The Standby Guy

by Natasha Moore

  “And now I see a picture of that kiss,” Ginny went on. “Whew, that’s a lot of heat. Guess you found your confidence mighty fast.”

  “Stop. Remember what we talked about the other night? He is helping me. You know, to practice what I need to know.”

  “I’d say that was a full hands-on demonstration.”

  Hands-on. Right. “Well, I have to learn somehow. I’ve forgotten everything I knew when I was dating Tim.”

  Like riding a bicycle.

  “You guys are perfect for each other. I don’t know why—”

  “Ginny, I appreciate that your matchmaking comes from a place of love, but I don’t want anything serious. My life is not going to revolve around a guy. This is my time, and I’m not giving it up for anyone.”

  “Okay. Okay. I’ve got to unlock the doors. I’ll talk to you later. I still think you and Carter make a great couple.”

  “Bye, Ginny.” Katie dropped to the chair behind her desk and pulled out her notebook. She’d been so wrapped up in that kiss last night that she hadn’t taken the time to check her two items off her list. She grabbed a bright-red gel pen from her desk and flipped through the pages, then drew huge checkmarks beside candlelit dinner and dinner at Castle on the Hill.

  Katie grinned to herself. She’d done it. She was on her way.

  Her time. But she hadn’t really done it on her own, had she? She tossed the book into the center drawer and slammed it shut. What good was working her list if she didn’t accomplish the items herself?

  She was the one who’d offered to go as his date. Carter hadn’t asked her. It had been her idea, not his. So she did arrange it. But next time, she’d pick an item she could do all on her own.

  Katie pulled the notebook back out and started flipping. She’d make it to the ocean for that swim, but it was something that would take some advance planning. So was going on a cruise or a hot-air balloon ride.

  Then she stopped at the page with the purple printing. Get a tattoo. Her stomach tickled with excitement. She could do that all on her own. Well, not the actual tattooing, of course. But she would choose the design. She would choose the placement. She didn’t need anyone there to hold her hand. Before she could think twice, she called and made an appointment for next week. That would give her some time to decide what she wanted to have inked into her skin for the rest of her life.

  She wished she’d stopped for some coffee on the way into work. The Coffee Mug was right across the street, but how many people inside would jump her about Carter and the picture of them kissing? Katie knew she couldn’t avoid them forever, and she wouldn’t give the rumor mill the power to keep her prisoner in her shop all day. Might as well get it over with.

  But before she could grab her purse, her front door opened, and Gloria Burns strode into the studio. Her left hand grasped the gold handle of an elegant walking cane fashioned from some type of exotic wood. Her white linen pants and pale-yellow blouse looked fresh and crisp. She opened her thin arms wide. “Katherine.”

  Katie stepped out from behind her desk and gave her a gentle hug. She didn’t know exactly how old Gloria was. Her personality was so strong no one would dare use the word “frail” to describe her, even though each time Katie hugged her, she feared she’d break a bone.

  Gloria’s eyes were sparkling. “I’m so pleased to hear about you and Carter.”

  Did everyone think she needed a man in her life?

  “Malcolm called me last night after your dinner together. He was quite impressed with you both, and he said he could see how much you care about each other, so he was going to ignore the rumors of Carter’s playboy ways.”

  Malcolm Worthington. Right. No way could she and Carter deny they were dating. If Worthington felt he couldn’t trust Carter, he’d drop him. “That was a while ago.”

  “Oh, I know that, dear, but Malcolm had to see it for himself. Now, I don’t have much time before my bridge club meets. I had a brilliant thought in the middle of the night about the photo shoot I was talking to you about.”

  “Sure. Do you want to sit down?” Katie gestured to the chair by her desk.

  “No, thank you. I’ll be sitting all morning. It’s not easy to get together so many people all at once to have their pictures taken, so I decided to combine it with a party. My birthday party.” She looked a little embarrassed. “My daughter has been telling me that turning ninety is something of a big deal and we should celebrate.”

  “Ninety? That is a milestone.”

  “Of course you and Carter are invited to the party, and I promise not to take up too much of your time beforehand taking the family photos.”

  “I could take candids at the party, too, if you’d like.”

  “Absolutely not. You will be my guest at the party. There will be enough people with their infernal phones taking pictures. I want you and Carter to enjoy yourselves. A couple. I’m so happy for you. You know, you are two of my favorite people.”

  “How sweet. I’ve always had a soft spot for you, too. And I know Carter feels the same.”

  “It will be the second Saturday in September. I know it’s short notice, and I apologize for that. I hope you don’t have a wedding or something already scheduled for that day.”

  “I don’t think so, but let me check my calendar.” A quick glance verified the date was free, and she quickly added the event. “I assume you have some ideas of settings. I’d like to stop by sometime beforehand and take a look.”

  “Wonderful idea.” Gloria glanced at the jewel-encrusted watch on her slender wrist. “But I must get going. I’ll call you later and we’ll set up a time.”

  “Perfect.” She said goodbye to Gloria, then decided not to bother going out for coffee. There was something more exciting to do. She sat in front of her computer and quickly began to search for tattoo ideas. Time to take advantage of her me time.

  …

  After court, Carter stopped into Colburn and Sons on the way back to his office before meeting with Malcolm Worthington. After the conversation he’d had with his mother the day before, he wanted to check in with his family at least once a day.

  He wished he could stop and see Katie now, but he wouldn’t have the time. His mind kept going back to their conversation the night before. To that kiss. That hot, mind-blowing kiss. He shouldn’t have done it. What was he thinking? What was she thinking? It had been a terrible idea, but Katie had practically goaded him into it.

  He met his younger brother, Beckett, carrying a sturdy end table out from the back. Noah had designed it, using some of the cherry they’d salvaged from an old church. He’d always been good at making something useful out of salvage. Carter grabbed the other side of the table and helped him bring it out onto the floor of the showroom.

  Beckett nodded his thanks but gave him an odd side glance. “How’s things with Katie this morning?”

  “Okay.” Carter shrugged. “I haven’t talked to her today.”

  “Huh.” Beckett cocked his head in the direction of an empty spot under one of the front windows. “Let’s set it over there. Overheard Noah in his office a few minutes ago talking to someone on the phone. Probably Anita. He mostly said ‘uh-huh’ and ‘okay,’ but I did hear the word wedding mentioned once.”

  They set the table down, then began to rearrange the other furniture and nearby items around it. “Think they’ve set a date then?”

  Beckett grabbed a lamp they’d fashioned from an old factory light fixture and placed it gently onto the polished surface. “Don’t know.” He looked past Carter. “There he is. Ask him.”

  Carter waved his older brother over. “Nice table. I like the bottom shelves.”

  “Thanks.” Noah brushed nonexistent dust from the top of the table. “They sell well.”

  Might as well get right to the point. “So you set a date for that wedding yet?”

  “What’s the rush? We’ve only been engaged for a month. There’s been a lot of stuff going on. Anita moving her stuff from Philly. Moving my
stuff from the old house. Not to mention all the things I’ve discovered I need to do as mayor of this town.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. Busy. Busy.”

  “What do you care? It’ll happen when it happens.”

  “But I am going to be your best man, right?” Beckett chimed in.

  “What?” Carter elbowed his younger brother out of the way. “I’m going to be his best man.”

  “You were his best man last time.” Beckett elbowed him back. “It’s my turn. I have some wild ideas for the bachelor party, and I need some time to get all the plans in place. A date would help.”

  “Sorry. I have no date to give you. You know I don’t want some big party anyway. Beer and pizza at Bud’s would be great.”

  “But we could do that anytime.”

  “Sounds good to me. Let’s do that this weekend. Life has been crazy the last few weeks, and I haven’t had the chance to hang out with the guys.”

  “Does that mean I’m your best man?” Beckett apparently wasn’t going to let it go.

  “No, he wants me to be the best man.” Carter didn’t really care one way or the other, but he wasn’t going to waste another chance to bicker with Beck. It was tradition or something.

  “Give me a break, guys. We haven’t even talked wedding party yet. But pizza and beer with the guys this weekend sounds great. Let’s just do that because then I have an excuse to get away from all the wedding talk. Anita’s dad wants to pay for the whole thing, and almost every night she’s arguing with him on the phone, telling him that we’re old enough to pay for our own damn wedding.”

  “Yeah, but Tony is probably still feeling guilty for all the years he was gone from her life,” Carter pointed out.

  Noah raised his hands. “I’m staying out of that discussion altogether. If she asks my opinion, that’s what I’ll tell her, but she hasn’t asked me yet.” Noah looked at Carter. “So how’s things with you and Katie?”

  “Fine. Why?”

  Noah exchanged a look with Beckett, and he could have sworn they were holding back grins. Then his brother shrugged. “No reason. I’ve got to get going. Are we on for pizza and beer Saturday night then?”

  They agreed on a time and went their separate ways. One glance at the clock told Carter he was going to have to take off soon to make his appointment with Worthington. He was headed out back to say hi to his mom when Ginny interrupted him in the hallway.

  She propped her hands on her hips. “Are you going to admit I was right?”

  “About what?”

  “You and Katie. After that superhot kiss, you can’t deny it anymore.”

  He had a real bad feeling about this. “Kiss?”

  “Don’t play dumb. The proof is in the picture.”

  He groaned. “Picture?”

  Carter scrambled for his phone. He hadn’t turned it back on after he left the courthouse. There it was, in full color. Posted by Helen Bradford. Of course. So apparently the Bradfords had been at the restaurant last night. Last month, they’d posted a lot of pictures of Noah and Anita when he’d been running against Ethan Bradford for mayor of Lakeside. Carter didn’t know why he and Katie had been targeted now, except that Helen Bradford loved to spread gossip, and the juicier and more visible, the better.

  They should have known better. After all the grief he’d given Noah about getting caught in compromising positions in public with Anita, Carter had no excuse. But when Katie had talked to him about getting his help, being caught on camera was the last thing on his mind. No wonder his brothers had been asking about Katie. They probably thought it was funny that he didn’t know about the picture yet.

  “Does Katie know?” he asked Ginny. “About the picture?”

  “I called her first thing.”

  Of course she did. “I’ve got to go.”

  “Wait, I want to hear what happened with you two last night. Katie wouldn’t talk about it.”

  Good. “I have an appointment with a client. Tell my mom I couldn’t stay, but I’ll talk to her later.”

  Carter drove to Katie’s studio as quickly as he could without breaking any speed limits. He only had a few minutes before he had to be at the office, but luckily it was only around the corner from her place. He dashed in the door and saw her at her desk, studying something on her computer. She shut down her screen and jumped to her feet when she saw him.

  “Hi.” Did she look nervous? Was it because of the kiss? Or the picture online? Or from seeing him again after they’d kissed last night?

  He couldn’t help but remember the taste of her lips. The smoothness of her skin. Was he ever going to be able to look at her again without the memory of that kiss between them? Had they already screwed up their friendship? He stopped in front of her. “Hey, I just found out about the picture. Are you okay?”

  She kept the desk between them. “Sure. I’m fine. But it’s been awkward fielding questions.”

  “Yeah, Ginny hit me up as soon as I got back. My brothers were asking questions. What are you telling people?”

  “My mom didn’t believe me when I said it wasn’t what it looked like. Ginny didn’t, either. So I had to let it go. And then Gloria…”

  “Gloria called?”

  “She stopped in this morning. She told me she’s so happy that we’re a couple and invited us to her birthday party next month. I kind of let her talk and didn’t deny but didn’t admit.” Katie’s eyes were troubled. “It was hard. I couldn’t tell Gloria that I was pretending to be your girlfriend. That would have gotten back to Malcolm, and if he found out, he’d think he couldn’t trust you.”

  “Easy. Take it easy.” He reached out to her, but she stayed where she was. “We said we were old friends. We said this was new. We never lied to Worthington.”

  “But we’re lying to family now. My mom. Ginny. Your brothers. They all want to get in our business, and they all saw the kiss plastered online, so they jumped to conclusions along with everyone else.”

  “We just have to go along with it for a little while.” The problem was this fake relationship almost felt as if it was real. They knew each other so well, it didn’t feel like pretend.

  “If only I hadn’t had all that wine and blurted out my plan to you. And then I went and begged for your help when that was at the top of my never-do list.”

  Never-do list? “There was nothing wrong with us sharing a kiss.” He couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. Or that she’d wanted to practice in order to kiss another guy.

  “I have to admit,” she went on with a voice slower and sweeter, “that kiss was a dynamite one.”

  He had to agree with that. “It was a great kiss. And I don’t think the picture will be a big deal in the long run. It just reinforces our story, right?” Carter glanced at his watch. “I have to get to the office to meet Worthington, but we definitely need to discuss a few things tonight.”

  He needed to talk her out of this crazy idea of hers.

  Chapter Six

  She’d finally decided on the tattoo. After scrolling through a gazillion websites and spending hours lost down many rabbit holes, the idea of getting a couple of meaningful words tattooed on her skin appealed to her the most. Simple. Straightforward. Significant.

  Then, of course she’d have to decide if she wanted a fancy script. Or plain typewriter print. Or something in between. She still wasn’t sure, but she was confident the tattoo artist would be able to suggest the best way to go. Part of it, she imagined, would depend where on her body she wanted her ink. She’d never imagined there were so many choices.

  Katie’s first instinct was to put it on her back where she could keep it covered up and maybe no one would ever know it was there. Except her. And her doctor. Oh, and the guys she had flings with.

  But that was the coward’s way out. If she was going to the trouble and the cost and the time and the pain of getting a tattoo, it should at least be somewhere she could see it. And she didn’t want to hide it. It wasn’t going to be a secret. It was going to be a
statement.

  My Time. MY time. MY Time. MY TIME. Which one? Another decision to make.

  Katie still hadn’t made up her mind when Carter strolled in the door that afternoon. She slammed shut the notebook where she’d been writing down different versions of the phrase like she were a teenager scribbling her boyfriend’s name on the corner of her homework paper. She clasped her hand on top of the notebook and glanced up innocently from her usual chair at the kitchen table.

  Carter had been stopping by almost every afternoon for coffee since Sean started school. He’d often helped Sean with homework if math was giving her son trouble—math was so not her subject. Even when Sean was older and he’d stayed late at school or worked his part-time job at Colburn and Sons, Carter would still stop by after work more often than not. So she should be used to his presence in her kitchen. She was used to him here.

  Today he seemed to suck up the air she needed to breathe, pacing up and down the length of the kitchen. Her skin prickled. Maybe from the nervous energy he was giving off. More likely from the memories of that kiss last night. Time to shake that off.

  “Hi.” She popped in a pod of the dark roast he liked so well. She was still prickling. She kept her back to him while she waited for the coffee to brew. “How did it go with Worthington?”

  “Good.”

  He didn’t say anything more, so she couldn’t resist looking over her shoulder. He still stood in the same place, staring at her as if he was trying to decide what to say to her. Maybe he was having trouble breathing, too. Was he thinking about their kiss? Or was he concerned about the fact that they were pretty much stuck pretending to be dating for a while? It would be awkward to pretend to be dating Carter, but she was sure they’d work it out.

  And still he hadn’t said anything. “What is it?” she demanded.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

  That tone of voice made her bristle. “I’m making you a cup of coffee,” she replied smoothly. “Did you want something else instead?”