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Their hugs had been therapeutic. This hug right now with Carter was… painful.
She took a step back and his arms fell to his sides. “How was your drive?” A few beats of mundane conversation would get her back on level ground. She was stronger than this. She had to be. Reverse was not an option, not after the night she’d had with Dakota. She wanted to move forward. Only forward.
Carter hooked his hair behind his left ear and straightened his glasses. “Good drive. Not as much traffic as I expected for a holiday weekend, but I suppose people got out of the city on Friday night or Saturday morning. No one begins their weekend on a Sunday afternoon.”
“True. People want to make the most of their time off.”
Carter nodded then they stared at each other for a few awkward seconds.
“Is this okay?” Carter said.
“The guest room is this way,” Leah said at the same time.
Carter blew out a breath. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, don’t be. It’s me. I’m being weird and I don’t even know why.” She twisted her hair and let it rest on her shoulder.
“I’m being weird too. There should be no weirdness. We’re just two people who lost everything and are trying to put the pieces back together though the picture will never be right again.” He shrugged, that smiley face on his shirt riding up then settling down.
Leah’s throat stung, but she swallowed the grief fighting to control her. Picturing Dakota helped and that concerned her. Her healing here in Maplehaven couldn’t be dependent on a man, even one as gorgeous and kind as Dakota. She had to do this on her own. She couldn’t let her emotions get all invested in someone who might not always be around.
Things happened to people. There were no guarantees.
“The picture may never be right,” she finally said, “but maybe we have to draw a new picture, Carter. You and I have the potential to live long lives. We won’t be truly living if we don’t try to move on. Chase wouldn’t want that for us.”
Carter sniffed, his emotions right there, fighting to swallow him. “You’re right. Your parents and sister wouldn’t want that either.”
A tear escaped from her right eye and rolled down her cheek.Dammit. She could be okay when thinking about losingoneimportant person, but losing four—all at the same time—slayed her every time.
“Ah, shit.” Carter slid his duffel bag off and let it hit the floor. “I didn’t come here to make you cry, Leah. I came here so you could make me laugh.”
A choking snort squeezed out of her. “I know, I know. Maybe we need like ten minutes to bawl like babies and then we’ll be all right.”
Now he was laughing and pulling her into another hug. “Deal.” He held on for a few long minutes and Leah hugged him back.
“Can I blow my nose on your shirt?” she asked.
He shook against her and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Go for it.”
She pulled back instead. “That wouldn’t be hospitable of me.” Angling her head toward the hallway, she said, “Let me show you the guest room so you can dump your stuff. I spent all morning making sure Fey didn’t puke in there.”
“Where is the little beastie?” Carter picked up his bag and followed Leah down the hallway.
“Playing a game of hide-and-seek.” Leah led him into the guest room. “And you’re It.”
Carter scanned the room she’d furnished with a simple wrought iron full bed with a blue and green flannel quilt set, two simple converted wine barrel end tables with black, lantern-style lamps, and a walnut chest of drawers she’d picked up at an antique store a block from Mountain View Pizza. All she’d had to do was replace the hardware, which she’d done in wrought iron to match the bed. Solid blue curtains adorned the windows and a large mirror in a distressed black wooden frame hung above the chest of drawers.
“Is she in here?” Carter asked. “Because this is a great room.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Leah said then shook her head, “but Fey didn’t like all the fussing around I did in here instead of playing with her. She won’t set foot in this room out of spite.”
Carter turned from his perusal of the room. “You set all this up for me?”
Leah nodded. “It was empty. Needed a reason to fill it up, I guess.”
Some of the tension slipped off his face. “Glad I could give you a reason, but I didn’t mean to be any trouble.”
She punched him lightly in the shoulder. “You? Trouble?”
