“Okay…” She couldn’t work out why Carly was upset. They’d never been jealous of the time they spent with other people, unless… “So you want me here more?”
“No, you big idiot!” Carly threw her hands in the air and stormed toward Laura’s bedroom.
With a shake of her head, she followed her sister, only to stop short in the doorway. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What you should be doing but are either too oblivious or scared to.” Carly dumped an armload of clothes from Laura’s dresser on the bed.
“I’m too scared to pull clothes from my drawers?” Laura shook her head again in the hope of loosening some kind of clarity as she moved into the room.
“No. You’re too scared to move in with Nash!”
“No I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Nope.” Laura stood in her sister’s way, feet shoulder width apart, arms folded over her chest. “Not too scared or oblivious.”
“You think?” Carly arched one eyebrow. “Then why are you here when not only do you spend most of your time at Nash’s, but when you aren’t there with him, he’s here with you!”
“Do you not want him staying? You never complained when I asked you if you’d be okay with him being here last Christmas.”
“I don’t have a problem with him staying over. What I have a problem with is you keeping him at arm’s length.”
“How is me sleeping with him every night keeping him at arm’s length?” Motherfucking hell. Sometimes Carly confused the fuck out of her. And frustrated Laura so much she wanted to punch her. Not that she ever had. In spite of her job, Laura didn’t like violence. Maybe that’s why she’d always wanted to be a police officer. To stop violence from happening.
Carly ducked around her and dropped another armload of clothes on the bed before facing her again. “Look. I get that this is your first serious relationship and you might not be ready to dive in, especially after what happened?—”
“Don’t say it. That has nothing to do with my relationship with Nash. I haven’t moved in with Nash because I don’t want to freak out Mom and Dad.”
“Why would they freak out?” Carly’s genuine confusion had Laura wondering if she might have been putting off moving in with Nash for no reason.
No. Waiting to take the next step in their relationship was the right decision. “Because I’ve only just started seeing him. I can’t go from single to shacking up with a man in one day!”
“It’s been months!”
“Months, not years.” With a sigh, Laura moved to the bed, shoved the pile of clothes back, and sat. “He asked me to move in last December, but before we spent all those nights trapped at the Inn we hadn’t even been on a date.”
“No, but the whole fucking town knows he’s been gone for you since he arrived in Winter Lake.”
“What?”
“Laura, I love you, but for a police officer you are sometimes completely oblivious to what is going on around you.” Carly sat next to her and grabbed her hand. “Nash Yates has been in love with you for years. I know it, Mom and Dad know it, the whole damn town knows it, and I’m pretty sure you now know it.”
“I do.”
“Then why are you here? You have a man who loves you and isn’t afraid to show it. He doesn’t care who’s around or what they think, he loves you out loud for anyone and everyone to see. Everyone dreams of being loved like that.”
“Oh, Carly, Macklin?—”
“No. We are not talking about me. Or him.” Carly shook her head.
“But—”
“No buts. I want to know why you’re still living with me when you could be living with that hunk of man who treats you the way Dad treats Mom.”
Laura couldn’t hold back her smile. “He does, doesn’t he?”
“Yes. And you should be grabbing him and holding on tight.”
