Yes, she definitely knew. “All I can do is tell you that it’s okay foryouto be happy, and that Mom will figure out how to be happy again, too.”
“There was a movie on the other night and I was going to ask her if she wanted to watch it because we all laughed our asses off at it, but I knew she’d remember how much Dad loved it and cry through the whole thing.”
“Thenyouwatch it and you laugh and you remember how much you loved watching it with your dad. Your feelings are your own, Carter.”
She heard a movement and looked down the hall to see her mom standing there. There were tears running down her cheeks and Cait had to assume she’d heard most of that. She braced herself for a meltdown, but her mom just gave her a sad smile and crept back down the stairs.
Cait turned her attention back to her brother. “I heard you stopped by Gavin’s firehouse today.”
“So?”
She blinked at this tone. “It wasn’t an accusation, Carter. Just making conversation about your day.”
“I was going by and wanted to meet him. And say thank you for being there with you, I guess. Are you mad?”
“Of course not. I just want to make sure you’re okay about what happened. Stuff like that hardly ever happens to me, you know.” She was in more danger on a daily basis from drug users, angry drunks and domestic calls, but she didn’t think it was a good time to mention that.
“I know. I was just... He likes you, you know.”
“What?” That was one hell of a conversational curveball.
“That firefighter. Gavin. He likes you.”
She hoped so, though she wasn’t sure she needed her teenage brother up in her business. But she couldn’t help herself. “What makes you think that?”
“He said you’re awesome. And, like I said, he was checking out your a—uh, butt, at the market.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
“I tried to show you this then, but you took my phone away.” He unlocked his phone and for a few seconds, she thought he was just ending their conversation. But then he held it up so she could see the screen. It was a picture of Gavin, most definitely checking out her butt. And it was captioned.
“Uh, Carter. That’s a Snapchat caption. Did you send this to anybody?”
He shrugged. “Just a few friends. It wasn’t like public or anything.”
“Isn’t one of your friends a firefighter’s daughter?” How many people had actually seen it?
“Yeah, but she just saidLOL. It’s not like anybody really cares the guy was checking you out.”
But the caption made it clear the guy was a firefighter, so maybe the girl had shared it with her dad for laughs. And Cait didn’t know who her dad was, but she knew it was a small community and it wouldn’t take long before Gavin knew about it. Or saw it himself.
“Men are always checking out women’s butts,” she said. “It means nothing. And don’t share pictures like that online. Privacy, dude.”
“Whatever.”
“Anyway, Gavin asked me if you’d want to play some pickup basketball with him on Saturday mornings. To get out of the house.”
“The guy’s game is so weak he has to be nice to me to get at you?”
“No. It’s not like that.” At least she didn’t think it was. Gavin’s offer had seemed sincere. And they’d already spent some time together. He had no reason to think he needed that kind of tactic to get to know her better. “He knows you’re stuck in the house with your mom and sister all the time and thought you might like to hang out with some guys. That’s all. Here’s his number if you want to text him.”
He took the scrap of paper she handed him. “Maybe. Thanks.”
She started to leave, but then stopped and turned back to him. “If you do text him, keep it on topic. Donotviolate my privacy or comment on my personal life, even to be funny, okay?”
“I won’t.”
He looked like he meant it, so all she could do was hope giving him Gavin’s cell number wouldn’t come back to bite her in the ass.
