Page 115 of The Naughty List

I roll my eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?”

She leans forward just as he’s walking over. “I am on your side, dear. Give him a chance to explain.”

“Thanks for the invite, Mrs. B,” Carson says.

Mom smiles and begins pouring him a glass of beer.

“So, how was the shopping trip?” he asks, looking between me and Mom.

“Very effective. I was able to knock out everyone on my list. How about you?” she asks, looking at me.

I nod. “Yep, I’m all done too.”

I don’t know how Carson being here has suddenly shifted my mood. I was planning on talking to him when we got home. I wasn’t expecting him to show up here. I’m not ready for the talk right now, and honestly, I’m not excited about sitting here awkwardly in front of my mother.

Mom asks Carson some questions about living in the city, his job at the investment firm, and everything else she can think of. The whole dinner is filled with their conversation and I only nod or hmm or naaa my way through it. When dinner is done, Mom insists on paying the bill and we all head toward the door together.

Outside the door, she turns and hugs me. “Carson will take you home. I’ll put your bags in your room. Have fun and be safe,” she says, rushing off before I can argue.

Carson and I stand on the sidewalk, watching her back out and drive away.

“Want to take a walk?” he asks, motioning toward the square and the winter wonderland event.

I shrug. “I guess so.”

It’s the first time I’ve seen the square at night in years and it still takes my breath away. There are multicolored Christmas lights in every treetop. There are white lights strung from tree to tree, highlighting the walking path around the event. There is snow piled up and decorations everywhere of little angels, the nativity, and then a kid’s section where there is Santa and the elves as they prepare for Christmas in the workshop.

We don’t talk as we cross the street and enter the event. He leads me down the sidewalk and to the hot chocolate stand. He orders two and then takes me over to the benches by the skate rink. He sets both cups down and then pulls out a bottle from his inside coat pocket, pouring a little in each.

“That should keep you warm,” he says, handing over my cup.

“Thank you,” I reply, taking it and bringing it to my lips.

“I need to explain,” he starts but for some reason, I cut him off.

“No, no, you don’t. What we’ve been doing isn’t anything serious, right? We’re just messing around. You owe me nothing, Carson.”

His brows furrow together. “We may be messing around, but you’re still my best friend and I would like to talk about this with you.”

Fuck, I forgot about the whole being best friends thing. I guess I have to hear all the gory details now. I nod him on.

“Gillian popped up today, totally unexpected.”

I snort. “Sounds just like her.”

He laughs. “Yeah, I never could get a handle on what she would do next. I thought she’d zig and she’d zag. We were never on the same page.” He takes a sip of his spiked hot chocolate. “Anyway, she says that she left me prematurely. That she thought that there was no point in being with me if I didn’t want marriage and kids with her.”

“So, now she’s changed her mind?”

“No, she still wants those things, but now she says she’s willing to wait as long as I can promise that we will get there eventually.”

“And…what did you say to that?”

“I didn’t say much of anything, actually. She said that she still loved me and would wait as long as I needed. Then she kissed me but you saw that.”

I nod as I press my lips together. “And what do you think? Do you still love her? Do you see yourself having kids with her one day?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know,” he says quietly, shaking his head. “If you would have asked me this question yesterday, I would have said hell no. But now…”

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