Letting Go (19 page)

“You mean so you can procrastinate,” Quinn corrected.

Carly shrugged.

“You know, I have an idea,” Luke said. “Why don’t I take Carter with me for the day? That will give you two some girl time.”

“Is Jesse’s house childproofed?” Carly asked with a frown.

“No,” Luke said as he laughed. “Not at all. But I thought I could just take Carter over to my parents’ house.”

“They’re not home,” Quinn said.

“I know,” Luke agreed. “But
their
house is childproofed. They won’t care if we show up while they’re gone. That’ll give you and Carly time to talk. And it’ll give me some time with my favorite little buddy. We both win.”

Quinn hesitated because Luke had never spent time alone with Carter before. She couldn’t miss the hopeful way he was looking at her. As if he really wanted this. She gave him a small nod
and he visibly relaxed. “If you’re sure?”

“Think you can handle it?” Carly teased.

“I know I’ve never watched him on my own before but I’ve been at Mom’s plenty of times when he’s there. I know his extra diapers, clothes and bibs are all in the dresser in Jake’s old room. The food that’s okay for him to eat is in the little cupboard by the stove. I know he hates being belted into the highchair but I have to do it anyway. Once his food is in front of him, he forgets all about it. Am I forgetting anything?”

“You’ve never changed a diaper before,” Quinn said
, her tone light. “Do you think you can handle
that
?”

Luke’s smile was smug. “I have actually changed a diaper before. I told you, I’ve helped out when he’s been at Mom’s.”

Quinn was pleasantly startled with his answer. “I didn’t know that.”

He shrugged. “I’m not as incompetent as you might think.”

“I never said—”

He cut Quinn off. “I was kidding.
We’ll have fun. I’ll take good care of him. I promise.”

Minutes later, Carter was tucked into his snowsuit. Luke had a diaper bag slung over one shoulder and Carter propped up in his other arm.
“What time do you want us back?”

“Would you mind bringing him over to Mom’s sometime later this afternoon? She was planning on having him today. If she doesn’t get him at some point, she’s going to be upset,” Quinn said.

“Sure, I can do that.” He leaned over and kissed Quinn’s cheek. “See you later. Carter, say bye to Mommy.”

“Bye Mommy!” Carter obediently replied. He was grinning as he waved.

“Wow,” Carly said after the door closed behind Carter and Luke. “Luke really rocks the daddy look. I can see why some women go for the buff guys with babies and diaper bags. It’s a good look.”

Quinn laughed. “Okay, if you say so.”

“Things are obviously going well with the two of you!” Carly said as they made their way back into the living room.

Quinn smiled and nodded. “They are.”

“So…?” Carly asked as she leaned forward expectantly. “How was last weekend? Please tell me you two finally did the deed after all of these years.”

A blush slammed into Quinn’s cheeks. “Yes,” she admitted. “We did the deed,” she grimaced at Carly’s wording. “Several times, in fact.”

“Well, well, well,” Carly said smugly. “You have officially slept with more guys than I have.”

Quinn stopped…sure she had heard Carly wrong.

“I never had sex with a single person in high school. Other than Jesse, I mean. I was with him freshman year and then not again until I was a senior. The night I ran into him at a party.”

“But…You seem to like…you know…
that
…so much,” Quinn stammered.

“It’s called sex Quinn. You can say it. I do like
that
,” Carly teased. “
A lot
. But only with Jesse. I never slept with all of those guys. Everyone always assumed I did. No one, not even you ever asked me if it was the truth.” She looked hurt by this statement.

Quinn
sat there in stunned embarrassment. She’d never asked because she’d just assumed, as did everyone else. Unlike Carly, Quinn never wanted the details of her sister’s sexcapades. An errant thought occurred to her. Maybe all of these years Carly had been so nosy about Quinn’s sex life because she wanted
Quinn
to ask
her
. Just once, maybe she wanted Quinn to ask and not just assume.

Carly shrugged. “I just let guys say what they wanted.”

“Because you knew eventually the gossip would get back to Jesse and drive the poor man crazy,” Quinn realized.

Carly didn’t confirm or deny.

“I haven’t slept with a lot of guys,” she finally clarified. “I
have
slept with
one
guy a
lot
of times.”

“Wow.”

“I’m not pretending I’m a good girl because I’m not. I’m just not bad in the way that everyone thinks I am. And I’m not saying that I’m totally innocent when it comes to other guys. I’ve done things I’ve wished I could take back. But I’d never been with anyone but Jesse. Not until Nolan.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Quinn admitted.

Carly gave her a sheepish shrug. “I know. I should’ve corrected you. I just got used to having a reputation.”

“Well, I’m glad you finally cleared that up,” Quinn said. She was still shocked, realizing she didn’t know her sister nearly as well as she thought she did.

“I’m getting married. I felt like I needed to clear it up. It was time,” Carly explained. “Enough about me. Fill me in on your life. A weekend away. And Luke bought a house? Why don’t you have a ring on
your
finger yet?” Carly demanded.

“I just…I don’t…Well…” Quinn stammered.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Quinn shrugged. “It’s nothing.”

Carly rolled her eyes. “Liar. Don’t start holding back on me now. What is it?”

“Alright,” Quinn relented. “Last weekend Luke brought it up. He wants me to help him pick out a ring.”

Carly squealed in excitement. “Why didn’t you tell me that when I walked in?”

Quinn pointed at her sister’s hand and laughed. “Because of that! This is huge news for you Carly! I didn’t want to take away from it.”

“I know you’d never do that,” Carly assured her. “So when are you looking at rings?”

“Um…” Quinn said. Her face was scrunched up in
hesitation.

“What?” Carly demanded.

“Well,” Quinn admitted, “we were going to go today. But you’re here! So I’d rather spend the afternoon with you. Luke and I can go look anytime.”

Carly’s face broke into a huge grin. She bounced happily in her chair, causing Quinn to laugh. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her sister so excited.

“Do you know what this means?!” Carly asked.

“That you’re getting married?” Quinn tossed back.

Carly pelted her with a throw pillow. “No! It means we can have a double wedding! How fun would that be?”

“No,” Quinn said. She was already shaking her head. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Why not?” Carly pouted.

“Because, you need your own wedding. Your own wedding day.”

“No, I don’t,” Carly scoffed.

“I don’t think I want another big wedding,” Quinn admitted.

“Think about it, okay?”

Quinn agreed just because she knew Carly wouldn’t let it go until she did.
She also knew that a double wedding was not in their future. Quinn had already had her big wedding day. Carly deserved the same. Her dream wedding, a day that belonged only to her and the man she loves.

~*~*~

“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Luke said with a laugh.

“It was,” Carly took a big gulp of her beer. “She turned green. Quinn, she turned green, didn’t she? Tell Luke. You saw it too.”

They were at Shady’s. Luke had kept Carter for most of the afternoon, showing up at dinnertime at Quinn’s request. To his surprise, Carly had plucked Carter out of his arms and then handed him to Margo. Then she had pushed Luke right back out the front door. Quinn had followed. Carly had decided she needed a drink. Or possibly many drinks. So they’d gone to Shady’s for a burger basket and some beer.

It was early enough in the evening that the place wasn’t crowded yet.

“Tell him,” Carly prompted.

“Well,” Quinn said as she made an apologetic face, “it didn’t go all that well. I don’t think she actually turned green. She may have turned a pasty gray.”

“See!” Carly said as she slammed her bottle down.

“You do realize this is your mom you’re talking about, right?” Luke asked. “She just needs some time. She’ll get over it.”

“I just wish I didn’t let her get to me. But I can’t help it. She does. Why can’t she just be like a normal mom? Why can’t she just say, ‘congratulations’? Or “What a beautiful ring’?” Carly demanded. “Why does she have to be the kind of mom that says ‘Carly, this is going to be a huge mistake’?”

She shifted in her seat, as if getting ready for another round of venting. She froze when a hand firmly gripped her shoulder.

Quinn’s eyes widened in surprise when she looked up.

“Cricket?”

Carly’s head snapped around and then traveled up the all too familiar chest.

“Jesse.”

“Hey,” he said as he pulled her out of her seat. He tugged her up, into his arms for an encompassing hug. “I haven’t seen you in ages. I didn’t know you were in town.”

Quinn and Luke shared a concerned look.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Carly said. She quickly disentangled herself from Jesse’s embrace. “How have you been?”

His hands slid down her arms as he looked her over.
“I’ve been good. You?”

“Um, great, I guess.”

He shook his head. “It’s been a long time.”

Quinn couldn’t think of a single time that she’d seen Jesse look at Betsy t
he way he looked at Carly. She squirmed under his scrutiny.

“Yeah,” Carly said with frown. “I haven’t seen you since last summer. Not since the night you walked right past me at the county fair.” Jesse started to say something but Carly cut him off. “You know the night. When you walked past me? Like I wasn’t even there?”

“Carly—”

“No, I get it. You were with Betsy. So you couldn’t even be bothered with a hello.” She tugged her hands from his and the expression on his face changed.

“Cricket?” Quinn could’ve sworn she saw the blood rush from Jesse’s face. “What is this?” he demanded. He reached for her left hand and held it up. The diamond on it sparkled brilliantly. Mockingly.

She snatched her hand away. “Exactly what it looks like. What?
” she sharply demanded. “Are you surprised someone might actually want me?” She plastered her clenched fists against her hips and glared at him defiantly.

He met her defiance with some of his own
. “I’ve never had any doubt about how many guys
want
you. The problem has always been how many guys you let
have
you!”

Carly’s gaze darted to Quinn. Quinn knew, right then, with absolute certainty that Carly had never clued Jesse in to the games she’d been playing. She shook her head subtly, feeling, for the first time, a bit of disgust for her sister. The games between Carly and Jesse needed to stop. And maybe now, they had. But not, Quinn thought, in a way that would make either of them happy. Jesse had no idea that until Nolan, Carly had only ever been with him.

And sadly, Quinn realized as she shared a look with Luke, she knew for whatever reason, Carly wanted it that way.

“Be quiet,” Carly shot at Quinn.

“Hey!” Luke shot back.

Quinn put her hand on his arm. “No,
it’s okay,” she said but she was looking at her sister. “I didn’t plan to say a word.”

Jesse shook his head
, looking regretful. “I didn’t mean that. I was just surprised. That’s all. I had no idea you were engaged.” She gave him a small shrug. He shot an accusatory glare at Luke. “No one told me,” he said.

“It just happened,” Luke informed him. “So, uh, hey, I don’t suppose you want to join us?”

Jesse’s gaze swept over Carly once more. Quinn thought that he just might accept the invitation.

“Actually, I’m here with some friends already.” He motioned toward the other side of the bar.

Quinn recognized Jake’s friend, Shane. He was with a group of guys she didn’t recognize. She gave him a wave. He grinned and waved back. It was obvious he was curiously watching the interaction taking place between Jesse and Carly.

“It was nice seeing you,” he said to Carly.

She forced a smile. “You too.”

She took a step away from him, preparing to slide back down
in her chair. He grabbed her by the elbow, stopping her.