Count On Me

•• CHAPTER FOUR ••

•• CHAPTER FOUR ••

The weeks seemed to fly by and eventually, three months had passed since Carter left that voicemail on Shawn's phone with no response. Carter realized that, sadly, Shawn was done with whatever had happened between them by his lack of communication and had given up on ever speaking to him again. Carter was standing at the nurse's station charting down the latest stats on her patient when her Mother called and interrupted her thoughts. "You can go on your break and take that, Carter. You get off in about twenty minutes anyway." Another nurse said giving her a small smile and Carter nodded as she logged off the computer and answered the phone.

  "Hey Mom, what's up?" She asked as she headed toward the cafeteria and could feel the other nurses staring at her with pity. Carter had become close with her co-workers, and they knew that she was always sad because of Shawn, but she didn't like them always staring and feeling sorry for her.

  "Hi sweet pea, I just wanted to call and see what you were up to?" Her Mother answered brightly, and Carter sighed as she sat down in a chair.

  "Just working as usual, I get off in another hour or so. What about you?"

  "That's nice! I'm just cleaning around the house... and I really wanted to call you because I wanted to ask if you heard about Shawn and Molly?" Her Mother asked warily, and Carter's eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she sat up straighter in her chair at the mention of Shawn and another woman's name.

  "Who's Molly? And what about them?" Carter asked and her Mom sighed as she hesitated to tell Carter the news.

  "Shawn's Mom just called me and told me that he's been dating a girl named Molly for a while now and they're now planning to get married in a couple of months..." Her Mother trailed off as Carter's breath hitched in her throat and a wave of nausea suddenly hit her.

  "I have to go, Mom." Carter said abruptly as she hung up the phone and ran as fast as she could toward the bathroom.

She emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet as tears began to sting at her eyes. How could Shawn one minute tell her that he loved her then three months later get engaged to another woman? They were best friends for over seventeen-years, and he didn't even have the decency to tell her. Carter flushed the toilet then sat on the bathroom floor and leaned against the bathroom stall door as she stared up at the ceiling. A tear escaped her eye, but she quickly wiped it away and shook her head. She hadn't cried over Shawn in over a month and here she was crying over him again. In that moment, Carter swore to herself that she was officially done with men and promised to never date or fall in love again.

Carter's phone started ringing and she looked down at it to see that it was her Mother calling again. She took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down and then answered the phone. "Honey, are you okay?" Her Mother asked worriedly.

  "I'm fine, just threw up. I think I have the flu." Carter sighed as she pressed her hand against her forehead to see if she had a fever. She frowned when she didn't feel hot and was actually starting to feel better.

  "Sweetheart, I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you about Shawn and Molly. I thought he would've come to his senses by now and told you." Her Mother huffed out in frustration. Carter just shrugged then got off the bathroom floor and exited the stall.

  "It's whatever at this point, Mom. I haven't heard a single thing from him since July and I have nothing else to say to him. I'm not going to the wedding; I highly doubt I'll be invited anyway." Carter said bitterly as she began to wash her hands then pulled out the pack of gum from her pocket and grabbed a piece.