Page 22 of 40 and (So Over) Fixing It
The thought made her choke on a laugh. She thought she’d done a fairly good job hiding it, but Carter’s side-eye said otherwise.
Finally Thad nodded. “I can do that.” Dusting off his hands and setting his glasses aside, he then moved over to Erin and, without warning, threw himself into her arms. “Thank you for letting me help.”
Staring helplessly up at Carter, she gave the boy a hug and patted him on the back. “Anytime, Thad. I like having you work with me.”
Carter frowned, but she ignored it. She wasn’t going to lie to the boy for his father’s comfort.
Only when Thad was headed out the door did Carter speak again. “Go ahead and get cleaned up for dinner, okay?”
“Okay,” Thad yelled without looking back.
Long moments of silence stretched out after the little boy’s departure. Erin let it ride, unworried. Carter couldn’t fault her any more than he had Thad, and whatever he had to say, she hoped it included an apology.
That’s not all you were thinking about him saying last night, was it?
She shut that thought down real quick. What she’d thought about Carter in the middle of the night was not something she wanted to acknowledge. She’d woken up hot and sweaty, and not because of the temperature in her house. Best to banish that from her mind forever.
“Erin…”
The fact that that sounded exactly the way he had spoken to Thad had her straightening her spine. “Carter…”
He turned to face her, propping his butt against the work surface Thad had used. She definitely tried to avoid seeing exactly how the move plumped up an already delectable rear.
Carter rubbed at the frown between his brows. Was that from frustration or irritation?
Knowing she was watching him way too closely, she stood and moved over to her makeshift desk. She hadn’t gone through today’s mail despite having it piled up. She’d been too busy enjoying her time with Thad. So she pulled out her pocketknife, flicked it open the way she had for years, since she was ten and her father had given her the pretty red knife for her birthday. No pink for her.
“About Thad…”
She picked up an envelope, turned it on its side, and slid the pocketknife into the tiny gap between the envelope and fold. A quick slice forced it open. “What about him?”
“It’s important that you send him home whenever he bothers you.”
The man was like a dog with a bone. “I’m sure you would prefer that, though I’m not sure why.” She shrugged. “But that would be hard to do seeing as how he isn’t bothering me.”
Carter’s frown deepened. Did anyone evernotplay ball with his ideas? “I don’t want him intruding on your work.”
“He’s not intruding.”
Carter waved his hand impatiently, his tone equally so. “You know what I mean.”
Now he wasn’t the only one getting irritated. “No, I don’t. It isn’t like Thad is going to be here for months, Carter. He’s an inquisitive little boy spending a few days in the woods, and he likes to hang out here. If I’m here, I’ve told him that’s fine. I enjoy his company. He’s not annoying me, bothering me, intruding, or whatever other verb you want to use to describe it. Stop worrying and let the kid be.”
“The kid doesn’t need to get attached to someone he’s never going to see again.”
She jerked the knife through the envelope of a bank statement, removed the paper from inside, and tried to keep her rising emotion out of her voice. “If JD continues to live here with Lily, and you continue to be friends with him, likely you’ll see me another time or two. I don’t think being friends with someone for a few days is going to permanently traumatize your son.”
“That’s my decision to make!”
She jerked, and without warning the pocketknife slipped in her hands, missing the envelope she was aiming for and cutting right across her palm. “Ow! Shit!”
Carter’s curse echoed her own. Erin barely noticed as she dropped the envelope and knife onto her desk and gripped her wrist tight. Christ, that stung.
Silence filled the shed. Erin sucked in a breath, let go of her wrist, and dug in her pocket for a handkerchief—something else her father had taught her to carry.
“Here, let me see.”
A glance at Carter’s face showed his skin white as a sheet, eyes fixed and staring at her wrist as he crossed the room.
