Untouchable_A Bully Romance by Sam Mariano

Author:Sam Mariano [Mariano, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-16T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 30

On my way back to the table with a fresh dish of sliced tomatoes, I spot the last thing I ever expected to see—Carter Mahoney at church.

Well, okay, he’s outside of church, technically. The cookout is outside, and there aren’t many people here, but I certainly didn’t expect him to be one of them. My steps slow, my forehead creasing with a frown as I take in the sight of Carter talking to Pastor James, then I remember last time Carter encountered him and I pick up the pace.

“Hey, what are you doin’ here?” I call out as I approach.

Carter turns to watch me approach. “Came to see your basket.”

Now I notice James is also holding a basket I haven’t seen before—which shouldn’t be possible, since I’m one of the volunteers who put the baskets together. This one is wrapped in cellophane and tied with Longhorn blue ribbon. Inside, with a Longhorns shirt nestled around it, I see a football with marks all over it. Signatures?

An autographed football.

I put it together at the same time James offers a mild smile and says, “Carter here brought another basket for the auction.”

“Sure did,” Carter says, sounding pretty satisfied with himself.

I don’t even know what to say. I did tell him all about the baskets and what each basket would contain, so I guess he had the information, but he certainly didn’t say he would contribute anything. “That was generous of you, Carter. Thank you,” I tell him.

“It’s well put together, too,” James offers, nodding as he looks over the contents of the basket. “Seems you have a knack for arts and crafts, Carter.”

Carter chuckles to himself and shakes his head. “I can’t take credit for the assembly. I bought the stuff, my rally girl put it together. She has a knack for arts and crafts.”

“Oh, okay,” James returns, nodding. “Well, that’s real nice of your girlfriend to help you out.”

Okay, that’s enough of that. Nodding my head toward the tables before Carter can rise to the bait and kiss my face off right here in front of the assembled members of my congregation, I say, “I’ve gotta walk these tomatoes over here. You wanna follow me?”

Carter allows me to rein him in, thankfully, and he follows me over to the folding table set up with all the fixings. “Are more people supposed to show up?”

I sigh, looking around the empty church lawn. We’ve all done our parts to spread the word about the cookout and basket auction, but so far, the turnout hasn’t been great. As sad as it is, at this point, we would have been better off just giving the woman we’re raising funds for the money we spent doing all this.

“Hopefully more people will show up in the afternoon.”

“How long is this thing going?” he asks.

“We close everything up at four.”

Carter nods, pulling out his phone and checking the display. “Still got some time, then. I’ve gotta run over and pick up Chloe from ballet in a few minutes, but I’ll bring her over and buy her a burger after.

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