I Built This Home For Me, For You

Chapter 5

Lauren was in a meeting with Gayle two weeks later, catching up on how she was settling in at the CatCo office in Jacksonville, over lunch and a table filled with an assortment of files, when she received a phone call. Glancing down at the screen, she saw Camila's name on it and gave Gayle an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I have to take this. It's my wife." Even after all those years, she still got a thrill out of calling Camila her wife, and she smiled as she climbed to her feet.

"It's no problem at all," Gayle assured her, picking up her glass of water and taking a sip as she glanced back down at the financial reports.

Quickly walking over to the large windows, overlooking the botanical gardens behind the restaurant, Lauren answered her phone. "Hi, darling," she said, smiling grimly, "Sorry, now's a bit of a bad time. I'm in a meeting with Miss Marsh, remember?"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Camila sighed, "but I'm in that meeting with Spheerical Industries that you set up with Jack for me, and I can't leave now or I won't get another one for months – you know how hard it was to plan this one – and Sofi and Maggie are both in work, and I'd really like it if your mom could be here for the meeting."

"Okay, slow down, just tell me what's wrong," Lauren soothingly said, listen to Camila ramble on.

"The school called. Daisy-"

Lauren sighed in frustration, "Don't bother explaining. I'll go there now and sort it out."

She could hear the relief in Camila's voice, even as she apologized, "I'm sorry about your meeting."

"It's fine, love," Lauren assured her, knowing that Camila hated going to deal with any school hassles anyway. Meetings weren't her strong suit, which was why Lauren wouldn't leave her stranded with Jack to navigate the business end of their research by sending Clara to go and pick up her daughter. The headmistress would probably want to talk to either Lauren or Camila anyway, especially with the number of times Daisy had been in trouble that month already, and Lauren resigned herself to the fact that she might singlehandedly be paying for the new wing of the library that the private school was hoping to build.

"I'll make it up to you tonight," Camila promised her, and Lauren smiled slightly.

"You'd better get back to your meeting," She said, "I love you. Good luck."

"Go easy on her, please," Camila reminded Lauren, who pressed her lips together in a thin line, "And I love you too. I'll see you tonight."

The line went dead, and Lauren sighed, running a hand over the front of her skirt as she tried to smooth away the wrinkles. Fiddling with her phone, she rushed back over to the table, where Gayle looked up at her expectantly. "I'm so sorry, I have to go. It's the school – one of the girls ... well. Do you have kids?"

"It's completely alright, Lauren, I understand," Gayle said, before hesitating slightly, "No, I don't, but I can imagine."

"Mm," Lauren murmured, "Well, it's the best and hardest job I've ever had – and this one hasn't exactly been a walk in the park."

"I don't envy you doing both of them," Gayle laughed, and Lauren cracked a smile as she gathered her own files into a pile and shoved them inside her briefcase.

Snapping it shut, she sighed, smiling slightly as she shook her head, "I wouldn't change it for the world. Now, um, I'll call you and we can reschedule a new meeting. Maybe sometime next week, whenever you're free at Catco."