Page 64 of Instant Bond

“Ah...”

Ty’s face perked up at her suggestion, his eyes widening to give me a pleading look. I didn’t want to let him out of my sight, after the things Karter and I had figured out about Lucas.

“I’ll take him,” Karter cut in, sparing me from having to look rude by turning down her request. “It’s not like I need a tour of the house I grew up in, anyway.”

“Oh, good!” Tracey clapped her hands together once. “That means Cam and I can talk.”

“Bye, Dad!” Ty called out to me as he skipped ahead of Karter and out of the sliding glass door. The moment it opened a collection of shrieks and giggles poured in from the yard, muffled once again after it slid shut.

It had all happened so fast I hadn’t been able to react, and now I stood alone with Karter’s mom. We weren’t really alone, there were people all around, but I felt like I was in a bubble of awkwardness. At least she seemed to approve of me more than her wife.

She led me through a few parts of the house, also festively decorated for Halloween and fall in general, giving cute anecdotes about Karter related to certain rooms.

“So Farrah told me y’all met at a coffee shop, and about Karter sharing his donut with Ty. That’s a cute story, seeing as how everyone’s just meeting on apps these days.”

“Yeah, it is,” I agreed, smiling. “He’s been great with Ty, since the beginning.”

“I always thought he’d make such a sweet dad,” Tracey sighed. She was very obviously thrilled for her son to be in a serious relationship. I wasn’t sure I’d feel the same when Ty got around to that. The idea made me feel kind of itchy.

We chatted a bit more before she allowed me to join Karter and Ty outside. The night passed pleasantly, with Karter introducing me to several acquaintances and neighbors. We both watched Ty carefully as he romped around, but nothing seemed or felt out of the ordinary. And we hadn’t even seen Lucas yet.

We helped Ty carve his chosen design into his pumpkin for the little contest, where all the kids won a cute little ribbon and a prize bag, which was filled with candy and little toys and stickers.

At some point during the night, we found ourselves in a little circle with Farrah and Tracey, where Tracey teased Karter sort of mercilessly.

“He started to worry me for a minute there,” she said, shaking her head. “33 and not even engaged! Spending all his time working and sleeping. Shameful. Your parents are lucky,” she added, giving a little laugh as she looked at me. “You sure didn’t make them wait too long for a grandbaby, did you?”

“I’m not sure they saw it that way, exactly,” I answered, but I wasn’t offended. It was hard to feel offended when she was so obviously happy with the situation. “But actually, my parents passed away when Ty was only two, so…” I trailed off, not sure what to add to soften the words.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said regretfully, giving me a sympathetic look. “It’s a hard, hard thing losing your parents. I’m amazed you’ve gone through all that, and still so young, too.”

“It’s okay,” I assured her, shaking my head a little. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel guilty about bringing it up. “Sometimes it’s been hard but… I don’t really feel like I’m doing it by myself anymore.”

At my words, Karter’s fingers curled into mine. When I shifted my gaze to him, his eyes were intense.

“You aren’t by yourself,” he promised me.

I forgot, for just a brief moment, that we were in front of his parents, surrounded by cheerful party attendees and shrieking kids (including mine). My heart stumbled in my chest, and suddenly all I wanted was to be alone with him so I could show him how incredibly happy I was to be with him.

Tracey let out a delighted squeal in response to his words to me, knocking me out of my brief little moment of self-reflection.

“The two of you are just so cute, I don’t know what to do with myself,” she said, making moony eyes at us.

“Mom,” Karter’s voice was a bit tight. “Please don’t embarrass me.”

I couldn’t help but giggle a bit at that. It reminded me too much of Ty when he felt that I was endangering his cool reputation in front of his little friends.

Farrah seemed a lot more comfortable with us this time. It seemed that a lot of the awkwardness during our first meeting really had just been due to the shock. She asked if I was enjoying the party, and seemed glad that I was.

Later, Karter spotted Lucas in a crowd of people, mingling and laughing. When he pointed him out to me, I couldn’t help but internally groan. He looked perfect as always, in slim-fitting slacks and a textured cable-knit sweater with a scarf in perfectdeep orange, a perfect match to the autumn leaves littering the ground. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

We watched him carefully, trying desperately not to seem like we were. I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t seem to be paying any attention to us at all, and especially not Ty. But when he finally, after what felt like forever, drifted away from the crowd toward a table with some snacks and a punch bowl, I didn’t need to be told that it was time. Quickly fiddling with my phone to turn the record function on, I subtly slipped it into the front pocket of my shirt, so the camera part peeked just over the hem.

As luck would have it, no one joined him at the table before I reached it, pulling up right beside him so he had no choice but to notice me. When he did glance over in my direction, clearly recognizing me, he rolled his eyes a bit before stepping away. I was surprised by that. I thought he’d love an opportunity to insult me to my face instead of meddling with my life behind my back. But I couldn’t let him get away so easily, so I pretended like I really wanted some baby carrots from the veggie tray as an excuse to step right back in front of him.

“Do you mind?” He asked, when my violation of his personal space became too much.

“Oh, sorry.” I tried to inject as much genuine feeling into my fake apology as I possibly could. “I’m such a klutz. I’m Cam. I’m here with Karter Morrison.”

---