Page 5 of Loving Carter

She comes over to stand near me and says, “I’m sorry about the job thing.”

“Janie, you must know I was kidding.” I mentally kick myself, but I honestly didn’t know Janie would be upset. “You’re a great employee, and I don’t blame you a bit for wanting to help with the camp. All the stuff they do sounds like a lot more fun than making coffee and baking cakes all day. Heck, even I’m a little jealous.”

My apology seems to work because Janie smiles slightly. “I really do love my job. I love baking.”

I pat her arm. “And you’re great at it. Please don’t worry about this. I was just kidding, and I’m sorry if I upset you.”

Since Janie still seems a little weepy, I don’t ask her to take the cinnamon roll out to Carter. Instead, I ask her to start baking brownies. At lunchtime, we sell a fair number of cookies and brownies, which helps the store’s bottom line.

Once Janie is set up, I carry the cinnamon roll to the front and set the plate in front of Carter. Then I lean against the counter and watch him eat.

“Tread lightly, okay?” I tell him. “Janie’s fine. Flustered, but fine.”

“You’re the one who upset her,” he points out.

Sigh. He’s not wrong, but still I protest. “That may be, but you’re the one who gets her flustered. Don’t flirt with women when you don’t mean it. A lot of them take you seriously.”

Whatever he’s about to say is lost when Janie comes out of the back room with some muffins.

“I was starting on the brownies when I remembered the muffins. Here are the remainders for today,” she says, placing them in the display cabinet.

When she heads to the back room again, Carter looks at me. “All I did was talk to her. I didn’t flirt.”

I mentally replay the conversation. Yep, he’s right. He didn’t flirt.

Carter finishes his cinnamon roll, then takes a long drink of his coffee. “I have to get back to the ranch. There are a million things to do before the people come next week.”

I’m surprised he’s leaving so soon, so I remind him, “Don’t forget. The first meeting is at seven o’clock tonight.”

He blinks at me and tips his head. “What meeting?”

I should have expected this. Carter has forgotten all about his promise. I use my best authoritarian voice to say, “Carter—”

“Skylar,” he teases.

I frown at him. “Don’t goof. This is serious. You promised.”

Carter just smiles. “Yes, I’m aware that I promised.” After a few seconds, he leans forward and asks, “Um, what did I promise?”

“You promised to help with the Endearing Business Expo.” His expression makes it clear he’s about to say no, so I remind him, “You made a promise. This is important. It’ll benefit all the local businesses, including yours.”

“I must have been sleepwalking,” he says. “I’d never agree to help on something like that. The ranch doesn’t need more customers. I know everyone in town assumed I would help, but I can’t.”

Ah, now I know what favor he’s come to ask me for. He wants to weasel out.

“No one in townassumedyou would help. We got that idea fromyou—when you agreed.”

“When did I agree?”

“You’re too young to have this sort of memory loss,” I say. “Right here, a couple of weeks ago. Remember? Mayor Bill asked you to help, and you said yes.”

“Are you sure?”

He’s frowning at me, but I don’t care. “Unless you have an evil twin I don’t know about, you agreed. You could have said no, but you didn’t. Now it’s too late. You’ll just have to make time. It’s not a lot of work,” I say, although that may not be true. I have no idea what it will involve. Could be a Herculean task. Who knows?

Still, I press on. “If I can find time to do it and run my business, you should be able to help as well. Kellan is at the ranch now, so he can take over for you. Plus, I know you’re hiring a bunch of new people, so—”

He holds up one hand like a traffic cop. “I really don’t have time. I’m not kidding.”

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