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Natural gifts. Milton could have sworn she was in that store window admiring leather. Isn’t leather a natural gift?
“Milt, why don’t you go and get yourself a drink. Find Rob. He’s around here somewhere.”
“Good idea.” Milton glared at Amie one last time before he turned and walked away. Indignation seethed through his body. How dare she? She had some nerve. He had some nerve believing, even for a second, that the woman in that store window was anything but exactly what he expected.
“Milton? Milton Campbell?”
Milton barely noticed the soft voice to his right. A familiar voice. The voice of a girl who was now a woman.
“Carrie?”
She smiled, a grin a mile wide spread across her face. The grin matched the rest of her. The woman before him glowed with happiness, and Milton wasn’t fool enough to think it was all because he’d shown up out of the blue.
She ran over to him and jumped in his arms. It was a natural reaction to spin her around a few times. “I can’t believe you’re here. It’s been too long.” She hugged him tight and Milton returned the love. He spent too many nights in the basement of this very house to not have fallen under the stubborn spell of Carrie Taylor.
“It’s good to see you, Carrie.”
She tightened her grip one last time and jumped out of his embrace.
“Look at you.” Milton gripped her arms and admired. “Beautiful…and successful from what I hear.”
Carrie cocked her head and gave him an annoyed stare. “Aleks?”
“Who else?” Milton shrugged.
“That man–” Carrie shook her head.
“Loves you, from what I can tell.” It only took the word ‘love’ to turn the annoyed look on her face into a soft blush.
Milton’s stare lifted from Carrie’s face only for a split second but it was long enough to notice the blond in the red sundress. She had joined another group of people, a group of older people, and the woman he saw in the store window magically appeared again. Maybe it was Milton that brought out her nasty side.
“Milton? Who are you looking at?”
“Huh? No one.” He quickly brought his attention back to Carrie, but she had already scanned the room for the person who had caught his eye. He would have gotten away with it if Amie hadn’t been doing the exact same thing he was–looking.
“Have you met Amie?” she asked.
“Oh yes. Amie and I have had the pleasure of meeting.” Milton had no idea how this woman managed to get under his skin in less than five minutes. But she did a great job. Like bamboo under his fingernails, she was painful to be around.
“What did she do?”
“Is it normal for her to attack strangers?” Milton shoved
his hands in his pants pockets.
“I’m sorry, Milton. Amie is the wild child of our little group. She makes no apologies and goes after what she wants, but she is the sweetest, kindest person in the world when you get to know her.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Milton couldn’t help the direction his eyes kept wandering–at the red sundress–and the next time he looked over at Carrie she had a sly grin on her face. A grin that couldn’t mean anything other than trouble.
“How long are you going to be in town, Milt?”
“Only a couple of weeks. But once the development is in full swing I’ll have more of an excuse to visit.” He liked that idea. He liked the idea of having real friends in his life. Not acquaintances he made through business. Friends that knew him during a time when he knew himself. Friends who knew Milton before he turned into a corporate drone. Lord, maybe Amie was right. He couldn’t remember the last time he just relaxed and had fun.
“I was so happy to hear you were coming into town and at the perfect time. You’re going to love Martina.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.” Milton straightened out his suit jacket.
“Let’s make that happen. Come on. I think the happy couple is in the back yard.” Carrie tugged on the arm of his jacket, and they made their way outside. As he shut the sliding door behind him, Milton searched for his woman in the red sundress one last time–but she was gone.
