The Charade

by Judy Corry

  But I don't know…falling in love isn't logical, is it?

  It wasn't always something that you could control. And while there was still a lot to get to know about Carter and it was too early to know if we had a chance at a long-term relationship, I knew that I at least wanted to keep moving forward with him.

  "Carter, are you in there?" Nash's muffled voice sounded on the other side of the door, followed by a quick knock.

  Carter groaned at his brother’s interruption, looking like he didn’t like the idea of cutting our last few minutes together short. But he pulled himself away from the kiss and rolled back so we were simply laying side by side. Then he called out, "Yeah, I'm in here."

  I expected Nash to say something more, but he opened the door instead, saying, "Can I talk to you about—"

  He stopped in his tracks and his eyes went wide when he realized Carter wasn't alone in here. After getting an awkward look on his face, he turned away and said, "Um, sorry." He grabbed the doorknob and said, "I, um, I'll just come back later." And then he shut the door.

  I turned back to Carter worriedly and said, "Are we going to get in trouble?"

  But Carter just shook his head before leaning his forehead against mine and saying, "No. I mean, technically you might get in trouble if we don't get you into your room in the next twenty minutes, but I'm going to be totally fine."

  I ended up making it back to my dorm room just before the dorm parents did their nightly check. After telling Elyse everything that had happened, I went to bed and had the best night's sleep that I'd had in a long time.

  The next morning, my mom called to tell Elyse and me that she had a client with a dress emergency and she would need to fly to California. After apologizing over the fact that we'd have to postpone our girls’ weekend for a few weeks, she promised to make it up to us before hanging up.

  As I finished getting ready for the day, I realized that I'd forgotten to ask her once again about her dating Carter's dad in high school. But then I shrugged it off and went about my day, deciding that maybe it would be best to just ask her about it in person when we were able to get together next.

  The next days and weeks went by way too fast. My days were spent in school, my nights and weekends spent with Carter. He showed me more of Eden Falls on the weekends and even took me on a hike to see the waterfall the town was named after.

  I'd expected a pretty waterfall, but when we'd first turned the bend and I caught my first glimpse of the gorgeous waterfall, it took my breath away with its crisp blue water and the lush vegetation of the surrounding area. It was definitely the kind of ethereal scene that you'd expect to find in the Garden of Eden—like a place from a dream.

  The next weekend Carter took me to the stables at his house and I got to ride a horse for the first time. I'd been afraid that I might get bucked off since the extent of my experience with farm animals was when my mom took me and Elyse to a rodeo in Madison Square Garden when we were eight. But Cambrielle's horse, Starlight, had known just what she was supposed to do with a beginner rider like me, and we were friends by the end of the afternoon.

  Basically, Carter and I spent as much time as we could together over the next two weeks doing homework, going to football games, hanging out with our friends and his family whom I was growing to like more and more as the weeks went on. Nash and Cambrielle were basically the extra brother and sister that I'd always wanted. And while Mr. Hastings was out of the country on a three-week retreat that he did each year to recalibrate and just unplug from the hectic world of a billionaire CEO, Mrs. Hastings had been so sweet to me and almost made me feel like part of the family, which was kind of nice since my own mom was so busy developing her new line at the moment.

  "So, what are we going to do to celebrate your first ever A on a math test?" Carter asked me one Monday after school. We had just finished doing our homework in the library and had gone up to my dorm room to hang out before he headed home.

  "I don't know." I set my books on my desk and looked to where he sat on my bed. "I was thinking dinner at the Italian Amigos might be fun."

  "I agree." Carter nodded.

  "And maybe follow that up with shakes from Charlie's Food Hut." I sat on the bed beside him.

  "Their strawberry shakes are your favorite."

  I nodded. Then leaning closer to him, with a smirk on my lips, I said, "But first, I think it would only be right that I thank my tutor properly, since without his help I never would have gotten the A in the first place."

  Carter's face lit up and a small smile lifted his cheeks. "And how will you be thanking your tutor?"

  I leaned closer, looking at his lips, and whispered, "Like this." Then I kissed him. And even though I'd been able to kiss him several times over the past couple of weeks, my body still reacted like it had the first time. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. And when his lips slowly grazed my bottom lip, coaxing my mouth to part, my stomach muscles clenched followed by a low swooping sensation as I let myself just get lost in this amazing guy whom I got to call my boyfriend.

  My actual, real boyfriend.

  I ran my fingers along his smooth jaw, and he threaded his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck.

  "Maybe we should just stay here," I mumbled after a moment. "I think this might be better than dinner and shakes."

  Carter chuckled against my mouth. "Maybe we'll just have to order in."

  "Good idea."

  He shifted our positions, so he was leaning against the wall at the head of my bed and I was straddling his lap, and then we were kissing again.

  We had already previously decided what boundaries we wanted for our physical relationship for now, so I knew I didn't need to worry about Carter pushing me to have sex with him before I was ready—but that didn't mean I couldn't enjoy all the other fun things we could do before the big step.

  He smoothed his hands along the outsides of my thighs. As the nerve endings under my skin sparked to life, I was glad that I hadn't changed out of my school uniform yet and into jeans because having his hands on my bare skin there felt amazing.

  Carter pulled away from the kiss. "I know you don't like wearing the same kind of clothes every day. But you in this pleated skirt is kind of the sexiest thing I've ever seen." And when he raked in my legs as he moved his hands up and down, the desire in his eyes made my insides feel like they were being scorched by a wildfire. While I knew that Carter didn't just like me for my looks, I kind of loved that this guy who was on a hotness scale all his own found someone like me sexy.

  "I'm glad you like it." I took his tie in my hands and started loosening it for him as I spoke. "I was thinking about wearing a pink off-the-shoulder gown to Cambrielle's soirée this weekend, but maybe I'll wear this instead."

  "An off-the-shoulder dress?" Carter asked, intrigue filling his blue eyes.

  I nodded, fighting a smile as I undid his tie the rest of the way. "An off-the-shoulder mini dress."

  I'd originally brought the dress to school because Elyse had told me it made my boobs look awesome and I thought it would be fun to wear to a formal dance if I got asked, but now that I knew Carter was more of a leg guy, I figured I should point out the other assets of the dress. I let go of his tie and pointed to a spot a few inches above my knee. "It hits me about here," I said, peeking to see his reaction. "But the slit goes up to here." I moved my finger a few inches higher.

  Carter's eyes went wide when I pointed to the spot just a few inches down my thigh. And after seeming to need a moment to respond, he said, "I think I might need to see this dress." He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing before he added, "Right now."

  I shook my head, grinning from ear to ear since I hadn't expected his reaction to be this good. "Sorry, but you're not allowed to see it until the day of the party."

  "But that's five days away," he complained. "How about we just call it my early birthday present?"

  "But you don't like celebrating your birthday, remember?"

  "I c
hanged my mind," he said quickly. "I love celebrating my birthday. In fact, I think it deserves a week-long celebration."

  I laughed at his sudden change of opinion all based on the promise of seeing me in a sexy dress, but I really did want to wait to make a grand entrance at the party and watch his mouth drop open when I walked down to him. "Just wait until Saturday."

  He sighed. "Fine."

  We ended up ordering in dinner after all since it started raining and we didn't feel like going outside. We ate our tacos and salad at the small table in the corner of my room and then cuddled up on my bed to watch the latest murder mystery movie together, alternating between watching it on my laptop and kissing when it got to the slower parts.

  The dorm mom, Heather, walked past my room every twenty minutes or so to make sure we were behaving since she knew Carter was in here. But because my room was at the end of the hall and not many other people had a reason to come this far down, it still felt like we had a good amount of privacy for our movie/make-out session.

  I was just unbuttoning Carter's shirt when Elyse barged into the room.

  I wanted to remind her about the importance of knocking before swinging the door wide open, which was how we warned each other that someone was about to come in and hopefully avoid walking in on a make-out session. But when her jaw dropped at the sight of Carter and me, I figured her shock was probably a good-enough reminder of its own.

  "You might want to stop what you're doing," Elyse said when she noticed that Carter's shirt was already halfway unbuttoned, revealing a good amount of his light brown, muscled chest.

  "And why would I want to do that?" I asked, because I was pretty sure I'd been doing exactly what I wanted to do right now.

  But Carter, being the gentlemanly sort, got himself back to a sitting position and turned around so he could sit up on the end of my bed. "Is something wrong?" he asked, buttoning his shirt up again.

  It was then that I noticed Elyse seemed more agitated than usual. She bit her lip and held out the papers she'd brought with her. "I think I figured out who our dad is."

  30

  Ava

  "You found out what?" I asked, bolting upright and scooting off my bed to stand in front of my sister.

  "I didn't want to say anything until I had more information, but ever since I found out that mom and Carter's dad were so close in high school it got me curious about things," Elyse said, her eyes darting to Carter and then back to me. "At first I thought it must have been just a high-school romance that ended when they graduated, but then I started talking to Mrs. Simmons one day because I saw her in some of the photos from the play mom was in and found out that she was in their grade. We got to talking about things and she told me that Mom and Carter's dad were a pretty serious couple in high school and that everyone had been sure they were going to get married someday."

  "Mrs. Simmons told you this?" I furrowed my brow, wondering why Elyse hadn't told me anything about this before.

  "Yes." Elyse nodded. "Anyway, I was intrigued by this because Mom never talked about Mr. Hastings at all, or really said anything about high school for that matter. So I asked her to tell me everything she could about their relationship, since Mom has always been so closed up about her past."

  "And what did she say?" I asked. "Did she say why they broke up? Or when?"

  "I guess they had to break up when they graduated and Mom had to move back to Israel," Elyse said with a shrug. "Mrs. Simmons said she lost touch with Mom after that, but I guess Mr. Hastings took it pretty badly. She said she thinks he even offered to help Mom get her visa renewed and do whatever to make it work between them, but then Grandpa got really sick at the time and so that complicated things."

  "I remember Mom saying something about Grandpa having his heart attack and surgeries right about the time she was starting college."

  Elyse nodded. "Yes. And since Mr. Hastings had to help run his family business and Mom didn't feel right about leaving her dad, they ended up just having to accept that they couldn't be together at that time."

  "Sad," I said, thinking about how I would feel if I was in my mom's shoes.

  Carter cleared his throat. "So how does this lead to you figuring out who your dad is?"

  Elyse bit her lip, and after drawing in a shaky breath, she said, "Okay, so according to what Mrs. Simmons said, Carter's dad ended up dating around again about a year later when he realized that the long-distance thing with our mom wasn't going to work out. Mrs. Simmons was at Yale with him and remembers him being even more popular with the girls in college than he was in high school.”

  "Uh-huh." Carter came to stand by my side and waved his hand like he wanted Elyse to get to the point.

  "And he must have met his wife Dawn sometime after that," Elyse said, looking at Carter for confirmation.

  "I think they met during his last year at college," Carter said, filling in what he knew of his dad's history. "They dated for about a year, but then Dawn's ex-husband tried to come back into the picture and so there was a bunch of drama. She ended up going back to him for a little while since they had Ian together and she wanted to try and make things work for his sake."

  "Is that when your dad went to Guatemala?" I asked Carter.

  "Yeah," he said. "He thought some manual labor would help him clear his mind." He tilted his head to the side. "And apparently, the fling with my mom was supposed to help with that, too."

  I winced because I knew the repercussions that fling had brought to Carter and his family.

  "But didn't your dad get back with Dawn shortly after that?" I asked.

  Nash had been born about seven months after Carter, so they couldn't have been broken up for too long, could they?

  "I think they got back together that summer."

  "Do you know when?" Elyse narrowed her eyes.

  "I don't know." Carter ran a hand through his hair, which I'd tousled during our make-out session earlier. "I think it could have been around my dad's birthday."

  "And when's that?" Elyse asked, the earnest expression on her face telling me that this information was really important to her for some reason.

  "August thirteenth," Carter said, rubbing his forearm.

  "What's going on?" I asked Elyse, my heart pounding because it almost seemed like she was trying to make it sound like my boyfriend's dad might be the mystery man who'd gotten our mom pregnant. "Why does any of this even matter?"

  Please don't matter.

  Please, please don't let Mr. Hastings be our dad, too.

  I'd wanted to know who my dad was for my whole life—wanted to know who had given me and Elyse half of our genetic makeup. But if it was Mr. Hastings who had gotten my mom pregnant, I didn't want to hear it.

  I'd rather not ever find out who my dad was than find out it was the father of the only guy I’d ever wanted to date.

  I couldn’t accept that Carter might be my brother.

  Elyse handed me the papers she'd been holding on to. "These are some of the photos that Mrs. Simmons took from their five-year reunion."

  Carter leaned closer to me so we could look at the images printed on the copy paper together. The first sheet of paper showed a twenty-something version of my mom and Carter's dad posing together for the camera, with Mr. Hastings’s arm wrapped tightly around my mom's waist and huge smiles on their faces.

  The second page had a photo of them sitting at a round table with a few other people from their graduating class. Mom and Mr. Hastings weren't sitting by each other in this photo, but the camera had captured my mom looking across the table at Mr. Hastings with what I could only interpret as a longing expression on her face.

  I knew it was longing because it was exactly the way I'd caught Elyse looking at Mack the past several weeks during our group study sessions.

  We Cohen women did not hide our feelings very well.

  The next paper had a group shot of everyone who had gone to the five-year reunion. It took a moment to find my mom, but after scanning the rows o
f faces, I spotted her at the end of the middle row surrounded by random people I didn't recognize.

  "Is your dad in this?" I swallowed as I looked up at Carter who was also studying the photos, anxiety visible on his handsome face.

  The handsome face that couldn’t belong to anyone related to me.

  Right?

  "Yes," he said after a second, pointing to a spot on the top. "He's right there."

  "So there's only one photo of them posing together," I said, trying to persuade everyone that it was all just a major coincidence. Elyse was probably just making something out of nothing because she wanted to know who our dad was as much as I did.

  But Elyse just nodded toward the papers I held and said, "There's one more."

  I switched the papers around so I could look at the last photo Elyse had printed off. In this one, my mom was sandwiched between Mr. Hastings and another guy with brown hair who I didn't recognize and who was the same height as Carter's dad. Mack's dad was standing on the other side of Mr. Hastings.

  My mom may have been standing slightly closer to Mr. Hastings in the last photo, but that didn't necessarily mean that anything was going on between them that night.

  "I don't think this proves anything," I said to Elyse, handing the papers back to her. "It just shows that Mom and Carter's dad were at the same party one night. I think you're doing a lot of mental gymnastics to make this work in your mind."

  "You think so?" Elyse raised her eyebrows at me, folding her arms. "Then why don't you ask me when this reunion happened?"

  "When did it happen?" Carter asked, looking between my sister and me as if trying to figure this puzzle out.

  A strange mix of hope and fear swirled in my gut as I waited for my sister to answer.

  Elyse pressed her lips together, and only after my palms had begun to sweat did she say, "It was July twenty-ninth."

  July twenty-ninth?