Read Online Caroselli's Baby Chase by Michelle Celmer - Free Book Online

of a child with an alcoholic parent.” She paused and said, “Was that too much information?”
    “No, not at all. I didn’t even know there were typical characteristics. Which ones do you have, if you don’t mind my asking?”
    “I’m super-responsible and I take myself way too seriously. Your basic overachiever. When I’m trying to have fun, I feel as if I should be doing something more constructive. But due to a lack of self-esteem, I feel that nothing I do is good enough. I also have trust issues, so I have trouble forming intimate relationships. And telling you all of this is probably just some unconscious way of mine to push you away before I’m able to form any sort of friendship or bond.”
    “Wow, that’s intense,” Terri said.
    “Yeah, those psych courses I took in college were a real eye-opener. Up until then, under the circumstances, I figured I was fairly well-adjusted. Psychology was actually my major for a while, until it dawned on me that no one as screwed up as I was had any right to be counseling anyone else. That’s an enormous responsibility and there was no way I could trust myself to be completely impartial. So I switched my major to marketing. I’m still using what I learned about psychology, without the possibility of screwing with someone’s head.” She paused and said, “Well, not in a bad way at least. I just encourage them to buy stuff.”
    “It seems as though you aren’t so screwed up that you didn’t realize you’re screwed up.” Terri frowned. “Does that make sense?”
    “It does, actually.”
    “Hey, do you have plans for tomorrow night?”
    Her first thought was of Rob, which was wrong in so many ways. “Nope. I don’t really know anyone in the city.”
    “Nick and I are having some friends over and I’d really like you to come.”
    “Really? After everything I just told you?”
    “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll fit right in.”
    Carrie wasn’t quite sure how to take that, then decided it was probably meant as a compliment. “In that case, I’d love to.”
    “It’s at seven,” she said, writing down the address. “Do you have a way to get there?”
    “I can take a cab.”
    “Or I could ask Rob to swing by and pick you up. It’s on his way.”
    “Oh, I think it would be better if I took a cab.”
    “If you’re worried about getting home safe, Rob isn’t much of a drinker. Come to think of it, I don’t recall ever seeing him drunk.”
    “The night I met him he drank a lot,” Carrie said, not even realizing what she was saying until the words left her mouth. Everyone was supposed to think their first meeting was in the conference room.
    “Yeah, I heard,” Terri said.
    She blinked. “You did?”
    “Word of advice, if you don’t want me to know something, don’t tell Nick. We’re one of those couples who actually tell each other everything.”
    “Good to know.” Carrie recalled the way she had announced to the entire table at the diner about her and Rob’s affair, and what happened in Rob’s office, meaning Terri probably knew about that, too.
    Way to go, genius. What had Alice said about her impulsive tendencies? She really needed to think things through before she opened her mouth. She wondered how many others in the Caroselli family knew.
    “Did he happen to tell anyone else?” she asked Terri.
    “I doubt it. And I don’t think Tony would tell anyone either.”
    She hoped not. She didn’t want people to get the impression she slept around, because nothing could be further from the truth.
    “For the record, that’s not typical behavior for me,” she told Terri.
    “And for what’s it worth, it’s not typical behavior for him either,” Terri said. “You must have made quite an impression on him. Personally, I think you two make an adorable couple.”
    “Oh, but we aren’t. A couple, I mean. I make it a rule not to date people I work with. If I’d had even the slightest clue as to who he was when I met him in that