Page 13 of Convincing Carrie
It was a great way to start the day.
Then memories of Madison wanting to go down on me the other day suddenly assailed me, and I felt like the biggest asshole in the world. I’d been tempted. So fucking tempted.
I lurched out of bed, surprising the hell out of Carrie.
“Thatch? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I gasped as I ran to the restroom. I turned on the fan and locked the door before running over to get sick in thetoilet. Afterwards I sat on the floor with my back against the wall. What the hell was I doing?
I couldn’t do this anymore. Something had to give. I wasn’t the type of guy who played two women at once or had affairs. I hated it.
I got in the shower, trying to calm myself down. The truth was, I hadn’t physically cheated on Carrie. I wasn’t planning to, either. I did my best to wash away the feelings of guilt and horror over what I’d almost done. I kept reminding myself that almost cheating wasn’t the same thing as actual cheating.
I got the idea while I was in there to do something nice for Carrie. Would it make up for wanting another woman to go down on me? Hell, no. But at least it would feel good to do something together that would make her happy.
I came out of the bathroom all clean and fresh. She was sitting on the bed looking confused. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Just wanted to get ready for our day together.” I grinned at her. “Do you remember
how you wanted to go kayaking a couple of weeks ago, and I kept saying no?”
She nodded, looking hopeful.
“Let’s go. We can either rent a two-person kayak like we normally do, or I’ll finally let you teach me.”
She squealed and jumped off the bed to get ready. “This is going to be so fun!” she called
over her shoulder.
I couldn’t have felt more guilty over all the time I’d been spending with Mads. Carrie was so easy to please and so trusting. I was a true jackass.
But I didn’t seem to be able to stop myself from being with Mads.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Carrie
The weeks and months rolled by, and nothing much changed between Thatcher and me. It didn’t get better, but it hadn’t gotten worse. I could be grateful for that, at least. It was the only thing I was grateful for at the moment. I was about to have to attend my mother-in-law’s birthday bash in Atlanta.
I hated dinners and parties at the Caldwell estate. Besides Thatcher, only his brother Bryce and his sister Celia treated me like a normal person. Olive always acted as if Thatcher pitied me. That would be the only explanation as to why he married me. And then there was Karen Caldwell. Thatcher’s mom was hard to take—and that was putting it mildly.
Every time we came to one of her many, many required dinner parties, she acted surprised that Thatcher and I weren’t divorced yet. She and all her friends also treated me like I was some sort of charity case Thatcher had rescued from a cave dwelling or something. They were always whispering about how it was ‘so good’ of Thatcher to have married someone so far outside of their circle. It was obvious none of them actually thought it was good. I wasn’t an idiot. I just smiled and took it, though.
Because I loved Thatcher and he loved me. A few—okay, several—dinner parties a year where they looked at me like I was a swamp creature was worth it in the long run. Did I drink moreheavily than normal at these functions? Yes. Yes, I did. But I put up with it for Thatcher’s sake.
None of it even really made sense. I came from one of the founding families of Indigo Falls, and my family was among the wealthiest in town. My dad was the mayor. My mom was president of the school board. And those were just elected positions. Neither of them needed to work because they’d inherited family money. Dad still did, though. He was the lead doctor at a family practice clinic in between Indigo Falls and Halliwell, Georgia.
While Mom didn’t work, per se, she did more than any other human I’d ever met. She chaired every board and club and committee in town. When I’d decided to marry Thatcher instead of using my degree in education, she’d recruited me to sit on every single one of those boards.
Foolishly, I’d thought that sort of thing would impress my mother-in-law. Instead, Karen liked to pick apart whatever clubs I was in by topping them with something so far superior to mine that it couldn’t compete.
So, I had low expectations as Thatcher and I walked into Karen’s birthday soiree. It was formal, so Thatcher was looking insanely good in his tuxedo. He’d barely noticed my new gown, but that was just him lately. Always distracted. Thatch had been quiet on the drive from Indigo Falls to Buckhead. But then he’d been quiet a lot lately. Taking over as CEO had changed him, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever get the man I’d fallen in love with back. I didn’t stop to wonder if something in particular was bothering him that night since I was so nervous about walking into the viper’s nest that was my mother-in-law’s garden parties.
We were about to enter the almost palatial Caldwell home on West Paces Ferry in Buckhead. It was only a few houses down from the Governor’s Mansion. If you could even call the residences on this road ‘houses.’ They were at least mansions ifnot estates. As we were walking up to the massive front door, his phone buzzed. He glanced at it quickly, turning it where I couldn’t possibly see it. I narrowed my eyes, unable to tell for sure if he was doing that on purpose.
“Fuck!” he cursed under his breath.
“What’s wrong?”
