The House on Sunshine Corner

by Phoebe Mills

  He dipped his head, brushing his lips against the slope of her neck. “I am dragging you up here to have my wicked way with you…”

  Then he dropped to his knees, flicking his eyes up to hers as he lifted her skirt. He tucked her panties to the side and fitted his mouth to her, testing every ounce of her self-restraint…not to mention her ability to be quiet.

  And she didn’t mind a bit.

  * * *

  The following morning, Abby woke up well before the sun, and that, compiled with the activities she and Carter had gotten up to the night before, meant she’d gotten maybe four hours of sleep. Even still, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she greeted each and every family who walked through the bright yellow doors of the Sunshine Corner, much to the suspicion of basically everyone.

  When her grandma had walked downstairs that morning, she’d given Abby a knowing look, complete with thinly veiled concern, but Abby couldn’t even bring herself to care. Nothing could take the spring out of her step today.

  “Seriously, what is your deal this morning?” Savannah asked for the third time.

  Abby shrugged. “Can’t I just have a good day?”

  Savannah and Jenn didn’t even try to hide the looks they shot each other, but Abby ignored them. Whereas last night, she’d wanted to be able to confide in her friends even though she knew it was a bad idea, today she had no such desires.

  At this time of the morning, with near-constant drop-offs, it wasn’t unusual for parents to hold the front door open for others who attended the Sunshine Corner. Because of that, she should have been prepared to see Carter suddenly there, looming large in her space, but she still would’ve liked some forewarning. Then maybe she could have stopped the stupid smile from sweeping across her mouth or at least tamped it down so she didn’t look like an idiot. Fortunately, she wasn’t alone in that respect, as a matching grin appeared on Carter’s face when he spotted her.

  “Hi,” she breathed.

  He ran a hand through his hair, the move reminding Abby of when she’d had her fingers locked in the strands the night before as he’d driven her half out of her mind with his mouth alone. Without her approval, heat flooded her cheeks as she bit her lip and met Carter’s gaze.

  “Hey,” he said, the low timbre of his voice reenergizing parts of her body that were still humming from last night.

  “Miss Abby, Miss Abby! Thank you for bringing your nail polish last night!” Sofia grinned up at her.

  Abby squatted down to her level and reached to hold the little girl’s hand, lifting it up to inspect her nails that Carter had painted. “You’re very welcome. They look so pretty.”

  “How come you slept at my house?”

  After working with kids for so long, Abby should’ve been prepared for their random subject changes and blunt questions, but she wasn’t sure anything could’ve prepared her for this. Her wide eyes flew to Carter’s just as Savannah’s gasp met her ears.

  Letting her eyes flutter closed, she exhaled a deep breath before turning her attention back to Sofia. One issue at a time, which meant the grown-ups would have to wait. “What do you mean?”

  She and Carter had specifically set an alarm for pre-human hours to avoid this very situation. She’d thought she’d gotten out unnoticed, but then again, she’d lost who knew how long to Carter’s kisses against the front door. Apparently, they hadn’t been stealthy after all.

  Sofia’s eyes darted to the side, and she didn’t respond.

  Carter rested a hand on her head. “What do you mean, peanut?”

  Sofia looked up at him, her eyes worried. “I got up before I was a ’posed to, and I saw Miss Abby’s bag was downstairs. Don’t tell Mommy, ’kay?”

  Abby stood to her full height and met Carter’s questioning gaze. His cocked eyebrow told her however they played this was up to her, and he’d follow her lead. Normally, she didn’t condone lying. In fact, she hated it. But in an instance like this, it seemed a white lie was the best solution.

  “I left that for you in case you wanted to paint your mommy’s nails.”

  Sofia’s eyes brightened as she grinned up at Abby. “Thank you, Miss Abby!”

  With that, she hugged Carter’s leg before yelling a goodbye over her shoulder as she fled toward her best friend.

  He stepped closer to Abby, his voice low so as not to be overheard by any of the other nosy people milling about. Sadly, it wouldn’t matter. Abby would most definitely be grilled as soon as he left. “Quick thinking,” he said.

  Abby lifted a shoulder. “Seemed like the easiest solution.”

  “Maybe tonight I can leave a bag behind at your place.”

  Abby knew her friends and grandma were watching them, so she tried to keep her emotions in check. She rolled her lips between her teeth in an attempt to tamp down her smile, but it was no use. “That sounds good.”

  “Great. I’ll see you later.” Carter dipped his head the tiniest bit, as if he was intent on giving her a kiss, but he seemed to think better of it at the last minute and froze. Even though his lips never touched hers, the scorching look he sent her managed to set her body ablaze all on its own.

  Tonight couldn’t come fast enough.

  “What the crap was that?” Savannah hissed.

  Abby snapped her gaze away from Carter’s retreating form to find Savannah, Jenn, and her grandma all staring at her, varying looks of concern on their faces. “What was what?”

  Jenn laughed and rolled her eyes. “Honey, do you really think we’re that stupid?”

  “I don’t think you’re stupid at all. I just don’t know what you mean.”

  “Um…you and Captain McHot Pants over there,” Savannah said.

  Abby snorted and shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “Uh-huh.” Savannah crossed her arms and attempted to coerce Abby into spilling with her glare alone.

  “I still don’t think this is a good idea, Abby,” her grandmother said, her voice quiet but firm.

  Savannah scoffed. “Not a good idea? That’s like saying the Grand Canyon is a pothole. This is an epically horrible idea. And if there weren’t little ears around, I’d throw in some colorful words to go along with my description just to really drive home the point.”

  Abby rolled her eyes and shook her head, busying herself as she readied the science experiment they were doing that morning. “You guys are making a bigger deal out of this than you need to.”

  “And I don’t think you’re making a big enough deal out of it,” Savannah said. “You do know who this is you’re getting involved with, right? You remember him—the guy who already broke your heart once? And, last I checked, is on schedule to do it again in, oh, a week or two?”

  “And you realize that I’m a fully grown woman perfectly capable of making her own decisions, and said decision has already been made regarding this?” Abby sighed, tamping down her frustration. “Look, I appreciate the concern, but I’m not a starry-eyed teenager anymore. I walked into this with my eyes wide open, and I knew exactly what I was getting into. I can handle it. Whatever may come.”

  Jenn just shook her head while Savannah pursed her lips, crossing her arms over her chest. “I sure hope you’re right.”

  It appeared Abby hadn’t had as much luck tricking her friends into believing it as she’d had tricking herself.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Carter was playing a stupid game, and the worst part was he knew it, but he couldn’t stop. Even though this thing between him and Abby was supposed to be casual, it hadn’t felt that way from the beginning. And it sure as hell didn’t feel that way now as they spent every night in one of their beds. Ill-advised or not, he couldn’t say he regretted it. He hadn’t enjoyed a woman’s company this much since…well, since her. And if that said a little bit too much about exactly how dangerous their involvement was, well, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d ignored his instincts.

  The back door opened, and Carter looked up from his makeshift desk at the dining table.
Great. Becca was home, which meant it was already noon, which also meant he’d managed to piss away the entire morning fantasizing about Abby. Yeah, getting lost in daydreams was definitely going to get him his own firm.

  His sister strode in on her crutches before propping them up against the counter. She leaned back alongside them and immediately pulled out her phone.

  “Um…hi?” he said.

  “Hi,” she answered distractedly, her attention completely focused on her device.

  He glanced at his watch only to realize he hadn’t pissed away nearly as much time as he’d worried, but rather, Becca was actually home earlier than usual for lunch. “You have brunch plans today instead of lunch?”

  “What?” Becca asked before slowly lifting her head from her phone and meeting Carter’s gaze. “Oh, no…I just, um, wanted to come home real quick and make some calls. I’m going to head to my room for that.”

  With a furrowed brow, Carter watched her leave, her crutches thumping against the wood floor as she glided toward her bedroom. Weird. His sister hadn’t ever much cared about privacy. Didn’t much care about providing him with privacy either, but that was a whole other issue. He leaned back, balancing the chair on two legs as he glanced down the hallway toward her room. The door snicked shut behind her, which only piqued Carter’s curiosity more. Who the hell was she talking to that she didn’t want him to hear?

  “Whatever,” he mumbled, focusing his attention once again on the lengthy to-do list he had looming for him today. He’d already wasted enough time, thanks to a certain redhead who’d snagged all of his attention. He couldn’t get sucked in to whatever was going on with his sister, too.

  Five minutes later, Becca reappeared in the kitchen, her mouth pursed, a V between her brows showing her concern. As far back as Carter could remember, she’d never been able to mask her emotions. She wore her heart on her sleeve, which was, in his opinion, both her greatest asset and her biggest downfall.

  Carter looked longingly at the work that was only going to continue piling up before setting his pen down and blowing out a sigh. “All right, what’s up?”

  “Hmm?” Becca asked, the nonword almost reflexive, as she didn’t even lift her eyes from her screen.

  “Whatever you’re doing over there on your phone, or whoever you called, must have gotten you worked up. What’s going on? I need to pay somebody a visit while I’m here?”

  Becca blew out a humorless laugh and finally met his gaze. “You better watch out, or I might actually take you up on that.”

  Carter’s eyebrows hit his hairline, and he sat back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “I didn’t think I’d ever see the day when you’d want your big brother fighting your battles with a guy. But I’m here and willing, so you might as well put me to use.”

  Becca flashed him a grin. “And I still don’t want you fighting my battles with any guys.”

  “No? Then what’s this about?”

  She studied him for a long moment, looking as though she were having an internal argument with herself. Finally she sighed and leaned back against the counter. “It’s Dad.”

  A sucker punch to the kidneys would have been less surprising than hearing those words from Becca’s lips. Initially, Carter had worried that coming here would excavate all the family issues they had. Would make him face head-on the underlying fear he’d always carried over turning into his father. But, save for the night Abby had come over for dinner, Carter and Becca hadn’t discussed their father at all. And that was exactly how Carter liked it.

  “What about him?” he asked, his voice hard.

  Becca blew out a resigned sigh, her shoulders slumping. “Just hear me out, okay?” When Carter didn’t respond, she probed. “Okay?”

  “Just say whatever you’ve got to say, Becca.”

  “I haven’t been able to get ahold of him.”

  Carter lowered his gaze and busied himself with the papers in front of him, making notes on the design changes Redmond had wanted for the latest mock-up. “I don’t see why that’s such a big deal. It is before noon, and you and I both know he hasn’t slept off last night’s alcohol stupor yet.”

  Becca’s crutches thumped against the floor as she strode toward him before dropping into the chair next to him. “It’s not just today. He hasn’t returned my calls in almost a week.”

  “And that’s unusual? He’s not exactly a stellar communicator.”

  “This is different. We don’t talk a lot, but when I call him, he answers or calls me back. Always.”

  Carter had absolutely no desire to name the emotion simmering beneath his skin, threatening to erupt at any moment. He’d known Becca still kept tabs on their dad because he’d attempted to talk her out of it nearly every time they saw each other. Because of those conversations, he also knew why she did it. She felt responsible for him—for a nearly sixty-year-old man, which was just another thing in the long list of items to resent his father for. A parent should look after their child, not the other way around. And what hurt the most was knowing exactly how different it would have been if Carter’s mom were still alive.

  He also tried to ignore the pang of guilt that had settled inside his chest. As the oldest, he should’ve been the one looking after their dad. But the moment he’d run from Heart’s Hope Bay, he’d been running not just from a town, but also from a life that included an emotionally abusive father. He’d sworn he wouldn’t look back. He certainly didn’t intend to now.

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Becks. He’s a grown-ass man, and he can take care of himself.”

  Becca rolled her eyes. “You know—probably more than most—just exactly how unrealistic that is.”

  “Maybe you should call one of his friends to check up on him. Oh, wait…he doesn’t have any friends because he’s a gigantic asshole, and he drove them all away, just like everyone else in his life.”

  “Look, normally I’d just go out there myself and check up on him. But getting around his run-down property isn’t exactly going to be a cakewalk with these things,” she said, gesturing toward her crutches.

  Carter snorted but didn’t bother to otherwise respond.

  She reached out, resting a hand on his arm. “Would you go check on him for me? You know I wouldn’t ask you to do this if it wasn’t important and if I wasn’t truly worried.”

  Carter closed his eyes and scrubbed a hand down his face, resigning himself for the inevitable because, yeah…he knew.

  * * *

  Heart’s Hope Bay wasn’t populous by any stretch of the imagination, but it was vast, the town limits stretching for miles along the Oregon coast. Since Carter’s dad lived just on the outskirts of those limits, the ride there took a good twenty minutes, the entirety of which Carter spent with his hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel, his body rigid.

  If he had it his way, he’d go the rest of his life without speaking another word to his dad. God knew they’d both be happier if that were the case. There was no love lost between them. And though it sometimes hurt to know that when his mom had passed away of cancer, he’d lost both his parents that night, he also knew he carried just as much distaste for his dad as his dad did for him.

  Before his mom had died, Carter’s and his dad’s relationship had been strange in the way that teenage sons and their father’s relationships naturally were. They were too much alike—or so his mom had told him—and that was why they’d constantly butted heads. That was also why Carter had made every effort to change himself, to work on the core of his personality. It may have made him more rigid and more focused, but if the other option was to turn into a drunk, verbally abusive asshole, he’d take the former.

  It had killed him to leave his sister with their ill-fitted father, but in the end, it had been not just his sister’s reassurance that she’d be okay, but also the promise he’d made to his mom before she’d passed away that he wouldn’t throw away his future because of her inevitable death. Still, he’d felt tons of guilt in the wee
ks and months after he’d left for college. In the beginning, he’d called to check up on Becca every day, listening not only for what she said but also what she didn’t say. Eventually, he’d come to realize the truth—that his dad wasn’t a shitty father, period.

  He was just a shitty father to him.

  Carter rolled to a stop at the end of the gravel driveway, completely unsurprised at what he found at his childhood home. The yard was overgrown and unkempt, piled high with discarded junk better suited for the landfill instead of someone’s front yard. But then again, when someone spent their days chained to a six-pack, there wasn’t a whole lot of time for gardening.

  He put the car in park, braced his hands on the steering wheel, and exhaled a long, slow breath. He’d stop in, make sure the old man wasn’t dead, and then he’d leave. Five minutes, tops, and then he’d be out of there. And then he could put Becca’s mind at ease and go right back to pretending he no longer had a dad.

  After stepping out of the car, he carefully traversed the hidden path to the front door, avoiding the spare tires, upturned garbage cans, and rusted lawn chairs. He climbed the steps on the dilapidated front porch, testing the boards’ stability before putting his full weight on them.

  Hesitating only a second, he raised his fist and knocked on the door. He paused, listening for sounds of life inside the house. The low murmur of a television reached him outside. That didn’t mean anything, of course. A TV playing in the background wasn’t proof enough that his dad was okay, so he knocked again, louder this time, his fist pounding on the door.

  “Dad?” he yelled, the words sounding bitter and sharp on his tongue. “Open up.”

  He waited another minute with no answer before exhaling sharply and reaching out to twist the knob, not at all surprised when it turned easily. The crime rate in Heart’s Hope Bay was nearly nonexistent. And out here in the middle of nowhere, there was a better chance of lightning striking the house—four times—than someone breaking in.

  He swung the door open and stepped inside. The stench of stale beer and rotting food was overwhelming, ripping a cough from him.