Chapter 10
Ten
C arter waited at the end of the street for Josie. Thank the Lord it was cold out, and there were no kids out playing. As much time as he spent parked at the playground, he’d wind up on a registry somewhere.
She approached his truck and climbed in. “Was it awful?”
Her question was referencing the first-ever joint Darcy-Hayes Thanksgiving dinner. And it had been an utter disaster.
“Before or after Quentin Darcy and his newly discovered half brother got into a brawl on the front lawn?”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not. But let’s get the hell out of here before one of your nosy-ass neighbors makes all our sneaking pointless.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “I’m curious about this surprise you have for me.”
He grinned. He’d been planning it for days.
There was a special place on the farm where he’d always gone when he was a kid.
It was his thinking spot, and he’d never shared it with anyone, but he wanted to take her there.
He refused to think about the significance of that.
Josie was still insisting that they were in the throes of some hot, steamy affair that would eventually just run its course.
He had a suspicion it was a hell of a lot more than that.
Carter knew better than to push. She’d panic and bolt. Patience had never been his strong suit, but under the circumstances, he really didn’t have any other choice.
They coasted out of town, rumbling past houses in his beat-up truck. No one was out and about. Everyone else was at home in a turkey coma. They were the only ones foolish enough not to be nursing full bellies with a ball game on television.
Deciding to start the sad tale of the first and probably last jointly celebrated holiday between the Darcy and Hayes families, he said, “Turns out Samuel has been a cheating bastard for a very long time.”
“Not surprised,” she replied. “You know about him and Erica McCoy?”
Everybody knew about him and Erica McCoy. “Oh, yeah. But this goes way back…There’s another Darcy in town. A half sibling from Ireland.”
He watched her eyes light up. For someone who never wanted to be the source of gossip, she sure ate it up.
“Really? He was there? What happened? Oh, dear heavens, what did Quentin Darcy do? Mia and Clayton, I imagine, would be at least cordial, but Quentin has an awful temper,” she said.
She had it right. “Well, Quentin and the new guy wound up duking it out in the yard. I’ll give the Celt his props. He handed Quentin his ass. It was a beautiful thing to see.”
He hated Quentin Darcy. Well, he hated every Darcy, in point of fact.
He’d admit that Mia was growing on him just a little bit, but only to himself.
If anyone ever asked him, he’d deny it with his last breath.
Clayton, well, he was such a stand-up guy that he had to be tolerated at the very least. But Quentin was a fucking pig.
Loud, brash, rude, a total asshole to everyone, and just generally a douchebag, they’d butted heads on more than one occasion over the years.
“So what did they fight about?” she asked.
Carter laughed. “They just don’t much care for one another. Men fight because they like to fight, Josie. Hell, I’d punch Quentin Darcy for looking at me cross-eyed or walking down the wrong side of the street.”
“So no one actually did anything? They just took an instant dislike to one another and started beating the hell out of each other?” she asked. “Poor Mia.”
He’d missed something there. “What the hell does that mean, poor Mia ?”
Josie rolled her eyes. “Do you have any idea how much work goes into putting on a Thanksgiving dinner for that many people? The cooking and planning and cleaning? She’s worked on this for days and days, Carter.
And because they had to behave like children, they spoiled all of her hard work.
And the lot of you sat there laughing about it while she watched one of the first milestones of her and Bennett’s relationship—a family holiday—go up in smoke. ”
“Well, of course I don’t know how much work it is. I just show up and eat,” he said. But now he was starting to feel bad for Mia, and that irked the hell out of him. Deciding to change the subject slightly, he added, “And the new Darcy is dating Loralei Crawford.”
The distraction worked. Josie squealed. “Oh, that’s fantastic. I love her to pieces. She was always so nice to me. And her shop in Lexington is amazing. I’m too poor for just about everything in it, but she has the most beautiful things.”
Carter made a mental note about that. He wasn’t a total moron. “She looked good. Happy.”
“So maybe the guy’s not a total asshole.”
He was a cocky son of a bitch, but probably not a total ass. Of course, Carter was also still giving him brownie points for breaking Quentin’s perfect nose.
Turning the truck onto the gravel road, Carter hopped out and opened the gate.
After driving through, he got out again and relocked it.
It wasn’t really a road, but there was a small rutted lane that cut down by the pastures, and he took it toward the woods that ran along the back half of the property.
Parking at the edge of the trees, he walked around and opened her door for her.
Those were the things he’d always been taught to do, and it bothered him more than a little that they were never in a situation where he was allowed to be a gentleman with her.
“Where exactly are you taking me, Carter?” she asked, looking at the tall trees with more than a little skepticism.
“You’ll like it. I promise,” he said, and grabbed the bag from the back. “It’s not far from here.”
Josie climbed out of the truck, her heels sinking into the gravel. He chuckled and, without hesitation, handed her the bag and then turned around. “How long’s it been since you had a piggyback ride?”
“I am not doing that,” she said.
“It’s either that or let the gravel tear up those shoes…and I know how you feel about shoes.” He grinned at her, knowing it would piss her off.
She sighed and then stepped back up on the truck’s running board.
Locking her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, he hooked his arms beneath her knees for a little extra support.
It shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was Josie, and it involved her having her hands on him, and that was all it took.
Carter took the graveled path into the woods, where it eventually gave way to just dirt and finally opened up into the clearing where he’d played as a boy. The creek ran close by and could be heard through the trees. Piles of leaves covered the hard-packed earth, but in the center was the surprise.
He’d made a bed of old pallets and suspended it from the surrounding trees.
With a foam mattress and a few blankets and pillows, it was a quiet retreat for them.
He’d strung lanterns in the trees, as well.
He’d swiped the ideas from Savannah’s sketch book and had to admit that it was definitely worth the effort.
“Carter, this is beautiful.”
He looked around, trying to see it through her eyes. The ancient oak trees were so tall they seemed to stretch all the way to heaven. The rustling leaves beneath their feet and the soft, soothing sound of flowing water made it just about perfect in his mind.
“I thought you’d like it out here,” he said. “I used to come here when I was little. I stayed at the farm a lot with Mamaw and Papaw. After he died, Mamaw let Emmitt have the farm, and she bought that little house in town where Bennett lives now.”
“Did you want the farm?” she asked him.
He laughed. “Oh, hell no. I hate farming. I’ll help Emmitt when I have to, but I’d rather take a beating. No, I got what I wanted. Papaw left me his truck, and I’ll drive it till it won’t go another foot.”
Josie just looked at him for the longest time. This sentimental side of him wasn’t something she’d expected from him. Grand romantic gestures like building them a bed in the trees? Well, she hadn’t expected that either.
“You really loved him, didn’t you?”
Carter smiled. “He never told me I was like my dad. He never compared me to anybody else or looked at me like he was just waiting for me to get in trouble. And I spent more time with him than just about anybody. Mama worked so much. It was hard for her, which I understand now, but when you’re a kid, things like money and having to work just don’t make a whole lot of sense. ”
Josie smiled as she climbed up on the edge of the suspended bed and then scooted back to lie down and look up at the sky through the barren trees. It would be dark soon, and as clear as it was, they’d see the stars like pinholes in the sky.
“It doesn’t make much sense now, honestly. I question every day why I was so determined to work at the library…and why, as awful as Doris is, I don’t just give up. She’ll never give me a moment’s peace as long as I’m there.”
Carter gave the bed a push. It was suspended with springs that allowed it to swing.
Josie closed her eyes and let the rocking motion take her away from everything. “I can’t believe you did this for me,” she said.
“There’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for you,” he answered easily. “And while I mean that in every perverted way you can imagine, I mean it in others too.”
She opened her eyes and looked at him then. He was smiling, but there was something different in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before.
“Are you going to stand there all evening, or are you going to join me?” she asked.
Carter obliged, climbing onto the bed with her.
It swayed with their combined weight, rocking back and forth.
He pulled her close, and she just let herself melt against him.
Lying there surrounded by nature, her head on his chest and his arms around her, Josie beat down the panic, the fear that something so good couldn’t possibly last. Instead, she just snuggled against him and vowed to savor it while she could.
“Do you think Bennett and Mia will get married?” she asked.