Kind of creepy thoughtful. How did he know what she would like? And how did he find it in an afternoon?
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, cheeks turning pink.
After everyone but Tess’s core group of friends left, they grabbed a basketball and went to test out the newly poured half-basketball court.
Carter immediately started draining threes.
“Alex,” Faith said. “You should challenge Carter to a game of HORSE, shooting only three-pointers.”
“Uh, yeah, no,” Alex said.
They rehashed the story of how Alex had won a thousand dollars by draining threes during a Celtics halftime show several months prior.
“I remember that,” Carter said. “It was one of my first games. Hey, wait. Didn’t you come back later and get engaged too?”
Alex wiggled her fingers to flaunt her engagement ring. “Wedding’s next weekend.”
“Hah,” Carter said. “It’s such a small world, huh?”
In the end, they all played. And since they all had some skills, it dragged on for quite a while. An hour later, it had come down to Tess and Carter. They both had HORS, so any missed shot now would mean a loss.
“Wow, you’re pretty good,” Carter said. “Givin’ me a run for my money.”
“Guess I still got it,” Tess joked.
“Yeah you do, girl,” Alex yelled.
Tess took a long outside shot and was secretly amazed when she made it. She passed the ball to Carter, and he put up his shot. The ball circled the rim twice before falling off to the side. He’d missed.
“Yes! That’s an E. I win.” Tess threw up her hands in victory, ready to gloat, then caught sight of Carter. Lips pinched, eyes tight, and if it were possible, steam coming from his ears. So, a sore loser.
He let out a string of curse words, then slammed the ball on the ground so hard it bounced ten feet in the air.
Faith caught it. “Coach always said, ‘win gracefully, lose gracefully.’” She said it with a smile and was probably the only one of them who could get away with saying such a thing at such a moment.
Even so, her sweet delivery didn’t go over well with Carter. He looked ready to spit fire, and it took Nick stepping in to finally calm him down.
“Just a game, brah,” Nick said, combining his cop voice with his cop glare—a formidable combo that would cause anyone to take a beat. “Walk away.”
Carter blew out a breath, taking a second to compose himself, and then tried to play it off like he was kidding.
“It’s cool. I had to let you win ’cause it’s your birthday, right?” His smile was fake, and everyone saw right through the paper-thin lie.
After that, he didn’t stay long—barely ten minutes. Which was fine with Tess. He’d made things awkward, and it was a relief when he drove away.
Done with hoops, they carried the boom box down to the outdoor fire pit, started a fire, and pulled matching Adirondackchairs around it. It was past eleven now, and everyone was tired and tipsy.
“A diamond bracelet?” Alex huffed. “Pfft. He obviously doesn’t know you very well. What are you gonna do with it?”
Tess shrugged. “I offered to give it back when I walked him to his car,” she said. “But he insisted I keep it. Probably feels guilty for getting so mad about losing.”
“Maybe you can pawn it for some of the money you need,” Alex said.
Tess flicked a glance toward Logan and then tossed Alex a sharp “shut up” glare. Alex caught it without missing a beat. “You know,” she said quickly, “for the rocket ship you’re saving up for.”
Tess rolled her eyes at the attempted save. If it had been just her friends, she wouldn’t have cared about money talk, but she didn’t know Logan well enough to involve him in her business.
“So, Logan,” Juliet said, stepping in to help Alex by changing the subject. “Max says you’re gonna help start the renovations at the inn. Is construction work what you do then?”
