17. Candice
CANDICE
“L et me take those for you,” Carter says when I enter the shop carrying the groceries I’ve just bought.
“It’s only two bags, I can manage,” I reply with an eye roll. I love that the guys I work with are gentlemen, but I’m not a damn invalid. “Thank you for the offer, though.”
“Give ’em here,” Carter grumbles, walking around the counter and snatching them out of my hand. He’s been a little off today. I know he’s still struggling with his decision to walk away from the love of his life, but he seems happier since her father tracked him down. “Where do you want them?”
“They’re for Beau, so out in the garage.”
I follow him out the back. “How’s your new place going?” I ask as he helps me stack all the food into the small fridge.
Beau doesn’t hang around during the day, but he continues to sleep here every night.
He keeps the place tidy and always makes the bed before he leaves.
His mug and plate are washed in the small basin in the corner and placed back on the shelf.
What breaks my heart though is the small pile of loose change I find on top of the fridge each day.
He still spends his days begging, so he can give every cent he earns to Jax.
It isn’t much, but it’s important for him to contribute.
He’s a proud man, so this situation wouldn’t be easy for him.
When I first told Jax about the money Beau was leaving, he wouldn’t have a bar of it. But Beau refused to take it. That’s when Jax asked me to buy a moneybox. I place the coins in it each day. Knowing Jax, he’ll find a way to give it all back.
Jax has me replenish the food for Beau a few times a week with a variety of different things: fruit, bread, snacks and bottles of water; everything he needs to get him through, things he can take with him while he’s out on the street.
Sophia has been saving all our leftovers for him too.
She even bought him a small microwave to reheat it.
Everyone seems to be getting in on the act now.
“The apartment is small, but it’s mine,” Carter replies. One thing I’ve learned since Carter started working here is he doesn’t have much to say. He’s very closed off, which is sad.
“Are you okay?” I ask. He can try to hide it all he wants, but there’s something up with him today.
“Yep.”
“Come on, Carter, I’m not blind. Is it Indiana? Trust me when I say she’ll always have a place in your heart, but in time it does get easier.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
“You could say that.” I’ve never told him about my history with Jax. “You know that night I came to your house?”
“Yes.”
“No offence, but I only came because I was trying to forget someone else.”
He chuckles. “No offence taken. I kinda got the impression you weren’t too keen on being there.”
“You did not,” I say, bumping my shoulder into his. I practically threw myself at him.
“Even though you were acting like a seductress.”
I laugh out loud. “I was not.”
“You were so. I have that effect on people … I’m irresistible.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever.”
Carter stops what he’s doing and makes eye contact with me. “You looked terrified when I pulled you through the window. You were trying to be all cool, but you didn’t fool me. I hate to break it to you, but you can’t act for shit.”
“Shut up,” I say, pushing him, and he laughs. It’s good to see. He doesn’t smile often, but when he does—wow.
“So tell me … are you over that guy yet?”
I bow my head. “No. Not by a long shot.”
“That’s messed up.” He awkwardly taps my back in an attempt to comfort me. Carter doesn’t seem like the affectionate type, so if that’s the best he’s got, I’ll take it. When he notices me wipe a tear from my eye, he doesn’t hesitate to pull me into a hug.
“I’m just as pathetic as you,” I say sarcastically, sniffling.
“Hey, speak for yourself. There’s nothing pathetic about me.”
“Except that we’re both pining for people we know we can never have.”
“That doesn’t make us pathetic, Candice. It makes us selfless. If you love someone enough to let them go, and all that bullshit.” He’s quiet for a few minutes before he finally speaks again. “It’s my eighteenth birthday today.”
“What? No way!”
“I’ve been thinking about my mum today. It would be hard for her, not to have me around.”
“Are you close?”
He blows out an exasperated breath. “For seventeen years, we were all the other had … until she married that fuckwit.”
“Why don’t you call her?”
“Nah, I can’t go back there. Things are better off left the way they are.”
“That’s a decision only you can make.”
Letting me go, he steps back. “Anyway, enough about me, how’s your little sister doing?”
I know he’s just trying to divert the conversation away from himself, but I let it be. I’m happy he opened up to me, even if it was just a little.
“She’s going okay. She’s a trouper. Jax has drawn pictures all over her plaster and she loves it. They struggled to get that thing on her, and I’m starting to think they’re going to have a fight on their hands to remove it.”
Every time I think about the way Jax was with Maddie that day, my heart goes all mushy. She cried the whole time, but she let them do it. Jax didn’t let her go once. On the way to the car, she fell asleep in his arms. It was the sweetest thing ever.
I’m standing on the footpath outside the restaurant when Carter’s taxi pulls up to the kerb. It took some doing, but I managed to talk him into coming out to dinner with me tonight. It’s his birthday, so he can’t spend it alone.
“Hey,” he says when he gets out.
“Well, don’t you look handsome?”
He chuckles. “Would you expect anything less?”
I roll my eyes. He’s gorgeous and he knows it. “Here, happy birthday.” I pass him the gift bag in my hand.
“You got me a present?”
“Of course, it’s your birthday! It’s not every day you turn eighteen.”
“You shouldn’t have, but thank you,” he says.
“Are you going to open it?” I ask as he stares at the bag in his hand.
I got him a custom black leatherbound sketch pad, similar to the one I gave Jax before he left for uni.
It’s not as nice as Jax’s, but it was the best I could do on short notice.
There was no time to get it embossed, so I bought some fancy gold-leaf alphabet stickers instead.
I put Carter across the top and Indi Ink underneath it, the words pop with the black background.
“Fuck,” he whispers when he pulls out the sketch pad.
“Jax said you’re picking things up fast. Who knows, one day you may open your own parlour and name it after your girl.”
My heart breaks a little when he raises his hands and digs the heels of his palms into his eye sockets. “Thank you,” he says, pulling me into a crushing embrace. “For the present, for tonight, and for believing in me … you’re a good friend.”
“And you’re a good guy, Carter. Good things happen to good people, never forget that.”
He gives me another squeeze before letting go. “Enough of this mushy shit. Let’s go eat.”
I smile as I link my arm through his. His birthday surprise awaits.