Strong (Kindred #1) (18 page)

“I can put a sweater on.”

“Well, I want the fluffy blanket.” I tell him.

“Okay,” he nods. “Are we done here?”

“Yes, we need to go to the electrical department, we need somewhere to chill your beer, right?”

“Yes, I want the biggest refrigerator they have, you English have no idea when it comes to refrigerators.”

“You American’s just have to have everything bigger, don’t you?”

“Well now, how would you know that?” he grins at me.

“You know,” I tell him as we walk over to the escalator. “When you say stuff like that, you sound like your brother.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t want to answer that.”

Three hours later, we’ve got everything sorted, my feet hurt and I’m exhausted. The thought of a bubble bath and a chilled out night sounds perfect right about now.

“We’ve ordered the sofa, the TV and the refrigerator. Mum has sorted the beds and Dad is coming to help you with the wardrobes in the week. Can we just go home, order take away and chill now?”

“On what exactly?” Carter laughs.

“Well, we have two blow up beds, how about we push them together? I have movies on the laptop we can watch?”

“Are they all girly films?” he frowns.

“Mostly. But I also have Harry Potter.”

“We’ll watch that,” he grins throwing his arm over my shoulder. “You’re on.”

“If you had to pick, you’d pick Gryffindor every time though.”

“Of course, unless you’re a rebel then you’d pick Slytherin.” he agrees, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

“No,” I disagree, taking a handful too. “If you want to be a rebel, pick Hufflepuff, no one picks Hufflepuff.”

“That’s because Hufflepuff, suck. Who wants to be called a Puff for damns sake?”

“They have Cedric though.”

“Who dies.”

“He got picked as Hogwarts champion though.”

“And died.”

“All the girls like him.”

“He still died.” Carter laughs.

“You’re very mean.” I jokingly glare at him.

“Because I speak the truth? You just said you wanted to be a Gryffindor, why are you defending the Puffs?”

“Stop talking, I’m trying to watch this.”

“You’ve been arguing with me for the last five minutes about Puffs, you’ve been doing just as much talking as I have.”

“Stop saying Puffs, Carter.” I laugh at him.

We’re having a Harry Potter marathon, currently on The Prisoner of Azkaban. We’ve eaten an obscene amount of pizza which Carter complained was no where near as good as the pizza back home, we’ve demolished the ice cream we ordered and yet, when Carter produced a bag of popcorn and chocolate, we both found space in our stomachs to eat it. Sitting on the blow-up beds, snuggled together watching movies on the laptop, I can’t remember feeling this happy in a long time, and given what’s going on right now, that’s more amazing than anything.

“Did you believe Sirius was bad in the beginning?” he whispers.

“No, I didn’t, did you?”

“I don’t know, I mean, he looks badass, doesn’t he? You could believe he did what they said he did.”

“Looks can be deceiving, look at Lupin, did you think he was a werewolf?”

“I don’t know, I thought he was gay actually.”

“You what?” I ask, turning to look at him and laughing.

“The cardigan, the moustache, the ‘little secret’… I thought he was gay.”

“You’re hilarious, you know that?”

“Yeah,” he replies, stealing some of my chocolate. “I do.”

When we finish the film, Carter tells me he’s still not tired, sugar rush apparently, so we put The Goblet of Fire on. I’m not ten minutes into the film before my eyelids start drooping. I snuggle down and Carter snuggles down too, I don’t remember falling asleep, but when I wake in the middle of the night, Carter is pressed against my back and has stolen all the covers. The heating must have gone off because it’s freezing, I turn around and tug on the duvet but it doesn’t budge.

“Carter.” I whisper, trying to wake him up.

“Yeah?” he groans.

“You’ve stolen all the covers you thief!”

“Sorry, not used to sleeping with someone, here.”

He rolls over and brings the covers with him, covering me up. I settle back into bed, warmer than I was five minutes ago and seconds later, Carter’s breathing gets heavy again. I close my eyes and let his breathing soothe me back to sleep, I’m smiling in spite of everything that’s happening right now, and it’s all down to Carter.

The next day, Dad comes over to help Carter build the wardrobes, they seem to bond and by the end of the day, Dad has invited Carter round to watch his beloved American Football when the season begins in September. Dad loves sports and seems keen to learn the game. Everything is going well, I’m focusing on the good and trying to keep the surgery out of my mind. Nothing will change until then so I’m determined to keep things as normal as possible. I got a text from Josie earlier today to let me know they’re coming back from their honeymoon today and that Megan is in labour. She promised to let me know what’s going on later but still no word. Carter comes into my room and knocks even though the door is open.

“Mom just phoned, they wanted to know if you’d like to join them for dinner?”

“Not tonight, I’m feeling tired after the late night, you go. You haven’t seen much of your family the last few days.”

“Are you sure? You don’t want me to stay?”

“I’m fine, Carter, honestly.”

“Okay… I won’t be late.”

“I’ll just be putting all my clothes and things away.” I smile.

“I’ll see you later then… If you need me, phone. I’ll come back.”

“Got it.”

I finish unpacking my clothes and an hour later, my room looks much more homely, as it ever will without a bed in anyway. I head into the kitchen and make myself a stir-fry. Sitting on the counter is a note and four little Love Heart sweets. Carter discovered them on our drive back from Cornwall and has been eating them ever since.

Phone me if you need me. X

I grin and take the sweets along with my bowl into the lounge and sit on the blow-up bed. I pull my laptop to my lap and open up a new webpage. I don’t know why I do it, but I find myself on the website about cervical cancer the doctor suggested I look at if I have any question and it’s out of hours. I’m two pages in when the sickness begins and the more I read, the worse it gets. I discard my bowl of food and keep reading, the tears come soon after and even though I know I should stop reading, I can’t seem to bring myself to do it. When Carter arrives home later, I’m a mess, crying at the screen, not really able to see the words anymore because there are so many tears. He comes in and stops when he sees me, he takes off his shoes and crawls onto the bed next to me, pulling me to him.

“I shouldn’t have gone out.”

“No, you should have, I need to learn when to stop reading.”

He looks at the laptop and sighs.

“Yes, you do.”

“It’s very rare in women under the age of twenty-five apparently,” I tell him. “That doesn’t make me feel any better, it just makes me think this whole thing sucks more than I originally thought.”

“I’m so sorry Carmen, I don’t know what to say.” he takes my hand and squeezes it.

“There isn’t anything for you to say, Carter. In a few days, everything changes. I have to be strong, I can’t let this disease take me, but God, do I feel like giving up right now. How can I ever survive this?”

“One day at a time, you lean on those you love and who love you and you take it one day at a time.”

When the tears finally stop, I’m not tired. Carter suggests we continue our Harry Potter marathon and it sounds like the best idea he’s ever had right now. We both get into our pyjamas and meet in the lounge, I come prepared this time and bring a big fluffy jumper with me. We’re half way through the Order of the Phoenix when I get a text message.

Josie:
They have a little boy!! He’s perfect, Megan was amazing. I’ll let her text you a photo. She’s already asking to see you. Come over tomorrow?

“Megan and Harry have a son.” I tell Carter, grinning from ear to ear.

“They do?” he asks smiling too.

“Josie just text,” I hand him my phone. “A new little life just came into the world.”

“Crazy huh?”

“I’m going to fight this thing, I’m going to be here to see that little boy grow up, to spoil him and to love him so much.”

“Of course you are,” he smiles, kissing my head. “Of course you are.”

T
hree days old, tiny and with the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. Little Henry is making me want all sorts of things I shouldn’t even be thinking of right now and by the looks of it, it’s making Jack want the same. Sure, it’s entirely acceptable for Jack, he just got married, but me?

Not acceptable Carter.

Not.

Acceptable.

I’m going to blame this whole thing I’ve got going on here on the look Carmen has right now, with Henry settled on her chest, cooing him to sleep, I can almost feel the longing and sadness from where I’m standing chatting to Harry. I look around and no one else seems remotely aware of it, so occupied with the new arrival. But I notice, I see it and it makes everything inside me hurts for her.

“Look at Jack,” Harry half whispers. “He’s not sure where to look, at Henry or Josie. It would be easier for him if Josie had him, he wouldn’t have to choose then.”

“He’s smitten and have you noticed Josie?”

“You mean the look she keeps throwing Jack? Of course I have, it’s like she’s ready to lay back, open her legs and let him get her pregnant. It’s hard not to notice it.”

“What are you talking about over there?” Jack looks up and scowls.

“You.” Harry laughs.

“Awwww, they have crushes!” Josie teases. “It’s not right, Carter, this is not an episode of Game of Thrones.”

“I don’t have a crush on my brother, you’re disgusting.” I shake my head at her.

“Harry does though.” she grins and winks at him.

“I never said that.”

“You don’t need to, you want my husband to be your lover, it’s okay, I told you, as long as I can watch.”