Page 30 of Castle's Cards

Carter chuckles good naturedly, smiling at the man.

“Nah. My eyes needed a break -- sometimes I start to feel like a vampire or a bat, spending all my time here and rarely seeing the daylight.”

The two men chuckle and continue to set up. I let out a breath and gather the cards I dropped so I can shuffle them. After ten minutes of the two men chatting, more join the table, and before I know it, Court is announcing that the start of tonight’s tournament.

I’m busy working, making sure the players are all comfortable, have enough food and drink, refreshing their chip stacks with new buy-ins and generally ensuring that the tournament runs smoothly. When I move toward the break room hallway, Carter catches up to me, gently touching my arm to get my attention.

“Addy?”

I turn around and give him a small smile.

“Hi, Carter.”

“Can we talk tonight after you finish tonight? There’s so much I need to say to you.”

My mind is screaming at me to say no and continue walking. But it’s not what my heart wants. I won’t be walking away without hearing him out.

“I don’t know, Carter. Things have been really uncomfortable this week and Izzy has school tomorrow…”

“Come on, Addy. All I’m asking for is a chance to explain myself. I was wrong not to tell you about Elise, but I want to redeem myself. I don’t want to lose you over this.”

I stare at him. He’s looking at me earnestly, his eyes full of emotion. Which I think is why I find myself nodding.

“Fine. Yeah. We can talk after work, outside the apartment.”

“You don’t want to talk here or at my house?” he asks quizzically. I sigh.

“Truthfully, I’d prefer talking anywhere but there. But I don’t fully trust Izzy after I found her with Nate at 2:00 in the morning. She may be on birth control now but that doesn’t mean that she’s responsible.”

It’s something that’s been weighing on me heavily. I don’t want to treat Izzy like a child. She is seventeen. But after that night when I found her in bed with Nate, my trust in her is severely tenuous. I think she can sense it, too. She’s been on her best behavior, but I’m still skeptical about leaving her on her own. She’d die if she knew that I had Jorge watching for anybody going up to the apartment.

“Okay. Yeah, I understand completely. I’ll follow you home after this? Well, not follow you. But I’m assuming you’ll want to take separate cars.”

“That’s okay,” I chuckle. “You can follow me.”

When we pull up in the apartment parking lot, I immediately hop out of my car and jump into Carter’s. He turns to me and sighs.

“I’m sorry, Addy.”

I raise my brows. It’s a good start, but he’s going to need to say a lot more than that for this to be a conversation.

“Let’s just start at the beginning. Who were you married to? Are you divorced? Do you have kids?”

I look down at my hands. These are the questions that have been spinning around in my head since that evening. If I don’t know that, then what else don’t I know about him?

Carter shakes my head.

“No, I don’t have kids. And I’m not divorced. Elise…she was my wife. We got married eight years ago.”

“Are you still married to her?”

“No. She died.”

I gasp, my eyes widening.

“Oh, God. I’m so sorry, Carter.” He looks away and nods. His chest moves more quickly as his breathing increases. “Please. What happened?”

“It’s a long story, really.”

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