Carter picked up some streamers and tape, and I pointed across the deck railings. He nodded and got started wrapping them around.
“Living by yourself in the mountains isn’t easy,” he said. “You have to stay on top of things. Especially winter supplies. You get good at it after a while, though, and it gets easier.”
“How long have you been doing it?” I asked. Here we go. Moment of truth.
“Since I came back? About a year or so. I ran into Brett and Aiden at a bar back when I had just come back to town,” he said. “But my family were mountain people, so I knew the score before I moved up here.”
“That’s helpful,” I said. It was helpful that I knew he was single and had been for some time. What I was going to do with that information, I hadn’t decided yet. I was still debating if I was even remotely ready to start dating again. Especially with Ashton showing up at the diner as often as he was.
Harleigh came out a moment later and helped us finish decorating, cutting our conversation a little short. It didn’t pick up again until the party was in full swing, having moved from being a birthday thing for the girls to just being a chance to have a good time on the deck.
Carter had gone out to join the boys in admiring Brett’s grill and was heading back toward the house when he peeled off to join me at the corner of the deck. I had moved out of the way while some of the adults danced with the kids, wanting a break from the loud music. Carter joined me, sitting beside me on the wood railing and taking a sip of his beer.
“I’d ask you to dance, but I don’t know the proper moves for Sesame Street songs,” he said.
“I’m sure you’d do fine,” I laughed.
“Half of dancing is the partner,” he said. “If I was doing alright, it would be because you look like you could cut a rug just fine.”
I grinned and felt the familiar heat rise on my face. I hoped it was starting to get dark enough that he couldn’t tell. The shadows were getting longer as the sun began to set, and Harleigh had lit tiki torches all along the porch, making the lights flicker in the oncoming dusk. The light danced in his eyes.
“You know,” he said, scooting a little closer. I could feel the heat between us growing and my breath catching in my chest. “I’m not much of a dancer, what with my bad knee and all, but there are times I think I could ignore it.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “Like when?”
“When the right person can be there with me, making sure I don’t make a fool of myself,” he said. “Somebody that won’t mind a little hobbling.”
“Oh.” I felt myself being pulled into him. The rest of the party had faded away. All that existed was Carter and the tiki torch beside him, orange flame dancing seductively inside. “I don’t mind a little hobbling.”
“Really?”
“Carter!” a voice said, interrupting us. “You need another beer?”
Carter smiled, and the moment broke. Suddenly, everything else came back, and I noticed that Aiden and Desiree were making their way over to us.
“Sure,” Carter said.
Aiden handed over a fresh beer, and Carter looked back over, raising his eyebrows in apology. Desiree jumped into a conversation with the both of us about the diner, and before long, Harleigh joined us as well. Slowly, the space between Carter and I increased, and it became clear that we weren’t going to get another chance to be alone.
I felt bad that I didn’t want them around. I wanted them to go away so we could restart our conversation again. Pick up where the heat had left me breathless. Where it seemed like I was about to make a decision about being ready to date again.
Eventually, people started flittering away, and Carter said goodbye to everyone. I decided I was going to call it a night too. My wine and movie marathon were already shot, but I didn’t care. I was looking forward to a long, hot bath and trying to figure out how I felt about all this change inside me.
5
CARTER
The alarm going off snapped me out of a dream I didn’t want to wake from. I reached over and grabbed my phone, disconnecting the wire charger and swiping the alarm off. I lay back in the bed, closing my eyes and trying to let my mind drift back to the dream. It was so real.
Lauren had been in my living room. She was dressed in the same little light blue sundress that she had worn to the party, her hair swept back in a clip. The room melted away, and suddenly we were in my bed, our lips so close to touching that I could feel the warmth of her breath on my skin. I reached for her, pulling down the strap of her dress, and it slid slowly down her arm.