Why did I say yes to this?
There were three things I knew were true. I hadn’t seen Harper in the two days since our island rendezvous. I wasn’t a leader. And this day was going to be my end.
Yet, my cousin had faith in me.
Man, I was going to let him down.
This morning at the community center, we’d invited the owners of several local businesses and other professions to come for a sort of career day. And I was in charge.
I stood in the center of the gym, clipboard in hand, as I ticked tasks off. My mind kept wandering to Harper and why she hadn’t answered my calls. When I stopped by her grandmother’s house, Mrs. Chapman answered the door and told me I should probably wait a few days before coming back.
But I wanted to see her, to taste her lips, to remind myself I could do that now.
A hand on my back made me jump.
“Everything good?” Harrison asked.
I scanned the room, where volunteers were setting up tables and bringing out the food the town had donated for the event. This place ran off donations and a bit of town funding. “I think so.”
“Don’t think, Carter. Just know. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Says the guy who can run the whole town when I can barely run my own life.”
He laughed. “Don’t underestimate yourself. Leave that for everyone else to do.”
I shoved him. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“I do, actually.” Harrison’s mayor duties were the reason he needed my help today. He had a meeting with the mayor of Hidden Cove. So, he wouldn’t even be here to bail me out when I screwed this up.
Once he left, I checked the time again. The kids would start arriving in twenty minutes. Great.
I went over my list, stopping when I heard someone calling my name. Looking up, I groaned. Conrad and Conner, walking side by side, were heading right toward me.
A wry smile twisted Conner’s lips. “Didn’t expect to see you here, baby bro. You showing these kids they can aspire to be a barback?”
“Leave him alone, Conner.” Conrad sighed, uninterested in brotherly rivalry.
I didn’t mind Conner’s dismissal. “No, but I bet you’re here to show them how to be a daddy’s boy.”
Conrad snorted a laugh, and even Conner smiled at that. The three of us didn’t spend a lot of time together. We went boating occasionally, but only when Harrison was there to referee.
A wet nose nudged my hand, and I reached down to pet Duke, Conner’s giant of a dog, who just happened to be my favorite four-legged creature on this planet.
I scratched between his ears. “Who’s a good boy?”
Duke’s tongue lolled out the side of his mouth, and I swore he was smiling at me.
“Where’s Red?” I asked Conrad. His fox was cool, but it also unnerved me when he was near. Mostly because I always came up missing important things. Pens. Sunglasses. My wallet.
Conrad looked down at Duke. “He doesn’t get along with this beast. Figured it was best to leave him at home.”
“Duke.” Conner patted his leg to call the dog to his side.
Duke didn’t budge, only leaning harder into my hand. I smiled. “Your dog is a better judge of character than you are.”
Conner scowled. “Are you ever going to tell us what you’re doing at a career day?”
I could have. Before now, I could have told them I spent every spare moment volunteering here. Sometimes weekends and special events too. That despite their opinions, I did have something I cared about. It just wasn’t a career. But I’d never felt like I owed them that truth. They’d see it for themselves eventually.
“C-man!” Henry, one of the middle schoolers, reached up for a high five as he walked by. I dodged his hand and ruffled his hair.
“You finish that writing assignment?” I called after him.
Henry rolled his eyes at me over his shoulder. “This is summer. Don’t expect homework and I won’t disappoint you.”
I laughed. The kid sounded like me.
Amanda, a high school girl I’d spent two months working with last summer to get her to actually talk to anyone, knocked into my shoulder as she walked by. “That’s for making me speak in front of people last week.” She scowled at me.
“You’re welcome,” I called after her.
I ignored my brothers as I greeted the stream of kids arriving, most by name, high fiving and grinning. This was my favorite part of working with the community center. The kids.
Once they all gathered in our normal starting spot, where all ages began each day in one giant circle, I remembered I had an audience.
Conner and Conrad were both looking at me as if they’d never seen me before.
“Who are you right now?” Conner asked.
I didn’t answer him, instead searching through the business owners we’d invited—that somehow included both of my brothers. The others waited for direction, for someone to step up. I spotted my cousins Jake and Eli who owned a bakery and a law firm respectively.
The door opened again, and Harper slipped in. I smiled, lifting a hand to wave, lowering it when I noticed how tired she looked. She held a notebook, ready to record everything that happened for the Weekly Wine, but she didn’t look happy to be here.
I didn’t have time to find out what was wrong because kids and adults alike were growing restless. Shoving my clipboard at Conner’s chest with a satisfying slap, I walked to the center of the circle and turned to take in all the kids.
“Good morning.”
“Morning, Mr. Carter,” they responded, just as they would for Harrison. A twinge of confidence ignited in me. “I’m glad you’re all here. We have something special for you today, as promised. Many of our local business leaders have been gracious enough to stop in for a few minutes for our career day. All those in our ten and older groups will participate while those of you in the younger squads will head out for a game day with Miss Delia and Miss Nora.” I gestured to two other volunteers.
I gave them a spiel about being respectful and assigned numbers so we could rotate through stations. Every part of it was planned out. Harrison was right. Nothing would go wrong.
The kids broke away, following my instructions, and it was only then I realized Conrad was behind me. I jumped when I turned and almost ran into him.
“You can’t just loom over a guy like that, Conrad.” He was a big guy. I was tall but not particularly muscular. Conrad, on the other hand, spent a good part of his time doing physical labor at the sanctuary. Looking at him, no one would realize he’d graduated top of his class at veterinarian school. The guy was just as smart as he was intimidating.
He didn’t say anything, just stared at me as if he was trying to understand something.
“What?” I didn’t have time for this. I caught Conner watching us, but he was waylaid by a couple of kids and couldn’t come over.
Conrad rubbed his jaw. “You work here.”
The obvious statement made me laugh. “Is that all? I have things to do.”
His brow furrowed. “How long?”
“What?”
“You’ve obviously worked here for a long time. The kids all seem to know you well.”
Oh, that. I was so tired of hiding this part of me. “This is my seventh summer. We do five days a week, half days. During the school year, we do some after school workshops and a few weekend activities when we can, but the center doesn’t have the budget for year-round events. And it’s not really a job. I don’t get paid. I just … I kind of love it here.”
“Seven years.” He sounded like he was only talking to himself now. “Seven years and we didn’t know.”
“I’m not exactly the interesting one in this family. No one pays attention to anything I do.”
“Probably because no one thought you did anything.”
“Well, no one’s ever bothered to participate much in my life.” I could tell he hadn’t meant to say the words, but that didn’t mean they hurt any less. “I know, Conrad, okay? Carter is the irresponsible one, the trust-fund brat without a work ethic, who will never be good at anything in his life. Don’t worry, I haven’t changed that much.” Was I really going to let my brothers ruin even this?
He removed his faded blue ball cap and pushed a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean … Why didn’t you tell us? Tell Dad?”
Anger ripped through me, and I took a step closer to my brother. “Because this is the one thing in this town Dad doesn’t own.”
Conrad smiled at that. The jerk actually smiled. He never did, and now when I could only see red, that obnoxious douche smiled. “You sound like me.”
I never thought I had much in common with any of my siblings, but that made me pause. Conrad not only gave up his trust fund from my father to become a vet and take over the Corolla Sanctuary, but then he’d gone a step further. It was a well-known secret in this town he kept the place running with money from the trust our mother left him.
It was his passion, something that had nothing to do with the money. He loved working with horses just like I loved working with kids, making their lives better.
Another volunteer called to Conrad, telling him there were kids at his table to talk about the sanctuary. He gave me one more pregnant look before walking away.
I caught sight of Harper slipping out and followed. When I passed Conner, he opened his mouth to speak but ended up just patting me on the back instead. That was as close to acceptance as Conner got, and I’d take it.
I exited the building and jogged down the sidewalk, but Harper was nowhere in sight. Putting my hands on my head, I turned, and there she was sitting on a bench in the community garden, sunlight creating a glow around her.
Today, she wore a white shift dress, giving a view of tanned legs and the chipped yellow paint on her toenails. That brought a smile to my face. She’d always loved painting her nails but complained about having to take it off and never did, even when it was broken and flakey.
I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my cargo shorts and approached her. “Hey.”
Her face brightened when she saw me, and relief flooded me that I wasn’t the reason she looked out of sorts. Though, I still wanted to know why. Taking a chance, I leaned down to steal a kiss.
A surprised breath puffed from her mouth, but it only took her a second to kiss me back, parting her lips to allow me in. I pulled back with a grin. “We’re at a kid’s event, Miss Chapman.”
“Well, Mr. Ashford.” She straightened her dress. “You probably shouldn’t be fraternizing with the press assigned to cover your event.”
“Fraternizing? Is that what we were doing?” I kissed her again, and she smiled against my lips, putting a hand on each side of my face.
“And other things.”
“I like other things.”
“Me too.”
I dropped down beside her with a laugh. “You don’t look like yourself today. What’s wrong?”
She leaned into me. “How can you tell something is wrong?”
“Because I see you.”
She turned her head, resting her chin on my shoulder. Her words vibrated against my neck. “My parents are in town.”
I cringed. I knew all about her parents but never met them. “I’m sorry. Families are tough.”
She nodded. “They’ve been here for two days, and they just won’t leave. I finally got out of the house today because I told them there was an event I had to cover.”
“Stevie is here. She could have done it.”
“I know.” She laughed. “But I wanted to come.” Her finger poked into my side. “What I didn’t know was that you’d be here. Or that you’d be leading everything.”
“It’s only because Harrison isn’t here,” I was quick to say. “We volunteer together, but he’s really in charge.”
“Don’t do that.” She looked up at me through long lashes, capturing me in her gaze.
“Do what?”
“Discount yourself. I think it’s amazing you volunteer here, and Harrison left you in charge for a reason. You’ve got this, Carter. Don’t doubt yourself and no one else will.”
“I don’t think that’s true.” Now, I was grinning like an idiot.
“Okay.” She laughed. “It’s definitely not true. Some people will always doubt, but not the ones who matter. If they don’t believe in you, they aren’t worth your belief in them.”
I held her against me, resting my chin on her head. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Of course you do.” She pulled back. “Now, shoo.”
“Shoo?”
She stood. “You have an event to run, and I need to write an article about how hot my guy looks when he’s molding the minds of young children.”
“Please don’t write that.”
She danced away out of my reach. “Guess you’ll just have to read my gossip rag to find out.”
The Weekly Wine was far from a gossip rag now, thanks to Harper. She’d changed its path, just like she’d changed mine.
When I walked back inside, I held my head high, snapping at Conner to stop being so serious and actually open up to the kids. I told Conrad he needed to use the pictures Harrison had printed of the sanctuary to actually show the kids what he did.
“Eli, if you want to talk them into being lawyers, stop being so boring!” I shook my head at my cousin. And when I found Jake letting the kids stuff their faces with his cookies, I only laughed.
And then, I told myself maybe I could do this leadership thing.