into trouble together but you couldn’t control them even if you tried.
This man … he couldn’t be Carter. Even if their ages and features match, that would mean that he’s been around this whole time. It’d give him no excuse as to why he missed saying goodbye to his friend, other than being insensitive. Even Jesse showed up despite his hatred for funerals, something he had to deal with too many times between his biological mother’s overdose that sent him to live with us and his younger sister’s suicide some years later. Still, he came.
It isn’t until papers are distributed and he focuses on something laid out on the podium in front of him that I drift off in thought. My mind conjures up memories of hot summers helping Dad paint the house red, or Mom replant Hosta that Jesse backed over trying to get out of the driveway. Along with those memories are ones of a smiling face and deep-set dimples that always made me blush when they were directed at me in a friendly manner. I’d get so angry when Carter ruffled my hair like I was a little kid.
He’s older than Jesse by six years and older than Danny by ten. In a strange alternate universe, he could even be one of Dad’s kids from a previous marriage like Jesse and Hanna, my late half-sister. That’d been the running joke growing up, since Carter found his way to our house more times than not since his own father worked a lot. He got along with my entire family and treated me like an annoying little sister. I was the youngest as it was, and Jesse reminded me of that when I got away with things they never could. Daddy’s Princess was snarked at me countless times until I’d snap.
The sudden sound of my name being called pulls me away from the thoughts lingering from my youth. It’s not the typical monotone drone of a bored professor dreading another intro-level class. There’s surprise webbed into the rasp of each syllable as he repeats my name again, letting it roll off his lips like he’s testing it’s out after years of never speaking it.
“Piper Montgomery?”
When my face tilts upward to see the professor searching the room with narrowed eyes, I squirm and clear my throat. “Here.”
His eyes instantly snap to mine, a noticeable shift in posture straightening his spine as one of his dark brows arch a fraction.
In that moment I know for sure that this is the same man I’ve told myself I secretly hated when he didn’t show up to the funeral home. The same person I housed a crush on for a long time when I was younger, and the very same individual who I hoped I wouldn’t have to see again because I wouldn’t know what to say.
Carter Ford.
Professor Carter Ford.
When the hell had that happened?
I could tell he wanted to say something, but he’d already spent more time on me than he did on the others still waiting to be called on. The wheels are turning in his head as his eyes linger on my auburn locks that look different straightened and recolored compared to their normal curls and tone. I used to have freckles all over my cheeks which somehow faded as I got older. I’m leaner, curvier—I don’t look like I did back then. I’m older. More mature.
Giving him a slight shrug, I go back to jotting down some assignment due dates in my planner based on the syllabus schedule. He goes about finishing roll call before transitioning right to the basics of the course. I’m thankful, and not surprised, that he skips boring introductions. Nobody wants to know a fun fact about their peers, they just want to get through the class period so they can leave.
What would I say anyway? There’s nothing about my life that I deem fun enough for anybody to care about. I could tell them about Ainsley, but that would only raise questions about why a twenty-six-year-old is sitting in on a master’s class when I have a kid at home waiting for me. I’ve learned over the years that people are judgmental and I don’t have time for pricks.
Plus, there’s Carter. Carter who, to my knowledge, knows nothing about Ainsley. Danny admitted once that he fell out of touch with Carter for a while but had reached out before his death. I don’t know what they talked about or what they didn’t. Danny loved Ainsley