She spotted him sitting at the end of the bar—alone—nursing a drink. He did not look sober at all.
Indecision made her chew on her lower lip. She could call Luke and have him come pick Carter up, but the guy was getting married tomorrow. The last thing he needed was to come fetch his drunk friend.
Damn Carter for putting her in this position. She wanted minimal contact with him until she left town, which was only a couple of days away. And now . . .
She walked with purpose down the bar and stopped in front of him.
He lifted his gaze toward her and frowned. “Molly?”
“Are you drunk?”
“Yes. I don’t know. No. Yeah, probably.”
She rolled her eyes and held out her hand. “Give me your keys.”
He gave her a drunken half smile. “Are you going home with me?”
“Not on your life. Give me your keys, Carter.”
He dug into his pocket and put the keys in her hand, then closed her fingers over them. “Your hands are still soft.” He turned her hand over. “And you still bite your fingernails, Moll.”
She jerked her hand away from his grasp. “Come on. Let’s go.”
He slid off the barstool. “Okay.”
Grateful that at least he was cooperative and not belligerent, she walked out to the parking lot and opened the passenger door of the Mustang. The delicious smell of leather greeted her. “Get in.”
He got in, then frowned up at her. “You’re driving?”
“Yes. You’ve been drinking a little too much tonight, Carter.”
“Right. Shouldn’t drive Rhonda.”
She slammed the door a little forcefully, then went around to the driver’s side, experiencing a slight thrill as she slid into the seat and adjusted it.
When she started it up and felt the rumble, she couldn’t resist a smile. Oh, yeah. The Mustang was a beauty, all right.
She shifted Rhonda into first and pulled to the end of the driveway, carefully looking both ways before pulling out into traffic and heading for the highway.
“I assume you still live in Hope.”
“Yup.” He gave her his address and was at least coherent enough to provide directions to his house. “Thanks for driving me home.”
“Not a problem.” The problem was going to be coming back to get George tomorrow amidst all the wedding stuff going on. But she’d deal with that tomorrow.
She took the exit leading to Hope, then followed Carter’s directions to his house.
Carter was quiet on the ride back to town. Thankfully, because she had absolutely nothing to say to him.
Surprisingly, he had a nice house with a sizeable yard and a big driveway. She pulled in and put on the emergency brake, then shut off the engine. Then she got out and came around to the passenger side and opened up the door.
“Come on. Let’s go inside.”
Carter got out of the car, then laid his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Molly.”
Not the first time she’d heard that, and she wondered exactly what he was apologizing for. Tonight, or for twelve years ago. She decided to ignore the warmth of his hands on her. He was drunk, and at least he was nice about it, so tonight he got a pass.
“It’s okay. Let’s go inside.”
She fumbled around on the key chain and found what looked like the front door key, so she opened the door, then flipped on the light. From what she could see, it was a nice, spacious house.
But that was as far as she was going. “Are you okay?”
He turned to her and gave her a nod. “Yeah. I’m fine. Thanks.”
“I need to take your car with me so I can get home. You think you’ll remember that in the morning?”
He gave her a goofy smile. “Of course. I’m drunk, not shitfaced.”
She shook her head. “Good night, Carter.”
“’Night, Molly.”
She pivoted and walked away, then got in his car and drove off.
Their interaction had been so civil.
And so much had been left unsaid.
She felt worse now than ever.
Chapter 5
MOLLY’S BREATH CAUGHT as she stood in the back of the church with her sister.
Emma had always been beautiful, but today she was the most gorgeous woman Molly had ever seen. In a cream-colored off-the-shoulder gown with a slight train and tons of intricate lace, Emma was a vision.
Luke was going to go crazy when he saw her.
Their mom had already shed copious tears, and they’d had to fix her makeup twice, until Emma told her if she cried one more time and made Emma tear up one more time, she was going to make her go sit in the car until after the wedding. Mom had straightened up after that and promised no more tears, at least until during the wedding. Emma had cast a pleading look at Molly, who held up her hands in surrender.
“I can’t make her not cry.”
Emma sighed. “It’s a good thing I’m wearing waterproof mascara. I don’t want to look like a raccoon in the photos.”
“You’re going to look breathtakingly beautiful in every picture,” their mother had said, which had made Emma tear up again. And then Mom had started blinking back tears.
“Mom,” Emma said. “You’re supposed to be the rock here.”
“I know. But one of my babies is getting married today. I don’t know where all this emotion is coming from.”
Fortunately, Reverend Barry had showed up and told them it was time to start. They all lined up and Molly smoothed down any imaginary wrinkles in her deep purple dress, then picked up her flowers and stood in front of Emma. She turned and blew her sister a kiss, so very glad she was here.
At least for today, she was happy to be home.
It was time to walk down the aisle.
As the music started up, she was suddenly transported back twelve years, when she and Carter had made plans for their own wedding. Of course, it had been kind of a rush. They hadn’t anticipated getting married that quickly. But things had happened, and when it had, they both decided they wanted to get married right away.
They were in love, after all, so why wait? They knew they wanted an eternity together.
Until disaster happened. And then her world had been crushed, and everything had fallen apart after that.
That’s when she realized that someone saying they loved you meant nothing, and she’d gone dead inside.
She shook it off. Now wasn’t the time to think of the past, but the future. Namely, her sister’s future. She followed Des down the aisle, trying to remember Reverend Barry’s instructions about keeping the appropriate pace.