Heart Hold Fast

Chapter Five

A/N: Here's the next part of HHF! Thank you for reading; have a wonderful day.

As soon as Lauren emerged from the JMA building, the appeal of going home seemed to lessen. Standing on the sidewalk outside the revolving doors of her family's company, she decided that returning to her apartment, so that she could just stew in her own thoughts all day, was a poor idea.

Turning on her heel, she started to walk up the busy street. Usually she revelled in the bustling nature of New York. The constant activity and liveliness had a certain allure, but today, it was doing nothing for her. She could normally blend seamlessly into the tides of people that streamed along the pavements, but now she felt like she was fighting a powerful current. These streets used to be her safe haven, but now she appeared to be out of her depth.

Flattening herself against a wall, she let the surge rush past her. Was it just exhaustion, or the meeting with Camila, that was throwing her so disastrously out of tempo?

Grabbing her mobile phone from her pocket, Lauren dialled the number of her closest friend. For a horrible minute, she thought Dinah might not pick up, but at the last second, her voice echoed in Lauren's ear.

"Calling during work hours? Something must be really wrong, Jauregui!"

Lauren ignored the joke at her expense.

"Whatever, Dinah. Can you just meet me at the usual place?"

"Well, I know you're avoiding your job, but has it occurred to you that I might actually be busy myself?"

"Oh, come on!" Lauren groaned, "Can you just do this for me please?"

Dinah worked for her mother's property development and estate agent business, Hansen Homes. They were one of the most reputable property dealers in New York, selling and letting apartments and penthouses to the rich and famous.

This was how the Hansens and Jaureguis had first met. Lauren's father had been helped by Hansen Homes to first set up the JMA offices in New York, right after he decided to expand his marketing agency from the original premises in Miami.

"Alright, Lauser, give me twenty minutes,"

Dinah hung up, and Lauren hurried on her way.

Their "usual place" was a little cafe, called Reflection, that sat handily equidistant between the JMA building and the Hansen Homes offices. When Lauren had first taken over the management of JMA's New York branch, and Dinah had started working for her mother's company, the two friends had met there all the time.

Back then, they had been barely out of their teens; two young women thrown into the deep end in one of the greatest cities on earth. The cafe was full of memories from those days, but they met there rarely now. Work consumed much of their spare time, and they were no longer amateurs in the business world. Nowadays, they took the city in their stride.

It took Lauren fifteen minutes to walk there, and once she arrived, she found a table inside and sat down. There was nothing particularly outstanding about the Reflection café, but it was cosy and calm. For two newcomers in New York, it had felt comforting.

Dinah arrived not long afterwards, and they ordered two coffees.

"So, what's so important that you had to drag me here, then?" the Polynesian asked, setting her cup down.

"Guess who paid me a visit today,"

"I don't know, Laur. Santa Claus?"

Lauren slapped her wrist with a scowl.

"Can you be serious for a minute?"

"I doubt it. It's not how I was programmed,"

After Lauren let out another irritated sigh, Dinah relented her teasing.