Chasing Carly (Holiday Cove 3)

I nodded. “All of which would be a lot trickier with a cranky teen in tow.”

“Right.”

“Damn, that must be nice. Travel for three months every summer. You ever go over to visit?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I’ve never even been out of the country before. You?” She paused and interrupted herself before I could answer. “Oh—duh. Of course you have.”

I laughed. “A time or two. You don’t do eight years in the corps without taking a few trips overseas. I’ve been to Japan, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. But, I can safely say that none of those trips were any fun.”

Carly smile slightly. “I’m sure you made the best of it.”

“Did my best. My buddies and I were always getting into something, but still…not my idea of fun.”

“I suppose not.” She scrubbed the counter once more and then turned to dump the used sponge into the sink by the espresso machine. “Where would you go if you could go somewhere just for fun?”

“New Zealand is at the top of my list. Something about the wide-open space and the green landscape appeals to me.”

Carly came back over and leaned on the case opposite me once again. “And then you might as well hop over to Australia. I mean, you’re right there.”

“Exactly!”

“Sounds fun. Is that your plan?”

“Someday. Yeah. Why not? I don’t have anything concrete mapped out, but I got another three months to figure it out.”

“Why three months?” She asked, wrinkling her nose.

“I’m at the museum for the next three months. Rosen only needs me for the next ninety days. It’s more of a contractor position.”

“Oh.” She frowned and my heart jumped at her disappointment. “What happens after that?”

“I don’t know. I like it here, though, so maybe I’ll find a way to convince him to keep me on longer. All I know is I’m not going back to Fallon.”

She laughed. “Well that’s good to hear. Aaron’s a smart guy. I’m sure he’ll keep you. If nothing else, I’m apparently in desperate need of a bus boy…” she said, gesturing to the dining room that looked like a tornado had ripped through. Each table was stacked with plates and discarded mugs.

“Woah.”

“Yeah. It’s been an insane day.”

I turned my attention back to her. “You’re just about ready to close up, right?”

Carly nodded. “In about a half an hour. It usually drops off around this time, so I tend to take advantage by getting a jump on the cleaning.”

I shifted forward and braced myself against the dessert case, staring down at her on the other side. “So, tell me what there is to do around here on the weekends. I was asking around at the museum, but no one seems to have much in the way of suggestions. Do you all just camp out on your couches with your Netflix account all night?”

“Something like that,” Carly replied, laughing. “Most of the fun happens outside of Holiday Cove on the weekends. If you want to get out of town, you can usually find some fun just a little way up the coast.”

“Is that what you’re going to do?” I asked. Carly flashed me a suspicious look., “I’m just asking hypothetically. I’m not inviting myself along on your weekend plans. Unless you wanted me to.”

“It’s gonna take me another two hours just to get this place put back together.”

“I’ll make you a deal,” I said, grinning over at her. “I’ll help you clean this place up and then you come out to dinner with me.”

“Nick, I…”

“It’s not a date,” I insisted, interrupting what had sounded like the start of an objection. Carly pursed her lips. “Just two new friends hanging out. Come on, consider it a random act of kindness. Otherwise, I’m gonna have to go out wandering aimlessly up and down the coast and that would suck. It’s either come out with me or go home and pace around worrying about your sister.”

Her eyes wandered back to the messy tables and then back to me. “Well, I guess…”

“Excellent. Let’s do this.” I marched over to the trash cans, grab a black bin that was stashed on the second shelf off to one side, and started clearing tables.

I could hear Carly laughing from her place at the counter, but I just smiled to myself and kept cleaning.

8

Carly

* * *

“This is a nice truck,” I said, immediately regretting my own words. Wasn’t there anything else I could have come up with?

Luckily, Nick didn’t find it lame. He grinned at his truck and I was reminded how much boys loved their toys. He could probably go on about his truck all evening if I let him. “Thanks. Now, why don’t you tell me where I’m pointing it,” he said, coming around to the passenger side.

“What are you doing?” I asked, startled as he reached past me.

He gave me a quizzical glance. “I was going to open your door.”