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She was rung dry and it was only ten in the morning.
She finally pulled herself together. When she’d been driving home, she swore she saw Carter on the road in his SUV. She forgot to ask him the other day if he had a truck too and it made her realize how silly she was to not think he probably had more than one vehicle.
Her hand had started to lift to wave, but she wasn’t positive and wondered if she merely hoped it was him. Maybe because she hadn’t heard a word from him since their dinner almost ten days ago.
Not that she thought he’d reach out to her. She didn’t know what she thought at all.
She barely had time to blow dry her hair most mornings, so thinking of a guy was stupid.
Plus there was Josie.
Yeah, best to put it from her mind.
By dinner though, both of them were mentally exhausted.
When there was a knock at her door, she got up to get it, hoping it didn’t wake up Josie who lay on her bed to watch a movie and fell asleep.
“Laine,” she said. “What are you doing here?”
“Bringing wine,” Laine said, holding up two bottles. “I figured you might need it.”
It was nice to know that she had another friend in the world that understood without her saying a word.
“I could use a glass. When Josie gets up we can order some dinner.”
“She’s napping?” Laine asked quietly as they moved to the back of the house and the kitchen.
“Long day for us both. Emotionally. She fell asleep watching a movie. I’m letting her go.”
Laine reached her hand out. “Josie told me on Thursday what today was. She was chattering away as we were painting. She was painting flowers.”
“Yeah,” she said. “She worked on her mural for a few hours today. She’ll want you to check it out.”
“I’d love to. Let’s pop open the wine and chat.”
“Thanks,” she said, moving to get a wine opener. Avery was dying for a glass and realized it’d been months since she’d had one. Maybe Easter with her mother? It’s not like she went out on any dates or anything.
“I know today was probably harder on you than if you were alone, right?”
“It was,” she said. “Just seeing Josie fed my grief too. Or we fed each other. Does it make me a horrible person that I was thrilled when she said she wanted to paint the mural alone?”
“No,” Laine said. “You’re young and beautiful. You need to have a social life too. Not that there is one on this island, but you still need one.”
She snorted. “Not on my radar.”
“Really?” Laine asked. “Because you turned your head and are looking anywhere other than me now that I said that.”
Maybe she could talk to Laine about this. Out of curiosity more than anything.
“I had dinner with Carter Bond over a week ago?”
“What?” Laine asked, then covered her mouth. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to be so loud. Why are you telling me now?”
“It’s not like it was a date.”
“Sounds like one to me,” Laine said.
“I dropped Josie off for her first lesson. I was at the store and ran into him. I said I’d like to take him to dinner to thank him for everything he’s done at the clinic. We went that night. Just a cafe and had sandwiches. Nothing else. I don’t even know if he’s single or not. Maybe he has a girlfriend or is seeing someone even though you said he’s not married.”
