Honeysuckle Summer (The Sweet Magnolias #7)(63)

Carrie laughed. “You hate it when I say that.”

“Because when you say it, it’s annoying,” he told her.

“Well, guess what,” she retorted. “That goes double for you.”

As soon as he pulled into the driveway at Raylene’s, the girls bolted from the car. He debated following them, but decided in the mood they were in, that would be way too telling. He settled for waving to Raylene as she held the door open for the girls.

As soon as they were out of sight, he dialed her number. “Watch out,” he warned. “Something tells me those two are on a mission.”

“Oh?” she said. “Explain.”

He could hear Carrie’s voice in the background. “That’s Carter, isn’t it? Tell him to butt out.”

Raylene laughed.

“You won’t find this so amusing when they start cross-examining you about whether we slept together last night,” he warned.

“Uh-oh,” she murmured, though there was still amusement threading through her voice.

“Uh-oh, indeed. If they get to be too nosy, send ’em home.”

“Not to worry. It’s all under control,” she assured him.

“That’s what you think. Talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

He hung up with a sinking feeling in his gut that he’d just made a terrible mistake by leaving Raylene to the mercy of his two overly inquisitive sisters. She was skittish enough as it was.



“Carter’s never stayed out all night with a woman before,” Carrie announced as Raylene poured them all glasses of sweet tea. “At least not since he’s had us to look out for.”

“Were you frightened about being at home alone?” Raylene asked, refusing to rise to the obvious bait.

“No way,” Mandy said. “Carter’s worked the night shift before and we’ve been by ourselves. In Columbia, he’d make the housekeeper stay, but now that we’re here and we’re older, he says it’s okay as long as we don’t have anyone over.”

“And do you follow that rule?” Raylene asked, knowing full well how many times she, Annie and Sarah had broken it. It was the nature of teens to test their boundaries.

“Never,” Mandy said solemnly, though there was a twinkle in her eyes. “Mostly because we don’t know that many kids well enough to invite them over yet.”

Carrie interrupted. “My point was—” she began with obvious frustration.

Raylene covered her hand. “I know what your point was. You aren’t happy that he was here with me.”

Carrie frowned. “It’s not that exactly. It’s just that Carter takes his responsibilities very seriously, so for him to stay here all night, it had to mean something.”

“Like what?”

“That you’re special,” Carrie said. “Do you feel the same way about him? Because I wouldn’t want him to get hurt, if you’re just having an affair or something.”

Raylene might have laughed if Carrie hadn’t looked so earnest. The girl really was worried that her big brother might be in over his head. “What exactly did Carter tell you about last night?” she asked eventually.

“That you were having a rough time and he stuck around to make sure you were okay.” She looked directly into Raylene’s eyes. “I figured he said that because he didn’t want to admit he was having sex. It’s kind of a touchy subject in our house.”

Raylene could imagine. The idea of Carter discussing his sex life with his sisters was pretty much beyond her imaginative capabilities.

“No, he said that because it was the truth,” she told Carrie.

Carrie looked vaguely disappointed. “Really?”

“Honest to goodness.”

“That’s kind of a shame,” Carrie said. “Don’t guys his age want to have sex all the time? The guys I know certainly do.”

“I can’t speak for most guys, or even for your brother,” Raylene told her. “What matters is that you don’t ever let yourself get talked into doing something you’re not ready to do.”

“Yeah, Carter says that, too,” Mandy chimed in.

“How old were you the first time you had sex?” Carrie asked, throwing Raylene yet again with her un-censored directness.

“I may not be the best example in the world,” Raylene said. “I was eighteen, but I was also married. As it turns out, that was a huge mistake.”

“Why?” Mandy wanted to know.

“Because I was much too young to make a decision that important. I didn’t have enough experience to have good judgment about someone I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with.”

“So you got a divorce,” Carrie said. “Lots of people get divorced.”

Raylene didn’t know how much she should reveal about her marriage to two impressionable young girls. It was possible, though, that she could turn it into a cautionary tale without revealing too much detail.

“My situation was more complicated than most,” she said. “My husband turned out to be abusive.”

Carrie’s eyes widened. “He hit you?”

Raylene nodded. “And maybe if I’d been a little older when I met him, I would have recognized the signs that he wasn’t a good guy and I would never have been in that situation. I like to think so, anyway.”