Page 42 of Wants and Needs
“You’re cute,” I murmur, while rubbing behind his ears and along his back.
I’ve always loved dogs, all kinds really, and all day I’ve been thankful for the distraction so I don’t think about Carter too much. Sonny especially, who passed a long time ago, has been on my mind a lot.
So much so that I went looking on my phone and found a bunch of pictures of us together.
He was the best.
“Is he yours?” I hear Carter’s soothing voice over the music since I don’t have the noise cancelling option turned on.
I look up to see him smiling at us. Today he’s wearing a dark gray button down with dark brown chinos that are clearly tailored since he’s not wearing a belt and they fit perfectly. Hisrich black hair is parted in the middle, the front bits almost covering his curved eyebrows and somehow making his dark eyes stand out even more than usual.
“No,” I tell him quickly. “He just came over to say hello.”
“You make a picture of happiness, the two of you,” he tells me, then points behind him. “I’m going to grab something to eat, and I thought we could say hi to Theo, then maybe go out for a walk?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll need to wash my hands.”
“Sure, the bathroom is through there.” He points to the back left corner of the bakery. You want me to get you a refill?” He nods at my empty cup.
“Please. It’s a simple iced cappuccino, but please get me a decaf.”
“You got it.”
He walks away, and after another moment, I regretfully put down the dog then start packing my stuff into my backpack.
I meet him by the register when I get back from the bathroom, and he smiles at me again, so relaxed, like he doesn’t... like he’s actually glad to see me.
I don’t understand how it’s possible after everything that happened yesterday afternoon, but I don’t think questioning it now is a good idea.
“Hello,” I hear Theo call out as soon as Carter walks through the swinging door behind the counter. “Sebas told me this morning you’d swing by,” he says happily. I can see I’ve interpreted his tone correctly when I too walk into the bakery’s kitchen.
“I just thought we could catch up,” Carter tells him, and leansin for a quick hug that Theo can’t reciprocate because his hands are buried in a huge ball of dough. “You remember Liam, right?”
“Of course. Sorry, I’ll greet you properly in about five minutes.”
“It’s okay,” I tell him softly, and I get a small smile in return.
“So I thought you’d be the first person for us to talk to about this.” Carter’s tone is brisk, and when he smiles I can tell it’s not…usual. My frown is instant, and so is Theo’s, but he doesn’t look up from his worktable.
“What’sthis?” he asks.
“Liam and I have to pretend we’re boyfriends, like long-term boyfriends, next Monday.”
Theo’s body freezes for a second, and then, like he’s been rebooted, he keeps moving.
“You can’t say shit like that when I’m not supposed to stop kneading, Carter. Shit, what the hell are you talking about?” He looks back at him, and then at me, though I can tell he tones down his frown for me.
“It’s a long story, but you told me about Harrison and Tristan, and I thought if we explain all of this to you, then you can tell us if we need professional help to pull this off, or if you think we can sell it by ourselves.”
I hadn’t thought about asking Tristan for help with this situation. In truth, I was kind of hoping he’d never hear about it, so now I’m invested in Theo’s answer.
“Just tell me what happened,” he says softly and focuses his gaze back on his hands. “And don’t leave any details out, okay?”
So Carter does. Well, he hesitates when he gets to the part about all the awful shit Dirk said, but Theo was still snickering atCarter’s grave robbing and necrophilia jokes, so I doubt he noticed how I nodded at Carter in acceptance.
If he trusts Theo, then so do I, and if this goes well and it means I won’t have to tell someone whose business I retain about my personal life, then all the better.
Carter finishes with the details of the NDA my parents had Dirk sign when I told them we’d become romantically involved back when we were both at Juilliard.
