Carter
1981, Fort Lauderdale
“Ann Marie! Ann Marie! Wait up!” Carter yelled as she ran toward her friend.
Ann Marie O’Connell continued to walk through the hallways of Cole University. She went out the door and headed to the parking lot, lost in thought about the class she’d just left. It was Introduction to Psychology. She found the class interesting, but if she was honest with herself, she didn’t like it that much. She especially didn’t like the part about labeling and assigning personality types to people. It made her squirm, and she didn’t know why. If it weren’t required, she would drop it in a heartbeat.
“Gosh, you must have earplugs in!” she heard from over her shoulder and realized her new friend, Carter, had come up behind her.
She smiled at Carter as she let her catch up and they walked toward their cars. Darn it—she still wasn’t used to her alias, Ann Marie. Between Guinevere, Gwinny, Ginny, Kit, and now Ann Marie, she’d almost driven herself nuts with confusion. But maybe that’s what Grizz’s intentions were with the gang names. Confusion. She could understand it a little bit. But truth be told, she didn’t really care that much anyway. She would even have gone back to being Priscilla Celery, the silly name from her first fake I.D. if it meant she could go to college. Thank goodness she didn’t need to. She was now in her second semester at Cole and was thriving. She loved college.
“Do you have plans for the weekend?” Carter asked. Before she could answer, Carter added, “I thought you might like to come to my place and study. We have that big test coming up, and I could sure use the help. This isn’t exactly my favorite subject. Interesting enough, but just not my thing.”
Ginny—Ann Marie—stared hesitantly at Carter. This wasn’t the first time she was invited to Carter’s house, and she hated to refuse her again. She’d had a million excuses as to why she could never get together during the weekend or the evenings. She was always available to grab lunch after school or even meet at the library to study with Carter and their other friend, Casey, but she was careful to never socialize beyond school and most definitely never on a weekend. Studying at Carter’s home seemed too intimate somehow. She was always concerned about letting down her guard and possibly slipping up about her past. She didn’t want to draw unwanted attention to herself.
She looked at Carter’s hopeful expression and had a change of heart. She decided that, yes, she would accept this invitation. She didn’t think Grizz would care. She was certain after mentioning Carter and Casey a few times that Grizz probably had them investigated. Well, if he hadn’t already done it, she was sure he would after hearing she had accepted this study invitation. It was a good thing, having a friend. She’d been lonely. Sarah Jo was still upstate attending school, and Ginny wanted this. Needed this.
Two nights later, Ginny found herself sitting in Carter’s small apartment. Carter’s little home resembled a tiny zoo. Three cats, two dogs, and assorted birds, gerbils, mice, and other small critters called this one-bedroom apartment home. Ginny had to compete with the sounds of the birds squawking from their cages.
“So, before we get started, tell me why that hot guy I’ve seen you with—what’s his name again, Sam?—tell me why he calls you Kit,” Carter said as she handed Ginny a glass of soda.
“Yes, his name is Sam.” Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. She decided to change the subject.
“You go first, Carter. Tell me how you came to be here and about all of this.” She motioned around the room. Just then, an orange cat jumped up on her lap and snuggled in. Ginny looked down and smiled, then up at her friend. “I’ve known you a couple of months, but I really don’t know a lot about you. I mean, I know you go to school at Cole, and you work at the grocery store, but what else? Tell me something I don’t know.”
Carter giggled. “Sure, as long as you promise to introduce me to Sam. He is so damn good looking!”
Ginny sat back and listened—and learned there was more to her new friend than she could’ve ever imagined. Carter Coulter had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. A child of wealth and privilege, she’d grown up in a real honest-to-goodness mansion on Cape Cod. She discovered when she was very young that she couldn’t live up to what her wealthy parents expected of her, so while her sister and brother were being privately tutored in classical piano, foreign language, and sailing, Carter could be found in the kitchen with the servants or in the stables with the horses.
“I realized at a young age that I wanted nothing to do with that lifestyle.” Carter shrugged and took a sip of her drink. “I can’t explain it, Ann Marie. It’s like I was born into the wrong family. Where my sister and brother thrived on the things that type of lifestyle afforded and expected, I shunned it at every opportunity. My mom was a socialite, and I was a chore for her. She wanted children she could parade before her snooty friends. It—it’s like we were all in competition with each other, and the child with the most store-bought skills won. We were trophies. Ignored unless it was showtime. I barely knew my parents. Still don’t know them and don’t care to. I’ve been on my own since before I graduated from high school.”
“You gave it up? Your family, love, security—all to do your own thing?” Ginny’s mouth hung open as she glanced around the small but clean apartment.
Carter snorted. “Financial security, maybe. Love? There was no love. Like I said, I barely knew my parents. I was raised by nannies. And when my mother realized firing them because they couldn’t control me didn’t work—I was going to do what I wanted anyway—she just gave up. When I got kicked out of the umpteenth prestigious prep school for raising a family of rats in the kitchen...” Carter gave Ginny a wide smile. “Well, let’s just say my mother developed a case of the overdramatic vapors and told my father to handle me. He only knew one way to ‘discipline’ me—” She used her hands to air quote, then continued, “By telling me that if I didn’t graduate from Uppity Upperson’s School for the Overprivileged and Short on Conscience Academy for Snobs, he would cut me off. Which he did, and which is why I’m here. I took what little money I had of my own, got myself to Florida, got my GED, and enrolled at Cole. You already know I work full-time at the grocery store, and I go to school almost full-time, and every spare minute I get I use to come back here and take care of my animals. They’re my family, and they’re all I need.” She paused before adding wistfully, “I do miss my horses, though.”
“So you don’t miss your family?” Ginny looked at her.
Carter smiled. “I was born into the wrong family. There was nothing to miss, Ann Marie.”
Ginny sipped her soda and decided she had been right about Carter, right to come here. She had wanted so badly to trust this new friend, but had had a hard time letting Carter warm up to her. She was still so guarded about her own roots. To hear about someone who came from almost the exact same background, with the exception of all that money, gave her hope. She wasn’t entirely alone. They’d both come from homes where they were not wanted, were used for ulterior motives, and were virtually ignored. Ginny had been used by Delia to keep her household running. Carter’s parents had tried to use her by making her into a show ornament for their wealthy friends. It was different, but the same in a sense. She couldn’t explain it, but suddenly she felt an almost kindred spirit with Carter.
“I’ve never met a girl named Carter.” Ginny’s brows knitted. “Actually, I’ve never met a guy named Carter, either.”
Carter grimaced. “I have my parents to thank for that one. Does the name Carter ring any bells?”
Ginny looked thoughtful, shook her head, “No. I mean, that’s our president’s name, but other than—” Her eyes widened as Carter nodded at her.
“Let’s just say my parents are very politically connected.” Carter rolled her eyes. “They’ve been friends a long time. Who would’ve guessed one of my father’s childhood friends would end up in the White House?”
“Wow,” was all Ginny could think to say.
“So, your turn,” Carter said, bringing Ginny out of her thoughts. “Start with Sam. Will you introduce me, and why does he call you Kit?”
Carter wiggled her eyebrows, and Ginny smiled. “I will absolutely introduce you to Sam. He is cute, isn’t he?”
“No, he’s not cute. He’s adorable. Dimples and all. And quit avoiding the question. Why Kit?”
“Oh, that’s just a nickname,” she answered casually. “My husband calls me Kit. You know, it’s short for Kitten.” She blushed.
“I like it. You don’t look like an Ann Marie.” Carter leaned way back in her chair. “So when can I meet your husband? You don’t strike me as the marrying type. I guess that tattoo on your finger, which I’ve never quite been able to read ’cause I haven’t gotten close enough, is your wedding band. Am I right?”
Ginny subconsciously tucked her left hand beneath the cat on her lap.
“My husband isn’t really the social type. He’s a lot older than me, and because of that, we find it hard to socialize. It’s difficult to find friends or couples in our age group that like the same things as us. You know what I mean?”
Carter smiled kindly at her new friend. She could tell Ann Marie was struggling with something. Carter didn’t mean to come off as nosy, but she was just so excited to have made another friend, one that she could sense was the real deal, she was a bit overzealous in her questioning. She wanted Ann Marie to trust her. And more important than that, she wanted it for the right reasons. She had grown up around so many phony people, and she wanted friends she could genuinely connect with. She would have to figure out a way to let Ann Marie know she was sincerely interested in her life, that there was no need to put on false pretenses. Carter could be trusted with whatever it was Ann Marie couldn’t bring herself to share.
“So, Kit.” Carter grinned and gave her a level gaze. “Has anybody told you that you are one lousy liar?”