Ethan, Who Loved Carter (10 page)

“I can’t go,” Elliot said. “I’ve got finals. I can’t just leave.” He pulled away from Dad’s hand on his shoulder. “Take Ethan.”

“I have to work.” Ethan had responsibilities too. He didn’t know Aunt Amelia well anyway. She was really old, Mom’s aunt, not his.

“Ethan, we can talk to Vera, I’m sure she’d—”

“I work hard.” Ethan swallowed the lump in his throat. He was good at his job and he took it seriously. He couldn’t leave just because of this. Who would wipe tables or do refills if he wasn’t there?

“They could stay with me.” Ethan looked up. He’d forgotten Carter was still there, but he was, right in the middle of everyone, although he’d been so quiet that maybe he was trying to disappear instead of being pulled into a family discussion. “I mean, if the problem is that you don’t want to leave them alone.”

“We’re fine alone.” Ethan couldn’t believe that he and Elliot spoke at the same time. They never did anything at the same time.

“I’m sure….” Carter tripped over words and went back to plucking his jeans over his knee, the same as Ethan did when he was nervous or upset.

“I don’t know.” Dad rubbed his hair, making it stand up. “We haven’t had any time to think about it. We just assumed, but of course you’re both right. It’s not fair to take Elliot out of school right now.”

“And I have to work,” Ethan said, in case he’d forgotten.

“Right. Carter would you excuse us for a moment?”

“Sure.” Carter didn’t glance at Ethan as he walked away. He looked shaky. Ethan didn’t have time to think about it before Elliot started in on how if they stayed at Carter’s place it wouldn’t be fair because he was too old for a babysitter.

“It might be fine for him,” he thumbed at Ethan, “but I don’t need a caretaker.”

“Carter is my friend,” Ethan said.

“Right.”

“He
is
.”

“Yeah? What’s he going to be tomorrow morning if he sleeps in the same house as you? He’s going to see what you’re like.”

“He knows what I’m like.” Elliot’s words made Ethan angry, and he wanted to cry. Elliot didn’t know anything about him and Carter. He looked at his parents. Dad rubbed his forehead. Maybe they agreed with Elliot. “He’s my friend,” he said again. “I want to stay here.”

“We did try calling Mrs. Monroe,” Mom said.

“Ugh.” Elliot frowned.

“She wasn’t available on short notice, which is why we decided to take you with us. But, maybe if you stayed with Carter a few days she could stay with you afterwards…?” She looked at Dad for his opinion.

“We can stay on our own,” Elliot said.

“No, you can’t,” Dad said, sounding more firm than before.

“You mean Ethan can’t,” Elliot said. “I could go stay with a friend.”

Ethan should have been used to Elliot’s daggers, but he still needed to close up the wound before he spoke. “I can stay with a friend too,” Ethan said. “I can stay with Carter. Or I can go out to the caravan and stay with Horatio.”

“You are not to go to the beach, do you understand?” Dad said. He looked so stern that Ethan nodded and shrank back a little. Dad sighed. “Elliot, I’m sorry, but we need you and Ethan to stay together. You know each other best. I think it would be easiest if you stayed at home. Carter can stay in our room. Hopefully we’ll be back by the weekend. Is that all right?”

“I guess. I don’t know what we’ll do after Ethan scares him off though.”

“I won’t.” Ethan wanted to sulk, or punch Elliot again, but punching wasn’t allowed and no one was patient with him when he pouted.

“Elliot.” Dad got up and took Elliot into a corner to talk to him.

“Elliot needs to get over that hill faster,” Ethan said.

Mom squeezed his shoulders. “Dad’s going to talk some sense into him.”

“Carter is my friend, Mom. He doesn’t babysit me like Elliot thinks. Right?” He waited for reassurance. “He doesn’t, does he?”

“Ethan?” Ethan turned around to see Carter standing in the doorway. “Did someone tell you I was babysitting you?”

Now that Carter looked hurt, Ethan felt bad for thinking it even a little. “Elliot,” he said. Then he felt bad for accusing him. Brothers were supposed to stick together.

Carter’s face went hard at that. He shoved his hand into his pocket, but his leg shook. “What do you need me to do?” he asked Mom.

“Would it be any trouble for you to stay at our house for a few nights?”

Carter glanced at Dad and Elliot, still talking in the corner. His expression didn’t change. “No problem. Happy to help.”

“Good. That’s a relief,” Mom said.

Relieved as well, Ethan got up and hugged Carter. Now he wouldn’t have to miss work. Ethan needed a hug after worrying about everything, and he guessed from the way Carter held onto him that Carter did too.

C
ARTER
drove home by himself. Liz and Nolan wanted Elliot and Ethan with them for some last-minute instructions. So. A week at the Harts’. No problem. He could handle this. Elliot wasn’t
that
difficult; Alice would call it a learning experience, a chance to face his fears. Carter wasn’t sure where “fear of teenage boys” ranked on the scale of “things to be embarrassed about,” but he figured it was high. Never mind. Ethan needed him. That was the important thing. Being able to keep his responsibilities mattered to Ethan, and by staying with him and Elliot, Carter could help make that possible. In his house, he packed a bag with a change of clothes and his pajamas. He planned to come back during the day to work, so he could pick up more clothes then, and go night by night since Liz and Nolan hadn’t been certain of their return date.

At the last second, he grabbed his guitar off the wall and the song he and Ethan were working on. He stuck the music into a folder and the guitar into its case. Then, hooking the strap of his bag over his shoulder, he stepped out the front door and locked it. He arrived at the Harts’ porch as Nolan exited the house.

“Let me help you.” Carter reached for Nolan’s suitcase.

“You’ve got your own things. I’m fine.” Nolan gestured to the minivan with his chin. “You could get the door, though.”

“Sure.” Setting his guitar on the porch, Carter trotted back down the steps. “Everything okay with…?”

“You mean, are Curly and Moe done slapping each other?” Nolan’s smile didn’t meet his eyes. “Keep your head down.” He shoved the suitcase into the van and turned to lean against the outside. “Thanks for doing this, Carter. If we had to take them along, I think it would be miserable for all of us. We need to concentrate on Aunt Amelia getting well, and it’s not possible with those two bickering. I know they don’t mean to, but….” He rubbed his brow, pushing his mess of bangs to one side. “Neither of them is in a position mentally to recognize that there are people in the world besides themselves.”

“I don’t think you give Ethan enough credit.” Carter surprised himself with how quickly he leapt to Ethan’s defense. Nolan looked surprised too. He nodded, though with that same weariness.

“Right. I’m sorry. It’s just been a long day.” He pushed off from the side of the van. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Carter asked.

“For reminding me that I shouldn’t lump the boys together. Ethan is a very loving young man. He’s always attuned to when other people are upset. It just gets hard for him when he’s upset too, like he was today, and unfortunately no one upsets him like Elliot.”

“I don’t know anything about having a sibling,” Carter said, “but I’ve heard that that’s how it goes.” They’d reached the porch. He picked up his guitar. He’d kept his bag with him when he went to the van.

Nolan smiled, a real one this time. “Well, I do have sibling experience, and you are absolutely right.” Placing his hand on the back of Carter’s neck, he guided him inside the house. “Go on in and make yourself comfortable.”

“Thanks.” Carter dropped his things near the bottom of the stairs and pushed them against the wall to be out of the way.

“You brought your guitar? I used to play.” Nolan seemed wistful.

“I only play a little. Ethan likes it.” Carter spoke quickly, as the fear that Nolan would suggest a jam session rose in him. Nolan just shook his head, still paying more attention to the black guitar case than Carter, and yelled up the stairs for Liz. “Where’s Ethan?” Carter asked.

“I think he’s making sandwiches for the road. He said he wanted to.”

“Okay.” Carter went to find him while Nolan jogged up the stairs. In the kitchen, Ethan had the bread and sandwich fixings spread out in an assembly line. One slice of bread, one slice of ham, one slice of turkey, lettuce, mayonnaise, mustard, second slice of bread. He had made two sandwiches and was almost done with a third. “Do you want me to bag them?” Carter pointed to the Ziploc bags on the edge of the counter.

Ethan looked up. “Hi!” He finished spreading mayonnaise and reached across the counter to give Carter a shoulder pat. “That would be great.” Glancing at what he’d finished, he asked, “Do you think three is enough? I was going to do five.”

“I think five is better.”

“Okay.”

Carter started bagging the ones Ethan had finished. “So, your dad said he used to play guitar?”

“He used to be on the radio,” Ethan said. He finished with the mustard and closed the new sandwich.

“Radio, like he was in a band?”

“No, he was a DJ on one of the local stations, but he quit a long time ago.” Ethan glanced up; he looked alarmed. “It wasn’t because of my accident. He told me that. It was after.”

“Oh.”

“He wanted to have more time with me.”

Carter already liked Nolan; now he liked him more knowing that Nolan had put Ethan ahead of his career. “And he probably wanted more time with Elliot,” Carter said with a smile, because Ethan still looked like he thought Carter wouldn’t believe him.

Ethan snorted. “I guess.”

“One more sandwich,” Carter said.

“Okay.”

After Carter had bagged the last one, Ethan packed them into a soft travel cooler along with two medium-size bags of chips and two bottles of water. “Is that enough?”

“Looks good to me.” When Carter drove from LA to Santa Josephina for his move, he’d done it on a bag of Fritos corn chips and a Coke.

“Where’s Elliot?”

“Downstairs.” Ethan zipped up the cooler. “I’m going to take this to the car.”

“Okay.” Carter cleaned up the kitchen while Ethan was gone. When he returned, Nolan and Liz were with him. Liz headed for Carter.

“Okay, Carter, we’re on our way out. Emergency numbers are on the refrigerator if you need them. This is my cell.” She handed him a piece of paper with a number on it. “Have fun!” Carter twitched in response to her kiss on his cheek.

“Sorry,” he said. “That wasn’t—”

She gave him a smile. “I know.” Turning, she held her arms out to Ethan. “Goodbye, honey.”

“Bye, Mom.” After hugging her, Ethan tilted his cheek to Nolan for a kiss. He got it, and a ruffle of his hair. “Bye, Dad.”

Carter walked with them to the door. Nolan stopped at the entrance to the basement to yell down at Elliot. He came up and subjected himself to hugs and kisses. Sparing an expressionless glance at Carter, Elliot then headed for the front door. Carter, Elliot, and Ethan stood on the porch together to wave Nolan and Liz on their way. Once the minivan trundled around the corner, down the long road, and out of sight, they turned to each other.

“Now what?” Carter asked. If it were just him and Ethan, they’d sit on the couch and work on their song, or Carter would play and Ethan might sing. But he felt odd doing that with Elliot there.

“I’m hungry,” Elliot said. “I haven’t eaten since lunch.” It was almost seven o’clock.

“Okay. I can handle that,” Carter said. They made cheese sandwiches for supper and ate them with carrot sticks, washed down with milk. Elliot didn’t say much, but he sat at the table with them and didn’t cast death glares at Carter, either, so Carter considered it a victory. Ethan didn’t seem to notice any tension. He kept up a running commentary about his day and Pepper the cat’s antics until Elliot cracked a smile.

“Maybe we should get a cat,” he said.

“Maybe.” Ethan seemed to give it serious consideration. “I think we should.”

“We should do it before Mom and Dad come back and surprise them,” Elliot said. Twin expressions of innocent eagerness, one genuine and one devilish, turned to Carter.

“Sure,” Carter said. “Let’s do that, and then you two can explain why you have a cat.”

“Oh.” Ethan looked disappointed. “I guess we better not do that. Sorry, El.”

Elliot, to his credit, did a good job of looking sad. “Yeah, better not.” He flashed Carter a grin, though, and it seemed almost friendly. Carter wondered if he’d passed some kind of test.

After they loaded and started the dishwasher, Elliot sat down at the dining room table with his homework. Carter found his music and took it into the living room with Ethan.

“You brought our song?” Ethan asked. He reached for it with both hands. Ethan always acted like the song was brittle. He sat on the couch next to Carter.

“Yeah.” Carter nodded toward Elliot. “I’m surprised he decided to stay out here.”

“Oh, he always does his homework at the table.” Ethan spread the song out. It was less than one page long, but they had compiled five pages of drafts. Carter went to get his guitar. Elliot had his headphones on. If he played quietly, maybe Elliot wouldn’t try to listen. He seemed focused on his own work anyway. Ethan moved closer.