“So, he left you and your mom for some other woman,” Carter surmises. “Do you ever see him?”
“I have no desire to,” I mutter, annoyed at him now for digging. “He broke my mom’s heart and abandoned all of his responsibilities. He’s dead to me.”
“I would never do that,” Carter states. He seems sincere enough, but of course he does. No one would admit they would ever do that to begin with, but most people probably also don’t think they would until they’ve slid so far down a moral hill, all of a sudden it’s acceptable. “Say what you will about me, Zoey, but I don’t abandon my responsibilities. Never have, never will.”
As if to illustrate his point, Chloe goes, “Mm, this cookie is delicious.”
Baby sister, secret daughter—whatever she is to him, he does help take care of her. It doesn’t seem like anyone forces him to. Even today, he has her out of the house because he knows things will be tense there and that wouldn’t be good for her to be around. That is absolutely responsible behavior, and it sounds like his motivation to do it comes from within, not his mother or anyone else pressuring him to do it.
Instead of saying any of that, I pointedly start rearranging condiments, hoping he’ll see I’m busy and go away for the time being. “I don’t have daddy issues,” I tell him again. “And you don’t have any responsibilities attached to me. Behave yourself and we can keep it that way.”
Chapter 31
What began as an easy—if boring—day volunteering at the church quickly turned into a crush of people. Carter bought a cheeseburger he only took one bite of before tossing in the trash, but he utilized that one bite like a marketing pro—to take a posed picture of him and Chloe, then post it online with a call to all his followers to come on out to the church and support a good cause… plus, get to hang out with him, and score a chance at an autographed ball signed by the football team.
Boy, did they show up. We sold out of burgers and had only four hot dogs left by the time the last person had ordered and we could finally clean up. Carter also directed people to the baskets, so we ended up selling a lot more tickets than we expected to.
I’m hot, sticky, and exhausted by the time I’m done working. I tell Carter I have to swing by my house and take a shower first, and he takes Chloe home to change out of her ballet clothes before we go out to dinner.
Carter picks me up. I’m too tired and worn out from the heat of the sun beating down on me while I worked all day to even ask where we’re going, but before long, the Dallas skyline comes into view.
“We’re goin’ into the city for dinner?” I ask, finally sitting up and taking notice.
“Yep.” He misses a beat, then he says, “We’re going to Porter’s.”
Remembering he said his sister owns Porter’s, dread snakes through me. “Haven’t I met enough of your family members for one day? Give a girl a break, would ya?”
The corners of Carter’s mouth tilt up. “This is a make-up meeting. Since the one earlier went so poorly, I wanted to bring you to meet my sister. She’s cool, you’ll like her.”
“I wish you’d’ve told me that,” I tell him, glancing down at my outfit. I’m wearing jeans with a snag in the knee and a worn T-shirt. “I’m not exactly dressed to impress.”
“I’m taking care of it,” he assures me.
“What does that mean?”
He doesn’t answer. I’m growing accustomed to him outright ignoring me when he doesn’t want to answer, so I turn my attention out the window and watch as we drive into the city. A short time later, we arrive at a shopping mall and Carter parks the car. I’ve never been to Porter’s, but I know it’s not located inside a shopping mall, so I know we aren’t here to eat.
“Are we going shopping?” Chloe asks cheerfully, clearly delighted at the prospect.
“We’re just making a quick stop,” he tells her, taking her hand as he leads her around the car. “We’re going to buy Zoey a dress to wear to dinner. You want to help her pick it out?”
“Yeah,” Chloe says, nodding. “And I want a new dress, too.”
“We’re here for Zoey today,” he informs her.
“But please,” she drawls passionately.
After a brief shopping excursion, we head to the register with a pretty—though a touch sexier than I would have selected for myself—little black dress for me, and a new dress with Minnie Mouse on it for Chloe.
“This dress is so pretty,” Chloe announces, holding it up in the air so the red tulle doesn’t drag on the ground. “I’m gonna wear it all the time.”