He led her back into the living room. She took a seat on the oh-so-comfortable leather sofa. He sat next to her. She sipped her beer, realizing he was building an amazing life for himself. “You should be proud of yourself. I can’t imagine what this must feel like.”

“What?”

“Working so hard on creating something like this. Setting down roots like you have.”

“But you’ve traveled so much. That must be fun.”

“It is. I’ve met a lot of great people, seen some amazing places.”

He took a sip of his beer. “I sense a ‘but’ in there.”

“No buts.” None that she was going to voice to Carter. Besides, she was happy. At least she’d been happy, before she came back home.

“So you’re content with the life you’ve chosen,” he said.

“Perfectly.”

“Good to know.”

“Are you?”

He shrugged. “More or less. I mean, I have a job I love, doing work I’ve enjoyed doing my whole life. I’ve found a house I really like, and I’m turning it into something I can envision will make me and my future family happy for a lot of years. I have friends and family that I care about.”

“I sense a ‘but’ in there,” she said with a smile.

“You’re right. I live a very full life, but there’s something missing. A wife. Kids.”

Her stomach clenched. She was the wrong person to have this conversation with. “And a dog?”

He laughed. “Yeah. I need to finish the backyard fence so I can at least get the dog.”

“At the very least.” She grabbed a coaster and put her beer on the table. “And what’s holding you back on the wife and kids part? You’re not getting any younger, you know.”

“Thanks for noticing.”

“You’re welcome.”

“As far as what’s holding me back, I guess the answer to that is, the right woman.”

The words “If things hadn’t gone so wrong, you could have had me” hovered on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn’t petty enough to say them. “She’ll come along.”

He gave her a direct stare. “Yeah, she will.”

She got up. “I should go.”

Carter stood. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” But she wasn’t moving. Why wasn’t she moving? And he wasn’t doing anything about it, like asking her to stay. Did she want him to ask her to stay?

What the hell was wrong with her anyway? And with her feet, which weren’t moving out the door.

“Come on,” he finally said, helping save her from mortal embarrassment. “Let’s go for a ride.”

“Where to?”

“You’ll see.”

She arched a brow. “You’re not kidnapping me, are you?”

He shot her a look.

“Okay, fine.” She grabbed her jacket and he led her out the door. They climbed in his truck. “I’m surprised you’re not taking the Mustang.”

“The truck has butt heaters. I figured they’d keep you warm. The temperature is supposed to drop into the thirties tonight and the heater in the Mustang sucks.”

“Good thinking.”

He drove them out onto the highway, then a little ways out of town, eventually pulling down a side road by the river. It was a quiet overlook where people liked to launch their boats to go fishing. There was also an event area and picnic tables. She hadn’t been here in years. Then again, there were a lot of places in Hope she hadn’t visited in a long time.

He backed into the parking spot so the rear of the truck was facing the river, then left the radio on. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Beach Boys music this time, but some nice, soft country tunes.

“Let’s go sit on the tailgate. It’s a clear night. We can watch the barges go by.”

She got out and he opened the tailgate of the truck. She climbed on, and he sat next to her.

She stared out over the water. It was a clear, crisp fall night and the light from the moon sent a silvery sheen over the dark river.

“Remember when we came here for the fall carnival?”

She smiled at the memory. “Yes. All the rides were fun. I ate so much cotton candy I thought I was going to throw up on the Tilt-A-Whirl.”

“But you stomached it anyway. You were always so tough.”

She liked that he thought of her that way. “I didn’t want to be left behind. You and your friends wanted to ride every ride ten times that night, if I recall correctly.”

“Yeah.” He leaned back and stretched out his legs, propping one boot over the other. “Frank was the one who ended up getting sick.”

“That’s because he smuggled in beer, trying to look like a hotshot in front of my friends.” She shifted, half turning to look at him. “No, wait. He was trying to impress one of them. Laura Dusell, wasn’t it?”

“You might be right about that. He wanted to look like a big shot so he stole that six-pack of beer from his dad’s fridge, then hid them in his coat, taking swigs all night.”

Molly nodded. “He was acting like an ass, trying to grab a kiss from her. She was turned off by his beer breath and his attitude and kept pushing him away. And then he got off one of the rides and puked right in front of her.”

“Not a very impressive move, if I recall.”

Molly laughed. “Uh, no. She wanted nothing to do with him.”

“Some guys have to learn that lesson the hard way. But you girls didn’t make it easy for us.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, please. I was like a lovesick puppy around you. I fell for you as soon as you blinked those long, dark lashes of yours.”

He turned his head and gave her a slow, thoughtful stare. “Is that right?”

“Yes, and you know it. You didn’t even have to try.”

“Oh, believe me. I tried. I zeroed in on you the first day you hit the halls of the high school, and no other girl existed for me after that. You were the only one I thought about.”

Her heart skipped a beat at his confession. “Do you still say all the right things to women?”

“No.” He let out a short laugh and stared out over the river. “Trust me. No.”

Then he turned and looked at her. “With you and me, it was like . . . instantaneous. Like a fireball that hit me right between the eyes. It’s never been like that with anyone else.”