Sandy’s face turned guarded.“Have you asked him?”she inquired instead.
“I have, but he changes the topic.”
“He’ll tell youif and when he’s ready, Al.It’s not my place to share his stories.”
Which meant Sandy knew but wasn’t telling.That wasn’t fair.“What?You tell me everything else about him, but not that?”Talk about double standard.
“It’s a personal matter and that’s all I’m willing to say.”
She wasn’t going to get any more details than that, she supposed.“Alright.”It seemed she didn’t have a choice but to wait and see.
Chapter 10
Carson had barely set his things down at his desk before the guys surrounded him.His office space suddenly felt very small and cramped.“Hi,” he said as he sat down and started logging onto his computer.He looked around him.No one had moved.They just stood there like statues encircling him.“What?”
“So how was it?”
“Were you nicer this time?”
“Can I get her number?”
Jack’s question gave him pause.“Fine.Yes.Hell no.”
Jack made a face.“Why does no one want to give me her number?Not Sandy or you.You didn’t even like her.Why let a beautiful woman like that go to waste?”
Carson was used to Jack’s ribbing about women, but hearing him talk about Allie like that had him seeing red.“Back off, Jack.”
“Ooh, touchy,” Jack said nonplused.Nothing ever rattled him.Even his scars.He showed them off to every woman who wanted to see them like they were badges of honor and not reminders of all they’d lost.
“So how did the date go?”
Since when did they care about his dating life?He never should have told them he’d run into Allie at the store and asked her out, but they had become curious since he’d been spending such a large amount of time on his phone over the past week with a smile on his face.
His cheeks had hurt that first day.Did he smile so infrequently that his muscles weren’t used to it?Must be.It wasn’t like he had much to smile about.He had never been a smiler.Now that hethought about it, he hadn’t smiled much when he was with Jenny.They were no more than strangers; he had been gone all the time.They had been more like roommates than fiancés.
“Fine.”
The guys took a collective step closer.They weren’t willing to drop this anytime soon.
“We have better things to do than talk about my dating life.Yurgio, remember him?He’s more important.”
“His status isn’t going to change in a matter of minutes.Why are you avoiding the question?”Carson was shocked that Luke was in on this.As the team lead, Carson expected him to keep order, not get the others involved.
“I’m not, there just isn’t anything to say.”At leastnothing he was willing to share with the group.His private life was just that, private.Not fodder to gossip over by his friends.
“So, it was a bad date?”Barry asked.
“No.”It was a lot offun actually.Even after getting hit by paintballs from teenagers.Not that he would tell the guys about that.He’d never live it down.
“So it was good?”Greg asked, looking hopeful.As the only other guy in the group to have a girlfriend, Greg was eager for more women to join in their group for companionship for Shay and Zoe.
“Yes.”
“Are you seeing her again?”Rob asked.
“Yes.”
“When?”
