Page 94 of Family Bonds: Carter & Avery

“No,” Payton said. “He’s going to make some woman very happy someday.”

Damn right, but Avery wouldn’t say that. She grabbed her computer and opened the door. No reason to continue with what was gossip. It didn’t feel right to her, but it did make more sense in terms of Carter.

He’d said more than once that not many women liked what he did for a living and she found that silly.

But hearing it firsthand from an ex, that really brought it home more for her.

She finished up her day, brought Josie to her art lesson, then drove to Carter’s for dinner. He said he’d cook for her and she found that sweet.

It’d been over two weeks since she’d gone home for Thanksgiving. She hadn’t heard anything more about Mike and figured there wasn’t much going on there. She’d tried to find him on social media and any Internet search she could and came up pretty much empty.

She’d sit back for now and let it play out. Maybe nothing would come of it, but she wasn’t positive that would be the case.

She got out of her SUV, grabbed Betty from the back and brought her in. It was nice they could bring their dogs back and forth with them and not worry about crating them. Though it was easier for her to bring Betty than it was for Carter to bring his dogs.

“You have dinner ready,” she said, coming over to kiss him. “A woman could get used to this.”

It made her think about Patyon’s comment that Carter would make someone very happy. She sure the hell was right now.

“I figured you cook enough for me,” he said. “I saw all the work my mother did at Thanksgiving.”

“Awww,” she said. “And you thought about me cooking for you? I’ve got to cook for Josie anyway. It’s only one more plate.”

“I know,” he said. He bent down to pet Betty a little, then the poodle went off to play with her friends.

He was pulling plates out of the cabinet and she took them from him and filled her plate from the food on the stove. Pork chops, rice, and green beans.

“This is a nice balanced meal,” she said. She decided she wanted to let him know how great he was, but to do that she might have to say she saw Payton. It was a slippery slope, but she didn’t want to feel as if she couldn’t talk to him about things either.

“Thanks,” he said in his deep voice and then sat down to eat. He didn’t find the humor in her statement even when she was trying to crack a joke.

“So,” she said. “One of your exes came in today with her dog. The poor thing got into chocolate and was having the normal reaction to it. The owner didn’t know dogs were allergic to chocolate.”

He snorted. “Guess she isn’t too smart to not know that,” he said, scratching his chin as if in thought. “I don’t have a lot of exes so you know. Not many that wouldn’t know everything they need to about a dog in their care.”

Avery shrugged. “She was singing your praises about you bringing me here. Well, not me but orchestrating the clinic. Says you’re a great guy and going to make some woman very happy. She didn’t seem to be aware we were dating based on what she said. You do make me very happy though.”

He looked at her and grinned. “Has to be Payton,” he said after a minute.

“Glad to know you figured that out and didn’t start throwing all sorts of names out there.”

He frowned. “Was it a test?”

“God no,” she said. “I’d never do that. I wasn’t even going to bring it up other than you do make me happy.”

“I can only imagine the things she said. We were in high school, by the way.”

“A long time ago and normally a silly relationship that doesn’t mean much,” she said. “No worries.”

She was regretting bringing this up now.

“It was one,” he said. “We dated for about six months. She had bigger hopes and dreams. Said she was getting off this island and we broke up our senior year. She’s still here.”

Avery laughed. “We all have those statements in our lives at that age.”

“True,” he said. “But me, I wasn’t what she wanted out of a guy. I knew that. She never hid it.”

He continued to eat. “She said she regrets it,” she said.

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