4 years later.
"I'm home." Amy said a entering the house making her way to the kitchen.
"About time. I can't believe you took three hours to get a couple of things from the shop." Lauren said incredulous. She was making a cake for a customer and need some things from the bakery. Lauren went to culinary school and became a pastry chef. She bought Trèsjoliefrom its owners.
Amy had become a doctor with two specialties, which were Anesthesiology and Emergency Medicine. She had put all her time and energy into her career. At her young age she became very wealthy but even though she was a millionaire her style outside of work never changed. Amy would always be in ripped jeans, her t-shirts and her jackets. And let's not forget her vans or converse. People often doubt if she was even a doctor. She liked this, always under the radar.
"I know. I had to stop at Toys-R-Us to get something for the little one. You should see what I got her." She said excited she wanted to see the girl's face.
"You know you can't keep spoiling her." Lauren scolded her.
"Why not? Isn't it Mimi's job to spoil her niece? Where is she?"
"She's is taking her nap. And please don't wake her up. It was quite the struggle to get her to close her eyes." They were talking about Emma, Lauren's 18 month-old daughter, Amy fell in love with Emma the first time she laid eyes on her.
"Do you have plans with Lindsay tonight?" Lauren asked. Lindsay was Amy's girlfriend. They had been dating for a couple of months.
"Not really. Why?"
"Could you take care of Emma tonight? I'm going to dinner with an old friend." Lauren said pulling out the cake from the oven.
"And by old friend you mean Karma." Amy looked at her. Karma and Lauren never stopped their communication after the break up. Most of the time Amy was not bothered by it, but sometimes it did because Amy missed Karma.
Lauren nodded at Amy. Her stepsister knew her. "She came to visit her parents and is driving from Austin to meet me here."
"Where's Matt?" Amy asked wondering.
"He's at the office. Something about staying until late because he was working a big case with the rest of the firm." Matthew was Lauren's husband the couple met while he was studying law school Lauren's college was near and they ran into each other several times in a coffee shop nearby.
"Nice." Amy sat down in one of the stools watching Lauren bake.
"How about you? How was your day?" Lauren moved changing topics.
"Tiring and exhausting. I swear I thought my shift was never going to end." Amy yawned she knew being a doctor was not an easy task but there were some days where she just wanted to stay home sleeping and watching Netflix. "Yeah sure I'll stay with my little munchkin." She agreed to it.
"Thank you you're a lifesaver." At times like this Lauren was thankful that Amy was living with them.
After Amy left New York four years ago she drove to her apartment and Lauren was waiting for her. Amy didn't say anything she just landed on Lauren's arms and broke down. Lauren didn't need to know how things went. Just by seeing Amy's state she assumed things went wrong. After Lauren saw Amy like this she didn't wanted to leave her alone. Amy didn't eat anything for days; all she did was stay in bed all day alternating between crying and sleeping. Two days later she felt the need to talk to someone and she opened up to Lauren. Every detail everything that happened in New York. Lauren was shocked she couldn't believe that after that they have been through Karma would just leave Amy for Liam. Something else had to be happening.
The two of them were sitting at the kitchen table when they heard a fussing sound coming from the baby monitor. Emma had woken up.
"I'll get her." Amy stood up getting excited. She made it to Emma's room in no time.
"Well look who woke up from her nap." Amy said softly approaching her crib.
Emma looked at her and the fussing stopped. A smile began forming in her face. Emma had straight blonde hair up to her ears. She had the most adorable rosy cheeks and a pair of huge blue eyes.
"Mimi!" Emma said holding her hands upwards signaling to her aunt to pick her up.
"Hi munchkin." Amy picked her up and placed her at her hip. She kissed her cheeks and forehead lightly. "Let's go see mama."
"Mama." The girl repeated, she was at the stage where she repeated everything she heard.
"Hi baby." Lauren said to her playfully when they entered the kitchen.
"Mama." Emma said excited squirming out of Amy's grip running to her mother.
"Alright. I'm leaving. Remember to child-lock everything and please no candy." Lauren instructed as she handed Emma to Amy. "Love you." She said and kissed her daughter's hair.
Lauren hopped in her SUV and drove to the restaurant where she was meeting Karma. It was a short drive; she parked and entered the place. She took a look around the place and spotted Karma rapidly.
"Long time no see." Karma said she stood up to greet Lauren with a hug.
"Way too long." Lauren responded after they hugged they sat down and waited for the waiter to take their order. "How's New York treating you?"
"Its good. Its hectic but good." Karma replied after her brake up with Amy she moved in with Liam. Even though they were together under unlikely circumstances she tried to make the best out of it. As time passed, their relationship improved. After all they were attracted in high school and some of the attraction rekindled. But it was just that attraction. Liam went on to take his father's company as CEO of Skwerkel. "We're okay. We try as hard as we can to make everything so we have days to ourselves but it's hard."
"How are Matt and Emma doing? I bet she must be adorable." Karma asked Lauren. She hasn't seen Emma in a while usually when Lauren is meeting up with Karma she takes Emma so that they can bond.
"Matt's doing great. He's been working until midnight in his firm, but I think things are going good for his firm, and Emma is getting so big I swear time flies she has us on our toes." Lauren reached for her purse and took out her phone and handed it to Karma so she could the latest pictures of Emma. "Keep scrolling to your right." She instructed Karma.
Karma did as she was told. There were a lot of pictures of the baby. Karma couldn't believe how adorable she had gotten. The baby had one of those smiles where you would just melt by looking at her. As she kept looking at the picture she saw one that made her smile. In the picture were Emma and her aunt and ex-girlfriend Amy. Amy was holding Emma, and Emma was wearing a donut onesie matching the one Amy had. Karma assumed Amy had gotten it for her. "Some things just never change." She said showing Lauren the picture she was referring to.
Lauren smiled when she saw the picture because she remembered how excited was Amy when she put the piece of clothing on Emma. "Those two are inseparable. She's amazingly good with Emma. Anytime she has spare time she is always taking her to a nearby park or spoiling her with toys."
Karma's smiled hadn't faded away. She was imagining Amy interacting with Emma. Who would've thought she'd grow to love a baby so much. "How is she?" Karma asked erasing her smile from her face.
"She's fine. I mean she's been working a lot. Sometimes I feel I barely see her." Lauren replied. This was something both, Karma and Amy did. They would ask Lauren about the other, but making sure Lauren never told the other person.
"That's good I guess." Karma wanted to continue asking Lauren about her, but at the same time she didn't. She was curious about whether if Amy had someone in her life. She wanted to ask the question but was afraid that she wasn't going to be pleased with the answer.
"So anything interesting going on in your life?" Lauren said switching topics.
"Well. The whole reason I came to visit is to personally show you." Karma said as she raised her left hand from under the table revealing she had a ring, a one-carat solitaire diamond ring. It was an engagement ring.
"Oh my god! Is that what I think it is?!" Lauren said in shock.
Karma nodded and extended her hand so that Lauren could get a better look at it. "I'm engaged." She said trying to sound excited. She was but deep down this wasn't at all what she wanted.
"Tell me everything." Lauren demanded. "How did it happen? Details I want to know everything."
Karma laughed at the sudden interrogation by Lauren. "It happened last week. I wanted to tell you right away but I thought it was better in person. Liam had made reservations at our favorite restaurant. When we get there I learned that he had asked the owners to have it reserved just for the two of us." Karma paused she could swear Lauren was about to cry halfway the story. " We had finished our meal and I could see Liam was anxious, nervous and I kind of knew what was happening. All of the sudden he stood up and walked next to me. He knelt before me and said, "I want you to be my wife. Karma Ashcroft will you marry me?" I started crying and just said "Yes." And he took out the ring and placed it on my finger." Karma finished. What she never told anyone is that her tears weren't because of the proposal. They were because she had imagined all of this, the proposal, the nerves, the question but not with the person they who had done it.
"I think I'm about to cry." Lauren said. "Have you guys picked out a date?"
Karma nodded. "It's going to be Sunday June 14. In the Swan Club in the outsides of New York." She replied.
"You do realize that's about 6 months from now." Lauren thought it was too soon.
"I know but Liam doesn't want to wait and we've already taken care of most of the things. Liam's parents are meeting with all the wedding planners. But I have a couple of things you could help out with." She informed Lauren. Lauren loved being able to help her friends out.
"Sure anything. Name it." Lauren answered.
"We need a wedding cake and who better to make my wedding cake than you." Karma expressed.
"Leave that to me." Lauren told her confidently. "What else?"
"I'd love to have Emma be my flower girl." She said to the girl's mother. "And the other request is the hardest of them all but I have faith you'll get it done."
"Emma is going to be excited when I tell her she'll get to walk down an aisle. What's the last request?" Lauren waited for the girl to answer.
"Get Amy to come to the wedding." Karma requested. She knew this was going to be hard but she needed to at least try.
Lauren face just dropped. She didn't seem to comprehend why she wouldn't want Amy to attend to the wedding. "I'll try my best but I can't make any promises with that last one." Lauren debated. Lauren wanted to ask Karma why the sudden interest in Amy but she figured it was better not to.
"I understand. I just thought I should ask." Karma reasoned.
Moments after the two friends finished eating and said their goodbyes to each other. Lauren pulled up in her driveway and noticed that her husband's car still wasn't there. She concluded he was hung up in his office. She entered the house and went straight to her daughter's room only to find it empty. Immediately she knew where she was. Down the hall Amy's room had a light on. Lauren stood by the frame of the door and took in the view. Amy had Emma on her chest. Both of them were fast asleep, there were some books next to them. Amy loved reading her bedtime stories. Lauren didn't bother in waking them up. This wasn't the first time it has happened. She walked as quietly as she could, covered the two with the bed sheets and grabbed the books that were on the bed. Then she turned off the light and closed the door behind her. Allowing them to continue sleeping.
A/N: Hey. Thanks you guys for all the feedback. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy this chapter. This story is going to have a lot of up and downs so bare with me. Feel free to write me a PM if you have any doubts. If I don't answer your question directly it means that the story itself will. Good day!