“Not much.”

“Beer or wine?” Samantha asked. “Though I already know the answer.”

She went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer, popped off the top, and handed it to him.

“Thanks, Sam.”

Des got up, too. “How’s it going, Carter?”

“Good, Des. How’s the movie business?”

“Busy. How’s the auto repair business?”

He grinned. “Busy.”

“Let’s go find Bash,” Chelsea said.

“Bash is here?” Des asked.

“Somewhere. Maybe outside having a cigar with the rest of the guys,” Megan said.

“There are cigars?” he asked.

“One of Molly’s uncles brought them.” Chelsea winked and slipped out the back door with Des, Megan and Sam.

He took a long swallow of beer, then took a seat at the table. “I interrupted. Sorry.”

She shrugged. “We were just talking. Trust me, it was nothing important. Just gossiping about Chelsea’s date the other night.”

“Really.”

“Yes.” She crooked a smile. “It didn’t go so well for him. He was late, obnoxious, checked his phone repeatedly during dinner, then wanted Chelsea to pay her half of the tab. And that was after he’d been relentlessly pursuing her for a month.”

Carter shook his head. “The poor guy. I can only imagine how badly Chelsea took him down.”

“It wasn’t pretty—very loud and very public in a very nice restaurant.”

He leaned back in the chair and took another swig of beer. “I actually would have liked to have seen that. Sounds like the sonofabitch deserved what he got.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Someday Chelsea is going to find a man worthy of her.”

She graced him with a warm smile. “That’s what I said. And it’s nice of you to think so.”

“I like Chelsea. She’s ballsy, and a man would like that. She’s also beautiful and smart. What man wouldn’t appreciate those qualities in a woman? If I knew any men deserving of her, I’d set her up. Unfortunately, no one immediately comes to mind.”

She sighed. “I know. Emma and Jane tell me they’re always on the lookout for great men for her. Sadly, few measure up.”

“There’s someone for everyone. Her day will come.”

“So I keep telling her.” She emptied her wineglass, then went to the refrigerator and grabbed the bottle.

Carter got up. “Here, let me do that for you.”

“Thanks.”

He pulled the cork out and poured her refill. “How did your dinner go?”

“It was hectic, but we pulled it off, and everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. How was dinner at your parents?”

“Great. They said to tell you hello.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it over there. I wanted to see them. I do want to see them.”

“Plenty of time for that. And speaking of time, how about starting work with me next week?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. You know, Mom’s still hobbling around so I don’t know if I can leave her just yet.”

“Quit using me as an excuse. Time for you to go back to work, Molly.”

Carter turned to see that Georgia had made her way into the kitchen.

“Oh, Mom. I didn’t see you there.”

“Obviously. Carter offered you a job. It’s high time you started it, isn’t it?”

Carter folded his arms. He wasn’t going to interfere in this conversation, though he had been the one to start it.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay here by yourself?” Molly asked.

“Yes. I’m dying to get you out of here to see if I can fend for myself during the day without you hovering over me waiting for me to fall. If I feel like I can’t, you’ll be the first person I call. How’s that?”

Molly looked from her mother to Carter. “Does that work for you?”

Carter nodded. “Of course. Your mother is your first priority.”

With a sigh, Molly nodded. “Then I’ll start on Monday.”

“Good. Now go enjoy the heaters outside with the rest of the young people. I’m going to get a glass of eggnog.”

“I can get that for you, Mom.”

Her mother shot a glare across the kitchen, and Molly stepped back. “Okay, you can get it for yourself.”

“Good girl. Now out of my way.” Georgia made a shooing motion.

Molly shook her head. “Guess we’re going out back to play with the other kids.”

Carter laughed. “I guess we are.”

There were portable heaters set up, though it had turned out to be a pretty nice day today. Bash was out there, along with Luke and Logan and a couple of Molly’s uncles, and Ben, Martha’s husband.

“About time you showed up,” Luke said.

“You’re lucky we didn’t smoke all the stogies before you got here,” Logan said.

“I heard there were cigars.”

Fred, Molly’s uncle, offered him one.

“Thanks.”

Molly had wandered off to sit with the women, so he stuck with the guys, catching up on life at the ranch with Logan and Ben, and listening to Bash complain about some personnel issues he’d been having with a couple of his cocktail waitresses. And Carter talked about how he’d hired Brady, and how he was doing.

Typical guy stuff.

But he kept skirting glances across the patio to Molly, who hadn’t once looked in his direction.

She was pretty engaged with her friends. They were all laughing and having a good time talking about God only knew what.

“And then we all had sex with the suspect, but since she was a hooker, she charged us. We got a discount though, since we gave her a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

Luke’s conversation finally entered his brain. He whipped his head around. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Luke smirked. “Nice to see you finally paying attention.”

They all laughed.

“You were so focused on what the women were doing, we could have been talking about anything. Luke asked you a question four times and you didn’t answer,” Logan said. “Why don’t you just go over and sit with Molly? Be sure to hand in your man card on the way over.”