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Darcy: Good night.
After hitting Send, she closed her laptop and started up the stairs toward her bedroom. After such a long and exciting week, a good night’s sleep would calm her busy mind.
Chapter11
The following afternoon, Carter searched the shelves in the two-car garage attached to the house. He rooted around coolers, Christmas decorations, cleaning supplies, and a shop vacuum, grumbling all the while.
The large picnic basket that his mother and grandmother would pack when they took Shauna and Carter to the park was nowhere in sight, and he was running out of time. He growled in exasperation. It was nearly time to pick up Darcy.
“It has to be here somewhere,” he muttered.
The door leading to the laundry room opened, and his sister appeared in the doorway. “What are you doing out here?”
“Have you seen Mom’s picnic basket?”
Shauna’s brow creased. “Why? Do you need it?”
“I’m taking a friend on a picnic.”
“Carter!” She clasped her hands together. “Do you have a date?”
He purposely ignored the question. “If we don’t have Mom’s basket, do we have anything else we can use for a picnic?”
“Yes, but first you have to answer me.”
Here we go.
“Who is she? Your date?”
“Right now, she’s just someone I’m getting to know. We’re sort of seeing each other.”
“Seeing each other, huh? Interesting... And who is this woman you’re ‘seeing’?” She grinned and made air quotes with her fingers.
“Someone I met recently.”
Shauna nodded slowly, as if putting pieces together in her mind. “Gage said you went to a car show in Mint Hill last night. Were you actually at a car show, or were you on a date?”
Carter lowered himself down onto a stool. He was impressed that his brother-in-law had kept his promise, but now he would be forced to tell Shauna about Darcy. “Both are true,” he finally said.
“What do you mean?”
“I went to a car show in Mint Hill to meet someone. She invited me.”
“Huh.” Shauna descended the steps into the garage and leaned back on the quarter panel of her husband’s project car, a hunter-green 1966 Ford Mustang fastback. “I thought it was strange that Gage said you went to a car show, but he didn’t ask me if I wanted to go too. Normally when there’s a car show we all go together.” She paused as if waiting for him to elaborate.
A few seconds ticked by between them, and her lips pressed down into a deep frown. “Carter,” she began, “why are you reluctant to tell me about this woman? Have I done something to make you not trust me?”
Guilt stabbed long and hard. He knew his older sister wanted the best for him, and not sharing the truth about Darcy would break Shauna’s heart. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I know you want to see me in a happy, long-term relationship, but I also don’t want to get your hopes up. That may not happen for me.”
“Why would you think that?”
He scratched his cheek. “Her name is Darcy. I met her in the parking lot after my doctor’s appointment.”
“The one with the broken-down Lexus.” Shauna’s lips tipped up again. “You’re dating her?” The joy on her face reminded him of a child on Christmas morning.
He shook his head. “I hate to burst your bubble, but she’s not my girlfriend.”
“But you went on a date with her last night, and you’re taking her out today.”
