She wasn’t wrong. Our parents had always made sure we had enough Halloween candy. We’d traded for all the ones we preferred with our siblings, and there’d been plenty for everyone.
But then Mom made sure to say not to touch the little pile of Twix on the kitchen counter and suddenly everyone was eyeing the candy like it was the best thing ever.
We didn’t steal one other’s candy. Oh no. The brave ones tried to nick Mom’s stash.
I mumbled into the pillow, then lifted my head so Gemma could hear me. “To be fair, it’s the whole forbidden fruit thing, probably.”
“Carter or the candy?” She smirked.
“The candy. I….” I huffed with frustration and rolled onto my back. “It’s like….”
“If it’s about you working for him, you can immediately stop thinking like that. Crew’s practically married to Mal and their relationship was a whole boss/employee one.”
“Not really.”
She sighed. “Technically. But see, there’s nuance to everything.”
“Loopholes, you mean?”
Snorting, she pushed to her feet. “Look, all I’m saying is that everyone likes him now. He seems like a good man. Will giving into whatever is brewing between you going to jeopardize the rest of Ramona’s training?”
No. It wouldn’t. Even if we did something about it and things went wrong. I would never take it out on Ramona and neither would Carter. He’d still know I was one of the best in what I did.
Seeing him would be more awkward, but it wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen Richard at various horse-related events since everything went down. Not that I expected anything with Carter to be or end up like what I’d had with Richard. The thought of that man still made my skin crawl and a weird, shame filled anger bubble up in my body.
“Go away,” I told my sister, then watched as she stole my bag of gummy bears off the coffee table and cackled as she skipped to the door.
I’d let her think she’d gotten away with something. I wasn’t big on sweet treats anyway.
I was still sprawled on my bed when there was another knock on my door.
“Yeah?”
Bodhi opened it a crack. “Hey, you got a minute?”
“Yeah, of course.” I sat up against the headboard. “What’s up?”
He went to the couch and perched on the edge of the cushion in a way that told me he wasn’t feeling great about something. Bodhi was a Marine. Ever since he joined, he’d been this… this rock. It had been most of his personality, being a Marine. He’d been unflappable, had a strong sense of justice, and his work ethic had been insane. Nothing slowed him down.
The man that had come home to us and told us he’d separated from the Marine Corps was different. Something was wrong, but he wasn’t ready to talk about it. I wondered if he would ever be, because for some reason, he’d torched the career he’d wanted more than anything in his life since he was a teenager. Well, maybe not torched, but the separation was final.
“Uh, so I get that things are weird with you and Carter right now,” he started, scratching his elbow, a sort of uneasy tell of his.
“Kind of, but we’re friends.” It was the truth, after all.
“He’s a money guy, right?” At my nod, Bodhi continued, “I’ve been doing the math on my business idea, and I think I need someone who actually knows their shit to read it through.” He frowned, then looked at me hesitantly. “Do you think Carter would take a look for me?”
I squinted at him, feeling a little bit confused. “Why are you asking me and not him?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it and looked away from me. For a moment, he stared at an old poster of the movieThe African Queen.
“You know I don’t get relationships,” he started, then went quiet again, choosing his words carefully. “If he was just a guy who had some business with the ranch, I would’ve called him first, no question. But you have this thing, and….”
Ah.
“You think that if whatever he and I might have going on comes crashing down, that it’s going to be too weird for you to have any sort of a working relationship with him?”
Bodhi nodded slowly, then frowned. “Yeah, but also, I wouldn’t want anyone that hurt you connected to the ranch in any capacity. Even as a mentor.”
