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“Probably shouldn’t go around saying stuff like that.”
“I know.” Carter sighed and finished the last of the drilling. He tried to jostle the new cabinet and tested it to make sure it was secure. It was. He didn’t look surprised. “Yet another reason why I’ll never be a parent. ‘Cause I say shit like that.”
“Carter…”
“I told you. The only thing Dad about me is my music.”
“Carter, why are you saying shit like this?”
“Because it’s true.”
“No, it’s more than… I don’t know.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Carter started packing up his things, actively ignoring what I just said.
“Something happened that night when you talked about your dad, Carter,” I mused. “Something—”
“Something I don’t want to talk about anymore,” he said. He picked up his tools, sloppily winding the cord around his power drill before shoving it in the toolbox. “The kitchen is done. Let’s talk about the living room and Rex’s room next week.”
He pushed past me without saying goodbye and I felt stung as the door slapped shut. I finished the rest of my whiskey. I knew I should get upstairs to bed, but that wasn’t happening. I was pissed. Something was going on in Carter Kane’s head and I needed to know what it was.
He wasn’t getting away that easily.
Twenty-One
Carter
I was barely inside my living room before I heard a knock at the door.
I wasn’t surprised to see Zoe standing there. She pushed her way inside my living room.
“Make it make sense, Carter,” she demanded.
“Make what make sense?”
“You know what.”
“You came all the way over here to talk about my daddy issues?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Don’t… don’t patronize yourself like that.”
“Why not? You figured it out. Talking about my dad made me realize that I’ll never be the man he was and that you and Rex shouldn’t come to rely on me for shit because I can’t deliver.”
“Carter—”
“See? Daddy issues. Simple as that,” I told her. I opened the door again, like I was trying to usher her out, but she stood her ground.
“It’s more than that.”
“I swear to you that it isn’t.”
“It has to be. Because… Carter, you say one thing and you do the opposite.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Look at… look at the fact that you claim to be this guy who’s only out for himself and then you help me renovate my condo on your own time for, like… insultingly cheap. Why would you do that?” she wondered.
“Because you deserve to have a nice home.”
