Chapter Thirty-Six

After she spent an hour looking for him and calling him with no luck she headed back to her house. She heard her mother's voice as she let herself in with the key. 'Lauren is that you?' her mother appeared in the hallway as she stepped inside. The angry retort died on her lips when she saw her daughters tear stained face. 'Lauren? What's happened? Are you okay?'

'I don't want to talk about it, mum' Lauren told her and she pushed past her, running upstairs to her room. She stripped off her clothes, wrapped her body in her robe and went into the bathroom, starting the shower going. She undid her robe and let it drop to the floor and she stepped under the hot water.

She didn't understand how Joey could just leave like that, not after they'd just spent an incredible night together. Unless that was all he was after, sex. Sure he'd said and done the right things to make her think he wanted more and she'd believed him so easily, given him what he wanted so easily too. She felt cheap, dirty. Like she'd just had a one-night stand. She felt used and angry…as well as upset…devastated even. She felt the tears sting her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, sitting down in the bottom of the shower she cried.

*XX*XX*XX*XX*

After half an hour she turned off the shower and dried herself, returning to her room. She picked up her phone off the bedside table and checked it, hoping to find Joey had called her or at least text her but there was nothing. Maybe her earlier assumptions had been right, maybe something had happened to his mum and he'd had to leave. Of course he wouldn't have had time to wait for her or phone her to tell her what had happened, his first priority would be to get home to see her. She knew people could die from flu…she didn't know much about his mother, or his family really, except that he loved his mother very much and despised his father. Maybe he'd call her when he knew what was going on and after he'd listened to her voicemails. She heard her mother leave the house and she decided she was feeling a bit better about things so she dressed and headed down stairs.

*XX*XX*XX*XX*

She was gently shaken awake, opening her eyes she saw her dad crouched down beside her. 'Your phone's been ringing' he told her. Lauren shot up right and grabbed it off the coffee table, scrolling through her missed calls and texts. Max saw the disappointment on her face and she sighed and dropped the phone back onto the table. 'Not who you wanted to hear from?' he asked her.

'Something like that, yeah' she said and she pushed herself off the sofa and walked through to the kitchen. Her dad followed her, leaning against the door frame, watching as she made a coffee. The happy glowing Lauren that he'd bumped into in the café early this morning had gone. Now she was miserable and he could tell she'd been crying.

'What's happened?' he asked her. Lauren glanced at him as she spooned coffee into the cups.

'It doesn't matter' she whispered.

'Yes it does. You looked like you'd won the lottery this morning and now you look as though you've been given bad news' he told her 'Did something happen between you and the boy I saw you with last night outside the B&B?' Lauren looked up at him in surprise. 'I was heading home from the Vic and I saw you, I thought you were coming home so I was waiting for you and then he grabbed your hand and pulled you back…I'm assuming he's who you spent the night with?' he asked her.

Lauren nodded her head 'yes, he was' she said. She poured the water into the cups as Max moved to the fridge to get the milk.

'So who was he? Someone you picked up at the club last night?' he asked her, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table and taking a seat.

'No dad' Lauren said shaking her head 'That was Joey' she told him.

Max frowned, he recognised the name but he couldn't think where from. His eyes widened as he remembered. 'Hawaii Joey?'

'Yeah dad, Hawaii Joey' Lauren nodded, she carried the cups to the table placing on in front of her dad and then sitting beside him at the table. 'I didn't know he was back in London. I bumped into him at the club we went to last night' she said softly 'his mum is sick and his dad called him to tell him he needed to get home to see her' she explained to him 'Joey said she only had the flu and his dad used it as an excuse to get him to come back to London so he could tell Joey that it was about time he grew up and came home and got a proper job'

'I take it Joey doesn't get on with his dad?'

'No, not really' Lauren shook her head 'His dad wants him to do something more along the lines of his work and Joey's happy owning and running a bar in Hawaii'

'Why did he leave London and move to Hawaii?' he asked her.

Lauren sighed. 'He caught his girlfriend cheating with his best mate the day before their wedding' she said, putting her cup down on the table, curling her hands around it. 'They were supposed to be honeymooning in Hawaii…Joey went on his own and never went home' Max nodded his head 'he said he wanted to be with me' Lauren said softly 'he said he hadn't been able to stop thinking about me…we were going to talk this morning about how we would make things work. You know with me being here and him being in Hawaii' she whispered. 'I went out to get us some breakfast, you stopped me first and then Marcus. When I got back to the B&B I thought he was in the bathroom, so I waited for him. But he'd gone' she frowned 'He just left' she swallowed, 'when I realised he'd gone I got dressed again and I went looking for him. I bumped into Marcus again and he said Joey had been watching us together in the gardens from the window of the B&B and he saw him leave a few minutes later…I looked for him everywhere, I tried to find him, dad but he just vanished. I've left so many voicemails on his phone…texts'

'Maybe his mother was sicker than he thought and he had to go' Max said softly.

Lauren nodded her head 'that's what I thought too' she said to him 'he'll listen to the voicemails and call me right?' she looked up at him expectantly. Max wasn't sure he would and wasn't sure what to say to her. On one hand he didn't want to get her hopes up but on the other hand he didn't want her to look like someone had just run over her puppy either.

'I'm sure he will, darling' Max nodded his head. Lauren smiled at him, nodding her head again.

'I think so too' she told him. Max watched her drinking her coffee. He wasn't so sure. To him it sounded as though he'd told his daughter what she needed to hear to get her into bed. He promised himself if he ever saw Joey again he would be having a few words with him.

AN: Well Max seems to think that Joey just wanted to get his daughter in bed…which he did. Poor Lauren! Let's hope that Joey calls soon. Don't forget to leave me a review.