by Starling,Amy
But that was never going to happen. He'd never settle down. Never marry. All he wanted was to pick and choose from a nonstop buffet of women.
“So you're a chef, I hear,” twittered a woman with a thick strand of pearls around her neck. “My sister's husband's son works at a lovely place downtown. Where did you get your schooling?”
Carter glanced at me for answers, but I wasn't sure what help he thought I'd be.
“Uh... self-taught, actually,” he replied. “My mother was a great cook. I learned from her when I was a child.”
“Ooh, how talented! And what delectable dish will you be whipping up for us guests tonight?”
“That will have to be a surprise.”
They moved on to mingle with someone else. He let out a long breath.
“You don't really have a plan, do you?”
“Sure I do.” He tapped at his phone. “I got the local KFC on speed dial.”
“You can't serve fast-food fried chicken at a dinner party!”
“Why not? Never met a soul who'd turn down an extra-crispy thigh or two.”
I grabbed him and pulled him into the kitchen. Lucky for us they kept a fully stocked fridge, because it looked like I'd need to whip something up to save his ass.
“You shouldn't do this,” he scolded me. “I'm supposed to be the pro chef here.”
“This is what you do when you care about somebody. You bail them out when they need help.”
He was quiet as I dug the linguine out of the pantry, and I knew the reason for his silence. Just as I'd expected, things got weird after we slept together.
Yes, my fiance just dumped me, and although it still stung, I couldn't change the way I felt. I'd cared for Carter for a long time, maybe even loved him. Sex only made those feelings a thousand times stronger.
But then to find out he had no intentions of settling down, or even of giving us a try...
“What are you making?” His breath tickled the nape of my neck.
“Just a simple pasta with lemon and capers.”
“Where'd you learn how to cook like that?”
I tossed the pasta into a big pot of boiling water. “Andy taught me a few things.”
“Andy.” He bristled. “Yeah, of course he did.”
There was a tinge of bitterness in his voice. I set the spoon down and stared.
“What's your problem? Are you jealous of him?”
“Only thing I'm jealous of is that he had you before I did.”
I sliced into a lemon so quickly, I nearly cut off part of my finger. Okay, I couldn't let him get under my skin. If he could play games with me, I could do the same back.
“I don't see what it matters. You had plenty of other girls to keep you occupied in the meantime. In fact, I'm sure they'll all still be waiting for you once we get back home.”
He growled. “That's not fair, damn it. How dare you say – ”
“There you kids are.” Grandpa shuffled into the kitchen holding his usual glass of bourbon. “Mmm, something smells fantastic. Maybe I'll hire you to do our entire party next time, eh?”
Carter gave me a nervous glance. “Yeah. Maybe.”
A few guests milled into the kitchen, so he had to take over the cooking while I tried to give him subtle hints.
“Don't turn the heat up so much. You'll curdle the cream,” I hissed over his shoulder. “No, no. You're supposed to add the herbs at the end.”
“If you'd like to take over, you have my blessing.”
He fiddled with the knobs on the stove, trying to get the flames just right.
“I hate these gas stoves. They're an accident waiting to happen.”
“It wouldn't be dangerous if you'd just pay attention!”
“Oh, Alicia, dear!” Grandma yelled for me from the living room. “Your mother just sent over some wedding photos, and you simply must tell us all about them.”
My mother did what? How could she have sent pictures when there was no wedding?
“Can you handle this?” I brushed past Carter on the way out. “I've gotta go do something before this gets out of hand.”
He sighed and gave the pot a stir. “You ask me, it already has.”
The guests and I left him alone to “cook” while Susie and friends cooed over the pictures. Mom had apparently sent them to her email, and they were browsing them on her laptop – which, up until now, I wasn't even sure she knew how to operate.
“Look how lovely she is in that dress,” grandma cried. “Oh, the church is stunning. Makes me feel like I'm right there watching her walk down the aisle.”
“What a great reception you had,” grandpa added. “The cake looks to die for. Wish you'd brought some back for us, right, darling?”
After scrolling through three dozen photos, some people began to get a weird look on their faces. They all realized there was a problem, and grandma knew it too.
“Perhaps this is just me,” she said slowly. “But isn't it odd? I haven't seen one picture with your husband in it yet.”
They all gaped at me. Yikes. Kind of hard to talk my way out of this one.
“There must be a few in there. Or maybe mom forgot those ones,” I squeaked. “And Carter's a bit camera shy, besides.”
They exchanged curious glances. It was one thing for a few random people not to show up in pictures, but the groom himself? No way.
“Oh, there he is!” A woman pointed. At first I was relieved, but then I immediately wished she hadn't spotted him.
There he was, all right, hovering around the bar with his buddies and slamming back drinks. He had a beer in one hand and a glass of something in the other.
The looks turned from curious to worried. I didn't blame them. Carter wasn't dressed like a groom, and worse yet, he didn't even have his ring.
Grandma looked at me to explain – but just before I could ramble out some more lies, the smell of smoke hit my nose.
“Is something burning?”
“What is that awful stink?”
My stomach in knots, I raced to the kitchen, from which the odor came. Clouds of smoke billowed through the door.
“Damn it, Carter. I leave you alone for five minutes, and...”
The kitchen was empty, but one of the pots had caught on fire. Flames from the burner leaped about a foot in the air, so high and hot that I couldn't reach the knob to turn it down.
“Oh my gracious!” Grandma howled. “My kitchen; my favorite copper frying pan!”
The cream sauce in the pan had turned from a pleasant white to charred and black. I gagged on the smoke and raced to open a window as the fire alarm began to blare.
The guests ran for safety. Grandpa charged into the room, yelling and swearing.
“What is the meaning of this? I was all about to close a sale with the biggest client of the year.”
The shrill alarm drew Carter out from wherever he had been hiding. He bolted into the kitchen, eyes wide with horror.
“Carter! Where the hell did you go?!”
“The sauce was taking forever to cook, so I turned up the heat,” he said, dashing for the stove. “And then I really, really had to use the bathroom.”
If he had any hope of fooling them that he was a pro chef, it sure was gone now.
Everyone watched as he calmly and coolly filled a pot with water, then dumped it into the frying pan inferno. The blaze weakened and threw out big clouds of smoke, hissing as the cool liquid met it.
“Everyone stay calm,” he shouted over the racket. “I'm a firefighter. I've got it under control.”
Oh, crap.
Though the alarm was enough to deafen anyone, it was clear everyone in the room heard him – including the two people who mattered most.
They stared at him, then me, then each other.
“Excuse me,” grandpa said as Carter turned the flames down. “Did you say... a firefighter?”
Carter froze with his hand still on the knob. “Yeah. Um, I mean, a volunteer firefighter.”
They didn't believe
him. Grandma shook her head, disappointment on her weathered face. Seeing them so sad broke my heart, and I knew what I had to do – even if it meant giving up millions of bucks and pissing off mom.
“Carter,” I whispered. “Just stop.”
He blinked in surprise, then kept on slowly mopping up the sauce which had splattered all over the counter and floor.
“Carter and I...” I took a deep, shaky breath. “We're not really married.”
Grandpa's brow scrunched. “We knew something was wrong the moment we met him – especially because Andy's middle name is Jacobson.”
“H-how did you know that?”
He laughed softly. “You don't get far as we have in life without paying attention to such things. The wedding invitation, frankly, told us the whole story.”
He took it off the fridge and set it on the counter. Both Andy's middle name and mine were printed right there on it.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Grandma teared up. “How could you lie to us, Alicia?”
“Don't blame her,” Carter grunted, throwing his rag in the sink. “This was all her mother's idea after that jerk dumped her at the altar.”
She gasped. “Andy... He never showed up?”
“No, he didn't. I guess he just wasn't ready to commit.” I gave Carter a knowing look. “Mom convinced me I couldn't possibly skip the honeymoon because it had all been paid for. She thought if I brought Carter along, you'd think I really did get married.”
“Ellen.” Grandpa shook his head. “It's truly hard to fathom one's own daughter could stoop so low.”
“But I agreed to it. I wasn't thinking clearly, and she scared me. Said I'd probably not find someone to marry for real before you guys...” My tears stained the wood floor. “I'm sorry. No matter how bad I needed the money, there's no excuse.”
“If you were having financial troubles, you could have just asked for help.”
“I'm not the sort who goes looking for handouts.”
“Except this time. How long did you possibly expect to keep this up? We may be old, but we're not stupid, dear.”
Grandpa turned to Carter. “As for you – who are you, really? This is quite a thing you've done, posing as my granddaughter's husband.”
“Just a friend,” he said quickly, and oh, did that sting. “A good friend. I was at her wedding when Andy didn't come. I wanted to help her out somehow.”
Grandma stopped sniffling and smiled. “Well, if indeed you are just her friend, then you're a mighty fine actor. The way you two looked at each other had me believing you were head-over-heels in love.”
The both of them wandered into the living room and talked quietly together. They left Carter and I alone, the weight of what I'd done hanging over us like an oppressive cloud.
“Sorry,” he blurted. “It just slipped out. I didn't mean to –”
“Don't. You were right; I should have just admitted it. This whole thing was so stupid in the first place. I wish I hadn't let mom talk me into it.”
He opened his arms to hug me. I let him, and he held me against his chest, like he had comforted me so many times before.
Having had enough of the smoky kitchen, we retreated to the living room. Grandpa got off the couch and pulled Carter aside.
“You care deeply for Alicia. Both of us can see that. Don't you?”
He stared at his shoes. “Sure I do. We were best friends a decade back.”
Grandma ushered me to the sofa. Her laptop was on the coffee table; there was a picture of Carter and I on it from the reception. We were on the dance floor after we'd both gotten tipsy enough, laughing and bouncing to old nineties music like the nerdy kids we used to be.
“It must hurt something fierce, what Andy did to you. Yet even in the ashes of that relationship, it seems, new love can bloom.”
“I'm not sure what you mean.”
“Carter is crazy about you. Even a blind old bat like me can tell. And I think you like him, too.”
“It's too soon to be thinking about stuff like that.” I stared at Carter. “Besides, it doesn't really matter how I feel in the end.”
Grandpa cleared his throat. The guests had started to flow back into the house now that the fire was out, and they listened in.
“What you two have done is a bad thing, and to trust you again will take some time.” He glanced sternly at us both. “You were supposed to have married to get the inheritance we set aside for you. However, we're willing to make a small exception.”
“...What sort of exception?”
“Carter. Tell Alicia how you feel – the honest truth.”
The man looked like a deer in headlights. Twenty people stared him down as he struggled for words.
My heart beat louder. What would he say? What could he say that wasn't a lie?
“We're friends,” he cried. “Really. That's all. Of course, I'd do anything for her. But yeah. Friends.”
I shouldn't have felt like running away in tears then. I expected nothing more from him.
But to hear him say that out loud, in front of everyone – to my face, even – hurt more than I could have imagined.
“Oh.” Grandpa frowned and turned back to his guests. “Sorry about the little fire incident, folks. Everything's been taken care of, so please go back to enjoying the party.”
Grandma shook her head sadly. Another woman grabbed her to gab about her knitting, and so she left me there standing alone.
Carter and I stood across the room from each other. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't look into them for long.
“Alicia, I...”
“Just don't.” I pulled up the airline on my phone. “When this party is over, take me back to the hotel. I'm going home. If you want to stay here and hang out on the beach with all these pretty college girls, have at it.”
He started to say something, but the words caught in his throat.
“So, Alicia, you're a kindergarten teacher, aren't you?” One of grandma's friends pulled me away. “My daughter has a young one about that age. Already reading paperbacks. Such a little genius.”
I turned from Carter, grateful for the inane chatter, and plastered on a smile.
“She sounds wonderful. Tell me all about her.”
When I looked back, Carter was gone.
Chapter 13 - Alicia
Several days had passed since we returned home from Florida. It hadn't exactly turned out to be the vacation in paradise I'd been hoping for.
The flight back was miserable. Due to the last-minute booking, Carter and I got seats on opposite sides of the plane. Probably a good thing, because I felt like chewing his head off.
“Carter, that bum.” Mom sneered as she stabbed her eggs with a fork. “All he had to do was confess his love to you, and the inheritance would have been yours.”
“My guess is he didn't want to lie,” I said, fighting back tears. “So I suppose that's a good thing, at least. Who doesn't like a honest man?”
“Dear, honesty means little when millions of dollars are involved.”
I stared at her, wondering if aliens had replaced the woman who'd raised me for over twenty years. She opened a compact and began to powder her nose, blissfully unaware of my puzzled gaze.
“They were so mad at me. Mad at you, too.”
“At me? The one thing you had to do was keep up the act for five days. Could you not even manage that much?”
“You practically forced me to go to Florida. If it weren't for your scheming, none of this disaster would have happened.”
Carter and I wouldn't have ended up in bed, either. Whether that was a good or bad thing remained debatable.
“I'm only looking out for your future. You're just an elementary school teacher who can barely afford to keep a roof over your head.” She poured five packets of sugar into her coffee. “How many times now have you asked us for money? And your father and I aren't so well off ourselves, you realize. Do you have any idea how much debt we took on for this failure of a wedding?”
Her tone was accusatory, as if the whole thing was my fault. Ugh, I wished dad was here. He wouldn't have let her harp on me like I was a little girl.
“However will we pay back the creditors now?” She wailed so loudly that the other diners gaped at her. “We were depending on that money, and now we have nothing.”
“We'll get it paid off. I can pitch in.”
She snorted. “With what? The change from your couch cushions?”
Christ. Not even my own family was on my side anymore. Friends weren't much help, either. Heidi and the gang dug into me the moment I got back, eager to analyze my failed relationship and figure out where it had all gone wrong.
The waitress returned with the receipt and mom's credit card. Mom left a crisp one-dollar bill in the holder as a tip.
“We aren't getting any younger,” she said wistfully. “I had always thought you would help support us in our older days. You are, after all, our only child.”
“Whose fault is that?” I mumbled.
“There are so many things for us to worry about. The car payments, mortgage, the maxed-out credit cards...”
“What?” I perked up, almost spilling the boiling coffee on my lap. “There's like a twenty-grand limit on each of them. How did you max even one of them out?”
“Oh, well, you know how it is.” Mom turned pink as she blotted her lips with the napkin. “What woman can resist a good shoe sale? Plus, with the warming weather, I needed to spruce up my wardrobe. I couldn't dare be seen wearing such outdated frocks.”
“I can't believe you, mom!” I threw my spoon down. “Is this the reason you were so adamant that I fake my marriage – because you're drowning so deep in debt, you couldn't hope to pay it off without that money?”
“How could you accuse me of such a thing?” With a scowl, she got up and gathered her stuff. “Your dad and I raised you, and this is the thanks we get? I don't understand how you turned out to be so selfish.”
She said a snippy goodbye and left me stunned at the table, wondering for a moment whether I had really been adopted.
I didn't have time to wonder long. Class started in thirty minutes, and if I didn't hustle, I'd never make the first bell. I tossed a five into the bill holder to go with mom's lone dollar and was on my way.
