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He took a bite and said, “Yum.”
Again, my heart did that melting thing.
Plates for the adults were made next, and Garrett sat down, enjoying spaghetti even though he’d previously told Atlas he wasn’t hungry.
I studied the youngest Carter.
He looked… haggard.
If we’d had a better relationship, I’d have asked him what was wrong.
But we didn’t have that kind of relationship.
Hell, even Atlas and I didn’t have that kind of relationship.
“So what happened now?” Atlas asked, sounding hesitant.
I think it would be great if Walmart added an upper level observation deck.
—Pepper to Atlas
ATLAS
I was almost terrified to hear what she was about to say.
After the week I’d had…
“So I got home—to the hotel—today, and a bellhop that I know really well from the night shift stopped me. He pulled me to the side and said that he’d overheard a conversation today between the manager and a police officer.”
I waited, knowing this had to do with Sage now.
“So he told me that the officer explained that one of the manager’s employees was distributing drugs from their room.” She stirred her spaghetti around on her plate, looking frustrated and lost. “So I went up to my room and cleaned out my stuff. I took everything, and then quit on the spot.”
My brows rose.
“I’ll be moving into the apartment above the bakery,” she finally looked up and stared at Garrett. “That’s where you come in. I think I might need you to use your dog to see that she didn’t already plant the evidence.”
“What?” I asked. “How do you know she’s going to do that? Maybe all she wanted you to do was quit and move out, just like you just did.”
Thinking the best of people was an ingrained habit of mine.
From a really young age I’d started lying to myself about people’s intentions. If I hadn’t, I’d have gotten my feelings hurt.
I was a weird kid.
I’d always had this feeling that people were judging me.
And, from an adult’s perspective, they probably were.
But making myself always go with the best case scenario was a habit that I couldn’t break.
Not even when it came to Sage, who had started showing her true colors.
“Listen, Carter.” Pepper dropped her fork. “When I tell you that I have experience with this, I need you to listen to me. She’s done this before. She almost got me kicked out of college, and nearly had three years of my schooling wiped, because of almost this very same scenario. Trust me when I say, this is very real.”
“I can have Boss run over the stuff in your car. It should be fairly easy since you’ve already got it all with you,” Garrett offered.
I rubbed my hands down my face.
