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And he’d already told Egan to not even consider charging Laine for that trip. He’d paid for it before he got home already. Egan had laughed, took the payment, and said to keep him out of it. His answer would be that Carson called him so Carson was paying.
He’d take it.
“That’s it?” she asked. “There is nothing more going on?”
It’s not the first time she’d alluded to things. “Like what?”
“You talked about an ex before. I know we’ve had them. I told you about mine. You never talk about yours.”
Carson sighed. He knew this would come up and maybe the timing of it was right.
“We all have exes,” he said. “But I did have one that maybe shaped me a bit in life.”
“Tell me,” she said. “I’ll cook dinner. If we are doing something normal you won’t feel as if you’re spilling your guts.”
“It’s going to feel that way anyway,” he said. “Even Hudson asked me if you knew about Brynn. It’s a joke in the family to not bring up the B word.”
“B word?” she asked. “Like it’s a swear word?”
“In my mother’s eyes, yes. My mother didn’t care for Brynn much. They accepted her because I loved her, but I was young and it was complicated.”
Laine moved into his kitchen and started to look around for food. He had slim pickings, but she found a jar of sauce and some ground beef in the fridge. She started filling pots and pans and cooking everything.
“Go on,” she said. “This won’t take long to make.” She was already seasoning the ground beef and had water on the stove to boil. He walked over and got spaghetti out of the pantry.
“I met Brynn when I was doing my residency. She worked at a cafe not that far from where Hudson and I were living. I’d see her often.”
“And she’d hit on you?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “She had a boyfriend. He was abusive. I’d seen it verbally at times and came to her defense. Then one day she came in with a fat lip. I asked what happened.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Yeah. She confided in me. Hudson and I got her some help, found her counseling. She broke up with the guy shortly after. It was as if she needed someone to tell her it was okay. Maybe the fat lip was the last straw.”
He never did find out. He did know that she had bruises on her in the past from her arm being grabbed, and it could be watching that video was a trigger he had with Laine last night.
“So you saved her and then started a relationship?” she asked.
“I’m not sure I was thinking that I saved her. She had my number. She’d check in with me and talk to me. I didn’t have alot of time, but we’d meet out for coffee and talk. I guess we went from friends to something else. I thought it was a gradual thing, but it was only a month from when she left her ex to when you could say we were dating.”
Looking back, Brynn needed someone to care for her. She’d left one abusive relationship and looked at Carson as her savior. It took him years to realize that though.
“Considering that was an emotional relationship, I’d say that was fast. How long were you together?”
“A few years,” he said. “And yes. I always had a habit of rushing into things.”
She lifted an eyebrow at him as she stirred the meat. “You did that with me.”
“I did. But you should know there was no one in between I did that with. I’ll explain more as I get there. During the time Brynn and I dated, she was needy.”
“I’m not sure I think you’d like that.”
“I let it go,” he said. “I knew she was fragile at first.”
“Ouch,” she said. “I don’t know a lot of women that want to be considered fragile.”
He snorted. “Not you and no one you are friends with, but there are a lot of women out there that are no other way. By allowing things early on, it just built.”
