Meant to Be by Jessica James Page A

walked over to Heather who was sitting
alone on a lawn chair beside the canopy.
    “ Mind if I sit?” Lauren
nodded toward a blanket as she rolled up the sleeves of the shirt
that completely covered her hands.
    “ No, not at all. You can
grab the chair if you want. Annie ran back to the room to check on
something.”
    Lauren sat down cross-legged on the
blanket. “No, this is fine.”
    “ It’s nice to see him so
happy,” Heather said as if to herself.
    Lauren followed Heather’s gaze to Rad
and watched as he tapped Tork on the shoulder at the campfire
before melting away into the darkness.
    “ Is there some reason he
shouldn’t be?” She looked up curiously.
    Heather appeared startled that she had
spoken out loud. “Oh, no. Not really. I mean, he’s had some tough
times. He’s over them now.”
    “ Oh.” Lauren continued to
stare into the darkness as the sound of voices slowly faded
away.
    “ I’ve probably made you
curious now.” Heather got up and grabbed a soda from the cooler. “I
always talk too much.”
    “ Kind of.” Lauren
shrugged. “I mean, I don’t want to pry, but if he’s a
manic-depressive psychopath, I’d like to know.”
    Heather laughed as she sat back down.
“Yep. I definitely said too much if you think that.” She pulled the
tab on her drink, took a sip, then leaned forward and talked in a
soft voice. “Wynn said you two go way back, but I take it you don’t
know him that well.”
    Lauren smiled at Heather’s female
intuition but wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to lie, yet
she didn’t want to completely destroy Rad’s story. “I guess you
could say we haven’t seen each other for quite a while.”
    Heather sat back in her chair and took
a deep breath. “Well, the short story is he was engaged to be
married to a girl named Angie.” She nodded toward the two girls who
were still guzzling beer as they stood by the fire. “That girl on
the left, Jackie, is Angie’s cousin. Anyway, he came home from
traveling about a month before the wedding to an empty apartment
and a note.”
    “ Oh.” Lauren closed her
eyes.
    Heather looked down at her. “Yeah, he
took it pretty hard. I think more because of the way it was done
than who it was done by.”
    Lauren could tell from the tone of
Heather’s voice that her resentment for Angie was intense and
personal. “Sounds like you didn’t like her much.”
    “ That’s putting it
mildly.” Heather leaned back and stared out at the darkness.
“Nobody did.”
    “ Except Rad.”
    “ Well, he was young and
they had been together a pretty long time, so I guess it seemed
like a logical step. Plus, she’s manipulative and conniving, and he
just got sucked up in it.” She took a sip of her soda. “He knows
now what a big mistake it was.”
    “ How long ago was
this?”
    “ Almost three
years.”
    “ And he hasn’t been seeing
anyone?”
    “ No.” Heather was quiet a
moment as if thinking about it. “I’m sure it had more to do with
where he was in his career than just swearing off women all
together. I mean, really the only women these guys meet are hanging
out in bars.” Her attention turned toward Jackie and her friend.
“Or the ones that invite themselves to parties at the
beach.”
    Lauren noticed Heather’s hostile
expression and followed her gaze. She got the feeling Heather
didn’t care too much for Angie’s cousin or her friend either. She
took a sip from the mini-bottle of water she had pulled out of the
cooler. “So I take it Angie was cheating and left him for another
guy.”
    Heather nodded forcefully. “Oh yes.
She sure did.” Then she got serious and spoke in a low voice.
“She’s married to a senator now and has a big house and a
high-paying job at CNN.” She stretched her legs out in front of her
and shook the sand off her toes. “If you don’t mind my saying so,
she got the poor end of the bargain.”
    Lauren was silent for a moment, trying
to picture the type of woman who would