Chapter Two

Katie’s phone rang as Carter was leaving. Her friend Ginny was Carter’s cousin and worked full-time at Colburn and Sons Salvage. “Did Sean get off okay?” Ginny’s voice was uncharacteristically soft and hesitant, as if she didn’t know what emotional shape Katie was going to be in.

“Without a hitch,” Katie told her. Funny how her conversation with Carter had made her forget all about her only child leaving home.

“Glad to hear you so upbeat. Well, I have to change and then I’ll be over to pick you up.”

Pick her up? Oh yeah, a few days earlier Ginny had offered to take her out for drinks and dinner to get her mind off Sean leaving. “Okay. I have to do some shopping, though. Want to run to Erie first?”

“Sure. What are we shopping for?”

“A dress.” Why did she feel so excited about finding a dress and shoes that had the right mix of sexy and business? Why was she even thinking about sexy? There was no reason for sexy. “The dinner is tomorrow night, so it’s my only chance to shop.”

“Wait.” She could hear the frown in Ginny’s voice. “Some guy asked you out to dinner at the last minute? Are you sure he deserves a new dress?”

Katie chuckled. “I deserve a new dress.” If she was going to spend her time helping out Carter, at least she could get a new dress out of the deal. “I’ll tell you about it on the way.”

“Well, we’re eating first. You know, in order to find a dress you’ll be comfortable in after a meal, you’ll want to have a full stomach when you’re trying it on.”

Katie had never thought about that before. It had been way too long since she’d gone out to dinner. Or dress shopping. “Okay, but I don’t want to wait until the last minute.”

“Sweetie, it’s already the last minute. Oh hey, I asked Anita to join us. Do you mind if she comes along?”

Anita Delgado had moved to Lakeside that summer and met Carter’s older brother, Noah. They fell in love and got engaged, all in a matter of weeks. “Sure. I like Anita.”

“Cool. We’ll take your mind off Sean and you can tell us all about this guy you’re going out to dinner with.” Ginny hung up, and Katie ran upstairs to change.

She glanced out the window at the top of the stairs and caught a glimpse of Carter on his back patio, lighting the grill. Their houses were side by side, with very little green space between. If it were anyone else, Katie would probably hate living so close to her neighbor, but she and Carter had been close friends for years. When this new housing development opened up shortly after Tim died, they’d bought houses next to each other.

Carter had been so great with Sean when he was growing up, being the steady male presence her son had needed in his life. In fact, thanks to Carter, all three of the Colburn brothers had been surrogate fathers to Sean.

The least she could do was help Carter land the big client.

Katie was about to continue to her bedroom to change when Carter stripped off his shirt right there under her window. An unexpected tingle at the sight of his bare chest made her shiver. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen him without a shirt before. Working in the yard. Taking her and Sean to the lake. All that tingle meant was that she wasn’t dead. She could appreciate a fine example of male perfection. It didn’t mean anything else.

She forced herself to turn away from the window and head to her bedroom. She pulled a casual sundress from her closet. It’d been a hot August day, and it didn’t look like it was going to cool down anytime soon. She wished she already had the perfect dress in her closet to wear tomorrow night. Carter wouldn’t care what she wore, certainly wouldn’t expect her to go out and spend money on a new dress and shoes. But she cared.

Ginny and Anita picked her up a few minutes later, and the three of them stopped into Bud’s, the local bar and grill, and ordered wine and chicken salads all around.

“Okay, I’m dying to hear about your date tomorrow night.” Ginny had pulled her curly blond hair into a messy bun, which somehow looked perfect on her. Her nose for news—in other words gossip—was well-known in Lakeside. “Did it really just come out of the blue or have you been holding out on me?”

“Don’t you go posting anything on the village page. It’s not a real date.”

Ginny held up her hand like she was getting ready to take the stand. “Nothing goes on social media. Promise. This is between us girls. You said a guy asked you out to dinner. How is that not a date?”

“And who’s the guy?” Anita chimed in.

Katie took a sip of wine and wished she’d ordered a juicy cheeseburger instead of a salad. “Carter has an important business dinner tomorrow night. The prospective client is bringing his wife, so he told Carter to bring a date.”

Ginny’s eyes widened. “And he asked you?”

Would it be that astonishing? “I offered.”

Ginny studied her for a moment. “Of course you did. I love my cousin, but everyone knows he doesn’t do relationships.” She glanced at Anita. “He doesn’t even date all that much anymore. I worry about him.”

Leave it to Ginny to keep track of everyone’s dating habits.

“He seems like a nice guy,” Anita said carefully. “Is that the problem? Though I can’t see that being too nice would be a problem getting dates.”

“Since you’re engaged to the nicest guy in Lakeside,” Ginny said with a laugh.

“So what’s the story with Carter?”

Ginny caught Katie’s eye. She gave her friend a subtle shake of the head. There was no point mentioning Carter’s designation as a rebound guy to his soon-to-be sister-in-law. Anita’s eyes narrowed as if she could tell there was more to the story, but thankfully Ginny only shrugged.

“Ginny, why were you so surprised that Carter would ask Katie to be his date?” She turned to Katie. “Don’t you like each other?”

Ginny jumped in. “You love him like a brother. Right, Katie?”

She thought of the tingles she’d felt as she ogled Carter from her hallway window. She cleared her throat. “Brother. Right. We’ve been friends for years.”

Anita’s lips lifted in an almost-smile. “So how often do you not-date Carter?”

“I’m only going because he needs someone who knows him well enough to play the part. He doesn’t need to be worried about some potentially bad first date.” She’d heard about some of his first date nightmares over the years. “That’s why I offered. He has to focus on impressing this friend of Gloria Burns.”

“Gloria loves Carter,” Ginny said.

“Exactly. So I figure he’s a shoo-in. While he’s impressing the rich guy, I’ll chat with the wife. No problem. Not a date. Just a business dinner and helping out a friend.”

Ginny considered her over the rim of her wineglass. “But you want to buy a new dress?”

“My nest is now empty. I deserve a few new feathers for myself.” They laughed with her. Time to change the subject, but before Katie could comment on the delicious local Riesling, Anita chimed in again.

“So Katie, how often do you date someone who’s not Carter?”

“How did this conversation become all about me?”

“Katie hasn’t dated in forever,” Ginny blurted.

Thanks a lot. “I can count on one hand the number of first dates I’ve had since Tim died. That was back when I was younger and none of them were worth the effort. The guys only wanted to talk about themselves and get in my pants. Definitely not worth the time. “I’m just too busy to date.”

“Busy is a cop-out,” Anita said. Easy for her to say, with her long legs and gorgeous face and thick, dark hair. Guys would love her. Katie was short and curvy, with hair that rarely behaved. “I’ve been busy for years,” Anita went on, “but I still manage to have fun, sexy times.”

“Anita used to meet guys all over the world and have flings with them. You know, before she met Noah.”

“Flings?” The word sounded fun and harmless. But could she actually do that? In Lakeside? How could she have a short-time sexual arrangement with a guy she’d probably see around town on a weekly basis? How did Carter do it?

“Flings are fun. You should try it sometime. Doesn’t take the time a serious relationship would.”

Ginny frowned and elbowed Anita. “Don’t tell her that. She needs a relationship. She just needs to find the right guy.”

No. Katie was never going to give her heart and soul to any man again. “I don’t need a boyfriend. I can be perfectly happy without a man in my life.”

“Of course you can,” Anita said.

“A fling sounds like fun, though,” Katie admitted. It had been so long since she’d had any of those tingles like the ones she felt today. She shouldn’t have been feeling them about Carter. But it sure would be nice to feel them about somebody. “I wouldn’t even know how to start.”

“Oh, hon, there’s nothing to it. Find an interesting guy and smile wide. Give him a glimpse of sexy confidence, and he’ll eat it up.”

Sexy confidence?

“Yeah. That. I think I lost my mojo back when Sean was little. If I even had any back then.” She was too young when she met Tim to even know what that was. Was it even a term that meant sexual confidence and charisma twenty-some years ago? “I’m going to put that on my list. To find it.”

“Awesome. What list?”

“It’s like a bucket list,” Ginny told Anita. “She’s been writing stuff down in that notebook forever. I used to think she was writing a book. Or journaling or something. But she has pages full of stuff.”

“It’s not really a bucket list. That’s for big things like riding the Orient Express or climbing Mount Everest.” Then Katie remembered the item she crossed off her list. Maybe it was kind of a bucket list. “It’s just a list of things I want to do someday. I started writing them down when Sean was little and I was beginning my photography business. No time for anything else then. Those were my treadmill years.”

“Your what?” Anita asked.

“God, it was a crazy time. Tim had died, and I felt like I had no control over my life. It was like I was running on a constant treadmill and couldn’t get off. Building the business. Raising Sean. I’m so glad that’s over. You two never had to juggle work and kids, so it probably wasn’t like that for you.”

“Doesn’t mean we don’t understand what busy means,” Anita told her. “I still say it’s a cop-out. Sean hasn’t needed you to cut up his food or help him with his homework in ages.”

The waitress came with their salads, saving Katie from replying. Because, of course, Anita was right.

But her new friend started right in again after she asked for ice water all around. Ice water? Oh yeah, they still had to go to Erie. She nailed Katie with her direct gaze. “So you have a list of things you’ve put off doing for… How old is Sean?”

“Eighteen.” Katie had never thought of it as putting off, but it was probably true, too. She chewed and swallowed a bite of salad before she nodded. Man, she could have really used that cheeseburger.

“Sean is a big boy now, and he’s left home, and you don’t even want to think about what he’ll be doing as a college freshman spreading his wings. Believe me, I know. I used to be a college professor.”

Katie groaned. “You’re right. I don’t want to think about it. I simply have to picture him in his dorm room studying and push everything else out of my head.”

“And to distract you, let’s see the items on that list you’re not going to put off any longer.”

The notebook was safe in her purse, and no one else was going to see it. “Actually, I’ll get to check a couple of items off my list tomorrow night.”

“A date with Carter?” Ginny guessed.

“No!” Katie rolled her eyes. “But a candlelit dinner in a fancy restaurant. I’m sure there will be a candle on the table.”

Anita studied her as if she couldn’t believe Katie hadn’t experienced a candlelit dinner since Sean was born. “What’s the other?”

“Dinner at Castle on the Hill.”

“Exclusive,” Ginny said. “I’ve never been there, either.”

Anita lifted her water glass in a toast. “See how easy it is? You’ll be checking off all the items on your list in no time.”

“I think we should focus on the getting-her-mojo part,” Ginny said with a laugh.

They were having too much fun at her expense. “I was thinking about getting a tattoo.” Katie’d had some glimpses of Anita’s fiery back piece. It was gorgeous. Not that she’d ever get anything that big. “A small tattoo.”

“Cool, but let’s talk about you getting some sex.” Ginny again.

Katie was tired of everyone talking about her. Ginny was still single and, last Katie knew, wasn’t dating, either. “Hey, Ginny, how’s your sex life lately?”

When Ginny’s smile dropped, Katie wished she’d never lashed out at her friend. “That was mean. Sorry. I’m nervous. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Well, let me ask you this,” Anita said. “When you’re talking about mojo, you are talking about…”

“Sex!” Ginny shouted. The people at the tables around them stared. Katie wanted to slide under the table while Anita, the mayor’s fiancée, laughed out loud.

“I’m serious, though,” Anita said. “Do you want to stick with flirting, just getting comfortable chatting with a guy at a bar? Or are you interested in jumping into a one-night stand? A longer fling? A steady relationship? Marriage?”

“Not marriage. Not interested in another one of those. I don’t even want a steady relationship. I want ‘me’ time. List time. And yes, mojo time. I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve had…” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Sex.”

“We’re all grown-ups here. You don’t have to whisper.”

“I know. I’ve been a mom for so long, I haven’t felt like a woman.” Tears prickled, but she blinked them away. “I want to feel sexy. Think sexy. Act sexy. Be treated sexy. Does that make sense?”

“Perfectly.”

“Then, sex. I want sex.” Katie couldn’t believe she said it out loud, but now that she had, she was going all the way. “A fling. Or even a one-night stand. More than one, one-night stand?” She couldn’t believe she said that out loud. “I want to have fun. I want to feel like a desirable woman again.”

“To Katie’s mojo!” Ginny lifted her water glass, and they tapped glasses before they finished their dinners and headed out for a dress to kick off her mojo-finding mission.

…

Carter breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Katie’s headlights sweep across the backyard as she pulled into the driveway. He took another slug of beer, his second can, or was it his third? He’d sneak back inside as soon as it was empty. He didn’t want Kat to know he was sitting out here in the dark waiting for her to come home.

He’d told himself it was to enjoy the cool breeze. The dog days of August had hit hard this past week. He’d told himself it was to enjoy the quiet, but he could have done that inside. All these years later, he still missed Tim, missed hanging out with him. He’d had a way about him. When he talked to you, you felt like the most important person in the world. No wonder Katie loved him.

Carter had almost called one of his brothers to share a couple of beers, but Beckett had his young daughter, Holly, and Noah had Anita now. Carter had any number of other friends he could have called. And his brothers or friends would have arranged it if he’d needed them, but it was just a lazy night with stars dotting the sky and a breeze to wipe the sweat from his skin.

A night when he was waiting for his best friend to get home safely.

But she wouldn’t appreciate him staying out here waiting for her to come home. She wouldn’t want anyone to think she needed looking after. So now that he’d seen the lights come on in her house, it was time to—

“Hi.”

He glanced over to see Katie step out onto her back patio. She was wearing a dress with a full skirt. He could see the silhouette of her shapely legs by the light coming from her kitchen. Neither one of them had turned on their backyard lights.

“Hey, Kat.” He couldn’t help but smile. Relief? Pleasure? Happiness? Probably all of the above. “Have a good night?”

“Yeah. It was fun. What are you doing sitting out here in the dark?”

“Enjoying the breeze. Didn’t want a light on to attract the bugs.”

She nodded. “You got another one of those beers?”

“Sure.” Carter’s mini-fridge was built into the outdoor kitchen installed across one side of the patio. He hopped up and grabbed her a can. She pulled a lounge chair over next to his and accepted the beer.

“Thanks.”

He watched her silently as she took a swallow, then rested her head back and stared up at the sky. She looked ready to conk out at any minute.

“I’m glad you didn’t turn on the lights out here,” she told him, her voice low and slow, as if she were half asleep already. “The sky is so clear tonight. Look at the moon. And all those stars. Some of them are planets, though, aren’t they? I should have studied astronomy sometime in my life.”

“Nothing says you can’t keep adding to your list.”

She sat up straight with a small gasp. “You’re right. Be right back.”

Katie started to get up, but he reached over and placed a hand over her slender wrist to keep her in place. “You don’t have to get that damned notebook right now. You’ll remember those stars.” He squeezed. “You sound exhausted. Relax for a few minutes.”

She sighed softly. “Okay.”

He realized he was still holding her arm but waited another self-indulgent moment to savor her warm, smooth skin before he pulled his hand away. What the hell was he doing? He took a deep drink from the can and leaned back in the lounge chair. He should have let her go back in the house.

Katie didn’t say anything more, just studied those stars as if the answers to the universe could be found there. Carter found himself looking up into the dark expanse littered with pinpricks of light, too, and tried to ignore her soft scent.

“Were you waiting up for me?”

He debated whether he should deny it, but they’d always been truthful with each other. “I was already enjoying the breeze and the beer. Might as well make sure you got home okay.”

“I don’t want you doing that.” For some reason, he liked the way she got all huffy now and then.

“Habit. I’d wait up for Sean, too.”

She almost whispered, the words coming slowly. “You mean we could have been waiting together all those nights?”

“Guess so.” But he knew that wouldn’t have been a good idea. Coffee after work, sure. Bumping into each other at Bud’s or hanging out with Sean and his friends? No problem. But at night, the two of them like they were right now, with her soft scent and softer skin? Not such a good idea.

He sat up straight and swung around to place his bare feet on the warm concrete beside her. “So in all the years we’ve lived next to each other, you’ve never checked to see if I got home okay?”

“Of course I have.” The amusement was clear in her voice. She swung her legs around and put her feet down, too, their toes almost touching. “But I always stayed inside and peeked through the curtains to watch for you to drive in.” She leaned forward and gently bumped her knee against his. “Of course, that means some nights I could tell you had a woman in the car with you before you pulled into the garage.”

“What?” He’d never thought of her being able to notice when he brought dates home. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Don’t worry. There were nights when I fell asleep on the sofa long before I saw your headlights sweep across the curtains.”

“I don’t like that you stayed up late waiting for me.” He knew that for sure.

“I only kept track like any friend would.”

“So it’s okay for you to look out for me but not the other way around?”

“I’m not a helpless female needing a man’s protection.”

“You’re the last person I’d call helpless. You’re strong and smart and don’t hesitate to tell me when I’ve screwed up.”

“I’d lose my friend card if I didn’t help you out when you needed it.”

He shook his head good-naturedly. This was what they needed, the lighthearted banter instead of the slow whispers. “We’re a pair, aren’t we, Kat?”

“We are.”

Carter liked practicing law, was happy working in the family business, and enjoyed spending time with his family and friends, but he’d still often felt as if something was missing from his life. Right at that moment, however, he felt a contentment he’d never experienced or at least never acknowledged before.

He cleared his throat. “I won’t be by for coffee in the afternoon, but I’ll be over to get you at six.”

“Sounds good.” Katie got to her feet then. “’Night, Carter.”

“’Night.” He watched her disappear into her house. And as he picked up the empties and brought them inside, he wondered if it was the combination of the starry night and her scent in the air that had contributed to the confusing reactions he’d had for her tonight.