Out of Spite

Chapter 4

After we were done eating, I helped Carter clean up. In our cleanup conversation I learned that he was once married to a girl named Tessa. They were expecting a baby boy but then on the way to her parents last Christmas, they were in an accident and Tessa died.

"so this was Tessa's house wasn't it?" I questioned. "yeah." he took a moment then finished. "that's why I don't move things. This is how she left it almost a year ago. I don't come here often because it reminds me of her." there was an awkward silence for a brief moment, neither o us knowing what to say. "I don't want to bore you with my life though." he said jokingly. "are you ready to hit the road?" he asked. "yeah let's get to it."

Carter drove for some time when he pulled over at a rest stop and asked if it was ok that we stop for the night. "yeah that's fine with me. Without you I would be walking still." I said casually. "great." he said with a smile as he reclined his seat as far as it would go down.I followed with the same thing in mind. "we could both use the beauty sleep" he said. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not but u laughed it off anyways. "goodnight Megan." "goodnight Carter." I answered even though I wasn't rely tired.

When Carter fell asleep I was still wide awake. I turned around and looked at him. "he's sort of gorgeous" I thought. I've seen him all day but I haven't really looked at him until now. He had the dark brown hair. It was just above his eyebrows. He had the cutest dimples in his cheeks and freckles all over. I noticed that he had muscle. Not too much too where he looked like a body builder but just enough to where you knew he worked out nd tried to keep his shape. "Too bad I'm probably never going to see or talkto him again after he takes me to Paradise." I thought. I turned back around and got comfortable in my seat. "I've got to fall asleep soon" I thought.

When I woke up we had already left the rest stop. "Goodmorning beautiful." Carter said with a smile on his face. "what time is it?" I said, still kind of tired. "It's almost 10. I woke up around 7 and got a cup of coffee. I was up already and decided it was probably time to get back on the road." "oh. Where are we?" "We just passed Fishlake National Forest in Utah." I didnt know what to say. "you're a heavy sleeper. Dis you know that?" "Yeah. I know all of us Frayes are." "There are more of you?" he said sarcastically. I punched him in the arm and laughed. "Just my mom and dad." "why aren't you with them?" I looked away from him and didn't answer. "it's ok. You can tell me." he showed true sympathy. "I don't wanna talk about it." I stated. I wasn ready to tell him anything.

The car ride was pretty much silent after that. We ended up stopping at a Mexican resturaunt for dinner. During dinner I asked Carter a lot of questions about him. I found out that he was 20 and owned his own business back in Colorado. He said it was just a small printing company but I still thought it was cool. I found out that he has houses all over because he travels all the time. He said he even has a house in California if I ever needed him after this was all said and done. I was starting to feel a friendship forming between us two and was almost hesitant to leave him when we got to Paradise.

After dinner we drove for a few more hours and found another rest stop. "we could keep going it I don't think there will be another rest stop for hours." "it's fine. We can just relax for a little bit, you know, before we get tired." I assured him. "sounds like a great night to me." I blushed but quickly turned away so he wouldn't notice.

Carter parked and then turned to look at me. I turned around. "What?" I asked "is there something on my face?" "no. I was just looking at you. You're really kind of beautiful. You know that?" "Well thank you" I blushed again. "So. Can you tell me more about Tessa?" I asked "If you don't want to I totally understand." I added. "sure. What do you want to know about her?" "everything. " "like what?" "like how you guys met and whatade you fall in love and stuff like that. "

He started off telling me about how they were high school sweethearts he told me the story of the time he first knew she was the woman he was going to marry. I was mesmerized by everything he told me. His life was like a fairytale. Up until the car accident where he lost it all. "Megan?" he asked. "Oh, sorry. I was just thinking." "I was just asking you about your boyfriend. You must have one right?" "actually, no I don't. My mom doesn't really approve of boys. It's ironic if you knew her." I fell silent for a moment. "anyways, she sent me to an all girls school that way icant interact with boys." He just looked at me in disbelief. Then it happened.