Willow Brook Road(55)

She shrugged. “If you could call it that. Look, it’s messy and it’s not one of my finer moments. Can we leave it at that?”

Discussing it obviously brought back painful memories. Sam quickly realized this might not be the time to probe for details. “Sure,” he said. “I’m sorry, Carrie. I may not know what happened, but I’d be willing to lay odds you didn’t deserve it.”

She smiled at his vehemence. “Thanks for that. I’d better go.”

“You’re here now,” he protested. “Bobby’s asleep. I hate eating alone. Stick around for one glass of wine and keep me company. Can you do that?”

For a moment she looked torn, but then her gaze was drawn to the pizza box. “What kind?”

“Veggie,” he said.

A smile broke across her face. “You win!” she said, throwing open the box and taking a slice, then curling into a corner of the sofa.

Sam grinned. “Make yourself at home, why don’t you?”

“What can I say? I made Bobby eat a healthy dinner downstairs, but it was pretty darn boring. This, however, is the food of the gods. Pizza like this may or may not be truly Italian, but I’m giving them credit for making the food world a better place.”

Sam laughed, sat beside her and poured the wine, then took his own slice. “Amen to that! Ask any unattached male over eighteen who lives on his own and it’s probably pizza that keeps us alive.”

Carrie held out her wineglass and tapped it to his. Sam met her gaze and held it. A wicked current of electricity sparked between them. No matter what she’d said earlier, no matter how wise her decision, this thing between them wasn’t over. It was just temporarily on hold.





11

Carrie was shaken by how intense things had gotten with Sam the night before. That one long, sizzling look even after she’d declared what a bad idea it was for them to spend time together had told her that she was crazy if she thought a bunch of words and good intentions were going to keep them apart. She had to try, though. For Bobby’s sake and, as Sam had guessed, her own. She’d made one truly terrible judgment about a man and it had torn her emotional life apart. She wasn’t quite ready to trust herself again.

And it wasn’t as if Sam hadn’t given her cause for concern. Look how badly he’d bungled things with Bobby when they’d first met. Sure, there were extenuating circumstances and he seemed to have learned from those mistakes, but one of the things she wanted most desperately was a man who’d be a great dad.

Hers sure hadn’t fit the bill. Wes Winters had been controlling and had demonstrated the morals of an alley cat when he’d gotten involved with one of her mom’s coworkers. Since the divorce and their move to Chesapeake Shores, he’d been mostly an absentee father, rarely putting in an appearance even on big occasions such as Cait’s wedding. He’d sent an extravagant gift and a lame excuse for his absence.

Her stepfather, though, was something else. Trace had been a loving, warm, thoughtful presence in her life and Cait’s from the minute he’d started trying to win back her mom. He’d been tough, but fair, a lot like Grandpa Mick, but without the meddling gene.

On Wednesday morning with all those thoughts still tumbling around in her head, Carrie was at Sally’s for coffee in time to catch up with Shanna, Bree and Heather. She’d arranged to do the day-care center again on Thursday, but had kept today and Friday open to babysit Jackson as usual. Even though the offer to bring him along had been made by Julie, Carrie thought the early hour would be too hard on the baby and on Noah, who had precious little time with his son as it was. Their early-morning ritual, even when it included gobs of smeared cereal, mattered.

“Where have you been the past couple of mornings?” Bree asked.

“I was busy,” Carrie said evasively.

“Not just sleeping in after late nights with you-know-who?” Shanna taunted.

Bree’s eyes lit up. “If that were the case, then this morning wouldn’t have been an exception,” she said, clearly delighted that Shanna had broken the ice and opened up this particular topic. “I have it on good authority, she was at the inn till all hours last night.”

Carrie barely contained a groan. “Not that I’m surprised, since Aunt Jess has never been one to keep a tidbit of gossip to herself, but did she also happen to mention I was there babysitting Bobby while Sam was on deadline at the paper?”

“Till after midnight?” her aunt Bree retorted with undisguised skepticism. “Jake was picking up a pizza for a late snack after he finished a big landscaping job and he happened to run into Sam at the pizza place. So, I know Sam got back to the inn before ten. Your car was in the lot till much, much later.” This final revelation was made with a certain degree of triumph in her voice.