Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
LAW
I texted Carlie earlier that I’d be picking her up despite the fact that she asked me out, so five minutes before six, I head through the gate to her house. I can’t help picturing Ivy sneaking though here yesterday morning, and I groan softly. I didn’t ask her about it. Ivy and I are close, but we don’t talk about stuff like that. Is Carlie going to expect me to know something from Ivy’s side of things? I couldn’t read the tone of Carlie’s text about them, but based on our conversations about this before, she’s probably bugged by Caleb and Ivy moving so fast.
And to be honest, I’m worried too. Ivy’s dated a lot the past year, but as far as I know, no one seriously like this. And it has to be serious. I can’t imagine Ivy hooking up just for the fun of it. Carlie is right. It’s fast.
I tap on Carlie’s door when I arrive, and she calls for me to come in. She pokes her head out of one of the rooms down the hall when I come in. “I’m so sorry. I just need two minutes.”
I smile as she ducks back inside the room, her long reddish-blond hair swinging in loose curls behind her. Five minutes later, she comes out dressed in a calf-length skirt and a fitted Pumas graphic tee, which I have to grin at.
“Go Pumas,” she says softly, coming forward to put her arms around my waist.
Mmmm, this is definitely a positive of playing for Houston. And still, I kinda want to buy her a Blues T-shirt, just for fun. I lean over and kiss her, then take her hand in mine as I pull away.
“Sorry about the delay,” she says, as I lead her out of the house. She pulls away to lock the door, and then she slides her hand back into mine as we walk back through the gate to the path.
“Delay?” I snort. “Ivy is perpetually late to everything. Ten minutes on a good day. Fifteen normally. Except for with her clients. I will never understand how she can be right on time for anything to do with work, but never at the right time when she’s supposed to meet up with me.”
Carlie laughs. “Maybe I should warn Caleb, although I don’t think he’ll care.” I wonder if she means because they’re in too deep already until Carlie adds, “He’s very chill about that stuff. He works on his own schedule, and he sort of extends the same courtesy to everyone else.”
“Kind of him.” We arrive at my car, which I left parked on the street so we wouldn’t have to walk all the way up my driveway to the garage from the path. I open the door for her, holding it as she slides in. “You okay with them?” I ask when I get in.
She shrugs. “Sure. Just worried. Caleb doesn’t do stuff like that. So it threw me off.”
“Neither does Ivy,” I assure her.
She takes a long breath and turns toward me. “I don’t know if it makes me feel better that they’re so … into each other that they’re jumping in feet first without really thinking this through. Caleb isn’t going to stay in Houston forever. He owns a house in Dallas, even if my mom lives there and drives him crazy. And Ivy, is she going to be here forever?”
“Probably not,” I admit. I hold back the fact that I don’t even know if I’m going to be here forever. I can’t get rid of the hope that in a couple years the Blues will come calling. “But …” I say carefully. “We should let them worry about stuff like that.”
She laughs. “You’re right. They’re adults, and I don’t mean to be protective.” She gets a mischievous look. “But maybe you should warn Ivy.”
“About?”
“Caleb can make reckless decisions when he gets dumped, and he’s very, very smart.” Carlie is laughing as she says this, so I know she’s not serious, probably just trying to lighten the mood of our conversation about them.
“There’s a story I need to know here.”
She grins. “He dated a TA in his American History class his freshman year of college. I know, that was dumb, right? To get involved with someone who had control over his grade. She broke up with him, but I guess it wasn’t amicable by any means. She switched a paper he turned in for one that was obviously written by AI. When the teacher confronted him about it, he emailed his original paper to him … along with the website history from the TA’s computer showing that she’d written and switched the papers.”
A snort of laughter escapes. “Brutal.”
She laughs with me. “He has this vigilante side sometimes. He wanted to mess with Xavier too. He found a couple accounts of Xavier’s in South America and was going to drain them so Xavier couldn’t pay for his fancy lawyers anymore until I talked him out of it.”
“Sounds like I better watch my back too,” I tease.
“Really, we all should.” She chuckles. “So, where are we going?”
“To a place Jett recommended in Kemah. You good with that?” It will mean a little bit of a drive, but I welcome the extra time to spend with her.
“Of course.” She reaches over to put a hand on my arm, staring out the window for a moment.
“So, can I ask about your dad?” I glance over at her, hoping that the Ivy-Caleb thing isn’t bothering her too much. We can talk that out if she really needs to.
“Oh, of course. What about him?” She smiles, the worried look disappearing.
“You just keep mentioning that your mom drives Caleb crazy and that he lives in your mom’s basement …” I prod.
She laughs. “Oh yeah, he lives there too. But he doesn’t drive anyone crazy, and my mom’s always been the dominant personality, so all of us have always said ‘Mom’s house.’” She tilts her head and grimaces a little. “They have a lovely, happy marriage. He’s retired and plays golf a lot. Maybe if he made my mom come with him when he golfs, she’d stop trying to marry off Caleb.” She turns so that she faces me as we drive, her shoulder against the seat and her head tilted into the headrest. “What about your brother? You haven’t told me a lot about him. Are you guys close?”
“Not really.” I shake my head ruefully. I don’t think Carlie will understand. She’s close with both of her siblings—worrying about Caleb and always confiding in Jenna. “We have pretty different lives.”
She nods, frowning apologetically. “What does he do?”
“He works on my mom’s staff. He’s one of her policy advisors.” We’re passing the chemical plant between Houston and Kemah, and I can’t help glancing out at hundreds of lights around us.
“Wow. Do you think he’ll go into politics too, like your parents?”
I shake my head. “He says no, that he prefers the backstage stuff. Since I keep telling my mom I don’t have any intention of going into politics either, she’ll start pressuring him eventually.” He might give in. He knew Dad better than me, and he won’t want to disappoint either of our parents. Mom has just always assumed I’ll be the one, since I already have a life in the spotlight and visibility would be easy for me.
We keep talking about our families the rest of the drive. I pull up to a restaurant that’s right on the bay and take Carlie’s hand as we walk up to it. “Can we have the closest table to the water?” I ask the hostess.
“Of course.” She grabs a couple menus and leads us around the edge of the open restaurant, which reminded me immediately of Hawaii when Jett told me about it. The hostess takes us upstairs to a deck that juts out above the water and to a table right next to the railing. The ocean in Texas isn’t the same as in Maui—it’s more gray blue than the bright turquoise blue of the water there—but it’s still the ocean, and we can hear waves lapping below us.
“It’s not Maui,” I shrug, but I can’t help smiling.
Carlie’s looking out across the water. The sun is behind us, low in the sky, and she has a kind of halo around her reddish-blond hair. “I love it.” She turns back to me. “Although, if you want to fly me to Maui on a date sometime, I’m not going to say no.”
I hold her hand across the table. “Would that be moving too fast?”
She leans toward me. “Definitely.” But she smiles. “Let’s not bring any kids this time.” She pulls away to pick up the menu and study it.
“Oh, come on,” I have to tease. “They were half the fun.”
She nods. “They are pretty great. I’ve missed being able to see them the last couple weeks.”
“How about we swing by after this?” I suggest.
Her smile widens. “They’ll probably be in bed.”
I hadn’t thought of that, and she laughs more as she sees that in my face. “Okay, how about I text Jett and we go hang out with all of them after this? I know you miss your sister.”
She puts down her menu, resting her elbows on the table and putting her chin on top of her hands. “That’s not really very date-like.”
I grin back at her. “You’re off the whole night, remember?”
She bites her lips as she turns to her menu. “That sounds fun.” And when she glances back at me again, her expression is grateful. Even though I might want to keep Carlie to myself every minute I have with her, her family is important, and seeing that smile on her face makes it all worth it.