Page 34 of Nothing to Tell

“You didn’t like Bastian?”Harper asked.

How could that be possible?

“You hear lots of stories about a guy and sometimes… it feels too good to be true.No guy is truly a picnic.”

“Except Zairn?”Carolyn said, still amused.

“God, no, not him.He snores and hogs the blankets, he’s no picnic.”The warmth in Roxie’s eyes said different.“Love blinds us to their faults.And, so far, everyone I’ve met loves Bastian Hunt.”

“People love Zairn too and Tripp.”

“Not in the same way, they have reputations to uphold.Bastian’s just known to be… perfect.”

No one was perfect.If that was how he’d been sold, she understood Roxie’s initial suspicions.Especially given her bunch of single friends looking for love.When friend circles merged those situationships and hookups tended to be inevitable.

“He’s responsible,” Carolyn said.“Always has been.And, Harper, please don’t be deterred.I don’t know the specifics of your relationship with my son.Bastian would rather I didn’t get involved.He doesn’t like meddling, but some meddling is a mother’s right.He cares for you.Perhaps you have a friendship, or more, maybe it’s casual.As I said things are different now than they were in my day.”

Which implied…

Harper frowned.“I don’t understand what—”

“All of his life he’s had women fawning around him.He isn’t interested in the plucked and preened with their shallow intentions.They pass the time sometimes, I suppose.That’s not his future.I know what I saw when you two were together and no one will convince me otherwise.You are special to him.When he heard you were in the hospital, he couldn’t get there fast enough.The way you relate to each other, how you talk, there’s a familiarity much deeper than any friendship or shallow acquaintance.”

And there was the proof this innocent little lunch was anything but innocent.Was the intention to push them together or scare her off?

“If you’re asking about my intentions—”

“No,” Carolyn said, holding up a hand to halt Harper’s words.“If Bastian thought I was interfering he would be livid.He’s very particular, and protective of those he cares about… You do care about him too, don’t you?”

An invisible warning light flashed behind Carolyn, conjured by her dilemma.There was no easy, honest way to back up out of this cul-de-sac.

“He’s a good man,” Harper repeated herself, searching for kind, circumspect things to say about Bastian.“He helped me when he could’ve walked away.Yes, I care about him.But I… I wouldn’t want you to make assumptions about—”

“No, of course not.I won’t assume, I promise.”

The words should provide relief.Except the whisper of a smile on Carolyn’s lips didn’t inspire confidence.The assumptions were already there.

The lunch conversation moved on to Harper’s business and Roxie’s new reality show.They got around to their charity work, something they all had in common.Though her connections were more of the professional kind than the personal.

That conversation led to the exchange of business cards.Though when she tried to give Carolyn hers, she learned Adara had already done that at the hospital.

Nice.Thanks, sis.At least that enlightened her on how Carolyn found her.

The check was paid, and, huh, lunch was over.She shouldn’t be disappointed.She’d tried to avoid coming, now she didn’t want to go back to work.Shame they’d be unlikely to ever do this again.

Roxie was waylaid by a server to sign things.One led to two and so on…

Pushing her chair away, her butt barely left the seat before Carolyn slid a rectangle of heavy, embossed paper across the table.

“What’s this?”Harper asked, flipping over what turned out to be an invitation to the charity ball.

“He won’t enjoy himself alone.He suffers through these things to support me.But if it’s not women throwing themselves at him, it’s the men trying to probe him for business advice.It would be nice if you could join him, give him a night off… He needs someone to dance with.”

Did Carolyn know those were the magic words?

Sidelining her embarrassment about sleeping on top of the man for a minute, what would be the right thing to do?He’d put his own dignity aside to join her at Adara’s engagement party for that very reason.Someone to dance with.

Saving her from being the pitied singleton, he’d granted her fairy tale wish.Not doing the same in return would be wrong.Damnit.