Fools (Licking Thicket 3)

I scrambled off the table and peered around him into the hall. “Don’t be ridiculous, Carter!” I said over-loudly. “I’m simply eating a cookie while I ponder this complex, confidential… situation. Involving medicine.”

“Ahhh, that must be how real doctors do it. I saw that on an episode of House once.” Carter brushed past me and hopped up onto the end of the exam table, stealing my spot. “Your boyfriend’s gone, by the by. It’s just you and me—”

I whirled to face him. “Dunn’s not my boyfriend.”

“—aaaand I got tired of drawing anthropomorphic penises on your crossword puzzles—”

“Damn it, Carter!” I shook the cookie bag at him. “I knew it!”

“—so I figured I’d come down here and consult with you on your emergency. Little did I know just how badly you’d need your personal heart doctor.” He lay back and stacked his hands behind his head. “Lay it on me, Doc. What’s happening between you and the handsome and oh-so-jealous Farmer Johnson?” He swung his feet back and forth like he hadn’t a care in the world… but he watched me closely.

I closed my eyes and sighed. “Dunn’s gone? You sure?”

“Yep. And he looked none too pleased when I lied and told him I might just stay the night, since we’d need to get an early start for fishing tomorrow. He said, ‘I think it’s only fair to warn you, Rogers, that I’m bringing out my Armor Shad and my Magnum Squarebill tomorrow.’ I’m ninety-nine percent sure that was fisherman-speak for challenging me to a duel.” Carter wiggled his eyebrows.

I groaned. God, I was a sucker for Dunn Johnson and his proprietary friendship.

“Do I even want to know what you said after that?” I demanded.

“Oh, I just reminded him it’s not about how big your Squarebill is, it’s about knowing how to use it.” Carter studied his nails innocently. “Wasn’t that right? I’m not up on all the fishing lingo.”

“Oh, God, you didn’t.” I thought of Dunn last night, all bewildered, saying he wanted to touch me but didn’t know how. I smacked my forehead with the hand that wasn’t still clinging to the cookie bag. “Carter!”

“What?” He sat up, his blue eyes sparkling and unrepentant. “I have to say, I only agreed to cover Dr. Symmons’s practice ’cause my old man asked me to, and I’d kinda dreaded it. Who knew small towns could be so fun?”

“Hush! You’ve just taken a bad situation and made it even worse. And I didn’t think that was possible.” I stormed out of the room and up the main stairs to my kitchen. This situation required something stronger than Milanos.

“What did I do?” Carter demanded, following along behind me, his long legs matching my shorter ones stride for stride. “Dunn’s jealous of me, I know he is. Which, a) is hilarious, since I’m almost positive he was the reason you dropped me like a hot and sexy potato three years ago, and b) indicates that the ‘hopeless’ situation you mentioned last night isn’t actually so hopeless. What’s so bad about me poking him along a little?”

I pawed through the freezer, chucking packets of frozen vegetables to the side, until I found the holy grail—one extra-large slice of Annie’s Triple Chocolate Heartbreak Cake. I stuck it in the microwave.

“What’s wrong is… is…” I hesitated. I didn’t want to tell anyone Dunn’s business, but Jesus, I needed to talk to someone. “Okay, I need to know that if I tell you something, it’ll stay in total confidence.”

“Doctor-patient confidentiality,” Carter agreed solemnly. He boosted himself up onto my soapstone counter. “Spill.”

“Well.” I blew out a breath. “Last night after that debacle at the Steak ’n Bait, Dunn came over.”

“Came over? So?” Carter’s eyes widened. “Oh! Ohhhhh! You mean he came over came over! You two did the deed?”

“We did a deed,” I allowed. “Some deeds. Not all deeds. But he’d never done any deeds before. Not with a man.”

“Ah, shit.” Carter sounded momentarily contrite. “And I inadvertently suggested he didn’t know what he was doing, did I?”

I nodded once. Then I retrieved my cake, grabbed a fork, hunched over the island, and dug in without offering Carter any. Meddlesome fucker could get his own.

“Holy hot damn! Guess Farmer Johnson was further down the path to self-awareness than I figured, huh?” Carter sounded impressed. Then he frowned. “Wait, if Dunn came over… why the hell are you self-medicating with cake instead of sucking his face off?”

“Beckuv,” I said around a mouthful of chocolate.

Carter lifted one eyebrow.

I swallowed. “Because,” I repeated. “It was like we opened Pandora’s box last night, only worse. Tucker’s box. The box of unrequited feelings. And I can’t seem to close it again.” I stabbed my cake viciously. “It’s going to destroy us.”

Carter pushed his lips together like he was trying not to laugh. “Honey, I’m not gonna accuse you of being a drama queen, but you might wanna lay off the cake. Opening the feelings box is a good thing.”