Letting Go (15 page)

Quinn did not miss the look of indecision that flickered across her sister’s face. Finally, it seemed that Carly decided to go for honesty.

She let out a little self-deprecating scoff. “Whether I want to or not, I’ve realized I will always have feelings for Jesse,” she said as she reached for the door handle. “The problem is, those feelings have never done either one of us any good. They’ve only ever ended in heartache. Now let’s get inside so I can see that nephew of mine.”

12

“Pardon?” Margo asked. Her overly–plucked eyebrows shot up in the air.

Carly popped a coconut shrimp into her mouth. She began to chew, giving her mother an apologetic shrug. Then she turned to Carter, who was in his high chair sitting between her and Quinn. He was babbling away. She became preoccupied with silently scooping him another serving of carrots.

“You did not just say Nolan is an
Art
History major.” Margo was barely able to contain her horror.

Quinn glanced at Luke. H
e’d lowered his head until he could push away his smile. When he glanced back at Quinn, she could still see the amusement in his eyes.

“Art
History,” Pete repeated. “Well, that’s…unusual.”

“Unusual?” Margo asked, her eyes going wide. “More like—”

“Interesting,” Quinn interjected. “That’s really interesting, Carly. Somehow, I must have missed that about him.”

Carly continued to chew as her eyes drifted around the table. She was clearly in no hurry to contribute to the conversation.

“Yeah, that does sound interesting,” Luke added on, trying to help. Then he looked at Quinn, feeling like he should say more. He was at a loss. So was she.

Margo darted a look at him and he dropped his gaze back to his plate.

Carly took a sip of water. When she couldn’t delay any longer, she finally emitted a drawn out sigh. “Yes, he’s an Art History major. It’s a perfectly respectable major, Mom.”

Margo blinked at her and then took a sip of her own water. She took a moment to compose herself. “Interesting indeed,” she muttered.
“You simply told me he was a
history
major. That, I thought, was bad enough. But
Art
History? What in heaven’s name is he going to use a degree like that for? It’s no wonder you didn’t mention it until now.”

“I did, too,” Carly said somewhat defiantly. “You must not have heard me.”

Quinn was a little doubtful about this. If Carly had mentioned it to their mom, Margo definitely would’ve latched on to that little piece of information, just as she had right now.

“I would like to know the answer to that as well,” Pete said. “What kind of plans does this fellow have for the future? What does a person do with a degree like that?
I can’t imagine it’s a very lucrative field. Is it?”

Carly shifted in her chair and Quinn felt for her. Unlike their mom, their dad was genuinely curious. “I don’t…I don’t really know,” she finally admitted.
She didn’t look particularly concerned. “I don’t think it’s a degree he could use around here. But I’m sure that in the right city, it would be very useful.”

“You don’t know?” Margo repeated. “How can you not know? What do you talk about if you don’t talk about your future? Then again,” she said as she reevaluated her comment, “
maybe that’s not a bad thing. There must be plenty of young men out there with a stable career in their horizon.”

“Mom,” Quinn said, “is this really necessary?”

“Of course it’s necessary to worry about my daughters. What kind of mother would I be if I didn’t?”

Carly rolled her eyes and turned away from Margo.

“I mean, look at Luke,” Margo said as she vaguely motioned toward him. His eyebrows furrowed suspiciously. “You should look for someone like Luke. He has a good job. I spoke with Nora the other day. Tom is getting everything in order for his retirement. Luke is going to be taking over the business. Aren’t you Luke?”

She turned to him and he nodded. “Yes, it looks that way.”
He gave Carly an apologetic shrug.

“See?” Margo said, beaming at Carly, as if she were the one responsible for such an accomplishment. “This boy has ambition.”

Luke was about to tell her that wasn’t necessarily true. More than anything, it had to do with Tom wanting to be done. Whether Luke was ready for him to be done or not.

“Mom,” Quinn said as she shook her head.
This was the first Margo had hinted at being impressed that Luke was going to be a business owner someday soon. She had never praised Luke before. Not in any capacity. She did not want her to start now, not if it was at Carly’s expense. “Don’t you think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself?”

Margo nodded, her relief was evident.
“You’re right. Carly’s young. She has plenty of time to find a proper young man. I’m sure that university we’re sending you to is full of them. I’m sure this Nolan is just a passing thing.”

“Right,” Carly said dryly. “A passing thing that’s lasted for the better part of a year. But you know, think what you want, Mom. You always do.”

“How serious can you be if we haven’t even met him yet? That tells me that he’s just another one of your flings.”

“You know,
I’m not even going to dignify that comment with a response.” Carly turned to Pete. “Dad, could you please pass the potatoes?”

“Carly, you still have plenty of food on your plate. Are you sure you really need seconds already?” Margo asked.

“Mom!” Carly cried. “Can you just, for two seconds, back off?”

“Well, pardon me,” Margo said. “But I just don’t—”

“You know what, Dad, forget the potatoes. In fact, forget dinner. I’ve completely lost my appetite.” Carly pushed herself away from the table.

When she bolted out of the room, Quinn followed. She hurried after Carly, following her sister up
the staircase to her room.

Carly began plucking items off of
her clothing strewn floor.

“What are you doing?” Quinn asked.

“I’m leaving,” Carly said. “This? This is why I hardly ever come home. She just doesn’t know when to back off. Everyone wants to know why I they haven’t met Nolan yet. But the reason is because I haven’t invited him here! I haven’t asked him to come home with me because a part of me doesn’t want him to! I can only imagine what rude comments she’d subject him to! As far as I’m concerned, the longer I can keep him from Mom, the better off I’ll be.” She stuffed a handful of clothes back in her suitcase. “I mean, no offense, but now all of a sudden Luke it the golden boy because she prefers his career choice to Nolan’s? Not that there is anything wrong with what Luke does. There isn’t. But you know how much time she spends grumbling about Luke.”

Margo had been much more accepting of Luke and Quinn the
past few months. But Quinn could always catch the edge of disapproval in her tone. She was sure that any acceptance at all had only come at the insistence of Pete.

Quinn knew her mom just didn’t think it was proper for
her and Luke to be together.

“I know,” Quinn said as she grabbed Carly by the elbow, trying to slow her down. “That’s exactly why you can’t let her get to you.
You know that by tomorrow, she’ll go right back to disapproving of Luke and me.”

“Maybe I don’t want a ‘proper’ young man!” Carly huffed. “Maybe I
want
Nolan!”

“Do you?” Quinn demanded. “Because really, that’s all that matters.”

Carly took a deep breath before nodding. “I do. I think I love him. He’s the only person who has ever made me stop thinking about Jesse.”

“Okay, then,” Quinn said with a shrug. “That’s the only thing you should worry about.
You know how she is. She’s never really going to approve of
anybody
. Promise you’ll bring him home soon.”

Carly cringed. “Maybe over spring break.”

“That’s not soon. That’s almost a month away.”

“I’m going to need that long to get myself used to the idea. And it will probably take that long to prepare Nolan. Otherwise he might be ready to pack up and leave after an hour,” Carly grumbled.

“It’ll be fine. You can’t let Mom chase you away.”

“I don’t want her to chase
him
away,” Carly corrected.

Quinn studied her sister for a moment.
“Just how serious are you about him?”

Carly eyed her closed door for a minute. “Pretty serious.” She glanced at Quinn who
was waiting patiently for a more thorough explanation. “Promise you won’t tell Mom or Dad?” Quinn gave her an offended look. Of course she wouldn’t. “I moved in with him. After semester break.”

“You what?” Quinn asked. “I thought you were living in the dorms! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m just doing what you did,” Carly said defensively. “You practically lived with Jake and they didn’t know. I’m living with Nolan. They’d already paid for the dorm for the semester. I’m paying my half of the rent at Nolan’s. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to be caught in the middle. But, you promised you wouldn’t tell. And they’ll never have to know.” She was still packing her bag but her pace had slowed.

“Wow,” Quinn breathed out the word. “I can’t believe you kept this from me.”

“I didn’t want to,” she said. “I just didn’t know how you’d feel keeping it from them.”

“I can’t really say much about
that,” Quinn admitted. “Since I pretty much did the same thing.”

“Exactly,” Carly said with a devious grin. “Where do you think I got the idea from? Who ever would’ve thought
you
would be a bad influence on
me
?”

“
Now I’d really love to meet him,” Quinn said, ignoring her teasing. “If things are that serious,” she’d never heard Carly to proclaim to be in love before, “then we should get to know him. Don’t worry about Mom.” She sighed. “Sad as it is, if he loves you too, he’ll just have to learn to deal with her. Just like Jake and Luke did.”

A small l
augh slipped out. “That’s a big request. I haven’t learned to deal with her yet.”

“
Oh, come on, you handle her better than anyone. So don’t go. At least stay through the night,” Quinn suggested. “You have such a long drive. I’d hate it if you left this late at night.”

“It’s not that late, Quinn,” Carly said with a small smile.

“I know. But I’d worry anyway. Carter hardly ever gets to see you.”

“Now you’re not playing fair,” Carly pretended to grumble.

Quinn smiled. “You know Mom made pecan pie for dessert. I’ll dish you up two pieces.”

“Fine,” Carly agreed, knowing how much that would annoy Margo sine she didn’t finish her dinner
. “But you and Luke have to stay for awhile. No running off right away. I mean, if I have to stick it out, so do you.”

“Deal,” Quinn said.

~*~*~

Quinn smiled to herself as she plucked Carter’s hat off of his sweaty little head. As promised, they had stayed until well into the
evening. Until Carter crankiness had gotten to be too much. As predicted, he’d fallen asleep within minutes of being in the dark car.

“I’m glad I put his pajamas on before we left,” she said to Luke.

He readjusted the sleeping toddler, holding him away from his body slightly so that Quinn could peel his snowsuit off. She did so carefully, not wanting to wake him. She gently patted down his tousled hair.

“Should I go tuck him in?” Luke asked
. He readjusted Carter yet again, letting him curl into his chest.

“If you don’t mind,” Quinn answered. Her heart filled with warmth as she took in the sight of Carter nestled against Luke’s shoulder. His little fist was bunched up around a chunk of Luke’s sweater. He looked so peaceful and perfect and content.

“I’d love to,” Luke said. “I’ll be right back.”

Quinn watched them go, noting how Luke settled a kiss onto the top of Carter’s head before disappearing down the hallway. He came back
a few minutes later.