Honeysuckle Summer (The Sweet Magnolias #7)(31)

“Keep that in mind next time you disagree with something I’m telling you to do.”

“Not the same thing,” Carrie said, then fell silent.

As they pulled into the driveway at home, Mandy jumped out immediately, but Carrie hung back to walk in with Carter. He sensed there was something on her mind, so he deliberately slowed his pace.

“Everything okay?” he asked eventually.

She paused and looked up at him. “You like Raylene, right?”

“I do,” he admitted, seeing little point in denying the obvious.

“Does is bother you that she’s kind of messed up with this phobia thing?”

He frowned at the question. He had a feeling his answer was vitally important for some reason he couldn’t quite fathom. “It bothers me for her sake,” he said. “I hate to see anyone missing out on so much of life.”

“But you don’t think she’s weird because she needs a shrink?”

“Of course not,” he said. “She’s getting help that she needs to get better.” He met Carrie’s troubled gaze. “Why? Does it bother you that she’s seeing a psychologist?”

“No. I guess I just never knew anyone who needed that kind of help before, at least not anyone who talked about it.”

Carter knew there was more on her mind, but he had no idea how to dig deeper to unearth the real problem. Still, he knew he needed to try. “You’re not afraid your friends will freak out if they find out I’m seeing Raylene, are you?”

She scowled at the question. “Like I would care what anyone else in this town thinks!” she said indignantly. “Don’t you know me at all?”

“Then what’s this about, Carrie? Something’s obviously on your mind.”

For a brief instant, he thought she was going to open up and tell him, but then her expression shut down.

“Nothing’s on my mind,” she claimed, and flounced off, leaving him to stare after her and wonder how he’d blown the opportunity.

Carter glanced skyward. “Mom, Dad, I could use a little guidance here.”

Unfortunately, there were no heavenly messages suddenly written on the clear night sky. As he had been for two years now, he was left to cope on his own.



Walter had canceled two appointments with Rory Sue to look at houses. Unfortunately, they both knew it wasn’t due to his busy schedule, as he’d claimed. The woman rattled him. He knew instinctively that she was ready and willing to have some kind of fling, but for all of his many flaws, he was a pretty monogamous guy. Once he and Sarah had gotten together in college, that had been it for him. Cheating had never once crossed his mind, not even when his marriage had been falling apart. Since the divorce, he hadn’t met anyone half as intriguing as his ex-wife.

Even though he’d been telling himself for days now that he was due to cut loose and have a relationship that was completely free of strings, he couldn’t see it happening. And, though he was about as sensitive as a fence post, he’d seen something in Rory Sue that told him she wasn’t half as carefree as she wanted everyone to think. She was lonely and vulnerable and reaching out for any connection that might make her feel better, even temporarily. He didn’t want to take advantage of that.

He was still sitting in the office at the radio station a few minutes after canceling their latest appointment, when the door opened and Rory Sue walked in. This time, she was attired for work in a dress made of some kind of clingy fabric that hugged every generous curve, but at least covered most of them.

“You’re avoiding me,” she accused as she sat down on the edge of his desk.

Her bare calf, which tapered to a shapely ankle and a pair of sexy, high-heeled sandals, was unnervingly close as she swung it back and forth. Watching it was like falling under the spell of a clock pendulum.

“What’s the problem?” she asked when he couldn’t seem to find his tongue.

Walter swallowed hard. “No problem. Really.”

Rory Sue gave him a knowing look. “I scare you, don’t I?”

The blunt question, which unfortunately hit the mark, rattled him even more. No man was ever going to admit to being scared of a woman.

“Absolutely not,” he said at once. “I’ve been swamped at work. That’s all.”

“And yet here you sit, all alone and looking bored to tears,” she said, then grinned. “At least until I walked in.”

“Just taking a five-minute breather,” he insisted, ignoring the comment about his reaction to her arrival.

“And then what? Aren’t most of your potential advertisers at home with their families by now? Does it work out well when you interrupt their evenings?”

“I have paperwork to do,” he claimed, aware that he probably sounded a little desperate for excuses.

“And yet there are no papers or files piled up on your desk,” she said.

Walter sighed and gave up the battle. “Okay, you got me. I was thinking about grabbing a burger and going back to the motel.” He scowled at her. “Alone, in case you were getting any ideas.”

She laughed. “As intriguing as an evening at the Serenity Inn with you sounds, right this second I’m much more interested in selling you a house.”

He regarded her skeptically. “Really?”