Chapter 2 #2
“Sorry.” Carter took a few deep breaths and wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s my grandpa. He… he had a heart attack today.”
I swallowed hard. This wasn’t good. Carter had dealt with so much loss these past few years.
Both grandparents on her mom’s side passed away within a year of each other.
I couldn’t relate to mourning a grandparent.
Two of mine had passed before I was even born, one passed when I was too young to remember, and I didn’t have a very close relationship with my grandmother who passed away when I was fifteen.
Carter was close to all of hers though. She had a great relationship with everyone in her family, which always made loss that much harder.
I wiped my thumb over her cheek. “Is he going to be okay?”
Carter shook her head. “He… he…” Carter choked on a sob, but she didn’t have to say anything else. That was enough to tell me he hadn’t made it.
I took off my shoes and crawled into bed with Carter, wrapping my arms around her from behind.
I stayed silent, because I knew there were no words to make this better.
Aside from the fact that he was older and grandparents dying is inevitable, this was completely unexpected.
Carter’s grandfather was the primary caregiver for her grandmother who had been in much worse shape than him for years.
“How was work today?”
Awful. “It was okay.” I wasn’t normally one for lying, especially not to Carter, but there was no way I was about to bother her with this right after her grandpa died.
“Do you mind if I shut my eyes for a few minutes?” Carter asked sleepily.
I wrapped my arms around her a little tighter. “Of course not. You need the rest. Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”
I waited until I heard Carter’s breathing even out, which only took a few minutes, and unwrapped myself from her. I tiptoed across the room so I wouldn’t wake her up and closed the door as quietly as possible behind me as I left the room.
I wanted to be there for Carter right now, but there was someone else I needed to be there for as well. I grabbed my phone and tapped on Olivia’s name.
After a few rings, she picked up. “I take it you heard the news?”
“Hello to you too,” I joked. I lowered my voice. “But yes, I heard. I’m so sorry, pal. How are you holding up?”
“Probably better than my sister,” Olivia said with a laugh. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m obviously sad, but I also don’t take things as hard as she does.”
“How’s your mama?” My heart hurt for her. I couldn’t imagine losing my parents, no matter how old I was.
Olivia sighed. “She’s okay. I’m not sure if it’s really hit her too much yet. She’s too busy stressing over what to do about my grandma.”
I cringed. “I thought about that. I know your grandpa has been the one taking care of her.”
“Yeah, my moms are already on their way to Maryland. I think they’re going to try to get the funeral scheduled pretty quickly. I’d even be surprised if they waited until the end of the week. If they could find a spot to do it tomorrow, I think they would. I guess we’ll have to see.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” I was already thinking about the call I was going to make to Betty as soon as I got off the phone.
I would tell her I needed at least a week off, then see what happened from there.
At this point, it felt like she owed me, so this was the perfect opportunity for her to repay her debt.
“I guess I’ll be seeing you soon, huh?” Olivia asked lightheartedly. There was a tinge of sadness to her voice that someone who didn’t know her well wouldn’t have noticed. I knew her better than anyone else in my life, maybe even Carter just for the fact that I had a lot more years with Olivia.
“Very soon.” I wanted to get off and make sure Carter was still sleeping soundly, but I also couldn’t leave my best friend if she needed me. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry. Quinton is taking good care of me.”
“Ew.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter. I meant he’s making me my comfort food.”
“Chocolate cake with peanut butter icing?” I didn’t even have to ask because I already knew the answer.
“You know me so well. Why didn’t you marry me?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. This was a game Olivia had been playing ever since I started dating her sister. Hell, it started before Carter noticed me back. “I would, but my heart belongs to another Miller-Cooper.”
“And when exactly are you going to marry her?”
That was a great question. I bought an engagement ring six months after Carter and I officially started dating.
No one knew that though, not even Olivia.
I figured she’d think I was completely insane if I told her.
I had no doubt that I was going to marry Carter.
She was sexy, nice, funny, and uptight enough to keep me on edge.
I loved her so much and couldn’t wait until she was my wife.
The problem was I needed to find the perfect time and place to propose and I still had no idea when or where that was.
One thing I knew for sure was that it wasn’t happening while she was grieving her grandfather’s death.
“Let’s get through this funeral before we start talking about weddings. How about that?”
“Fine, but don’t forget you need to ask for my blessing before you ask her.”
A loud cackle escaped my throat, and I immediately threw my hand over my mouth to try to stifle the sound. Once the laugh subsided, I removed my hand. “I thought I already had your blessing.”
“You need the official blessing and I need to see whatever ring you pick out before my sister does. You get even more points if you take me along to get it.”
“Too late for that,” I said before I could stop myself. Olivia started to say something, but I cut her off before I could figure out what it was. “Welp. Gotta go. Take care. See you soon. Love you more than all the other bitches in the world.”
I had just barely hung up the phone when a text came through from Olivia. You better not think you’re off the hook. We will be having a LONG talk at the funeral.
I smiled as I sent back my response. Seems a bit rude, don’t you think?
Within seconds, another text came through from Olivia. Rude is not telling your best friend in the whole world VERY BIG INFORMATION
As much as I loved bantering with my bestie, I needed to check on Carter, so I wrote out a text to end the conversation… for now, at least. Fine. We will talk at the funeral. Love you forever.
Suuuure. Love you too, bitch.
I laughed at Olivia’s text and shoved my phone back into my pocket before walking back to our bedroom. When I opened the door, I was happy to find that Carter was still sleeping. I laid back down behind her as if I had never left.
As soon as my arm was around her, she started to stir. “Was I asleep long?”
Her voice was low and sleep-filled and if this were any other day, I would have rolled on top of her and initiated what was sure to be another amazing night of sex.
Now wasn’t the time for that though, so I pulled her tighter up against me.
“Not long at all. Honestly, you should probably get more rest.”
Carter shook her head and turned to face me. “I have way too much to do. I need to let work know I’ll be working remotely for at least a week and have to talk to my moms to see what their plan is.” She pulled her phone out from under the blankets and started to type rapidly. “I should make a list.”
I had to work extra hard to keep myself from chuckling. I loved this psychotic Type A hottie so much. “Anything I can do?”
“Do you think you can get off work so you can come to Maryland with me?”
Really? Does she even have to ask? “Of course I can. I would never make you go through this alone. I am happy to go to Maryland as long as we need to.”
Honestly, being away from work sounded very nice right now. I just wished the circumstances were better.