"How is he?" Carter asked Kate.
"I think he's still sad and upset about his friends who were killed in action," she said in a worried tone.
Carter nodded. "I never had friends die in combat, but I knew several people who killed themselves later. It's hard. You always feel guilty."
"He hasn't been sleeping," Kate said. "I’m hoping maybe I can convince him to take a nap."
Gus was jumping around her. She picked him up, and he gave a short bark and wriggled out of her arms.
"I'll take him out," Carter offered. "Margot needs some fresh air too."
After leashing up the dogs, Carter was almost dragged out onto the beach by the corgi. Margot was a bit more hesitant. She didn't seem to really like the sand, but when her feet touched the warm saltwater, she seemed to relax a little bit.
"I'll have to keep an eye on you and make sure you aren't swept away," he said to the small dog.
She barked, and he looked up and saw Allie was jogging on the beach. Carter pulled the dogs into a run behind him and fell in beside her.
"Can I help you?" she said finally.
He stopped and turned her to face him.
"So can we talk?"
"About what?" she asked.
Carter reached out and tucked a strand of her hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear.
"I don't know. Yesterday. Did it…did it mean anything? Does that mean you aren't leaving?"
She crossed her arms and turned her face out of the wind. "It's not that I don't care about you, but I have to keep my job options open. I'm not exactly in your family's good graces, and they have a lot of sway in New York City. I don't want to commit here and then have them pull the rug out from under me."
"That's a bullshit excuse, and you know it," Carter shot back.
"Is it? I mean, realistically, what do we have?" she asked, shaking him off.
"So that’s it?" Carter shouted, feeling hurt. He had thought that yesterday meant she wanted him. "You don't care about what we have? You're just going to leave?"
"Look," she said, "I'm dealing with a lot right now."
"And I'm not?"
"You have money and a family to fall back on. I have nothing!" she yelled. "I'm out here doing God knows what, not earning money, that’s for sure." She swept her hair out of her face. "I have no safety net if I fail. You don't understand, Carter, because you grew up rich and privileged. You don't understand what it means to have nothing and no one." She pushed past him and ran back to Liz's house.
Carter slumped his shoulders. "You have me," he said after Allie, but she didn't hear him.
Early that afternoon, he and his family headed off for the polo tournament. Fernando was playing, and he waved to them as the Holbrooks found a free area in the bleachers. In his blazer and long pants, Carter was sweltering. He dug into the picnic basket for something cold. His mother had made drinks, but they weren't as good as Allie's. He saw her a few rows down, sitting with the Davenports.
At the polo match, Stacy kept trying to sit next to him or touch him. Harris finally pulled her away to show her the horses. Carter breathed a sigh of relief and tried to relax the knots out of his shoulders.
"Suddenly Allie doesn't seem so bad," his father said dryly.
Carter smiled bitterly.
"How are things with you two, anyway?" Jack asked carefully.
"Well, you will be pleased to know that she and I are no more." Carter downed his drink and poured another.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Jack said.
