Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 41

Briar

Carter's face screwed up, his brow wrinkling. “Don't do that, if you didn't look like your mama, your grandmother might not have recognized you,” he said, grabbing a basket. “I'm paying here,” he insisted. Leaving little to no room to argue.

“Only if I do the cooking,” I tried to win something back, he huffed then sighed.

“Alright,” he relented.

“Good, after this, we're gonna need some fresh tomatoes and basil, then, I think I'll be good until I have a fridge of my own.”

“You mean we aren't eating soup from a can?” he asked, as we moved forward in line. I ignored the strange glances and hushed whispers.

“Absolutely not, I can't stand the stuff, I tried it after Mama died. That's a deal breaker for me.”

“Fine, have it your way. I'm used to bachelor cooking; pop a can, heat, and eat,”

I went to laugh, but it caught me in my ribs, I had taken the brace for granted. I winced instead, my hand instantly grabbing Carter's arm for support. As I breathed through it. He brushed the hair out of my face. “You alright, sweetheart?”

I nodded, but instantly became keenly aware of the silence around us, besides the drone of cutting machines. I glanced around and I could feel Carter's glare look around over my head. Everyone went back to what they were doing, and Carter eased us forward, in line as if nothing had happened. A pair of blue eyes still watched us from over the counter. But it wasn't disdain like I'd seen in Miranda's eyes. Curiosity lay there. Yeah, the vibe was weird as fuck, but as we got to the front of the line, that smiling blue eyed woman greeted us. 

“Carter!” she came around and hugged him, and I took a step back awkwardly.

“Hey, Mom,, how are you?” Carter said, smiling fondly as she pulled away.

“Oh, I’m just fine! I’ve missed you.”

“You saw me Thursday, Mom.” 

“Really, well, feels like forever. She ushered us to the side, letting the line move forward. “And who might this lovely lady be?”

“Mom, meet Briar, she’s taking over Jake’s place, I’m letting her use one of the spare rooms till they get her power up,” Carter explained, and she eyed him surprised, before looking back at me and extending a hand. I took it.

“I’m Alice, a pleasure to meet you, Hun,”

“Pleasure is mine, Ma’am,” I said, as my Appalachian accent slipped through. I had schooled myself to hide it as best I could during college, and when I entered Alpha Enterprises as an intern. It had slipped a few times with Carter, he didn’t seem to mind, and I guess I didn’t have a reason to hold it in if it wanted out anymore. 

“You look familiar, but I can’t place you,” she said.

I shrugged. “My mama stayed here a few months, back before I was born, otherwise, we lived in Appalachia my whole life, until recently,” I let her know it couldn’t have been me she was thinking of.

“You probably just remind me of a tourist who slipped through here,” she said, with a smile and glanced up to Carter. “So what are you here for today, you got a basket? You weren’t just here to visit your ol’ mom,” she teased Carter, who smiled.

“Cheese,” I offered.

“Oh, what kind?” she said, waving to a large case behind her. “I dunno, we don’t have this many options where I come from. We are making grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. Maybe surprise us?” I said, glancing up at Carter, who nodded his agreement.

“Oh, and Briar is gonna make tomato soup from scratch and got some sourdough from the bakery,” he added, and I looked at him oddly, what did that matter?

“You cook?!” Alice asked, surprised.

“Yeah, when you grow up where I did, we grew a lot of our own food, canned, and cooked.”

“I tell you youngins these days, they don’t appreciate where their food comes from.” She gave Carter a look. “This one burns half his paycheck at his sister’s diner. If he’s not there, he’s having dinner with me and his dad,” she teased.

“Actually, Carter cooked last night and it was wonderful. I can’t say I blame him though, cooking for yourself is the pits,” I sided with Carter.

Again, Alice was taken by surprise. “Go figure, he acts like he doesn't know the first thing about cooking when he’s at home.” I bit my lip and looked at Carter, who just gave us both a sheepish look.

“Okay, okay, let me see about the cheese.”

She came back a few moments later with an armful of cheeses wrapped in deli paper. Carter took them to check out and I let my eyes fully take in the deli’s rustic style. I liked it, and his mom was nice. A part of me wondered if many years ago she had met my mother.

After the deli, Carter and I ran through the grocery store for what I needed for the soup. Maybe I needed a garden in the spring. Mama always loved her garden. It would be like bringing a bit of her here to be with me. Sounded like a plan. Another goal, another thing to entice me into tomorrow.

I was cooking when Carter came down from the shower. He was only in a worn loose pair of jeans that hung low on his lips. I swallowed before catching myself as a rogue droplet dripped from his hair down his chest. I shook my head as I stirred the soup and knocked it down to low.

“Want some help?” he asked, walking up behind me and inhaling the soup from over my shoulder. The heat of him at my back made me dizzy. I lifted the spoon offering him a taste shifting to one side. Instead of taking the spoon his eyes watched mine as his mouth wrapped around the spoon. I lost track of what my body was doing and just stared. 

“That’s amazing,” he groaned, taking the spoon and dipped it in the soup and blew on it before offering it to me. My heartbeat pulsed in my ears, my mouth opened without a conscious thought. Taste bloomed in my mouth and a moan escaped me. He chucked the spoon in the sink. I still felt dazed, and off balance. Carter just smirked and started cutting one of the loaves of bread into slices. It took me a moment to shake off what had just happened. It was like some invisible pull resided between us for just a moment. It was trippy, maybe I did need to see a doctor, find out what drugs Creedon had given me.

When I pulled out mayo, instead of butter, and started coating the slices of bread, Carter’s face told me he regretted the choice of me cooking tonight.

“Don’t knock something you haven’t tried, bestie,” I sassed, at his look of disgust. He shook his head and went to get the steak and salad fixings. He grabbed another cutting board as I dropped half the slices on the griddle and started piling up mixtures of cheese after I tasted them. We both worked in comfortable silence after that.

I piled the sandwiches up, glorious cheese melting from them, and Carter went to pull the potatoes out of the oven while I went to mix up a dressing for the salad. When we sat down to eat, Carter picked up his sandwich, tentatively, not trusting my application of mayo instead of butter, but when he bit into it, he groaned, and I smiled, happy he approved before focusing on my own plate. It was good; the soup was perfect and the mix of cheeses, both smooth and pungent, lit up my tastebuds.

“You were right,” he agreed, going for his second sandwich. Something deep inside me preened, and I was happy for the first time since  my mom got sick. I realized Creedon had never made me happy. Our relationship had hit me before I knew what was happening. I had been residing in my tomb of grief on the inside, forcing myself to move forward on the outside, sucked into my new possibilities and what fruit I could sew with those connections. I had seen Creedon’s attention as a way to achieve my goals. The fact he was interested in me an obvious plus so I had gone with it after pushing back for weeks. I had thought that once I got a chance to heal, we would grow to love eachother if our relationship outlasted the superficial beginging. 

Carter called me his ‘bestie,’ it was hard to think about just meeting him so recently, in the past I hadn’t taken easily to friendships and unloading so much onto one individual so soon was out of my character. He took it in stride, being around Carter was surprisingly easy, something about his presence was the balm to my grief, shame and a truck load of other emotions that filtered through my soul. I hoped Carter wouldn’t mind if I leaned on him, because he made living easier, and right now, that was the hardest part of getting through my fucked up turn of events. He made me smile, despite everything. Maybe this fate thing had been onto something because he was exactly the friend I needed right now. He quieted the part of me that just wanted to wither away and die. I had pushed that urge down but right now Carter was the only thing keeping it at bay.

Afterwards, we watched a Zombie series marathon and ate ice cream.