Falling into Place - Forbidden Heart Series

7| Caffeinated Courage

"Tell me again." Lanie begged.

I chuckled and sipped my herbal tea. "Do I have to?"

"You owe me this."

I exhaled a heavy sigh. "My room has beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows with amazing views of the city and the beach."

Lanie groaned into the receiver. "Damn. I can't believe you're in Barcelona! I should be there!"

"I wish you were here too," I replied honestly. "It's not the same here without you, Karma, and Jamie."

"Yeah, I bet. The Five Musketeers!"

"It's The Three Musketeers, Lane."

"Um, there are five or us, not three. So it fits!"

I laughed at that. She was right, The Five Musketeers did fit. That was a new one for sure.

She was also right about one other thing. There was a part of me that wished she and our other best friends were here, too. Yes, this was a family trip, but I still missed them every day.

"Where's your hubby?"

I got up from the plush couch and walked towards the large kitchen in our suite. Only the best when you were married to a Hale.

I reached into the bag of healthy snacks I brought and pulled out an apple.

"He and Gwen went for a walk. A family bonding thing."

"That's cool. How ya feeling? Any weird cravings yet?"

"I'm feeling pretty good actually. The morning sickness is a lot better. As far as weird cravings, I seem to really enjoy putting steak sauce on sliced lemon."

Lanie made a gagging sound on the other end of the line. "Steak sauce? On lemons? Yuck!"

I grabbed a paper towel and my apple before walking back over to the couch. "You're one to talk. You put ketchup on your ice cream!"

"It was the hormones!"

"Exactly," I snickered. "So don't talk crap about my weird cravings, Lanie Jenkins."

"Fine, fine."

I took a small bite of my apple and nearly moaned at the sour taste of the Granny Smith.

"How's Ayden? Is he doing better?"

"So much better." The relief of that fact was heavy in her tone.

"No more nightmares?"

"He still has them, but nowhere near as much as he had before. He's finally sleeping through the night most nights. No more waking up in cold sweats and. . ."

I paused before taking another bite of my apple. "And what?"

"For awhile he would wake up screaming," she explained softly. "I knew whenever that happened he was back there. In Afghanistan. He would keep replaying what happened over and over again."

"I'm so sorry, Lanie. But you said he's doing better now, right?"

"Yes. Yes, he is, and I am so grateful for that."

"Good. I'm glad he's better, too. Have you seen Karma lately? Harper and I have been worried about her."

"She'd better-ish."

"Better-ish? What does that mean?"

I never knew Karma's mom as well as the rest of the group, but I still felt that loss and I felt for my friend.

Me and the rest of the girls were there for her when her mom passed away. We were there when she cried. We were there when she depended on pastries and desserts to get through the day. We were also there when the drinking started to get out of control.