Dani watched Ivy give him a hug and whisper something in his ear. He shot her a smile, and Tippi and Starr glanced at each other but remained silent. Was Laz being sincere or playing for their sympathy?
“I’m a little surprised that Regina would have a party with so much alcohol if she knew what a temptation it would be for you.” Dani passed Laz the bread basket and the crystal butter dish.
“She felt that others shouldn’t suffer because of my weakness.” Laz shrugged and selected a hot roll. “As you may have noticed, she wasn’t the most compassionate person in the world.”
“Knowing that, you were still in love with her?” Dani asked.
“It’s hard to explain.” Laz picked up his fork. “Reg and I grew up together. We went to the same schools, attended the same parties, and hung out at the same country club. We were always expected to get married.”
“But Regina dated Vance King,” Ivy blurted out. She turned toward him and, frowning her concern, asked, “Did she cheat on you?”
“No.” Laz ate a few bites, then said, “We decided when we started college to both date other people. Although I didn’t for a while because my rehab counselor suggested just concentrating on me for the first year. Our parents weren’t happy with us going our separate ways, but they agreed we needed to sow our wild oats.”
“What changed?” Dani asked, worried at the way Ivy was gazing adoringly at Laz. All Ivy needed was to fall for a guy with an addiction problem and parents who wanted him to marry a debutante.
“Nothing, really.” Laz pushed his empty plate away. “It was just time.”
“Time?” Dani raised a brow.
“The start of our senior year,” Laz explained. “The plan was to have the wedding next June. That way wherever I went to law school, Reg would move there with me.”
“No offense,” Dani said, “but since you both could afford to go anywhere to college, I’m a bit surprised you and Regina chose to attend NU instead of a more prestigious university.”
“Regina was happier as a big fish in a small pond, and since she wanted to be a writer, it didn’t really matter if she had a diploma from an important school.” Laz drained his water glass, then hung his head. “And I was drunk during most of high school so my GPA sucked. I probably wouldn’t have gotten into NU if my grandfather hadn’t endowed the new library.”
“But you straightened up and have a 4.0,” Ivy said, shooting Dani a warning look.
“That’s wonderful, Laz.” Dani stood and asked, “Ready for dessert?”
They all nodded and she took the bowls of banana pudding from the fridge. Ivy had told Dani that this was Laz’s favorite sweet, so she had whipped up the old-fashioned summer treat in order to lull him into revealing all his secrets.
Once everyone had been served and was eating, Dani searched her mind for anything else she wanted to ask Laz. Maybe it was the food or the homey atmosphere, but he’d been more open than she had expected and she didn’t want to waste the opportunity to grill him.
Cradling her coffee cup, Dani absorbed the warmth from the mug as she watched Laz flirting with Ivy. He’d been friendly toward Tippi and Starr, chatting with them throughout the meal, but his interest was clearly fixed on Ivy. Was he really interested in her or was seducing women just second nature to him?
As Dani observed him, thinking about what he’d revealed so far, she realized there was one last question she needed answered.
She waited for a lull in the conversation and said, “Laz, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but after three years of sobriety, what in the world shoved you off the wagon?”
“I…I’m not sure how to put this.” He glanced at Ivy, who nodded encouragingly. “As I mentioned, Reg wasn’t exactly a sweet, cuddly person.”
“So we all noticed.” Starr tapped a sparkly fingernail on her cheek.
“Yeah.” Tippi wrinkled her nose. “It was kind of evident when, instead of thanking Dani for putting out the fire, she screamed at her.”
“Right.” Laz licked his lips. “Reg has always been sort of self-centered.”
“Which I suspect her parents did nothing to discourage,” Dani commented.
“True.” Laz stared into his dessert dish. “Anson and Honoria wouldn’t have seen anything wrong with Reg’s attitude.”
“I take it that’s what’s expected in their circle?” Dani asked.
“No!” Laz’s blue eyes flashed. “My parents aren’t like that.”
“But they wanted you to marry into a family that was like that?” Tippi snapped.
Dani shot her a please-don’t-blow-this look.
“Well.” Laz dropped his chin. “They aren’t like that to the same degree as the Bournes.”
“It’s difficult to achieve that compromise between acting selfish and watching out for your own interests,” Dani said.
“Very.” Laz smiled gratefully at her. “People do try to take advantage of you when they think you’re more fortunate than them.”
“It was probably especially hard for someone like Regina to find that happy medium.” Dani’s voice softened. “When you look like a Victoria’s Secret model and have a trust fund that would allow you to buy your own private island, people treat you like you’re special and you begin to believe you deserve to be treated that way.”
“That’s just it.” Laz scraped the last bit of pudding from his bowl. “When we dated in high school, Reg was a little arrogant, although not in a mean way. But once we got back together, she seemed different.”
“Did something happen?” Dani asked. “Can you pinpoint when she changed?”
“Not really.” Laz shifted in his chair. “The thing is that although we still saw each other at parties, etcetera, since we weren’t going out
