a different way, and I also have Lincoln. I think I ended up better off in the end.”
The spark of hope that ignited at his words was like nothing Ruth had ever experienced before. “Really? You mean it?”
“Yeah.” He’d stopped at a traffic light, and he turned his head to meet and hold her gaze. “I do. I never thought I’d say this, but I’m happier now than I was before everything happened. I was trying to go down that road set out for me, and I kind of broke when I couldn’t do it, but I realize now it wasn’t the road I wanted. I did lose something, but I gained a lot more. I’m better off right now than I was last Christmas.”
She gave him a wobbly smile, unable to get any words out. And it didn’t matter. It felt like they’d said enough.
They drove the rest of the way back to the house in silence.
A WEEK LATER, RUTH was showing Kayla pictures on her phone of the two projects she’d recently completed. One was a master bedroom and bathroom, and the other was a connected living room and dining room. Kayla oohed and aahed over the photos, and Ruth had to admit they looked pretty good.
She’d done a good job designing those rooms. She was proud of them.
“They’re both gorgeous,” Kayla said, when she’d looked at every picture at least three times. “I can’t believe you can make rooms so beautiful. Were the people happy with them?”
“Yes. I think so. They both gave me huge tips, which I hadn’t expected. And they gave me a lot of compliments and said they’d recommend me to their friends. So I think they were really happy with them. People like that tend to let you know if they aren’t, so I think I’d have heard about it if they didn’t get what they wanted.”
“Probably so. What does Carter think about the rooms?”
Ruth blinked a couple of times, taken aback by the question. “I don’t know. He said he liked them.”
“Did he ask to see the pictures?”
“No, actually he went to the houses and looked at the rooms with me a few days ago. He knows my clients. I mean, he grew up with these people. So it wasn’t a big deal for him to go look.” For no good reason, she was a little embarrassed telling Kayla that information.
The girl giggled. “So he made a point of going to see them?”
“No. I mean, I don’t think he made a point about it. He just went—” Ruth made a face at her stepsister. “What are you trying to say?”
“Nothing.” Kayla couldn’t seem to stop laughing. “I think it’s cute that he’s so excited about your work.”
“He’s not excited about it! He just went to see it.” There was no good excuse for her getting riled up about this, so she made herself calm down. “It’s not a big deal.”
The truth was it had felt perfectly natural when Carter suggested it. She hadn’t thought a thing about taking him to see what she’d done in the houses of her most recent clients. And she’d genuinely appreciated that he’d asked a lot of intelligent questions about her choices and really looked at things before he’d told her that he thought the designs were great.
But Kayla was right. It was really nice of him.
“He’s just like that,” Ruth added, explaining it to herself as much as Kayla. “He’s always super nice that way. With everyone.”
“So he’s not extra nice to you.”
“Why would he be?”
“I don’t know. Just that he seems to like you a lot. And you like him.”
Carter had a business dinner scheduled that evening, so she hadn’t been able to hang out with him that night as she normally would have done on a Saturday. Instead, she’d taken advantage of the free time to have a girls’ night with Kayla at her apartment. They’d watched two fluffy Christmas movies, eaten pancakes, bacon, and cupcakes, and had a very good time.
It was getting late, so Ruth would need to take Kayla back home soon, but there wasn’t any big hurry.
“Of course I like him,” Ruth said. “We’re friends now.”
“Is that all? Because it kind of seems like you like him, like him.”
Ruth was flushing. “I don’t.”
“You really don’t? Why not? He’s so nice. And he seems to really listen and care about people. Even me. And he’s seriously the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen. Don’t you think you might want him as more