Page 186 of The Stolen Moments Trilogy

I’m sitting at the kitchen table when Carter walks in, his body dripping wet. He smiles at me, and my heart skips a beat. I wish I could control the feelings he unleashes in me. I wish I could choose to focus on the anger I felt when Layla called me, but I can’t. He’ll smile at me, and my heart soars.

“Morning,” he murmurs, and I sigh. He walks up to me and presses a kiss to my hair. My eyes drop to his chest and his abs, and I hate how good he looks. Carter smirks and bites down on his lip, as though he knows what he’s doing to me, and I look away.

“Morning,” I say, my eyes dropping to my coffee cup. Carter takes it from me, and I glare at him.

He smiles and cups my cheek, his thumb trailing over the bags underneath my eyes. “Couldn’t sleep?” he asks, and I shake my head.

Carter drops his forehead to mine and sighs. “He’ll see reason sooner or later.”

Carter leans in and kisses my cheek, and my eyes flutter closed. Even a simple kiss from him makes my heart soar.

“Are you sure you want to spend Christmas with my family?” he asks, and for a second I hesitate. Carter told me he’s been hosting Christmas at his house for years now, and though he offered to cancel, I couldn’t bring myself to take him up on that offer. I don’t want to stand between him and his family.

“Do you think it’ll be okay?” I ask carefully. I’m worried I’ll mess things up again. I’m worried my presence will be enough to cast a shadow over what would otherwise be a festive day.

Carter nods and gently pushes my hair behind my ear. “Of course,” he says, a smile on his face. “Don’t worry so much, Minx. Everything will be great.”

I’m still thinking about his words hours later, as the doorbell rings. I hope he’s right. The last thing I want to do is ruin Christmas for everyone.

Helen smiles at me as she walks in, and I see the anxiety in her eyes. I’ve been so angry and so hurt, for so long, that I failed to see the remorse in her eyes. But it’s there. I see it clearly now.

I smile back at her, genuinely this time. She might not be my favorite person, but she’s treated my dad very well over the years.

Carter places his hand on my back and I smile up at him, easing the obvious concern in his eyes. He exhales in relief and wraps his arm around my shoulders, unaware of the way Helen and Kate are looking at us. My cheeks heat and I pull away from him, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Carter smiles knowingly and I shake my head. Even when we were younger, he was always touching me once we started dating, and it seems those habits haven’t changed.

I follow Helen into the living room, my heart filling with nostalgia. Eight Christmases I’ve spent apart from Carter. There’s so much we missed out on, so many years we won’t ever get back.

Carter smiles at me, his eyes filled with the same sadness, the same longing, as though he too is wondering about everything we’ve missed out on.

William and Kate both smile up at me as I sit down, and for once, I’m not filled with hatred seeing Kate. In the few weeks since she’s been here, she hasn’t done a single thing that I can condemn her for, and I’m tired of the anger. I’m tired of doing this to myself, to Carter. She looks startled when I smile at her, and I look away in amusement. I wonder who she is now. I wonder who she’s grown into, and what her recovery was like. It seems like she’s stopped blaming me for everything that happened, and I wonder when she made that switch. My heart aches, thinking back to everything I’ve experienced with her. She and I grew up together. She was like a sister to me. I guess that’s why it hurt so much, why it still hurts.

Helen grins and claps. “Let’s do presents,” she says excitedly, and I bite down on my lip. I only got presents for Dad and Carter, and I wonder if I should have gotten some for everyone else too. While I might not be ready to fully forgive them, I am ready to behave civilly on Carter and Dad’s account.

Carter pulls me up and we all sit down by the tree, like we used to. “Me first,” he says, pulling a little box from underneath the tree. He hands it to me and I look up in surprise as I take it from him. I unpack it carefully, and he smiles as I lift the bracelet up to take a closer look. I stare at it in awe, and he pushes my hair behind my ear carefully.

“It’s a handcrafted charm bracelet,” he tells me. “A little canoe, to represent the cabin by the lake. A replica of the treehouse, a little coffee cup… and a tiny little t-shirt.”

I’m smiling so widely that it hurts and Carter chuckles. “If I get things my way, we’ll be adding many more charms throughout the years,” he whispers, and I look up at him. I wish I could just kiss him, right here, right now. No one has ever made me feel the way he does. No one has ever made me feel this seen, this cherished, this loved.

“Wow,” Kate murmurs. “That’s stunning,” she says. She grins as Carter helps me put it on, and I glance at her in surprise. I can’t believe just how much she’s changed. She seems to be genuinely happy for me, for us, and I can’t help but be wary.

I glance at Carter and smile. “This makes my gift look like crap,” I say, my cheeks crimson.

Dad laughs and nods. “It does,” Dad says, and I look at him through narrowed eyes.

“Show me,” Carter says excitedly, and I hand him one of the two boxes I had in my hands.

Carter grins and opens it, revealing the cufflinks I had custom made for him. They’re golden little insects that remind me of the fake cockroach prank I used to pull on him, one of our classics.

He looks at them and then looks up at me, his eyes filled with humor and affection. “I love this,” he says. “Great minds, huh?” he says, winking at me.

“My turn,” Dad says. I laugh and hand him his gift. He got cufflinks too, but his have his initials monogrammed on them. Dad takes the box from me, and just as he’s about to open it, his face drains of color. I place my hand on his shoulder, wanting to ask him if he’s okay, but before I have a chance to, he collapses.

I jump up in shock and grab Dad, panic filling my lungs, obstructing my airways. My vision starts to blur as I shake Dad, willing him to wake up. I can hear Carter on the phone, calling for a chopper, but I can’t control the fear that grips me.

“Baby, it’ll be okay,” Carter tells me. “We’ll be at the hospital in a matter of minutes.”

I want to believe him, but the panic in his voice is identical to my own.

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