My eyes widen at the question, but I do my best to reel in my shock. Of course Poppy would ask. She’s always been observant, and Carter has been here twice in the last threedays. Not to mention my freakout earlier, which Poppy witnessed.
I look over at Carter, who is watching me closely, eyes sparkling like he finds her question highly entertaining. “Um, yep,” I finally say. “He sure is.”
Poppy nods, like this is exactly the answer she expected. “Does that mean he’ll be my uncle like he’s Charlie’s uncle?”
I look up to meet Anna’s gaze. For all our talk of logistics, we didn’t really cover how this relationship might impact the girls. Will they be sad when Carter’s no longer around? I’m still floundering, trying to figure out how to respond, when Carter comes to my rescue.
“You want to know a secret, Poppy?” he says.
She nods, brown eyes wide and curious.
“I’m not really Charlie’s uncle. But since I’m really good friends with her dad, she sometimes calls me Uncle Carter. Does that make sense?”
Poppy nods. “I think so. It’s like my friend Kenya at school. She has seven aunties, but they aren’t related. I told her that didn’t make sense, and she told me sometimes family is family and sometimes friends are family.”
“Right. Exactly,” Carter says.
“Good answer, Poppy,” Anna says, her voice soft.
Poppy scoops up a bite of her potatoes. “So can I call you Uncle Carter too?”
“If it’s okay with your parents, it’s okay with me,” Carter says.
The conversation moves on, Poppy chattering about school and the book she read all by herself and her favorite teacher. But I can’t stop glancing over at Carter, marveling at how easily he handled the exchange with Poppy.
And he doesn’t stop there. For the rest of dinner, every time I get caught up in my own head, worried about what he’s thinking or how things are going to go, Carter finds a way to put me at ease.
He tells a funny story about his brother. He pulls up pictures of Gordie on his phone. He even keeps the entire table enraptured with the story of how he found Gordie in a dumpster outside the Vortex when he was so tiny, his eyes were still closed.
“You wouldn’t have believed it, girls,” Miles adds. “Smallest kitten I’ve ever seen.”
And Carter was the one who took it home.
Over dessert, he asks the girls to help him brainstorm what kind of painting he should have me create for him, something I sense is intentional. Like he’s reminding me he’s getting something out of our arrangement too.
Once Miles takes the girls upstairs to put them to bed, Anna leaves Carter and me in the living room with wine. “Drink,” she says. “The next part of our evening will be easier if you’re both relaxed. I’ll be right back.” She turns and heads into her bedroom, and then I’m alone with Carter for the first time all night.
I take a huge sip of wine. Several sips, actually.
Carter looks over and grins. “You okay over there?”
I give my head a little shake and set my glass on the fireplace mantel. “Just struggling to wrap my head around everything.”
“Yeah, me too. I actually called my mom today.”
My eyebrows lift. “To tell her about…us?”
He nods. “I figured she should know before she sees anything about it online.”
“Right. Good call. How did she react?”
He shrugs. “She said she’s happy for me, and she can’t wait to meet you, and that was pretty much it.”
I nod. “I guess that’s good? I wish you didn’t have to lie to her.”
He winces the slightest bit. “Yeah. Me too. But she’s too much of a talker. If she knew the truth, she’d definitely tell someone, even if just accidentally.”
“Sounds like Anna’s mom,” I say. “She told the entire neighborhood Anna was pregnant with Olive before she’d had the chance to tell Miles. He was on the road, and she wanted to tell him in person, but then they went to a block party and her mom said something about a double stroller, and everyone figured it out.”
