by Ronna Gage
Her heart broke thinking of it.
Chapter Eighteen
“Are you sure she’s coming?” Carter asked Tonya for the eleventh time in the space of one hour.
“Carter, if you ask that of me again, I will slap you myself,” Tonya threatened.
“Sorry! I’m nervous, all right. What if none of this works?”
“It will. Remember, Josh is on our side. He is picking her up now. He called a few minutes ago and said they were on the way. But Carter, stick to the plan. And for God’s sake, relax.”
Carter nodded, put on his best smile, and turned to greet one of the representatives from the Public Relations Department. He wouldn’t draw a relaxed breath until he saw her. This evening he planned to be her friend. Nothing more, as per her request.
* * * *
Josh drove into the circular driveway of the reception building and waited in line for five minutes for the driver ahead of them to get a ticket from the valet. He pulled up for his turn, stepped out of the Nissan, and gave the key and a pre-sent voucher to the valet. “We’re guests of Miss Lambert’s and Mr. Reed’s.”
“Yes, sir. They’re waiting for you inside,” the valet driver told him. “Have a good evening.”
“Thank you!” Kelli said on her way past. She took hold of the elbow Josh offered. He led her to the doorway; attendants opened the doors and granted them entrance with a curt nod. They proceeded inside. A waiter strolling by with a tray of champagne stopped and welcomed them. “Hello! Welcome the Rebels’ Awards Banquet. May I offer you a glass of champagne?”
Kelli took one off the tray. “Don’t mind if I do.” She took a sip and giggled at the tickling sensation on her nose. “If it makes your nose tickle, it’s the good stuff!”
“Really? Let’s see.” Josh took a sip but didn’t swallow it. He looked down at her. The expression on his face was classic. His upturned nose and pinched lips gave a comical flare to the taste. He spit it out into the glass. “This is foul! Where the hell is the beer?”
“You call me redneck!” Kelli exclaimed in laughter.
“Hey guys! Glad you could make it!” Tonya greeted. “I wondered what kept you.”
Josh looked at Dex and then down at Kelli. “She couldn’t find the right shoes. Imagine that!”
Dex laughed. “I can relate.”
Tonya gave him a warning look. “Do you want to share your experiences?”
Dex adjusted the bow tie at his neck. “No, not if I can help it.”
Kelli laughed at their minor tiff. She also admired the closeness they shared. Since she’d last seen them together, the relationship turned rocky at best. He still flirted like a single man, and if not for Carter’s insistence to be alone with Kelli, Tonya wouldn’t have an excuse to be around him all that time. In a way, she suspected her bond helped build this one. At least someone is happy. She looked away at the blooming love in her cousin’s eyes and realized that she, too, missed that feeling.
“Come on, our table is over there.”
Tonya and Dex escorted them to the table they’d share. Music played in the room. Camera crews set up their equipment everywhere Kelli could see. The stage, swathed in blue and gold, downplayed the podium with the Rebels’ logo. In a quick scan of the area, her gaze froze on familiar, soft eyes. Her heart raced with glee. She tried to look away but couldn’t. Carter gave a small wave of his hand, and then returned to his conversation with the blonde woman by his side. A part of her wanted to cry and another part gladdened that he acknowledged her. Most of her wanted to be at his side in place of the woman. She turned back to Josh, Tonya, and Dex. This was their night. She planted the perfect smile on her face and did her best to have fun.
“Good evening, everyone,” Carter greeted the table, startling Kelli. She had her back turned away from his direction at the main table. “Welcome. I hope you have a wonderful evening.”
Josh stood up from his seat, extended his hand, and gave him a healthy handshake. “Thank you for having us,” he returned.
“It’s no problem. Hey, I have tickets to the race event coming to the Texas Speedway. Do you want to come?”
“That would be great!” Josh gushed with enthusiasm.
Kelli rolled her eyes.
“I have to go, but I’ll come back by after the dinner, and we can talk sports some more.”
“You bet.”
“If you need anything, let Tonya or Dex know.” He took one look at Kelli but didn’t say anything more to her and walked away, straight to the side of the same woman he stood next to at the main table. His actions miffed her in a way. What bothered her she couldn’t pinpoint. but her irritation struggled to come forth. “I can’t believe it!”
“What?” Tonya asked.
“He…him…Carter.” Kelli seethed.
“What about him?”
Kelli looked at the blonde next to him. She opened her mouth to say what bothered her, but nothing would come out. “Never mind.”
Josh looked over his shoulder. “Are you upset that he didn’t pine away for you like you feared he would?” Josh’s ever-subtle ways of getting under her skin and targeting in on her feelings annoyed her.
“You know, for someone who hurt your little sister, you didn’t have a problem being his grateful new friend,” she shot back.
“I don’t have a problem with Carter.”
“Not anymore, right?”
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Carter started the festivities, leaving the sibling quarrel to simmer in quiet.
An hour later, the banquet dinner served, coffee and dessert upcoming, Cater made his way back to the table. “Did you enjoy the meal?” he asked everyone. Everyone nodded and complimented the food choices.
He looked down at Kelli. “Can I ask a huge favor of you?”
Her irritation subsided when he squatted down beside her and leaned close to her ear. “I guess.” She smiled at his.
“See that blonde behind my chair?” He used his head to point the same woman out as before.
Kelli’s tension recoiled. “Yes,” she said coolly.
“I can’t seem to shake her off my tail. Will you sit beside me for the awards ceremony?”
“Isn’t she your date?”
“Nope, she’s just a woman who found out that I’m an eligible bachelor,” he commented softly.
She looked at Tonya and Dex. Dex closed his eyes and shook his head. Tonya rolled her eyes in frustration. “What?”
“Women from all walks of life have been calling him all week,” Tonya announced. “They’ve been keeping the answer service busy after hours as well.”
Kelli gazed at the woman standing next to Carter’s chair. She flipped her hair back in some grand demonstration to gain attention. Possessiveness overcame her. No one would be messing with Carter, not if… She collected her thoughts. “I don’t know. I came here with Josh and…”
“Ah, dammit!” Josh said next to her. He fished out the phone from his belt, looked at it, and shook his head. “Duty calls.” He looked around the table. “Can one of you take Kelli home?”
Carter stood up. “I will.” He looked down at Kelli. “In return for doing this favor for me. I promise it’s just as friends, and you’d be saving me from hassles.”
“Go ahead, sis! I’ve got to run anyway.”
Kelli hesitated for one more second before giving in. If her presence warned other women off, she’d be glad to help. It was her idea to be friends, but at the same time, she didn’t want anyone else to take him.
“Carter! There you are!” the blonde woman called to him. Kelli came around from behind him to stand at his side. The woman’s high-dollar smile fell. Her eyes narrowed on Kelli. “Who’s your friend?” The woman’s question sounded on a soft whisper, shock and jealousy resounding in the simple query.
Carter took hold of Kelli’s hand. “This is a good friend of mine. I’d like you to meet….”
Kelli squared her body in front of the imposing threat. “Kelli Godfrey!”
/>
The woman looked down her perfectly enhanced nose at Kelli. Her eyes glittered with anger and determination. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Denise Koneke, I’m Carter’s….” The woman looked to Carter for some kind of clarification for her status.
“Annoyance?” Kelli finished for her.
The woman huffed. Her cheeks blushed in embarrassment. She looked around the immediate area and straightened her back. “I don’t see how you were invited to the party. He usually doesn’t invite, uh, po’folk.”
“No?” She gave Carter a sidelong glance. “I didn’t think a pretty package of shit wrapped in a pretty bow was his style either.”
“Carter, be a dear and excuse me, but I won’t stand around and take this for no one.”
“Go ahead, it’s a free country.” Kelli answered for him. She waited until Denise left his table and headed in the direction of the coat check. She relaxed her stance, turned to Carter, and smiled. “I hope that helped.”
“That was amazing. I’d never been fought over before.” He pulled out the chair beside him and waited for her to sit down.
Kelli’s stomach flip-flopped with pride. Her heart thumped hard and loud in her ears. She grinned, in spite of her defenses, toward him. She shrugged her shoulders. “That’s what friends are for.”
* * * *
On the drive to Kelli’s new apartment, she and Carter made idle chitchat about her work, his work, and the adventure she faced as a first-year teacher. They shared little more than typical first date stuff. He pulled into the drive and didn’t bother to shut off the motor. He walked her to the front door in a gallant gesture of any gentleman returning home from a first date. He leaned against the door frame. “Would it be all right if I call you sometime?”
Kelli smiled, and his heart fluttered. She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. “Do you still have the same number?” she asked.
“Yes.”
She punched two keys, and immediately, his phone rang. “Here’s my number. Call me sometime.”
Gaining the number from her directly, his body hummed with victory, but he covered it with a cool play of friendly departure. “I better go while it’s still early.” The disappointment in her eyes caught in his chest, and he almost gave up the plan. In a valiant move, one befitting of social grace of a long-ago era, he took hold of her hand and softly brushed his lips across her knuckles. “I will call you tomorrow.”
“I–I look forward to it.” Came her breathy reply.
Score! He still got to her.
Two days later, he called her to catch up. A week later, she called him and shared information on a new project assigned to her. During this time, Carter came to one understanding. Their friendship had grown since their breakup. He held onto the hope a relationship would build from it.
Chapter Nineteen
Dex entered the room, bouncy stepped as ever. “So, how goes Operation: Win Kelli Back?” he asked in lieu of a greeting.
Carter’s eyelids narrowed. “Don’t know how to gauge this one. Some days we talk for hours on end, other times she’s telling me to slow down, that anything other than friendship will not work.”
Dex shrugged. In earnest thought of a fleeting idea, he blurted out a simple and logical step. “Ask her to dinner sometime.”
“I did, but she refused.”
“What reason did she give?”
“She had to grade papers or work on a project at school or something else comes up. Sometimes I think she makes this stuff up to avoid me. She’s so stubborn. I can’t get past it.”
“Aren’t you being a little hasty?”
“No, I don’t think so. The one time we did do something together besides the awards banquet was a dinner with her brother, Josh, and his doctor friend, Glenna.”
Dex perked up. “How did that go?”
“She arrived in her own car and left alone.”
“Sorry, dude. Is Josh at least on your side?”
“I think so. Glenna had an emergency, and they left us alone. We ate and had a great time talking.”
“That’s good! She didn’t just jump up and run out when her brother wasn’t there to protect her?”
“Yes and no.”
Dex looked at him. Confusion settled on his face. “How is that?”
“The second they left us, she guarded her emotions closely and refused to talk about anything remotely close to feelings, relationships and starting over.”
Dex clucked his cheek in a loud fashion of defeat. “Sounds like she still loves you, but is afraid.”
Carter placed his elbows on the desk, leaned forward, and gaped at Dex. “Now, I ask you, how can we build a bond of love if she puts an emotional distance between us?”
Dex threw his hands up in the air. “You got me.”
* * * *
Carter stood at the window of his sitting room hidden by shadows of the darkened room. He stared at the house across the street. The second floor room gave him an advantage to look without being seen. So, after six months this is what it’s come to, huh! Spying. I wonder if it is against the law.
In the driveway below was the very existence of his universe, Kelli. The most irritating redheaded woman he had ever met in his life and the very one who drove him to distraction with her mere presence. She’s the one woman I’d give my very life for and spend the rest of my days loving. She stood next to the moving van, watching movers unload boxes one by one from the truck and carry them inside her new duplex. She lifted her face to the sun’s rays and smiled.
Carter’s heart skipped a beat. All Kelli had to do was smile, and he’d be at her beck and call.
She wiped her bare arm across her brow. The small gesture in itself provoked images of her sweat-glistened body arching into his. His mind’s eye saw a bead of sweat fall from her forehead, past her eyes to her cheek. His tongue licked at the spot where the perspiration filled the crease of her lips. He licked at the wetness and tasted salt and coffee?
Blinking, he realized he actually wet his own lips.
Unbelievable!
Ironic, that one word could describe his relationship with her. Doormat! If he sat and thought about it long enough, the things he was willing to do and go through for her baffled him. One by one he named them as they came to his mind. “I’ve become a hermit in my own home. I no longer socialize with my friends and acquaintances. Instead, I sit by the phone waiting for her to call.” The reason for it doesn’t matter. It could be something as small as to ask his opinion in something or for his help. He spent many a lonely night waiting for the call that rarely came anymore.
Behind him in the hall, he heard footsteps. He didn’t have to turn around to know it was Dex. Lately, he was the only visitor who tolerated Carter’s company. Not today, go away and leave me alone. I don’t want visitors.
“What are you looking at?” Dex asked when he entered the room.
Dex’s jolly attitude grated on Carter’s nerves. He bit back the nasty retort that popped in his head. None of your damn business! Go away! Thinking it best to keep his mouth shut and not hurt Dex’s feelings, he remained quiet and continued to stare at Kelli. If I don’t answer his question, he will keep pestering me until I do.
He inhaled sharply. “The existence of all the world holds dear.”
“Oh. Kelli.”
Carter felt Dex’s proximity closing in behind him. He turned and glared at his friend, hoping the angry face would warn Dex to keep his distance, but it didn’t. Unaffected by the hostile glare, he looked down at him.
“Wearing your game face?” Dex asked, looking past his shoulder to the view below.
Carter tried to suppress the smile, but before he knew it, he was laughing at Dex’s off-the-wall comment.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t know if I should be upset that my warning glare was unsuccessful in thwarting your curiosity or thankful you always make me smile on these bad days.”
Once the laughter died down, he
gave Dex a sideways glance. “I sometimes wish I could be more like you.”
“How’s that?”
“Have sex with a woman on different nights of the week and not be bothered with attachments.”
“It’s not hard really. Besides, I can’t have sex with other women anymore. It would piss Tonya off.”
“Congratulations.”
“I’m already bored, but there is something about her keeps me hanging on.”
Carter gave a silent chuckle. “For me, it is difficult. Each time I consider going out with someone else, Kelli’s face flashes in my mind. The next thing I know my heart breaks.”
“Pussy!”
Carter snorted on laughter. “Shut the fuck up!” The two stared in silence at the house across the massive yard. “I thought of something yesterday, hadn’t thought of it in so long it’s like a lifetime ago.”
“Don’t keep me in the dark.” Dex half-assed encouraged.
“Women play games when they think the payoff is worthwhile. Take Denise Koneke for example. They designed their world to fit mine, ate the same things I liked, gave no opinions for themselves, in the end, we were miserable. But not Kelly. She took me for what I am—a jackass, an unthinking mass of crap. I was wrong in keeping her in the dark for so long.”
Sounds like your insecurity toward women cost you the love of your life.”
“It’s okay, as long as she’s still a part of it. I will learn to live with the cursed word…. friends.”
Dex turned away from the window. “This is so boring. Man up already.”
Carter’s attention returned to the townhouse. “No more boxes in the truck,” he murmured aloud what his mind registered. Kelli would be going in, soon. He watched her turn to the driver and sign a piece of paper on his clipboard. Smiling, she waved good-bye as they backed out of her driveway. When the moving van drove away, she checked out the neighborhood, scanning the little street which dead-ended at her new home. To his surprise, she looked across the street in the direction of his bedroom.