He leaned down, his mouth covering mine hungrily. “Okay. Let’s eat and then I’ll help you get packed.” He kissed me again and then we sat down and ate.
Chapter Twenty-One
Carter
Present Day
“Sir...Sir?” I felt ahand shake my shoulder, pulling me from my memories. The flight attendant stood in front of me. “I’m sorry, sir, but we are going to be landing soon. You need to secure your laptop and place your seat in the upright position.”
I nodded and looked down to my screen. I was supposed to be working on some documents, but instead I had spent the last couple of hours remembering the past.
After I had passed through customs, I turned my phone on while waiting for my cab. Almost instantly it started to ring. I pulled it from my suit pocket, glanced at the screen, and frowned. Hunter’s name flashed across the screen. “Hello?”
“Carter, it’s me. There is a bit of a problem. I just got a call from Autumn. Hope is over at our place.”
“What is she doing there? I left her at home. She said she was going to pick up the girls from her parents. Is everything okay? There isn’t anything wrong with her or the girls, is there?” I could feel panic rising in my chest at the thought of being so far away and them needing me.
“Did you tell her where you were going?”
“Yeah, she knows the situation with these clients. I really wanted her to come with me when I had to leave early, but she refused.”
“Autumn says she told her that she thinks you are seeing someone. She said she saw a message on your phone earlier tonight from Felice.”
“Hold on.” A funny feeling came over me. There had been no messages from anyone when I had left.
I quickly checked my texts and, sure enough, there sat a string of messages from Felice that I hadn’t seen, probably because Hope had gotten to them first. It was very much unlike her to check my phone.
“Fuck. Mike contacted me a bit ago. They want to adopt a child and asked that the next time I was in town I look over the paperwork while I was here. She’s been messaging me over the past two weeks, asking what documents I needed, and apparently, she messaged me sometime tonight and said she was looking forward to seeing me. Hope must have seen the message while I was in the shower.”
“So you didn’t tell her you were going to be seeing them while you were away?”
I was silent. It had been wrong not to tell her, but I didn’t want Hope to worry. I should have told her, but I didn’t want to fight with her tonight or ever over something and someone who meant nothing to me. “Fuck no, I didn’t.”
Hunter was silent and then he cleared his throat and asked me a question I never in a million years thought he would ever ask me. “Carter, is something going on?”
“Are you serious? Are you seriously asking me this right now?”
“All I know is Autumn told me she is really upset, Carter. She says she thinks your marriage is over.”
“Are you at home?”
“No, my flight heads out in a couple of hours. I got things wrapped up early.”
“Call Autumn back and tell her not to let Hope leave. Fuck the meeting, I’m coming home.”
“What about the clients?”
“My marriage is more important than some fucking clients, Hunter. I’ll tell them an emergency arose back home and that I will be back here for the original scheduled date. Tell Autumn to keep her there and to not tell her I’m coming.”
“No problem.”
As soon as I was off the phone with my brother, I turned back around to return to the ticket agent. I needed to get home to my wife.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Autumn
Present Day