d ever be a chance of anything developing between us.’ Mia tucked her legs up underneath her on the couch and stared absently somewhere over Lainey’s head.

‘As I said, Tony managed to get in and he cornered me in my office. It was after five on a Friday, and most people had gone home. He started by talking, then arguing and he got louder. He had me up against the wall when James came in, wondering what all the commotion was about. He pulled Tony off me and called for security. I was a mess.

‘James insisted on driving me home. We had a few drinks, one thing led to another and we ended up in bed. It was very awkward afterwards. We were both really embarrassed, me for being such a pushover and him for taking advantage of me. We agreed not to see each other until I’d had time to sort myself out. A month later I discovered I was pregnant but I didn’t know who the father was, Tony or James. It was awful. I couldn’t tell anybody what was going on, certainly not my family or James. I decided to have an abortion despite everything I’d been brought up to believe in.’ Mia shifted and leaned forward, cradling her mug in her hands.

‘I was stewing at my desk one day when Malcolm came past and with one kind word from him I just lost it. He took me into his office and I told him the whole sad story. He was the one who organised the abortion, took me there and drove me home. I developed an infection and again, Malcolm came to my rescue, got me off to the doctor. I had a week off work and he told everyone I had the flu. Unfortunately, I have a certain amount of internal damage and my chances of falling pregnant again are about fifty percent.’

‘Oh, Mia.’ Lainey saw how hard her friend gripped the handle of her mug.

‘When James and I started dating properly about six months later, I finally told him. He was very upset I hadn’t come to him for help but very grateful to Malcolm for getting me through it. My family still doesn’t know anything about it. You’re the only person to know outside of James and Malcolm.

‘I need you to pray for me Lainey. Firstly, that this doesn’t end up in
Hot Goss
and secondly that I can get pregnant. You’re the only person I know who believes in God the way you do. I need His help. That’s if He thinks I deserve it.’

‘Oh, Mia,’ Lainey said again, her heart aching. ‘Of course I’ll pray for you. God still loves you.’

‘Don’t say that, Lainey. I don’t want to cry and for some reason every time we talk about God, I start.’ She blinked rapidly. ‘Let’s go and get these men of ours.’

They talked of other, less personal things on the drive to the airport and arrived just as the plane landed. The arrivals lounge was chaotic.

‘Lainey? Lainey Sullivan?’

The vaguely familiar voice belonged to a man with untidy black hair, glasses, two cameras around his neck and a hessian bag over his
shoulder.

‘High school orchestra, you played the violin, I played the clarinet …’

Lainey’s eyes widened. ‘Darren Cosgrove! It’s been a long time. What are you doing here?’

‘I swapped my clarinet for a camera. Much more my thing. I’ve been overseas doing freelance work, but now I have a wife and a baby so I’m home.’ He winked. ‘I know why you’re here.’

Lainey smiled. ‘I don’t imagine it was too hard to work out.’

‘Ah, no, especially when you’re with Mia Harrington.’ Darren fished around in his bag and handed her a business card. ‘Take this, in case you decide to do me a favour for old time’s sake. I’m going to see who I can find. There’s a few coming in tonight, not just your lot. I’ll see you around.’ He waved and headed back to the arrivals gate.

‘Be careful, Lainey.’ Mia was frowning.

‘It’s alright, I won’t contact him.’ To prove her point Lainey tore up the card and put it in the nearest bin.

Mia still looked dubious. ‘Come on. We’d better go over there ourselves. They’ll be one of the first through. They get priority treatment these days.’

They didn’t have long to wait. An advantage of being tall was being able to see over the top of most heads. Lainey’s eyes locked on Nick’s the moment he came around the corner and his face split into a grin.

She pushed her way over to him and he ditched the baggage trolley to pull her into a hug. ‘Hello, beautiful. What are you doing here on a Tuesday night? Aren’t you supposed to be at a meeting?’

‘Kiss me or I’ll leave you here.’

Nick grinned and obliged. Lainey was aware of camera flashes but didn’t really care. This was life with Nick. She’d rather have it this way than not at all, despite the misgivings that kept raising their ugly little heads.