16. Megyn
CHAPTER 16
MEGYN
I set down the fork I’d been using to shred the appetizer, swallowing hard. He couldn’t have known how touchy of a subject this was. I hid my uncertainty as best as I could, though I was sure he noticed anyway, despite my efforts.
“What about them?”
“Just… what are they like? Do they live nearby?”
“No. My dad and step-mother live in California.”
“Interesting.” Carter stroked his graying beard. “What is that? Did they move or did you?”
“They did.”
“And your mother?”
“She died when I was only a few months old.”
Carter winced. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I had no idea.”
“It’s okay,” I said, even though it really wasn’t. I felt like he would be one of the rare people who would understand if I told him the crazy truth, that I didn’t like what I had, that I missed a person I had never had a chance to know, a person I couldn’t even remember. But all of that seemed way too personal for what was only the second real time we’d met. I just said, “It’s okay,” for a second time.
Carter looked unconvinced. I didn’t blame him. I was a terrible liar. “So, then, do you live on your own? Is Maggie your roommate?”
“I live in the house my dad left me when he moved away with Crystal. Maggie’s offered for me to move in but… I like having space to myself,” I gave another ineffectual lie. Maybe if I built more layers to the story, he wouldn’t be able to see through all of them to the unfortunate truth.
“What else do you do besides work at the coffee shop?”
Our server arrived just then to take our meal orders, saving me from having to think up an excuse. I ordered seafood pasta and then wracked my brains while Carter made his decision. As soon as the server moved on, he focused his attention on me again.
I said, “I sew. I craft. Lately, I’ve been doing some deep cleaning and reorganizing the house.”
Carter smiled. “A bit late for spring cleaning.”
“I prefer to think of it as a bit early.”
He laughed. “Good way to think of it.”
“Is it my turn to ask some questions?” I asked. I didn’t want him learning too much about me and seeing how generally useless I was.
Carter seemed to notice the tactic, narrowing his eyes a little. “Sure.”
“What’s the meaning of life?” I teased.
Carter scratched his head and looked around, pretending to search for answers. He lit up and turned back to me. “Fish!” he declared.
I laughed and looked past him at the aquarium tower, the fish drifting and swirling in patterns the likes of which no human could ever understand. “Sitting here, I can almost believe it.”
“Ask me another.”
“So, really, what do you do?”
“I own galleries all across the city,” Carter said. “That means I host the works of artists and receive a share of profits whenever a sale is made. That is a very large part of what I do, though I also throw parties and have showcases. I collect and trade artworks. I host bids. I run several organizations, one to keep art programs in schools, one to support young artists, and another to pair artists with clients looking for someone of their particular talents. And I’m also on the council of the arts.”
My head spun. “That’s so much to keep track of!”
“That’s why I hired Brian,” I explained. “We always wanted to go into business together when we were kids. When we got older, he moved to law and I opened a gallery. He doesn’t have much interest in art. But he’s a fantastic manager and he has a brilliant, organized mind. He wanted to be busier, more in control than he was as a lawyer, so I offered him a job and he accepted. It’s been a fantastic experience. He gets me from A to B.”
“Maggie said he was your assistant.”
“That’s what his job title is. But he’s more like my keeper,” I chuckled.
I laughed. “Is it… fun? What you do?”
Carter wavered his hand in the air, over the steaming plates of food set before us. “Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Honestly, I could do without all the meetings and budget planning. I could always hand off more of my workload to others, but I would feel bad in doing so. This is my empire and I feel like I should know what’s going on in it. I’m not going to be some fat king who kicks back, ignorant of what his men on the front line are experiencing.”
I giggled. “I think you mixed a lot of metaphors, but I get it.”
Carter smiled at me and touched my hand. “We can’t all be as good with words as Maggie evidently is.”
“She’s something else, I told you before.”
“That’s definitely something I’ve seen for myself.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Carter gave a little start and that worried me. Listening to him talk had really been calming me down. He was so admirable, but so funny and relatable all at the same time. He liked some parts of his job more than others, like any other human being on the planet. He had trouble keeping track of all his responsibilities, but felt obligated to continue with all of them. But this little jump, this flinch, told me I may have stumbled upon something he wasn’t so ready to discuss.
I had done something wrong.
Carter smiled at me and reached over to take my breadstick. I let him have it, the delicious food I’d been eating suddenly weighing heavy in my stomach. “Brian brought her along on a lunch meeting with me.”
“Really? She didn’t tell me about that.” Fear spiked like ice through my heart. She hadn’t revealed anything about me, had she? She couldn’t have. She had promised she wouldn’t.
“How often does Maggie tell you about her activities with her male conquests?”
A laugh escaped, startling me. It was funny to think of Maggie as having conquered Brian, especially because it was true. “She usually doesn’t, unless I ask. But she doesn’t go out a lot. I would have thought she’d tell me. I mean, well, she goes out more than me, but not usually with guys.”
Good job with making yourself sound really lame, Megyn.
“Honestly, I’d be impressed if she remembered,” Carter joked. “It was a boring time. Leave it to Brian to think she’d want to sit in while we jabbered about business.”
If Maggie had indeed said something about me, Carter sure wasn’t letting on about it. I tried to let it go. There wasn’t anything I could do about something that had already happened.
“How’s your food?” I asked.
Carter was having genuine fish and chips, the proper kind made in England, not America’s sad replacement. “It’s amazing. And yours?”
“It’s so rich I honestly don’t think I can finish it.”
“We’ll get a box for it. Dinner for tomorrow.” Carter chuckled. “Wait, actually, I wanted to ask if you had plans for tomorrow night.”
“I don’t think I do,” I said slowly. My heart tried to lift. Was this going where I hoped it might be?
“The city is going to be having their Halloween party, at the city hall. I wondered if you might like to come with me.”
“I’d love to,” I burst out, my heart suddenly beating twice as fast, sending hope flowing through my veins. He was asking me out again! I hadn’t messed up anything too badly so far. “But the only costume I have is Cinderella.”
“That’s perfect,” he said. “I’ll go as a prince again. Our costumes will get some more use until next year, and we’ll be iconic.”
“Iconic,” I repeated, scrunching my nose.
“Legendary?”
“Even worse.”
“We’ll be cute,” Carter amended.
I laughed. “What time is the party?”
He pushed his plate aside and leaned to me. “I’ll pick you up at 7. Where do you live, Megyn?”
Crap.
My rising hopes fell again, the meager support structure collapsing out from underneath, unable to bear the weight of his inquiry.
“What’s wrong?” Carter asked. “You don’t trust me? Or is me driving you the issue?”
“Neither.” I felt like I was going to be sick.
Carter reached out and picked up my hand, squeezing it. “Tell me.”
Behind his head, in the aquarium, striped angelfish drifted up out of the coral and swirled in a school against the glass. I focused on the dancing fish, their pointed trailing fins. “Carter, the house my dad left me with isn’t the best. I’m kind of embarrassed at the thought of you seeing it.”
“No judgment here,” he said immediately. “You’re Cinderella, right?”
I was confused. What did that have to do with anything?
“Cinderella’s carriage started out as a simple pumpkin,” Carter reminded me. “You’ve arrived in my life no matter what, I don’t care which one you rode in on.”
I smiled, his sweet, funny response slipping past my defenses and embarrassment. “Now if only my fairy godmother would give me a makeover.”
“You’d look exactly the same.” Carter gazed at me, his eyes locked on mine. “Can’t improve upon perfection.”
“Carter…” My cheeks burned. My stomach fluttered.
Carter produced his phone. “Why don’t you tell me your address, before you can change your mind? And while you’re at it, let me know your phone number, just in case plans change in a hurry.”
I gave him both. He read each back to me to make sure he was correct, then put the phone back in his pocket. “I’m so excited. I can hardly wait.”
“Me, too,” I said, and surprised myself by actually meaning it.